A Struggling Writer writes...

TABLE FOR TWO? reaches Fresh Voices quarter-finals

2012-01-25T16:40:00.001+11:00

So I've been busy trying to get back into writing my rom-com. I'm 45 pages into it. Not as far as I would have liked to have been by this stage, but it's a tough gig getting back into the story after an extended break and matching the treatment with the producer notes. Plus its a complicated story. But anyway, on the positive side, I'm forging ahead and am over a third of the way there.

But the welcome news today is that TABLE FOR TWO? has reached the quarter-finals of the Fresh Voices Screenwriting Competition. Fingers crossed it can go further.

Good luck to my friend, Gordon Slater this weekend. Gordon starred as Keithy McPhail in 2 x 3, and this weekend he's shooting his short, 'Plastic Fantastic', in Edinburgh. Break a leg, Gogs!

2012: a make or break year???

2012-01-09T18:04:00.001+11:00

OMG! It's the 9 January already and I've only just (about) recovered from the Christmas and New Year festivities.

Now the real work starts. And I somehow have the feeling that 2012 is going to be a big year, a defining year in terms of my writing adventure.

First up is to get on and finish the first draft of 'DeCodeMe' as this is my first commission as a screenwriter. But I also want to write a stage play, revisit my two completed screenplays, write another screenplay and pick up (or rather restart) my novel. And who knows, maybe I'll get behind the camera again this year and direct a short.

The only thing of note to report that's happened over the festive period is that TABLE FOR TWO? reached the quarter-finals of the 2011 Champion Screenwriting Competition. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it makes it into the semis.

Oh, and I got an interesting review of my short film, HEART ATTACK, on Kevin Spacey's Triggerstreet under the heading 'Self Aware Parody or Soft Porn?' ('high kink' not 'soft porn', surely!). Anyway, the review says: "Writer/Director Warren Paul Glover brilliantly straddles the world of porn and parody in this "romantic" comedy about a mortician's attempt at balancing his profession and desire. Hilarious comic performances propel this comedy as the female cardiologist with romantic designs on a mortician, are kept at bay by a mortician's overwhelming connection to his "body" of work. In the end, for the main character at least, the body has more of a drawl than the heart." What to make of that...it's pretty positive (I think!), so maybe I should get behind the camera again this year...

What I do what to do this year is to make some progress migrating this blog, which is a bit cumbersome to maintain, over to my new webpage: http://www.wazman01.com/. I hope you'll follow me over and I wish everyone a happy, healthy and succcessful year.

Luck's Ran Out scores runner-up spot in the 2011 Writers' Block International Writing Competition

2011-11-29T12:43:00.000+11:00

Got some good news today. LUCK'S RAN OUT (my 2010 Screenwriter Showcase winning script) came runner-up in the 2011 Writers' Block International Writing Competition. I'm both delighted and gutted. Delighted to have placed so highly out of over 600 entrants; gutted to have missed out on the $1,000 prize money! But still, good news that this script has again reached the higher echelons of a screenplay competition.

This means that this script has placed highly in eight screenwriting contests, as well as being granted a 'CONSIDER' by Extreme Screenwriting and CoverScript.com coverage services:

* Runner-up: 2011 Writers' Block International Writing Competition

* Quarter-finalist: 2011 PAGE International Screenwriting Awards

* Semi-finalist: WriteMovies International Screenwriting Contest 27 (2011)

* Quarter-finalist 15th Fade In Awards (2011)

* Emerging Screenwriter screenwriting contest Top 100 (2011)

* Semi-finalist: 2011 Golden Age of TV short screenplay competition

** Winner - Screenwriter Showcase 2010 Screenwriting Contest (feature)

* Semi-finalist: 2010 PAGE International Screenwriting Awards (short)

Still haven't been able to find it a home, but perhaps coming runner-up in the Writers' Block contest will increase the script's exposure and convince a producer to option it (I did turn down one option agreement for this script - the only one I've received - from a Portuguese production company, because they didn't want to offer any money for it, ie they wanted it for free).

This placing has given me a boost. Just the shot in the arm I need to get me back in the mood to start tackling the script for 'DeCodeMe', which I've been finding difficult to get into.

Can I cut it?

2011-11-27T22:56:00.000+11:00

Got news today that TABLE FOR TWO? has made the semi-finals of the 5th Annual Story Pros International Screenwriting Contest, which equates to the top 15% of entries. Fingers crossed it can make it the cut for the finalists...

We had a few friends round for dinner last night and they asked what was I working on, so I told them about 'DeCodeMe'. Some interesting reactions. Mostly the response being that it was quite ambitious and challenging for a rom-com and that I'd have to work hard to convince the audience. Got quite a task on my hands then, according to this vox pops. And this hard work starts tomorrow when I really need to knuckle down and get going on the script. I think I'm really going to find out whether I can cut it as a professional screenwriter with this project.

In a hole. Must get myself out.

2011-11-23T17:09:00.000+11:00

So it's been two weeks since my producer signed off on my treatment for 'DeCodeMe' and, as yet, I haven't written anything. I think I'm too scared to dive in because of the pressure!!! To be fair, I've had a few other things to do but I have been prevaricating. Time to stop and jump right in now though.

In better news, TABLE FOR TWO? has made the cut for the quarter-finals of the 5th Annual Story Pros International Screenwriting Competition and IN A HOLE is getting good reviews on Circalit. And DARK ANGELS is now up on IMDb.

Right, I must make myself start writing 'DeCodeMe'. The script's not going to write itself. Time to climb out of my hole and get to it.

It's not Casablanca or Citizen Kane but...

2011-11-17T10:59:00.001+11:00

I got some feedback on my dramedy feature script, TABLE FOR TWO?, from the 2011 Fresh Voices Screenplay Competition this morning. I won't know whether I've made it into the quarter-finals with this script until January, but they scored me 138 out of 160, which if my maths is right equates to around 86%, which is not bad.

Here's some of what they had to say:

"Hello Warren. I had a lot of fun with this. Much like the occasional big Hollywood blockbuster, it’s always refreshing to see someone take pulp as far as it can go. This is a tangled web of deceit, backstabbing, illegality and plain old soap opera style the-child-isn’t-yours sensational plot twists. It should feel pointless, and in a way it is, but it’s written very well and the plot twists are so well paced and so surprising that it elevates the material. It might be soap-style melodrama, but it’s damn good soap-style melodrama."

The judge then makes a couple of observations which I think are very interesting and will prove useful when I come to rewrite the script (it's currently on Draft 4). One of the things that I'll need to analyse is the comment that:

"The structure of your story doesn’t quite fit standard conventions. But the structure does sort of work for your story. However, I can see a studio reader mistaking its unorthodox structure as a failure to obey the rules, and dismiss the script for that reason. I’m a little hesitant to suggest you change your structure to a more obvious 3-act structure, but I do think you should be aware that this could be a hurdle in future. But these are more nitpicks than criticisms. This is a well written screenplay that, although doesn’t aim to be a Casablanca or Citizen Kane, succeeds on every level that it attempts to. Great job!"

I'll have to take another look at the structure. This is the same script that got a RECOMMEND from Extreme Screenwriting coverage, and no comment was made about structure there. But as I've learned, there's no limit to better in this game so I will take another look at it. But this will be next year now as I have to start writing DeCodeMe (I must get a move on, I know).

In other news, TABLE FOR TWO? - yes, we're still talking about the same script - reached the Semi-finals of the Gimme Credit International Screenwriting Contest. Shame it didn't quite make the cut as a finalist but you can't win them all.

And speaking of winning scripts, LUCK'S RAN OUT (my 2010 Screenwriter Showcase first prize script), only made the Second Round of the MovieScript Golden Brads screenwriting contest. This is another script I'll have to revisit for a rewrite next year. I thought there might be more producer interest in this after it won the Showcase and I rejected an option agreement from a film company in Portugal, but not a sniff since. Surely there must be some producer out there who wants a good, gritty drama that tackles contemporary issues?

In my last post I talked about how I was meeting up with my old playwriting course colleagues to go see Sprout. Well, it was shit, and we all thought so. We also thought we could all do better. Let's hope we can and that at least one of us (preferably all of us) can get a play staged.

Right, my next writing task is to start writing the script for DeCodeMe. Wish me luck. There's a lot riding on this one.

DeCodeMe Gets the Green Light!

2011-11-10T16:46:00.000+11:00

So it was great fun catching up with my playwriting pals from my playwriting course last night. We went to the Old Fitzroy pub, which has a theatre attached, and we've all decided to go watch the play, Sprout, next week. And we also conspired to commit to writing a short play by mid-January. We all wrote one word down on a piece of paper, folded the paper then took a lucky dip. The word we got is to be the theme of the play. So I'll see how I go on that one...

The big news though is that after my long telephone call with Deborah Kol yesterday, I've now got the green light to start writing the script for 'DeCodeMe'. We've talked the treatment to death (although I think Deborah wanted to talk it to death some more - she's very thorough!) so now the pressure's on for me to write a killer script. I'll start that process next week, I think, and aim to get the first draft done by Christmas.

Today I entered PROJECT 629 into a short play competition and also sent it to the White Rabbit Gallery, which focuses on Chinese art and culture. Can't hurt to see if they might be interested in it.

Am off to see God's Ear tonight. One of my playwriting colleagues, Julian Garner, is in it.

Dark Angels finished!

2011-11-09T16:38:00.000+11:00

The big news this week is that my collaborator, David Raynor, has finished editing DARK ANGELS and it's been submitted to the Berlin and Byron Bay International Film Festivals. Well done Dave! It's taken a while to put it together and hopefully it can do one better than HEART ATTACK and actually get accepted. Fingers crossed!

In other news....I had a big conversation with Deborah Kol, my producer on DeCodeMe, yesterday, regarding the treatment. We got about half way through it so are scheduled to go through the rest today. All-in-all, the feedback has been pretty good from Deborah's industry contacts. Some tweaking and finessing to be done, for sure, but hopefully we'll get there.

The scripts that were recently shortlisted for various competitions, 2 x 3, TABLE FOR TWO? and IN A HOLE, didn't win, but still good to get shortlisted. THE DROWNED MAN has made it to the 2nd round of the British Short Screenplay Competition, so pretty pleased with that. And PERFORMANCE HEART has been getting more interest on InkTip.

Tonight I'm meeting up with my playwriting class mates. I'm going to submit PROJECT 629 to a playwriting contest, the deadline for which is this weekend.

A Gripe at the Griffin

2011-10-24T17:03:00.000+11:00

I've been away on hols for a week in Byron Bay, about a nine-hour drive north of Sydney. It was a great road trip and a relaxing holiday, and I didn't do one bit of writing. I did, however, do some research for 'DeCodeMe', and I'll have to read through my producer's notes on the treatment soon so I can get back into it.

One of the things I was looking forward to when I got back was the result of the script read of my short play, 'Project 629'. I told my playwriting tutor that I was going to miss the last class (as did one other writer), but I handed in my play with the understanding that it would be read by actors and videotaped, thus giving me an important opportunity to watch it analytically and see where I could improve it and tighten it up. So I was very disappointed to receive an email when I got back saying 'Sorry, yours wasn't recorded'. With no explanation given other than I wasn't in attendance and they ran out of time, I feel a bit hard done by, and I've told my tutor so via a frank exchange of emails. But what can I do about it now? I have considered making a complaint to the Griffin Theatre, on the basis that I paid my course fees like everyone else, only to be the sole person not to have had their play read and recorded. But although I feel aggrieved, I'm not going to do that. There seems little point as its a cliquey industry and I'll only damage any chances I have of forging relationships and opportunities in the future. So I'll just have to put it down to either incompetence or unprofessionalism on the part of my tutor (is it so hard to allocate an equal amount of time for each play to be read and recorded?). Maybe it's a cultural thing. Anyway, it's nothing personal against my tutor, but it seems very unfair to be the only writer not having their work recorded.

But moving on, the short story version of the first draft of Project 629 got shortlisted for the autumn Meridian Writing short story contest but it didn't make the top three. Which is ok. I'm still pleased it made the shortlist.

I also found out when I got back to Sydney that I'd qualified for the last 100 of the NYC Midnight Flash Fiction Contest. My second story in the first round of challenges, 'Fishlips', scored enough points to land me the third placed slot in my group (the top five went through to the next round). So this morning I wrote my second round challenge, which had to be a fantasy story set at an alcoholics anonymous meeting involving a baseball bat. I was supposed to have the whole weekend to do this but its been a busy weekend being back home so I bashed it out in two hours this morning. Fingers crossed it's good enough, but I can't really complain if it isn't as I didn't spend that much time on it.

In other news, my short script, IN A HOLE, has been shortlisted for the Circalit/Gabriel Bisset-Smith screenplay competition.

'Project 629' shortlisted

2011-10-09T22:26:00.002+11:00

I'm half-way through the second draft of my short play, 'Project 629', which has to be handed in to my playwriting tutor on Wednesday. The play is about the real life Project 629 development in Beijing, where thousands of people are being relocated from their homes to make way for a top secret government initiative.

My first draft had a mixed response from my playwriting class - good opening but the dialogue was too formal and the ending should have come sooner. When writing the first draft I had to squeeze every line out, so it was hard going. The reason for this, I think, was that I could see many lines of conflict for the main character but it was a challenge to pick one to focus on yet allude to the others in a short ten-minute play. So to overcome this I wrote it out as a short story, which I thought would give me the scope to explore and develop the various plot lines.

And that short story has just been shortlisted for the Meridian Writing autumn short story contest. With the second draft of the play I've rearranged things a bit and am trying to run several storylines. I've got a couple of days to finish it off, and it should make the play better, but I'm still very pleased that my prose version of the first draft has been shortlisted for the short story contest. Shows that my original idea had some legs after all, even if my playwriting class thought it should go in a different direction.

In other news, the Sydney producer who requested a read of TABLE FOR TWO? thought my writing style was good but the story wasn't their thing. But they have been kind enough to forward the script to a US producer. I've been in this game long enough now to know not to get excited, but fingers crossed all the same.

Tale Wagging

2011-10-04T17:40:00.003+11:00

A couple of pieces of good news today. LUCK'S RAN OUT, my 2010 Screenwriter Showcase winning dramatic feature script, has made it into the first round of the Movie Script Golden Brads awards. I've also managed to get TABLE FOR TWO? into the hands of a Sydney producer, on the back of the 'RECOMMEND' it received from Extreme Screenwriting coverage. I'm not holding out high hopes, but its good to get a producer interested enough to read it.

I also got word today that Ether Books are going to publish four of my short stories for download to iPhone. The stories are 'The Book of the Damned' (2010 Fearie Tales winner, previously read out at the Winter Words Literary Festival in Pitlochry, Scotland, and first published by The Dark Fiction Spotlight); 'Captive' (longlisted for the 2010 Fish Short Story Prize); 'Daddy's Secrets' and 'Blood Diamond', a historical fiction set during the Boer War. These will join 'Escaping to Venus' as stories of mine that you can download for your iPhone (Blackberry next year according to Ether).

The main thing on the agenda for this week is the second draft of my short play, 'Project 629'. I've got a few other projects I want to try and progress but I doubt whether I will as we bought a dog at the weekend and as he's only a puppy he's a right handful. A good friend of mine has suggested keeping a 'dog walk diary', which she advises will supply me with enough material for a novel! Great idea but it's going to be at least another five weeks before Monty's allowed to go for walks outside as he hasn't had all his vaccinations yet. I wonder how much writing I'll get done in the next five weeks...

Project Pants

2011-09-29T10:35:00.002+10:00

So I had to read the first draft of my short play, 'Project 629', at my playwriting class last night. And I was the last to go after all these other wonderful readings of awesome plays by my fellow aspiring playwrights. Mine was pants.

The feedback was that the opening was good, it was quite atmospheric, but the ending was misplaced and the dialogue too formal and offputting, making it hard to relate to the characters. I wasn't really surprised by the feedback, as I'd wondered about these points myself.

Re: the ending, it was suggested that I end the play earlier but I deliberately chose not to end on a tragic note (which is where my tutor thought the play should end) and added in a more uplifting twist. The feedback on the dialogue I recognise. The play is set in China but I don't know any Chinese people so my attempt at creating an unconventional living environment half stuck in the past obviously didn't convince (I clearly didn't listen to the advice 'write what you know'). This is a bit disappointing as my flair for dialogue has been commented on several times in feedback on my screenplays and was one of the motivations for taking the playwriting course, as I thought I might be more suited to writing plays than screenplays. The early evidence, however, suggests this is not the case.

So its back to the drawing board for a rewrite. Hemmingway said the first draft of anything is always shit. I don't necessarily agree, but I have two weeks until the second draft is due. Maybe I should have chosen an easier story, but I wanted to be stretched doing this course and this rewrite will certainly do that...

Fingers Crossed for Fishlips

2011-09-25T19:47:00.000+10:00

So my second Round One challenge of the NYC Midnight Flash Fiction Challenge was to write a 1,000 word comedy story set in a greenhouse involving a goldfish. I wrote my story, 'Fishlips', over a couple of hours yesterday so I hope I score enough points to get me into Round Two.

In other news, on Friday I got the following message from Circalit:

"Congratulations! Your project has been shortlisted for the Story Department Competition on Circalit. You have won a copy of the Writer's Development Kit and the Screenplay Checklist, plus The Story Department will publish a review of your logline by their panel of experts later in the year."

It turns out that two of my scripts, 2 x 3 and TABLE FOR TWO?, have been shortlisted.

And yesterday I found out that I made the qualifiers for the British Short Screenplay Competition with THE DROWNED MAN. I've made the qualifiers of this short screenplay competition before with LUCK'S RAN OUT, MOVING HEAVEN & EARTH and PERFORMANCE HEART, but failed to get any further. I'm not optimistic about progressing with this script either, but still good to make the qualifiers.

Also yesterday I had a Skype chat with the extremely talented and wonderful Dhalia Hafez, director of my short script A MAN TRIES TO GET BACK IN. We discussed the couple of projects we've got in the pipeline. You can see some behind-the-scenes footage of A MAN here.

Today I've been working on the 'Project 629' story, which will be both a short story and a short play. Got a lot to do on this before I hand it in to my playwriting tutor, Hillary Bell, at Wednesday's playwriting class. But before that, on Tuesday I'm off to see Smashed.

The Write Time

2011-09-23T18:01:00.001+10:00

I'm back in Sydney now after a glorious week down in Victoria. Was in Melbourne first for producer meetings and a friend's 40th, then went down to the Mornington Peninsula and did a vineyard crawl over two days, staying in a lovely retreat with a roaring fire and a fluffy cat. Bliss!

In Melbourne I met up with Deborah Kol, my producer for DeCodeMe, to discuss the treatment. She's put it out for consultation amongst a few industry contacts and it'll be another couple of weeks before I get notes, but her initial reaction was favourable. We discussed a few points which could do with a finesse, but by-and-large she was happy with it. We'll just have to see how the notes come back.

I also met up with my DARK ANGELS collaborator, David Raynor, and we had a good night out. David's finishing off the short and we talked about the possible feature version.

I also met up with Julia Harari, which is always a pleasure, and had a gas about playwriting and other writing/acting/directing-related stuff.

But now I'm back in Sydney I need to pull my finger out and get back into the writing big time. I had my playwriting course on Wednesday where half the class read out their first drafts of their ten minute plays. I have to say they were excellent. So no pressure on me in wave two next week when I get to read out mine.

Of course, I haven't written it yet. I wrote a couple of pages whilst at the retreat in the Mornington, but I'm not real happy with it. With a couple of short story competitions coming up what I thought I might do is write it out as a story, which would give me the chance to explore the many different threads to the idea, then hone the short play down from that. But this weekend is also the second challenge of the NYC Midnight Flash Fiction Challenge (more anon), so I'm not sure I'll have the time to do that. But, although I feel a little bit of pressure to write something gobsmackingly wonderful for next week's class, I'm not too panicked. When I went to the gym today and as I was pounding the treadmill, I figured out where I'm going with the plot of the short play. In the changing room afterwards I was writing down my thoughts so I wouldn't forget and some guy asked me what was I doing, so I told him I was writing my last will and testament. Good idea, he said as he looked at my red face...

But, back to the NYC Midnight Flash Fiction Challenge. The results of the first round challenge one were posted today and I am pleased to say I ran in third in my group. My group's challenge was to write a 1,000 word story, in the fantasy genre, involving a public library and a remote control. So with the first round second challenge this weekend (I find out tomorrow afternoon what my theme will be) I have twenty points thanks to my story, 'Lonem the Librarian'. Theoretically this should put me in a good position to qualify for round two, but I was in this position last time I entered (in third place after the first challenge) but just failed to make the cut to the second round. So I need to make sure I rack up enough points with my second story.

So, lots to write this weekend. And I hope I can do justice to my short play idea.

I've also been trying to work out how to create my new website this week but am finding it tricky. So progress on that will be slow. I need to lose the 'Struggling Writer' tag if I'm to position myself in a more favourable light, hence my need for a new website.

Oh, and found out some pleasing news too about a friend of a friend I tried to help out before I left for Melbourne. A TV producer/director in London, he was in Sydney for a MTV shoot and I put him in contact with a few people who came up trumps, with Erin Black providing the burlesque performance and Donna King hosting. Shame I missed it.

Mel-bound!

2011-09-14T00:04:00.006+10:00

I wrote a short film script this week called 'FATHER'S DAY'. It's about a dead beat dad who cons his way back into his mother-in-law's affections so he can spend more time with his son. The inspiration for this came out of a writing exercise I did on my playwriting course last week. I had the idea and the dialogue pretty much all laid out, so I thought I'd turn it into a short, post it up on the screenwriting websites and see what sort of reaction, if any, it would get.

And so far its got two favourable reactions. One reviewer on Circalit gave it 4 stars out of 5, saying "A very well written piece, practically flawless in its production. Dialogue, scene setting and action lines did so much to make it all so very fluent and smooth. Characters bounced off the page right at you and were one moment so endearing and next minute they were the bad guy." And on Talentville, some guy called Mark Keller was kind enough to offer a very intelligent and thoughtful review that was actually longer than the script and very positive about further possibilities for the story.

Also this week I've been reading a couple of Alan Bennett's 'Talking Heads', which are quite amusing.

I've also started reading Kurt Vonnegut's 'Cat's Cradle', rather behind schedule as this is something Dhalia (the very talented director of A MAN TRIES TO GET BACK IN) wanted me to read.

Tomorrow I have my playwriting course, so I'll be working on my short play, 'PROJECT 629', during the day.

And then on Friday I'm heading off down to Melbourne to see my two producers, Deborah and David (DeCodeMe and DARK ANGELS respectively). David tells me he's going to approach Film Victoria for assistance and finance to help fund the feature script (ie me) and whatever else they can help with as far as the short, feature and festivals are concerned.

While I'm in Melbourne I'm also going to be catching up with the delightful Julia Harari.

So, for the rest of the week the forecast is looking good. I hope it is for you too.

Play Time

2011-09-09T09:21:00.000+10:00

My playwriting tutor, Hilary Bell, thought my idea for the ten-minute play we have to write for the course had legs. There was just time at the end of our class this week to listen to somebody's homework, which was to peruse the papers and pick a news item that could make a play and then give an outline. And Hilary picked on me. I chose an article in the Financial Times about evictions and forced displacement to make room for urban development in Beijing. I think its going to be a hard one to tackle in just ten minutes, and Hilary was of the view that there was enough material in what I sketched out to make a full-length play. We have to decide by next week which idea we're going to go with, based on either the writing exercises we've been doing in class, our homework assignments or any other idea. I've settled on this one.

I had a good chat with my sister-in-law yesterday about my writing. As you probably know, I've been a bit despondent recently after the heady success of gaining a 'RECOMMEND' for TABLE FOR TWO? from Extreme Screenwriting was followed by a 'PASS' from a different coverage company. Anyway, I was given a good pep talk and told to keep going and don't give up (which is what my wife says too). So, starting from today, I'm putting all that negativity behind me and am going to dig deep and soldier on. The challenge is to decide what to tackle next (apart from my playwriting homework, that is).

I've got a couple of short play ideas, a full-length play idea, a couple of short screenplay ideas, there's the abandoned novel festering in the corner of my mind and there are a few short story competitions coming up too. So lots to think about and get stuck in to.

In other news, got another 'thanks, but no thanks' from a production company to my query email regarding LUCK'S RAN OUT and TABLE FOR TWO? I also got a message via the Talent & Production website from a South African producer sounding me out for a project, but the email address and the IMDb profile he gave were bogus, so I'm not sure what the story is there. I also emailed David Raynor, my collaborator on and the director of the short film DARK ANGELS, to ask what could he offer me payment-wise for the feature version that we've been talking about and on which I've already done some work fleshing out the synopsis. It all's gone quiet from David, so he's either busy rounding up a package he can put to me or he's speechless with rage that I've indicated that I can't write the feature script for nothing. We'll see soon enough. And speaking of Melbourne producers, I still haven't heard from Deborah her views of my treatment for 'DeCodeMe'. That's probably still out for consultation but I'll chase that up soon (I'm in Melbourne next week anyway).

And lastly, I'm thinking of creating a different website, actually a replacement for this one, to showcase myself a bit better. The functionality on Blogger isn't great and I think this site is getting a bit too messy. I'm currently experimenting with Wix, but if anyone has any views on which website host I should use, please let me know. Cheers.

For National Poetry Week: Aussie Wife

2011-09-07T15:37:00.001+10:00

It's National Poetry Week here in Australia so in honour of this, here's one I penned earlier for my marvellous missus, Simone:

Aussie Wife

She sports them like a badge of honour
They are the flag under which she sails
She is anchored to her country
By her roots, come tooth and nail

She wears them comfortably, through day or through night
And they come in many colours,
Plain black, sequined gold,
From practical to very bold

They are scattered round our bedroom
Like landmines
Tripped over them have I
How many times?

They are the casual expression
Of her country’s laid back nature
For what’s wrong with wearing thongs
To restaurants by the river?

She’s a woman for all seasons
A serious multi-tasker
But which footwear would she prefer to wear?
Well, why don’t you go and ask her?

Click clack front and back
And slip slap on the lotion
She’s fair dinkum Aussie mate
Her smile’s as wide as the ocean

She’s a party girl that likes her fun
She never, ever stops
And that’s why I love her so
Her and her flip flops

No poetry prizes for that one, perhaps, but a bit of fun. I haven't written any poetry for ages now, actually, although I have had some success with a few published (In Dreams, The Mountain, The New History Teacher, And Roared for Hours at the Shining Moon, Edinburgh, Tastes of Blue). I like reading poetry, and writing it too (I should do more). I find it very humbling.

In other news today (not that there's much), Emerging Screenwriters emailed me the Top 100 badge for use here on my blog. You should be able to see it to the top right of the screen. Its nice, but I'd prefer an option agreement and a movie deal...

Anyway, must go do my playwriting homework for my playwriting class tonight. I've got to scan the newspapers for material that could make a short play then write an outline and synopsis.

Giving It Up

2011-09-06T10:32:00.000+10:00

Today is the day it dawned on me that I'm really unlikely to make it as a writer. Sure, I've known that the odds are stacked against you and it takes ten years to be an overnight success, and competition is much fiercer now than its ever been, but by-and-large I've always been optimistic about my ability and my determination to keep going. But I think the optimism's gone and the determination isn't there either.

The reason for this is that after the conflicting coverage notes I got on my two spec scripts (see last post) I bought some more coverage from Industrial Scripts. As both my scripts are set in the UK I thought getting coverage from a UK company as opposed to the US ones would be a good idea and would give me some sort of definitive answer to whether I was on the right track or not.

So imagine my bitter disappointment when the coverage notes came back and the verdict was a 'PASS' on both scripts (I can't quote any details due to a rider in the coverage which says "the comments herein may not be used in any public or private arena to endorse, market or promote projects in any way"). I was really hoping for better so that I could qualify for Industrial Script's Talent Connector service, but that's all gone by the wayside now.

What's really frustrating is that some of the comments about my scripts could equally be applied to other scripts that have made it onto the silver screen. I read the screenplay for Bridesmaids yesterday and it's so riddled with mistakes its untrue. Maybe it was an early draft and I've read on some screenwriting blog that it was rewritten by a proven team of writers but still, how that got anywhere just amazes me. And I watched Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself yesterday too, which I liked but there's no way that that film would escape the criticisms of my own scripts. I don't know, its all just incredibly frustrating!

I'm just over two years into my quest to be a proper (ie paid) writer but I've now come to the (sad but probably inevitable) conclusion that I don't, actually, have what it takes. I'm not disciplined enough or talented enough (I have some talent, yes, but not enough) to go the distance and make a success of it. So, where does that leave me? Well, I'm contracted to write this romantic comedy, DeCodeMe, for independent Melbourne production house, AzureCine, so that will take me to the end of the year. After that I'll start to look for a proper job. I'm not going to give up writing completely, I'll just write part-time whenever I can. But I think I've given this a good go and I'm honest enough to face up to my own failure. I can't keep flogging a dead horse and sometimes you just have to acknowledge that you come up short. Not sure where this leaves me with the DARK ANGELS feature and one or two other projects that others are trying to interest me in. I think I may just have to turn them down. But I have been incredibly privileged to have had the opportunity to pursue my writing dream for two years. So I can be thankful for that, even if the frustration has outweighed the fortune in the final reckoning.

Take Cover (Rage!)

2011-08-31T15:21:00.002+10:00

So I went out and bought myself some more coverage for my feature script TABLE FOR TWO? To recap, this started out as a short story (which recently won 3rd Place in the Sentinel Literary Quarterly short story competition), then I turned it into a short script (which won the 2009 Vibe TV/Writers' International Premier Screen Talent), then a feature script. The earlier farce version of the feature is available on iScript, but I've since turned it into a dramedy and this version earned itself a 'RECOMMEND' from Extreme Screenwriting.

Now, call it intuition (maybe) or just a niggling doubt that the script isn't that good (actually that's bollocks, the story's a gem), or just a desire to get a second opinion, but I took out coverage with ScreenplayCoverage.com and boy, have I been cut down to size! Forget about the 'RECOMMEND' from Extreme, ScreenplayCoverage dealt some pretty heavy blows to my script and, I have to say, my confidence.

Bear in mind both coverage companies are based in the States and TABLE FOR TWO? is set in England (although there's no reason why it can't be transported to America, or here in Australia, or France or anywhere really). But anyway, I got two readers' reports and both of them 'PASSED' on the script. Which just goes to show...

...well, I've no idea, actually. That standards are so different from one coverage company to the next? That it really depends on whether the reader 'gets' your script? That this is art and no two people are going to view it the same way?

Anyway, where Extreme praised my "Great twist! I definitely wasn't expecting this turn of events. A morbid twist that elevates the story from ordinary headed straight to cable to a potential theatrical release", one of the readers from ScreenplayCoverage complained that the twist "comes off as ridiculous to the point that we feel like we’re reading a different story with slightly similar characters."

And there's more. How about this for size? "There is nothing here that’s satisfying, if we’re hoping that the lead protagonist is going to take us anywhere we haven’t been or show us something we haven’t seen. There’s no pay off at the conclusion of the third act for the audience."

Compare this to Extreme's view of the last-but-one page of the screenplay: "No way! Bravo. I shouldn't be, but I'm laughing my ass off. I love this scene."

But it's not just the discrepancy between the two different companies that's so confusing and, frankly, annoyingly frustrating, its the difference of opinion between two readers at the same company. Witness this comment about my characters: "They are all a complete mess of underdevelopment" compared to this: "Fiona is a fantastic character. Not only does she come off as extremely sexy and attractive, but also she’s a woman who, for the most part, knows what she wants and has no issues with going about and getting it. Sure, Fiona comes across as the classic 'man- eater', but your depiction of her runs deeper than that."

But let's not try to dwell on all the negatives too much. At least one of the readers at ScreenplayCoverage had some positive things to say:

"Overall, this is a sophisticated and nuanced piece of writing that, until its final third, effectively portrays the sexual underbelly of middle class office workers and those connected to them in a way that is both darkly humorous and telling. The writing is clearly aimed at adults – you avoid cheap, “easy” humor whenever possible. Nice work!"

and

"The script has an entertaining and often labyrinthine structure, especially when the tangle of relationships becomes complicated, as it does in the second half of your script. The story is structured in such a way that maximum comedic effect is attained by the juxtaposition of key scenes."

and

"Dialogue is perhaps your strongest element. You do a fine job crafting unique and appropriate voices for your characters and filling your dialogue with sly, dry humor."

So, what to do now? Well, I'll sit and stew on the comments for a while before attempting another rewrite. I can see where some of the negative comments are coming from, but where these have been interpreted as negative, the 'RECOMMEND' from Extreme suggests that other readers do 'get' where I was going with the script and what I wanted to achieve. Lots of food for thought, though, certainly, when it comes to doing another rewrite. Not that I can see this happening anytime soon though as I've got the DARK ANGELS feature to think about and the DeCodeMe script to write, once my producer comes back with notes on the treatment.

But tonight I've got my playwriting class, so I'll try and focus on that. Plus I want to translate 2 x 3 to a stage play too. So TABLE FOR TWO? will have to churn over in the subconscious for probably another couple of months before I decide on anything.

I'll tell you what, though. This screenwriting lark is pretty hard sometimes. And with that coverage it feels like I've just paid someone to beat me up!

What a Treat!

2011-08-26T18:06:00.001+10:00

Eleven thousand words and 19 pages later, I emailed the treatment of DeCodeMe to my producer yesterday. Now, after that exercise, which seemed like wading through treacle, I sit and wait for her comments. Of which I expect many as she's very demanding is my producer. But the completed treatment, even if it is only a first draft, signals progress is being made and that I'm closer to writing that script, which is what I can't wait to do.

It was also week two of my playwriting course at the Griffin Theatre this week. Already there's been two drop-outs so it's a small group of nine of us. One of the people who dropped out did so when he realised the course is focused on writing ten minute plays and not full-length ones. I sympathise with this as I didn't realise it was just for very short plays either and I had my sights on at least a one-act play if not a full-length one. But I'm going to stick it out anyway.

In other news, my competition-winning story 'Escaping to Venus' is now no longer free to download from Ether Books, but costs 0.69p (or just over $1 Aussie/US ). If you've got an iPhone, why not download the app and read the story on the bus or on the bog, or wherever you find yourself with a spare few minutes?

Rage on the Page

2011-08-16T22:23:00.002+10:00

"This is film drama at its best!" Really? Wow! What was that? Not my script? Yes! And a PAGE judge said that? Yes! Wow! Congratulations!! Er, no...

The semi-finalists of the PAGE Awards were announced today and, sadly for me, I didn't make it this year. Congratulations to those who did though. Last year the short version of LUCK'S RAN OUT reached the semi-finals, and the judge's feedback suggested that I turn it into a feature script. So I did, but the feature version fell at the quarter-final hurdle. Disappointing yes, as the feature version of LUCK'S RAN OUT has already won one screenwriting competition and placed highly in half-a-dozen others, so I was reasonably optimistic about its chances. But it's not totally a disheartening experience as the judge's feedback contained some positives. And if I'm honest, I recognise the truth of the negatives. There's always room for better, so if I get the chance I'll look at it again for what will be a fourth rewrite. But here's what the PAGE judge said about the feature version of LUCK'S RAN OUT:

"Though I have some specific critiques, I loved this script and was thoroughly absorbed by it. The relationship dynamics between the three primary characters are fascinating and feel very true to life. You have a great command of each scene and how it can reveal characters’ inner life, express theme and evoke emotion. Nothing is dull, even in the story’s very domestic, down-to-earth milieu. This is film drama at its best!

The dialogue here is excellent — characters are truly interacting in a push-and-pull of competing interests, masked desires and latent insecurities. What’s more, their conversations feel like the way people actually communicate rather than seeming stagey or 'on-the-nose.' The dialogue feels extremely naturalistic, and yet it often sparkles with wit and meaning. The characters have strong, distinct voices of their own that are very convincing.

There is an enormous contrast between Terry and Dennis, which is great. I think the Dennis character is closer to pitch-perfect. He’s utterly self-involved and insensitive, but we can understand why people like him and why he does what he does.

This script is an impressive writing sample and with some work could find a home with the producers of domestic dramas, but it’s not a profit-making machine. I’m extremely impressed with your dramatic sensibility, storytelling instincts, and command of character."

Sounds great, doesn't it? And this for a script that only made the quarters (I can't imagine the superlatives for the winner!). So what were the negatives? Well, some of the plot lines in the second act are repetitive (true) and the story drifts a little into melodrama. And the main character doesn't have enough of a redeeming feature to keep the audience caring about him. So, something to think about for the next rewrite, if I get around to it.

Currently though, I'm bogged down in writing the treatment for DeCodeMe. I'm finding this really hard, which is not surprising as when I researched how to write treatments they all say it's really hard. But I need to crack this soon so I can move on to writing the script.

But tomorrow I start my playwriting course, which I'm really looking forward to. It will, of course, mean that I have to do homework and write a play. So I'd better get this treatment sorted soon!! Shit! I've got a lot to do...

Read my competition-winning story, 'Escaping to Venus', on your iPhone

2011-08-12T10:52:00.004+10:00

Ether Books have now published my competition-winning short story, 'Escaping to Venus', via their mobile phone application. If you've got an iPhone, iPad or iPod you can download the story and read it whilst you're on the bus, the train, waiting for a friend in the cafe or the pub or wherever you find yourself having a quiet five minutes or so.

Bask in your success, because if you blink you might miss it it's so short-lived

2011-08-10T16:03:00.001+10:00

So, the euphoria of winning the short story competition on Circalit and getting a 'RECOMMEND' and a 'CONSIDER' from Extreme Screenwriting for my two spec scripts was short lived.

I spent all day Monday trying to capitalise on the good coverage by emailing producers, film companies and agents with my good news, only for them to come back almost immediately, or over night, with "yeah, that's really nice but we still can't help you."

So for the last couple of days I've been trying not to get too disheartened by reading screenwriting blogs about how hard it is to succeed in this business. And then today, I found out that LUCK'S RAN OUT didn't make it to the finals of the WriteMovies International Screenwriting Competition. It fell at the semi-final hurdle. Bummer.

The good news, however, is that LUCK'S RAN OUT is getting great reviews on Triggerstreet (if not Talentville) and, because of the six good reviews its garnered, is one of the featured screenplays on the site.

I don't know what else I have to do to get that screenplay taken up. One competition win, six quarter-final or semi-final placings in other competitions, six good reviews on Triggerstreet, two 'CONSIDER' recommendations by different coverage companies...The feedback I've had on this script is that it would make a great independent film and would stretch A-list talent. I just can't get anyone interested. Very depressing if you think about it too long.

So I won't. Moving on...I went to the theatre last night to see And No More Shall We Part, by the Griffin Theatre Company, which was great. A lovely intimate venue, which is where I'll be starting my playwriting course next week.

Top 1%!!! TABLE FOR TWO? GETS A 'RECOMMEND'

2011-08-07T22:08:00.000+10:00

It's been a good week!!!!

I found out on Friday that my short story, 'Escaping to Venus', won the Circalit Writers' short story competition and will be published to download and read on mobile phones by Ether Books.

And if that wasn't good news enough, I got a 'RECOMMEND' from Extreme Screenwriting's professional coverage service for the latest version (dramedy) of TABLE FOR TWO? This means they think the script is market-ready, commercially viable, and able to attract A-List talent. To put this 'recommend' into perspective, according to the PAGE Awards, "approximately 95% of scripts submitted to agencies and production companies receive a 'Pass'. Approximately 5% receive a 'Consider'. Less than 1% receive a 'Recommend'. Because their jobs are always on the line, industry script readers rarely give any script a strong 'Recommend'."

To get a 'recommend' for TABLE FOR TWO? is fantastic! This is another marker on my journey as a writer, telling me that I'm heading in the right direction. But it will mean nothing, of course, if this isn't followed up by producer interest (which is perfectly possible given how competitive this business is).

I also sent my other feature script, LUCK'S RAN OUT, to Extreme Screenwriting and they gave that a 'CONSIDER' (this is the script that has won one screenwriting competition and placed in six others). I've since had some ideas for a further rewrite of that script in order to improve it, but I won't have time to look at that for a while yet. But even though this script didn't get a 'RECOMMEND', I know it's a great script. Here's the review it just got from a reader on Triggerstreet:

"Luck's Ran Out was an incredibly heart-wrenching tale filled with the reality of life and its setbacks: the reality of having to go to a fertility clinic because of pregnancy problems, the reality of no longer being attracted to a partner, the reality of economic/business troubles, and the realities of cheating partners, disabilities, getting swindled, endless fights, falling out of love... etc. You lightened it up with some slight comedy (ESPECIALLY liked Pg. 20: "There's a moment between them. A RAUNCHY SONG comes on. That moment is lost.", LOL!) which was great, I liked the few laughs despite the overall sad tone of the story. This script is well-written and it's obvious it won a contest in 2010 -- the descriptions are abundant but not overwhelming, the characters have distinct mannerisms, and I find a lot of screenplays tend to get confusing at times but I was always able to follow your story with this one. Also on pg. 62 -- the Dennis drunk driving scene was intense, bravo for describing it so well. Sometimes I like to wonder what could make a script more commercial (to attract representation and spec sales), but this script really is about human emotions and trials/tribulations. Great job."

In other news, my producer for DeCodeMe came up to Sydney on Wednesday and we worked through some story and character issues. And we re-negotiated the timescale of the project. So for the rest of August I'll be working on the treatment, then this will go out to consultation to some industry contracts, then in September I'll start writing the script. Great stuff!!

What would be even greater, though, is for TABLE FOR TWO? (and LUCK'S RAN OUT for that matter) to get the serious producer interest I think they deserve. Both would make cracking films.

A Fish Called Wazman?

2011-08-01T19:32:00.000+10:00

There's been a lot going on since my last post.

I found out yesterday that my short story, Table for Two (the basis of the subsequent short script and now a feature script), claimed 3rd Prize in the Sentinel Literary Quarterly July 2011 short story contest. This has renewed my faith that this is a gem of a story.

I have been working on the fourth draft of the feature version and have taken it from a rom-com/farce to more of a darker dramedy. The motivation for this was a feeling of dissatisfaction with the ending (which worked for the short but not the feature) and the fact that the script didn't make it past the 2nd round of this year's PAGE Awards (the short version made the quarter-finals last year).

I also got the judges' feedback on the earlier draft this week too. Despite not making the quarter-finals this year there were some positive comments on the script.

One judge suggested that Ricky Gervais "would be awesome" in the role of Peter (earlier coverage from MyScriptNeedsHelp suggested Bill Nighy would be perfect for the role). They also likened the script to A Fish Called Wanda and said there were many "John Cleese-like moments" to be mined. But ultimately, they felt, the script was underdeveloped: "Good, multi-layered comedies are difficult to write and need lots of time and attention in order to take advantage of every opportunity at your disposal. You haven’t missed it completely, you just need to develop what you have." Their final verdict was "There’s the beginning of a very fun film here" and "You have a lot of talent. You’ve got the seeds here for what could be an outrageously funny and poignant script. I admire the fact that you didn’t just go for a raunchy comedy and stop there. You went out on a limb and I feel you really have the possibility of a wonderful movie here."

The second judge described the script as "in the vein of Woody Allen’s movies, or Noel Coward plays." They also said "The presentation and format is professionally executed – flawless industry format that makes the script easy to read. The writer’s understanding of how a script should look and be formatted is undeniable. On a side note, the writer found great choices in names which perfectly captured each character." On the down side, this judge felt that "The characters fall a bit short and...the tone is too light and comedic to get into any of the real dramatic consequences or emotions of their relationships."

Well, the latest draft moves away from the 'light and comedic tone' somewhat, so I'll just have to send it off to a few more competitions and see how it goes.

One of the places I'm thinking of sending it to is London-based Industrial Scripts' Talent Connector. This is a programme open to unrepped writers and filmmakers (writers without an agent, like me!). If they think the script is of a high-enough standard, they promote the script to producers. I know myself from trying to query my two feature scripts that its hard to get your script to a reader. A lot of production companies won't look at your script if you haven't got an agent, and a lot of agents won't look at your script if you haven't got a producer interested, so its a Catch-22. So I'm giving serious consideration to submitting my script to a no-holds barred professional assessment in the hope that its good enough to be taken on by Talent Connector.

As we're on the subject of scripts, LUCK'S RAN OUT reached the Semi-Finals of the WriteMoviesInternational Screenwriting Contest, which is great news. Fingers crossed it can make the final. This script has now won one screenwriting contest in the US (the 2010 Screenwriter Showcase) and placed at quarter-final or semi-final stage in six others. But yet its only had one producer interested in it, and that got nowhere. How frustrating! I know it's a great story and it would provide some great roles, but I just can't get producer interest in it. Yet.

In other news, my Melbourne producer for DeCodeMe came up to Sydney for a meeting last week and we made more progress on finalising story points and characterisation, but we have another meeting planned for this Wednesday to hopefully finish the prep work off so I can get to work writing the script. The first draft is due on 20 August but considering we've been bogged down in detailed prep work, I'm hoping this deadline will be shifted back a bit. So I'm behind schedule on this one.

In non-script writing news, I found out yesterday that my poems, 'Edinburgh' and 'Tastes of Blue', have been published in Sentinel Champions 6 magazine. And my short story, Enough, was longlisted in the Flash 500 flash fiction competition recently.

And one final thing, I'm starting a playwriting course at the Griffin Theatre next week, so I'll see if I'm any better at writing stage plays than screenplays. Looking forward to being stretched and challenged in a different medium.