A Random Rattle Bag of Thoughts

I was drafting a new, and let’s face it, long overdue, blog post with an update on where I am with my screenwriting comeback(!) and with some thoughts on writers’ block, which is obviously floating in the air as a topic at the moment. (I’m not blocked, by the way, but I have found that on resuming writing, I needed to relearn a lot of basic skills, like actually writing one word after the other – more on that another time.)

But, a few things have happened that I couldn’t let pass without comment, rant. So, this will be something of a random collection of scraps. Firstly - and I know everyone's talking about it, but I can't let it go by completely - there was the ridiculous and short-sighted decision by the ConDems to abolish the UK Film Council. Needless to say, I'm in agreement with Mike Leigh et al, and I do wonder about the thinking of a government, or any institution, that announces what it's going to tear down before it announces what it's going to build. Still, time will tell how/if any new system will work. Good luck to all of us in our funding applications yet to come...

...we're going to need it.

As some kind of compensation to writers, this year sees the return - in all its austerity-defying glory - of the Red Planet Competition. It is almost certainly the best screenwriting opportunity out there, particularly as it's free to enter. The deadline fast approaches, and my script and 60-word synopsis are being buffed up now, nearing completion despite all that writers' block that I didn't have. Another good luck to all who enter.

Next, and I know I'm late to the party again, but wasn't Sherlock absolutely excellent? I wasn't as blown away as I thought I'd be by the writing in this year's series of Doctor Who, so it's good to see the the Moff be fully Grand again. I've read a few online criticisms about one small aspect: Holmes seemed unnaturally slow on the uptake about the profession of the killer. But this allowed for a big, fantastic "He's Behind You" moment later on, so it was forgivable, I think. The ratings were good, so I'm looking forward to seeing some more.

Finally, it seems churlish to celebrate much, but Displacement Activities has quietly crept past it's three year anniversary as a going concern; and yes, I know there have been times when I've pushed the definition of 'going concern' to its absolute limit, but survival is all that matters: I'm still typing. A moment's reflection then (something along the lines of "Three years, and that's all the posts I managed? Sheesh") and then onwards.

Displacement Activities will Return in - I dunno - a bit, with:

"I done busted my writing bone, and other tales of Writer anxiety".

What I did on my holidays...

Hello, yes - I'm still alive, and so is the blog. I've had this place redecorated ("don't like it!") and changed my profile pic now that my hair's grown out a but and I'm more comfortable with my short-haired 'do'.

So, what have I been up to these last two months? Here's what: no writing. None. No scripts, no treatments, no outlines, no blog entries, barely any tweets, nary even a note for the milkman. It will probably shock a few people that I'm able to admit this. Thou shalt write every day is the first commandment of writers, after all. Oh well. After a sustained period of about five years solidly working on projects both paid for and speculative, I needed a break. Not a lot was happening on collaborations, or with my optioned stuff, and I had some 'real life' stuff to attend to (more on that later).

Does this mean I'm not a professional? Well, I've talked on the blog before about how my 9-5 day job is both a curse and a blessing, as it allows me wriggle-room when choosing what I work on, as my family won't be starving if I choose not to do particular jobs. Of course, this brings with it the risk that a golden opportunity or valuable learning experience might be passed up. Oh well, again. From talking to other professional writers, it seems that the credit crunch is biting, and opportunities are thin on the ground at the moment anyway.

And I wouldn't have had much attention to give them even if they had arisen. In summary: over the last eight weeks, I have escaped a heavy bout of redundancies at the day job, but will be waving good bye to a few old mates soon, as they weren't so lucky. Then, I had the responsibility of giving my sister - who lives about two and a half hours away from me - away at her wedding, and I was expecting the birth of my second son. Both these things are joyful occasions. But some of the joy rubs off when they are both due to happen on the same day.

Yes, as well as all the work preparing the home and family for the onslaught of a newborn, and working double hard at the day job to prepare for paternity leave, a lot of the weeks and days approaching the 15th August were very stressful, as this was not only the date of the wedding, but also the best guess due date of the baby too.

I only have one sibling, and my Dad is sadly no longer with us. I am the only close male relative of my sister - I have to be up at her place, get her to the church, walk her up the aisle, and later do a speech. Have to. I also have to be close to my wife, as I will be needed as her birth partner, to help her give birth to my child, then look after her once he's born. Have to do that too. So, it was up to luck and mother nature as to whether I'd get to do both these things. It was looking very dicey at some points. But it all worked out, my very tired wife, my son and I attended the wedding, came home the following day (without having a baby on the M25) and the day after that my wife went into labour. It's all about timing.

So personal circumstances have got in the way of my writing, but I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing. Personal circumstances are what feed into our writing, and make it better. Thou shalt live every day should be the first commandment of writers... and then write it all down, of course. Besides - as any of the Doctor Who fans reading this will know - there is a celebrated anecdote from the late Seventies of a normally dependable writer finding himself unable to complete a script because of personal circumstances. A crew was assigned and shooting was getting very close, so the producer and script editor had to step in, rework the scripts such as they were over the course of a weekend (hosed down with whisky and black coffee, so the legend goes). That story - a combination of the work of all three men - turned out to be City of Death, a fan favourite and still the highest-rated episode in the show's history. Score one for personal circumstances.

And I was lying anyway about doing absolutely no writing. Of course, I had to write a speech for the wedding. I mention this, because I was dreading it. I put it off for ages. Maybe this was writer's block, but I don't really believe in writer's block. I did the usual thing of staring at a piece of blank paper almost until my forehead started bleeding. But I couldn't think of anything. Do you know what I did in the end? I wrote it. Just put finger to keypad and got it out of my system; it took less than an hour. And on the day, it went down a storm and people were congratulating me for the rest of the evening. I felt like a writer again.

So, I feel good for my break, as if I'm getting some perspective. I stood atop the tower and looked down, I walked along the rim of the volcano and did my dance. Now, I return home with the elixir, etc, etc. Time to do some writing again. It seems apposite to be publishing this on the 31st August; September traditionally marks the start of a new school term. I'm on the cusp of phase 2 of my (so-called) career. It's going to be fun...

Two

Oh, I missed my blog's second birthday.

It's now two years and a couple of weeks since I started this venture (it seems like longer - that's what you're thinking, isn't it? Isn't it, hmm?!). That also means it's just been the blogaversary of Jason Arnopp and Helen Smith (we are blog triplets, you know) and they didn't really celebrate either. We all must be busy.

I'm not going to review the goals I set myself back then, as I haven't really achieved any of them (but I've had a hell of a lot of fun not doing any of that stuff).

Here, though, if you're interested, is a link to how I marked the occasion last year: 'One Year On'

And here's the very first post I ever made, two years (and a bit) ago: 'The Church of the Latter-day Bloggers…' Ah, memories.

Memories, like the corners of my... um... thing... wispy water-coloured, erm, how's the rest of that song go?

Three figures high and rising...

Just spotted that the 'Song Meme (sort of)' post was my one-hundredth blog entry. Hurrah! I have reached treble figures, and it only took just over a year and a half of blog life. That's an average of about five posts a month, more than one a week. I always thought my "he never posts" reputation was unjustified. Still, my new year's resolution will definitely be to post more and get that average up; I did say that last year too, though.

(Slightly amusing story: the other night, when I went to the writers' drinkies, photographed and documented so well by Sir Jason here, I met a fellow writer-and-blogger for the first time. She complimented me on my blog, adding that she thought it was wonderful that I was always writing so often about all the interesting things I was doing. A few eyebrows were raised around the table at this, including my own. But I took my praise - one never knows, after all, when it might come again. Turns out, I had been mistaken for David Bishop. To be fair, I was sat down, so the pointiness of my shoes, or otherwise, was not apparent. Then she placed me, and reassured me that my blog was good also. "...But you hardly ever post," she finally added. Oh well.)

Anyway, had a small confidence boost on Friday, when I got another 'Invite Next' from the BBC Writers' Room after sending them a feature script as an example of my work. I'm going to write and muse, and muse and write, about what to send them next, over my Christmas break.

FYI

My replacement desktop is ordered and being built - I'm due to get a delivery date by the end of the week. And, thanks to the blatant advertising on Paul Campbell's blog, I have succumbed and got myself a netbook too (but I decided on the Samsung NC10, Mmmm - lovely!), which should be sent to me on November 1st. It'll be a race to see which gets here first, but whichever it is, I should be returning full time to the Blogosphere very soon.

I've missed you all, dammit!

A Voice from Beyond the Grave (Well, the New Forest Actually)

I've only just realised that blogger has a facility where you can post-date a blog entry, and have it automatically populate on a particular day and at a particular time. Woo, and as is custom, hoo!

So, I'm writing this minutes before I get in the car to go off for a break in the New Forest (I'd love to pretend I'm staying in Autumnal England for carbon footprint reasons, but alas it's only because I still haven't got round to getting the little 'un a passport).  But, if all goes well, you'll be seeing this on Thursday midway through my break.  Ain't technology wonderful.

I'm sure I'm enjoying myself, and I hope you are too.  Only a day or two left to get that Red Planet application off: good luck!

See you in October!

A post a day...

As I am often criticised (in a friendly manner, mind) by my blog-o-peers for the somewhat sporadic nature of my posting, I set myself a challenge recently to do a week straight of daily posts, without skimping too much on content. Hooray! I managed it. Well, you can make up your own mind about the content: without days and weeks to ponder, I do tend to rant on occasion, apologies for that.

The interesting thing about this is that I have done more and more focused writing during the week I was strenuously blogging than I have for a while previously. It might well be coincidence, or something to do with having a birthday, but I seem to have upped my game a little. Does this mean that I can't use being busy as an excuse anymore? Well, no...

As I'm doing a script report on two Red Planet entries, brainstorming some ideas for 'Santa Baby' and continuing my work on 'Life Support' I am going to revert to posting every couple of days. But please feel free to drive by and blog-o-insult me if it all gets too quiet round here again.

One Year On

Just over a year ago, I went to a Writers' Guild event about blogging, and became a convert. Of the crop of blogs that rose up after that event, I'm only aware of Helen Smith's and mine that have survived - but please feel free to post a comment if you were there, and are still posting, I'd love to hear from you. Helen has written a lovely post about her blog birthday, and also a perceptive article for the Guild, which she links to from that page.

I agree with Helen: the best part of blogging is that it has allowed me to meet so many other writers. Not many producers, but a lot of writers; though, one producer who had got my name from Screen South, but had dismissed me as not mature enough for her project because she thought that 'new screenwriter' equated to 'fourteen years old', did give me an interview after seeing a picture on this blog of grizzled old me, with my baby son. I still didn't get the gig, though.

I'm only aware of that one direct job opportunity, but the indirect benefits are massive: the confidence boost of turning up to do some networking knowing there will be a friendly face or two in the crowd, should not be underestimated. The advanced warning of schemes, comps and events; the useful information of the craft expounded by other bloggers; the crystallising of thoughts on my own approach by posting about my own writing; the availability of a willing group of peer reviewers; all these are wonderful things. Praise be to the Blog! And happy birthday to this one.

It seems a good time to revisit the goals I set myself in April last year, and see how I've got on. Here goes:

1. Get into the imdb. Nope - still not there, but now that the sound issues with 'Lent' are dealt with, and hoping it gets some decent distribution, I should be able to get my name in there soon.

2. Get another of my short film scripts produced. A couple of possibilities are still ongoing.

3. Get an agent. Haven't even tried, to be honest. I'm hoping by building up a portfolio of scripts, and getting more commissioned and produced work, that I'll be in a stronger position to approach some agents later on.

4. Get an afternoon play commissioned for Radio 4.No commissions, but some good scripts written in the last year, and some possible leads with producers.

5. Apply to the BBC Writer’s Academy.Applied. Didn't get in. Applying again this year.

6. Write an episode of Doctors. Nope, though I am writing more one-off thirty minute dramas, to learn, and to use as examples of my work.

So, lots of work still to do. If only I'd added 'Get commissioned to write a feature script', I could have ticked one off. I shall add one to the list:

7. Get more commissions to write feature scripts.

And I'll report back on progress in another year's time*


* I will be posting in between then and now too, of course: I know that should be obvious, but my posting rate recently may have caused some to doubt it!!!

Everything's Gone Green

I've moved to a new colour template, so this place doesn't look identical to James Moran's wonderful blog.

Congratulations...

...to all the bloggers out there who - like me (yay!) - have got through to the next round of the British Short Screenplay Competition. The total entries numbered over 2000, which has now been whittled down to just under 600, and there's a great many screenplays still in there from members of the 'Scribosphere'; this speaks volumes about the talent of screenwriters who blog, as well as the wealth of information and support available to them. My fingers are crossed for everyone in the next round.

Writers' Guild "Meet the Agents" Event

I'm not going to post a detailed write-up of this event, as the Guild have put up their own here. But it was my pleasure to meet, or bump into, many a blogger there: potdoll, Lianne, Daniel Alexander, Frances Lynn, and Martin Adams - who doesn't yet have a blog despite many of the others on that list, and me, hassling him to start one up (you know it makes sense, Martin!).

The article quotes some statistics near the end about numbers of new writers getting taken on by each of the four agents in any given year, and they do seem a bit depressing (the statistics, not the agents); but, the main thing I took away from the night was: to get representation, one needs to work and work to make one's script as good as it can be. And that, of course, is what one needs to do to get it made too.

Script Development event, Lighthouse, Brighton

Attended this useful event last night. A full report will be up as soon as I can find a few moments to decipher my notes. I met the very talented Jason Arnopp there, who will also be writing it up, and I'm sure that between us we'll get everything of interest down.

That was the first time I've met someone who I'm already familiar with from their blog. Praise be to blogging, it makes networking so much easier when you know there's at least one friendly face in the crowd at an event. I hope to meet many more of you guys when I go to things. Talking of which:

A head's up. Raindance - who provide training, and run an independent film festival - are having an open day next Tuesday (15th) in London. Details on their website here. It looks very likely I shall be going, I'm just juggling meetings at the moment.

Early Adopters, and Other Animals

Tom Smith, who talked passionately at the Website event on Thursday (see below), has graciously taken it upon himself, further demonstrating the possibilities out there in blogland, to create an instant online community for the writers who attended. Converts have been emailing him the details of their new blogs, and he’s adding them to a links page, here: uncrushed diaries.

His email revealed that I was one of the first five to contact him, and he dubbed me an “early adopter”. I’d love that to be true, but I could have been here so much earlier. In 2004, I remember finding out about blogs for the first time. I was unsure of their worth then, but the idea tempted me.

My Day Job is in IT, and involves almost 100% web-based technologies; nevertheless, I’m a Luddite. This is not as unusual as you might think; many, many good and hard-working colleagues I’ve served with in technology jobs hate technology. I turned to one of these fellows on that day, and said “I’m trying to be a writer, maybe I should start a blog.” He looked at me a little sadly, and said “No – no one cares”. It did seem odd to write entry after entry about how I hadn’t got a gig yet, so that was the end of that for meek old me.

Now, years after I first started taking the screenwriting seriously – I’m certainly not an early adopter in this field (but wouldn’t it be nice to be an overnight success?!) – I’ve reached my first professional credit. In all that time, I’ve read the gurus and practitioners’ handbooks, done a lot of the courses, and joined various groups. I’ve even stopped being such a wallflower when it comes to networking. But just with a few clicks from the links page, I’ve found out there’s so much more to know. And I’ve found out more about some of the writers in attendance on Thursday than I possibly could have while chatting over the wine and nibbles provided.

And even if my ramblings here don’t prove useful, at least I can provide a route to any other interesting blogs and sites I find. And I can read about all those people trying for the same things I’m trying for, and going through the same things I’m going through. No one cares? Pah! Rubbish.

The Church of the Latter-day Bloggers…

...otherwise known as the Writers' Guild of Great Britain’s ‘Websites for Writers’ event at the Guild building in King’s Cross, was where I went last night. I was pleasantly subjected there to evangelical zeal from a panel of writers who blog, and want everyone else to blog too. Caught up in as much of a fervour as it is possible to generate in a group of shy British writers, I thrust my hand up amongst a forest of others in answer to the question “Will you go home and create your own blog tonight?” “Yes, YES! I have seen the light – yessir, I will!”

I didn’t, of course: I waited until the morning when I’d be a bit more coherent. It’s already reached the afternoon, and I have been avoiding any work on the spec radio play I’m supposed to be doing, and instead have been tinkering and tweaking my new toy.

Most of all, I have been reading: reading as many other blogs as I can, including those by last night’s panel: Danny Stack, a UK scriptwriter and reader, whose blog is one of the most useful resources I’ve encountered for a UK-based writer; Tom Green, who edits the magnificent Guild blog; Sophie Nicholls, a poet, who coordinates Lots of Big Ideas, a fascinating blog and wiki for asylum seekers and refugees to share their stories; and, Tom Smith of everythingability.com who helps people – and writers - build better websites.

It occurred to me even before the panel had finished that the last thing I needed, being an undisciplined sort, was another displacement activity. But it’s been amazingly useful already to read some of the insightful material that screenwriters, and others, are putting out there. And every one you read links to twenty more.

Just like all the aimless web surfing I do when trying to prepare for the slog of putting words on paper, it might just spark off a creative idea or two. Just like the day job that gives me money as I press up, unpaid, against the outer forcefield wall of the 'industry', it might sustain me for a while. Just like my wonderful nine-month old son, keeping this blog might just inspire me. So, I am going to embrace my displacement activities and write about them here. I hope you find them, and I hope you find them useful.