Journey of a Screenwriter

My first short story is e-published!

2011-01-13T21:59:00.003Z

The Operation was actually the second short story I'd ever written and I loved writing it as I wrote about here. I won't ramble on, I'll just let you read the story. You can download the free ebook here.

And if you're curious about the ebook's inspiration, Bitchy Witchy Paris Vacation is the reason for this collection of true stories.

Thank you Alexis Niki for giving me this opportunity!

Lessons Learnt in 2010

2010-12-19T21:27:00.019Z

This year has been one big learning curve for me. Having finished my MA in Screenwriting in December 2009, I anticipated that I had learnt all the lessons about screenwriting I needed to learn. But as I stepped into the real world, I rediscovered another school called life and here are some of the lessons I learnt during 2010.

January - Take time out.

Instead of taking a break after my two year course, I powered on to work on a rewrite for my final year project. It wasn’t cool. My brain was exhausted and I couldn’t see the wood for the trees with my project. Sometimes it pays to put the script down, step away and return to it when feeling refreshed and clear-minded.

February - Don’t send your work out when it’s not ready.

I sent my final year project out to a few people. It wasn’t ready and I was so glad I hadn’t sent it out to anyone and everyone.

March - Passing an MA in Screenwriting doesn’t give you a career in screenwriting, writing does.

When I received notification that I had passed my MA, it was a good feeling but it didn’t make me feel like I had earned a career in screenwriting. This academic qualification was just the first step in my long journey.

April - Be patient.

At this point, I started looking back on what I had achieved so far in the year and I couldn’t put my finger on anything. I was hurrying through the year with no focus and as a result my scattergun and panicked approach was getting me nowhere fast. I realised then that I needed to focus myself and be patient with my goals. I needed to apply myself and focus on doing a good job.

May - I can make a short film.

And I did. I edited footage which I had shot the previous summer and the editing took less than a week. The end result was a short film called The Game. It isn’t expertly shot but it’s a fun watch and it’s given me the gumption and determination to make more of my stories real.

June - A holiday is gooood!

Finally after two and a half years, I took my first holiday (weekend breaks don't count). Sailing in Turkey for two weeks was exactly what the doctor ordered. But of course I couldn’t stop storytelling. If I wasn’t writing, I was carrying my video camera around and this was the result.

July - I am a Screenwriter.

In July, I attended the BBC Writer’s Festival and for the first time in my life I felt comfortable calling myself a screenwriter. To be in a room with the best writing talent in the country and to learn about their journeys was one of the most inspiring experiences of my life. It was also a lot of fun! Here are my notes on Day 1 and Day 2.

August - Step out of the box.

In August I set up a Twitter account for my local writing and within a couple of weeks I became a blogger for a local online magazine. In a couple of months time, the blog will be reformatted to become a weekly magazine column and in the meantime, I am gaining a readership for my writing. The online magazine receives 10,000 unique user hits per month and this number is growing.

September - Baring my soul as a writer.

At the start of summer, Alexis Niki offered me the opportunity to submit a real life short story for an ebook she was planning to publish alongside her web series Bitchy Witchy. The submission was for a competition and it turned out to be my favourite writing experience ever. Writing this story from the heart, I discovered that I enjoyed writing prose and that it was important to bare one's soul as a writer in order to emotionally connect with the reader. The ebook will be released on 4th January.

October - Don't take your eye of the ball.

Life is full of distractions but it's important to make sure there's time to write. A writer writes; that's it really.

November - I can write a novel.

It takes discipline to write a novel and NaNoWriMo provided me with the best structure and motivation to complete 50,000 words in a month. You can read more about my NaNoWriMo experience here.

December - Script reading makes me a better writer.

Upon reading my final year project (a thriller feature), I could see the flaws so clearly in the script. I also found myself reading my own script objectively as if this script had just landed on my desk. My attitude wasn’t intentional but given my latest experience in script reading for Writer’s Avenue and Braven Films, my response to my script was instinctive. As a result, I ended up asking myself, why hadn’t my own script grabbed me?

Who knows what lessons I will learn in 2011? All I know is that a lesson learnt is another step forward in my journey and a step further into the unknown. I am very excited.

2010 Reflections

2010-12-08T12:29:00.024Z

Today is one of those pensive and planning days where the creative juices are running low and the logical side of my brain seems to be taking over.

I think it’s because this time last year I was finishing off my final year script and getting it ready for my final year MA deadline on 10th December 2009. This introspective state of mind however wasn’t invited. I was simply arranging my diary for January when I started looking back and reflecting on how I'd reached this point.

Whilst no path in life is certain, I feel a sense of confidence about the future compared to how I felt this time last year. Last year, I felt that the script I was binding and getting ready for submission would hold the key to my ambitions. In fact, I thought that anything I would write would provide the gateway to my success. It was as if someone had pressed the panic button and I was clinging onto this script for dear life. I didn’t know where I was heading and I didn’t know what I was supposed to do next.

Placing one foot in front of the other, I proceeded on with my journey. I guess it was blind faith leading me; whatever it was I’m glad I didn’t turn back because a year later, this was what I discovered:

1. The craft. For two years, I studied screenwriting whilst doing an MA at LCC and by the end of the course all I could think about were turning points. However, as I started to get back into script reading this year, I remembered something from my days of working in script development. What the reader is looking for is to be hooked in straight away and to be taken on an emotional journey; the craft should be a given. The more plays and scripts I read, the more I realised this.

There is always debate about the value of college courses and if one can be taught how to write. From my experience, my MA taught me the fundamentals of the craft but reading scripts is teaching me about the merits of a good script and flaws of a poorly written script.

2. The Agent. As part of my course last year, the students had to pitch their final year projects to agents so it was quite bizarre that in October 2010, I was chairing a session at The London Screenwriters’ Festival on How To Get An Agent And Beyond and questioning two agents who I had pitched to a year before.

The great thing about chairing this session was that I had realised how much I had developed in the past year with regards to my perception of the agent’s role from a writer's perspective. After finishing my MA, I had sent my final year script to a couple of agents as a tester. I didn’t want to send my script out to everyone because deep down I think I knew my writing wasn’t ready and I was right. When one of the agents during the LSWF session explained that completing an MA was just the beginning of a writer’s journey, I completely understood what she meant. Of course, there will be the odd writer who has the skill and talent to land themselves an agent straight after finishing college but for most people, an MA is only the first step forward on this long journey.

I also realised that a year ago I thought an agent would be the be all and end all when establishing a relationship between the writer and the industry. But the writer needs to create opportunities for themselves and not just to make themselves attractive to an agent. When the agent manages to set up meetings for the writer, the writer needs to use their opportunity making skills to develop their working relationship with the producer. The agent can only get the writer the meeting; the writer needs to do the rest.

This means that the last year has proved extremely valuable in learning how to create opportunities for myself. As a result, I have developed a just do it attitude. It’s that simple: the writer has an idea so make it happen. Given today’s technology, the writer has the freedom to transport their stories into the real world. This means that the writer has more opportunities to push their writing forward so it is recognised.

I have no idea what 2011 has in store for me but if my plans for January are anything to go by then it will be an exciting year indeed. All I know is that my biggest lesson from 2010 is learning how to take control of my life. There are plenty of opportunities out there, it's just about thinking outside the box.

During 2010 I listed the main lesson learnt during each month. I will write them up for my next post.

NaNoWriMo

2010-11-30T12:13:00.005Z

Today is the last day of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and for anyone who has attempted this butt-kicking writing competition, 30th November is a date to celebrate. The goal is to write a 50,000 word novel in November and I was fearless or naïve enough to throw myself into it following a gruelling seven weeks at the London Screenwriters’ Festival.

Whilst the sane were easing themselves back into their normal daily routine, I was logging onto NaNoWriMo’s site and looking at that word count bar with complete dread. Would I really be able to see that bar move along and reach the end by 30th November?

I had even calculated that all I had to do was write 2,000 words a day thinking I would be fine. But life still has to happen and other deadlines still have to be met. Nonetheless, NaNoWriMo maintained a consistent level of pressure that meant if I missed a day of writing I had to make up my word count the following day, even if that was the last thing I felt like doing.

The most I could ever write in a day was 5,000 words and I was completely in awe of those writers on my Buddies List whose word count would shoot up by much more than that. Still, I knew the pace I worked at best and instead of sprinting, I decided to treat writing this novel like a marathon.

The way I saw it was that if I ended up only writing a chapter then I would be very proud of myself and my novel would finally start to become real. How it all turned out however was that I reached my 50,000 word goal on Sunday 28th November (and poured a large glass of red wine soon after to celebrate).

Whilst NaNoWriMo was such a tough experience it was truly an enjoyable one. It’s strange to think about it now because I really didn’t have to answer to anyone and I was fundamentally writing this novel for myself. But having the great support from the Twitter writing community along with a list of writing buddies whose progress you could also chart on the NaNoWriMo website and having to input your own word count onto the website was all the motivation one needed to write a novel.

This motivation was so strong that it surpassed any self-doubt and second thoughts. My goal was to write a novel and there was no time to think about the process or the possible outcomes. I simply had to write it and that’s what I ended up doing.

So what next? Funnily enough, I’m keen to jump straight back into my novel. But I’ve decided to force myself to take a week or two away from it before I commence my rewrite. This way, I can return to my characters and story with a fresh outlook.

NaNoWriMo has been one of the most satisfying and creative experiences in my life and I'll certainly be attempting to try it again next year.

Got my mojo back!

2010-11-15T20:09:00.019Z

It’s been a while since I’ve written a post for my Journey blog. Whilst I have been writing for other blogs, the truth of the matter was that I had lost my mojo with my screenwriting. In September, I had started my latest thriller rewrite. My focus was set.

But out of the blue, I received a phone call to meet the London Screenwriters’ Festival team. The phone call was on a Thursday, the meeting was on a Friday and on Monday I had started work at Ealing Studios. What started off as an assistant’s job became a coordinator’s job, which quickly evolved into management job: I had to manage a number of interns in the office as well as other workloads. The hours went from 10 til 6, Monday to Friday to 9.30am until 9.30pm and I found myself working 7 days a week. As the hours increased, my screenwriting was neglected and all my emotional energy was focused on getting through the next several weeks, which I very nearly didn’t. Now, two weeks later after the festival has finished, I feel like I have my mojo back.

For the last couple of weeks, I have been working on my #nano project, script reading for a theatre company and a film company as well as writing reviews and my column for an local online magazine: it’s all great.

But I realised this evening that the fire within hadn't been lit for a while. Something was missing and now I know what it was: not being able to write for several weeks was soul destroying.

Being a creative, I’ve learnt over time that it’s important to feed this side of me even if it’s only in the evenings or over the weekends. If I don’t have this time, my spirit is quashed and this spirit is what makes me who I am. I have spent too much time compromising this aspect of myself in the past so now I’ve discovered it I'm not letting it go.

When an agent at the London Screenwriters’ Festival mentioned to me that event management must be difficult, I replied that I was going to focus on my writing after this event. I saw the agent smile and nod and I realised that I was making the right decision. Writing involves sacrifices and it requires a certain number of hours in the day. It was then that I realised I was serious about my writing.

Tonight I started working on a screenplay that had been sitting on the side for a couple of months. It feels so good to be back!

I'm Still Blogging

2010-10-01T10:58:00.009+01:00

It seems like forever since I have written a post for my Journey blog. There is so much I want to share. For example, how great it was to meet with Audrey Gillan, Andrew Carter, Neil Romanek, Paul Bassett-Davis, Kristi Barnett, Gemma Hurley, Andrea Mann and Jared Kelly for a #scriptchat Tweetup. I want to write about the importance of networking with other writers and how a writers community is important to one's wellbeing and sanity as writer.

I'd love to write a 'practice makes perfect' post as well as something about what I'm learning whilst working for the London Screenwriters' Festival. I'm also keen to write about writing prose and how I'm enjoying it so much. I never thought I'd ever write reviews, a column or short stories - let alone consider writing a novel which I am for Nanowrimo.

There is plenty to say on here but for the meantime I am still blogging elsewhere. For now you can find me:

On the London Screenwriters' Festival Blog. This is my latest post.

On King's Road online magazine. My Chelsea Girl column and writing reviews.

Interesting journeys have good twists and turns and these ventures into other writing avenues have been a great learning experience for my writing. As for my screenwriting, that is another post which I look forward to writing.

The Perfect One

2010-09-13T20:54:00.000+01:00

An elaboration on my previous post Page One, The Perfect One was written for The Story Department. Click here to read.

Page One

2010-09-01T18:45:00.015+01:00

Recently, I've been studying page one of various scripts to analyse the impact a good first page could and should make. What did I discover? That page one needs to grab. How? Through character, the world, a sense of danger/conflict, tone and genre. From page one, the reader needs to know the type of story they're about to read.

I guess this all sounds obvious but the ability to execute such craft is a different matter (she says from experience). Reading these first pages have helped me to make my own page one much richer, not just in terms of character but also in terms of establishing audience expectation. And as they say, you start as you mean to carry on.

Click on the title names to download the scripts of my top 5 first pages.

1. Shutter Island

2. Jaws

3. Thelma & Louise

4. Zoolander

5. Saw

And please feel free to suggest any screenplays worth studying especially in relation to their first pages. Thanks!

Maze

2010-08-26T16:21:00.004+01:00

Please excuse the slight radio silence. This is where I am right now:

And I'm trying to figure my way out.

How did I get here? I took the path of creative endeavours, crossed the bridge of financial need and now I am lost within the maze of short term priorities and long term goals.

I have a few irons in the fire but each one requires my undivided attention. So as I put one foot in front of the other, I try to forget the daunting bigger picture and focus on getting to the next stage of my journey.

Monetise

2010-08-15T15:56:00.003+01:00

The other day when I was redesigning my blog, I decided to click on the Monetise tab. For a while I had decided against adding advertising to my site because I wanted my blogging to be about freedom of expression and sharing of information.

But then I realised something. Everyone else treats their work as a business, so why shouldn’t I? After all, it is typical for the writer to be asked to provide their work for free or to do the work now and be paid later. So if I don’t take myself seriously as a writer, who else will?

The writer who only writes must pass numerous obstacles in the guise of different readers before the writer is even considered and so the work they do will not be rewarded until much later, if at all. They can't just stand in front of a camera and pitch their idea in the name of crowdfunding. Or could they? I look forward to the day a screenwriter dares to. The creative and monetry value of the screenwriter has been undermined for far too long.

In an age where jobs in general are high in demand and low in supply; development funds and agencies are being cut which means paid script reading opportunities are barely existent, the writer’s means to earn an honest crust whilst they continue with their screenwriting journey is limited.

This means that the writer must now start to think outside the box in terms of self-funding.

Here are some opportunities I have discovered in the last week:

Short stories: Spectra Magazine pays for the short stories they publish. Find out more here . Also, here is a list of other short story competitions, which you can enter.

Story blogs: I have started my own (here) and in doing so have discovered that there are many more out there. Starting this blog has already presented me with a great opportunitiy I hadn’t even considered.

I have also discovered that there are online magazines that use the blogging format to tell stories: Cosmopolitan, for example.

Journalism: The Arts Council provides a free daily jobs list that offers opportunities for writers to submit articles/reviews to magazines. Most of these are for free but if you build up a portfolio, you'll have a body of work to support your pitches to publications that do pay.

I hope this all helps. These are tough times but thinking outside the box might make things a little more interesting. Good luck!

A Letter to the Blank Page

2010-08-08T14:49:00.033+01:00

Dear Blank Page,

I have tried many times to conquer you but with each turning page you conquer me. Whether I pick up the pen or sit at a screen, I always encounter your frightening stare.

You make me forget my preparation and I find myself going around in circles; too scared to lay down the first word. But to try and rationalise my fear will do me no good: you are the abyss. So instead, I have found a new method. I will ignore you.

I will write and write and write until I fill the page. Then I will go back through my words and shape them into something coherent. Because you see, I have realised something: as soon as the page is filled, you are gone.

Just as long as I write you out of existence, I will see my friend again. She's called my muse and when you are gone, she will visit me.

Yours sincerely,
A. Writer

An Experiment in Storytelling

2010-07-30T07:59:00.021+01:00

One of my favourite films is The Man With A Movie Camera. In cinema history, this film is considered revolutionary in terms of editing. Filmmaker Dziga Vertov and his wife Elizaveta Svilova who edited the film practised what David Mamet describes in On Directing Film as a “success of images juxtaposed so that the contrast between these images moves the story forward in the mind of the audience”.

Inspired by this film, I decided to take some footage I already had and edit it together. This is the result:

In carrying out this experiment I learnt a couple of big lessons. First and foremost: the importance of a protagonist when telling a story. In The Man With A Movie Camera, the protagonist is the cameraman himself. And even though this film is a documentary, it was still important for the audience to have a point of identification, especially with the editing of seemingly random images: the audience needs a character to take them along for the ride. This might seem obvious to most but I really thought that I could tell a story without a main character and that the images would create meanings themselves. As a result, I created something more of a tourist video rather than a Vertov-inspired film.

The other lesson I learnt was that whatever your intention was when creating meaning through the juxtaposition of images, the audience’s interpretation could easily differ to yours. You cannot control how an audience reads a film on a cerebral level. Instead it’s best to engage them on an emotional level. Emotions are universal but an intellectual reading of a film is dependent on the audience’s understanding of the references made. For example, the significance of Ataturk’s statue towards the end of my film in relation to the initial images of what remains of ancient Lycia most probably held no correlation regarding the meanings of revolution and rebellion; unless of course you had studied Turkish history at some point.

To conclude, making this film taught me the importance of emotionally engaging an audience and how the audience’s identification with a protagonist is key when developing this relationship.

Visual Storytelling

2010-07-21T10:49:00.003+01:00

To read my Multi-Hyphenate article on Visual Storytelling, click here.

Seminar With A Screenwriting Guru: Linda Seger

2010-07-17T10:28:00.010+01:00

So last week I went to a Linda Seger seminar (see last post for notes on the session). Initially I wasn’t sure whether to attend the event. After all, I had just completed a two-year MA in Screenwriting in December and I had just attended the BBC TV Drama Writers’ Festival the week before; not to mention the many other drop-in How To … Screenwriting sessions I happened to drop into since the start of the year. Did I really want or need to go to any more classes?

When I had learnt about the Linda Seger seminar, I considered buying her well-renowned book, How To Make A Good Script Great instead. This of course would have been a lot cheaper and would have always been there for me.

But having discussed my dilemma with a couple of people and checked out a couple of Linda Seger You Tube videos, I decided to put my hand in my pocket and buy a ticket. After all, Seger’s How To Create Unforgettable Characters is the only screenwriting book I have managed to finish reading. So if I were to trust anyone to tell me the secrets of great screenwriting, it would be Seger herself.

Sitting in the small lecture theatre, I quickly discovered that there was no Holy Grail to screenwriting and that Linda Seger was like the rest of us in the room, human.

The first half of the day, Seger discussed the fundamentals of structure. Did I say I had just completed an MA in Screenwriting? The mere mention of turning points and the midpoint instantly sent me back to the classroom with horror. Oh, one minute, did I forget I was still sitting in a classroom?

The second half of the day Seger explored the issues of theme, images and character - again in the light of theory, there was nothing new here. So had I wasted my fast disappearing cash? - In a word, no.

Linda Seger is a brilliant speaker. Instead of instilling the rules of the game using a prescribed formula, Seger discussed her theories as if one creative were talking to another. This was the first time I had paid to listen to a screenwriting guru speak and spread their worldly secrets. Admittedly at one point, I did try to imagine that I was Charlie Kaufman sitting in on a McKee lecture but that didn’t last for long. I actually enjoyed listening to what Seger had to say, especially in relation to theme.

Seger using Erik Erikson’s theories on the stages of psychological development to understand the audience and characters was very useful. Her ideas on the creative process and creating characters with dimension were also something I have taken away with me.

When Seger discussed images, again she gave some great advice: teach yourself to think visually. More advice included carrying around notebooks to scribble down images. This was something that grabbed my attention. As writers, we’re told to focus on words, act breaks and character arcs. When looking at description, we’re taught how to convey action clearly. But thinking visually? This is the first time, I have heard someone tell a bunch of writers to learn how to think visually and identify images. Isn’t that the director’s job?

It’s true that today we are inundated with information about screenwriting. There are so many courses and script consultants wanting the writer’s business. In fact, How To Write A Great Script is an industry in itself; which is why I wasn’t sure if I wanted to attend this seminar in the first place.

To conclude, yes a discussion on the three-act-structure was nothing new but as I explained to a few writers last week, this part of the day was like pressing the reset button as I embark on another rewrite.

When the speaker is good, it’s great to be reminded about the principles of the craft. Seger reminded me about the importance of story and the role of the catalyst to trap the character within their own story. Seger also reminded me that the protagonist must work hard for his/her goal. If the protagonist sits back then the audience will disengage.

Of course, I have read this stuff before and I am sure I will read about it again. So would I pay to see a guru again? It was an interesting and very worthwhile experience but last week taught me something else; that whilst learning can be both inspiring and educational, the real learning comes from the writer themselves; in the reading and writing. In other words, make your mistakes on the page and learn from them. Even Seger suggested going back to the script and analysing how good scripts are written: pick out the action and emotion words, for example. Learn from what is on the page.

Linda Seger Screenwriting Seminar Notes

2010-07-11T17:22:00.016+01:00

Yesterday I went to a Linda Seger Screenwriting Seminar. Here are my notes. I hope they're useful!

There are three elements to being a screenwriter: Art, Craft and the Creative Process of Writing.

Art is the artist’s original voice; the writer’s viewpoint. How you look at the world. What is working against the voice? The rest of the world that tries to suppress it.

Craft is the thing that you learn:

This is what shapes the story. How you express theme through story.

How to create dimensional characters that move the story along.

How do you learn images – to choose them, put them on the page.

The style. How do you keep style going? The idea of style is to be consistent.

Creative process: Preparation, Incubation and Verification.

The point of understanding the creative process is to be in a relationship with the muse in a way that she can serve us when we need her to serve us.

Writer’s block means that there’s not been enough preparation.

Creativity is circular rather than linear.

Preparation means feeding yourself. So do something you’ve never done before.

Incubation is when the preparation moves into the unconscious.

So how do you pull the preparation out of the incubation process to achieve illumination? Dreams, take a walk, story naps are just some of the ways.

Verification is the last element in the process although some writers treat it as the initial step in the creativity process. Verification is trying to get feedback that is constructive.

The challenge is to take the craft and make it work with the art and creative process.

Craft:

The beginning of story is the context of the world. What’s the story’s environment? If you introduce the environment, you will pull the audience into the context.

The story catalyst must occur within the first fifteen minutes of the film. This is the event that when it occurs means that the character can’t return to ordinary life.

The catalyst is an event that forces an action.

A story is a string of action and responses that stays on narrative line.

It’s useful to build up to the midpoint and use it.

The first half of act two usually occurs smoothly whilst the second half is trouble. For example in a crime story: Everything seems to be going well. At the midpoint, there’s a revelation: we’ve been after the wrong thing/person. The second half of act two is when the characters do something about the problem.

There are exceptions: Beauty and the Beast where the first half is unpleasant for the protagonist and the second half goes pretty smoothly for her.

In act 3, it’s important to keep up the pace.

The story begins with a catalyst so characters are caught in a story. From this point on, the audience wonders how the character is going to get out of the situation/problem.

If character sits back, the audience will disengage.

The character has to try to resolve his/her problem and in doing so become as strong as the antagonist.

The character being stuck in the story means that there is now a narrative line.

Regarding the catalyst, think of various catalysts in your life and what could be the possible narrative lines. What does the story look like as a result?

With true life stories, ask yourself if you have a beginning, middle and an end.

Subplots: A good subplot will impact the story. The more subplots, the more possibilities for twists and turns: Tootsie, As Good as it Gets, Ruthless People are examples.

The Fugitive doesn’t have a subplot but has two storylines that involves different points of view.

Before The Rain has a circular structure.

Scene structure:

There are various types of scenes: establishing scene, exposition scene, confrontational scene, montage scene and showstopper scene for example.

You can also add the 3-act structure scenes to make them dynamic.

Act one of scene is to establish context. The scene’s act one turning point also changes the direction of the story.

When character moves through space the audience will move/engage with them. Make characters move. Dramatically interesting.

Scene sequences. A series of scenes = based on some idea. Different locations = 3 acts.

Repetition isn’t as interesting dramatically as variety.

Theme:

The dramatic function of character shouldn’t repeat the same thematic idea. In other words, each character should represent different aspects of the theme.

Theme = issues. The audience want to see a movie about them.

Theme can be evaluated as psychological issues that hold a universal truth.

It’s important to look at the age of your intended audience as well as the age of the characters because it is important to address the issues the audience and characters are dealing with.

Linda Seger looks at and develops upon Erik Erikson’s work on the stages of development which addresses the psychological issues that are relevant to different age groups.

The point of discussing this breakdown is to address psychological issues that could affect characters. These issues occur at various stages of the individual’s life and if they are not resolved they will continue into adulthood.

0 – 3 years old: Trust vs. Mistrust

In Rain Main, Charlie is an example of mistrust.

4 – 12 years old: Self-esteem vs. Peer pressure

Where do I fit in with my friends? Withdrawing or rebelling are a couple of ways the individual deals with self-esteem issues.

Family films work with children because they are going through these issues whilst the parents have also been through these issues.

13 – 19 years old: Individuality vs. Conformity

Pressure to conform. How do we fit it?

It is important to try and understand teenagers and understand what it feels like to be in a world that is trying to mould us.

20’s – Isolation vs. Intimacy

Trying to find where they fit in and learning how to make connections. For example, Good Will Hunting and Titanic.

20, 30, 40 – Success

Am I expressing who I am? Am I achieving success in the world’s eyes? Wall Street, Working Girl, Beautiful Mind are examples of films that explore this idea.

40’s, 50’s, 60’s Stagnation vs. Generativity

Characters that have to make a choice.

60’s Despair vs. Integrity

Success on the world’s terms isn’t enough.

The Insider, The Green Mile and Who Killed Roger Rabbit

Regret vs. Reconciliation

Magnolia and On Golden Pond.

Rage vs. Surrender

Dark Victory. Rage occurs when everything isn’t reconciled

Layering themes to include different age groups and psychological issues, such as On Golden Pond.

Reconciliation – remake the connection. Reweave what’s been torn apart. Forgivemeness

Where do you find the theme?

Dialogue:

Be concise and don’t make your characters preach. Memorable one-liners have a great impact. For example in Spiderman: With great power brings great responsibility.

Story:

What kind of story do I tell?
What are the choices my character has to make?

Story choices:

What is the story about?
What are the choices the characters make?

What are the choices presented to characters?
What are the choices/consequences?
What values do the characters choose?

Images:

It’s important to ask yourself, what does my movie look like?

To write vivid description, learn how to visualise and how to identify images when you see them.

Think in black and white; think in wide spaces vs. small spaces. Remember that moving images can also be metaphorical.

Keep a notebook for fresh images.

Character:

Motivation – Action – Goal – Conflict

Character has a goal because a catalyst has pushed them into a story.

Character exerting whole load of action to achieve goal

Conflict. Push the conflict. Make things happen.

Relational conflict.
Social/group conflict = ultimately relational

Cosmic … Universe.
Goal must be pulling character through the story.

The character must take action. They really want that goal.

Dimensionality:

The character thinks, acts and feels (emotions)

The character has attitudes. Philosophies come out in their attitudes: how do they treat other people and the world?

You can observe a character’s philosophy by what they do.

What do you see lying around the person’s house that lets us know about their philosophy?

What are the characters views and attitudes to the small things in life? What is the character’s value system?

Actions dimensionalise the character. These actions are motivated by the character’s feelings.

Each character has different ranges of feelings.

Dimensionalise character because we are seeing different emotions: Emotion, Realisation, Decision and Action.

Emotion leads character to new decisions.

There’s an emotional context to what the characters are doing.

If characters don’t feel; the audience don’t feel.

Read scripts and highlight the emotional words.

Recommended Reading:

For quotes from the seminar, click here to read Lucy V Hay's tweetcast.

BBC's The Writers' Festival - Day 2

2010-07-05T08:09:00.014+01:00

What Exactly Are Drama Series?

John Yorke (JY).

Successful Drama Series include:

The A-Team

The Professionals

Dr. Who

West Wing

Silent Witness

Murder She Wrote

House

New Tricks

Unsuccessful Drama Series include:

Studio 60

Bonekickers

The Innocence Project

Firefly

Material Girl

North Square

What do success Drama Series have in common?

Self-contained story framing.

Clear and renewable story engine.

Rigorous point of view. Who are we accessing the story from?

One day time scheme: JY mentioned the number of ideas that come to him which are set in rehab centres. In short, you can't treat addicts in a day.

They are about something: either they are a rose tinted view of the past or they are about the now and they capture the zeitgeist. In other words, drama that speaks to us.

Limited change (change engine). This does highlight the paradox that drama is change but Drama Series isn't about change. There needs to be a reset button at the start of each episode. So what changes? The character's knowledge changes.

Drama Series must be uplifting. People want to be entertained.

Characters that sacrifice themselves: police/doctors who would die for you.

Retribution clause: defining a sense of morality. For example, the bad are punished and the good get what they want.

Empathy; imitable characters; you want to be there; clearly defined hierarchy/status are other points.

The enemy is without: something threatens the security of the group. But the group (or a GANG) can come together to fight the enemy.

Precint based. The precint becomes a character. The precint also represent our home. The regulars are a surrogate family and they are responsible for making things better in our lives. In each episode, the precint is threated or in danger but order is restored in the end.

The importance of family: clear patriarchal and matriarchal structures.

Clear Format

Formatted shows include: The Bill and Casualty; The Waltons and Little House on the Prairie; Luther/Columbo/Cracker.

If you change the point of view, you can change the show.

Superstructure

Narrative framing - The Waltons

Motifs - Star Trek

Everything is builtt ono repetition and familiarity.

Hill Street Blues is a heavily formatted television show.

Structure

Act structure: the majority of successful series are built around clearly defined Act breaks, giving a very clear structural template. This act structure can be 3 acts, 4 acts or 5 acts.

Single Protagonist Structure (4 commercial breaks):

A B

2 1

3 2

4 3

5 4

Multi-Protagonist (4 commercial breaks):

A B C

2 1

3 2 1

4 3 2

5 4 3

In addition, there are teasers and pre-credit sequences.

There can also be a gag at the start to introduce empathy and the final act of the episode can introduce the hook.

Types of story strands that never change:

Domestic

Personal

Action

Precint

Comic relief

Drama Vs. Reality

All television is storytelling. Everything is narrative.

Form

Verbal/motif storytelling

The importance of repetition

Dramatic structure

Conclusion

The dramatic basics are essential and so is the importance of aspiration. Who are your audience? What's your slot? Whose morals are you affirming and what changes? The big question you also need to ask yourself is will they come to episode one?

The Power of Forgiveness

Ben Stephenson (BS) interviews Paula Milne (PM).

This session focused on PM's research process for Endgame and Small Island. We watched clips from the both dramas as PM discussed the interviewing process and location research for the former in contrast to preparing for the latter: Small Island was based on a novel so most of the research was already completed (especially given that PM had researched Endgame beforehand).

PM and BS both agreed that when adapting a novel, the Writer must put the book to the side. The Writer mustn't be prescriptive in relation to the book.

Here are a couple of issues that were discussed:

There are two types of research: research for a story and research to find a story.

Does the research provide the opportunity to present facts or to convey the Writer's interpretation of the facts?

PM: Why can't you write politcal drama with emotional resonance? For example, The Politician's Wife.

Embracing the Now: The Reality of Low Budge Drama

Chair: Jack Thorne (JT) Panel: Toby Whithouse (TB), Tony Roche (TR).

The relationship between Writer and budget is getting closer.

Consolidate everything into an environment you can control

If the budge is very low, think about the invisible moster.

Characters can be consolidated.

What is a 1st Episode?

Chair: Ben Stephenson. Panel: Matthew Graham (MG), Lizzie Mickery (LM), William Ivory (WI), Ben Richards (BR).

BR: There shouldn't be chunks of exposition. Introduce the world without appearing to resort to blatant exposition.

Exposition: world, characters (make them interesting) and story.

Deliver information without exposing too much.

There is a short amount of time to grip audience

MG: Ask yourself about the world you are visitng. Convey passion/enthusiasm.

LM: Don't inhibit. Don't be sacred of your first draft. Start with your story of week immediately.

WI: Own your first draft. So much is about character.

Meet your characters as you're doing your story of the week.

You must love your idea.

Other points:

Surprise.

Tone.

Look at the world differently.

The discussion continued to include the following points:

British and US are different.

British: getting the story of the week right is important then you have to drop the serial beats over the top of that.

The serial beats must be clear. What are they about?

What are the starting and end points?

What are your favourite 1st episodes?

BR: Sopranos. Great humour; brilliant characters; amazing first scene; clever expositional device with the psychotherapist.

MG: Clocking Off. First scene involved fascination, smile, twist, shock.

LM: State of Play: extraordinary characters. The Good Wife: you get who she is.

WI: Lost and Life on Mars.

BBC's The Writers' Festival - Day 1

2010-07-02T07:06:00.010+01:00

Here are my notes for Day 1 of The Writers' Festival. If you attended the event, please feel free to add notes in the comments box especially in relation to the sessions I didn't attend. Hope you find these helpful!

Whose Voice Is It Anyway?

Chair: Tony Marchant (TM). Panel: Nicola Shindler (NS), Jed Mercurio (JM), Mark Cately (MC).

Have Writers lost the initiative?

NS: It's up to us to push the boundaries.

JM: Top down commisioning isn't good because the development process is long. By the time the script lands on the Broadcaster's desk, the brief has changed. So write ideas that interest you. Be true to waht you want to do.

There's no point restricting yourself to an established drama format. For example, 'this idea is for either Channel 4 or BBC 2'.

How do we get our work on air?

Relationships are an important factor when developing a project. It's difficult to go straight to a Broadcaster.

NS talked about how difficult it has been to her project Lockerbie off the ground.

TM explained that he's had his last four projects turned down by a Broadcaster since they commissioned one of his projects.

JM mentioned that he hasn't had anything commissioned from the BBC since Bodies.

Are there anymore taboos left in television?

NS: There are worlds that are still unexplored.

MC: Think about who is going to react. It's easier to say shit than it is to say Jesus Christ on television.

JM: Push the boundaries.

Other issues that were discussed:

NS: NS believes in putting the Writer at the centre of everything.

JM: The practical function of a Showrunner vs. The creative role of a Showrunner.

NS: When trying to write to a brief, the story doesn't work. You have to be passionate about your story.

The Politics of Notes:

Chair: Jack Thorne (JT). Panel: Paula Milne (PM), Surian Fletcher-Jones (SFJ), Polly Hill (PH), George Faber (GF).

What is a great note?

GF: A great note is a transformative note that finds the one thing that isn't right about the script.

PH: The note that inspires the writer to write what they want to write.

PM: When the solutions are not immediately offered. The note is more of an enquiry.

How as writers do we behave?

- Don't agree to anything in the room. Just listen. You're not in the right frame of mind when listening to notes for the first time. Take your thoughts away and think about them.

- The Writer has to accept that they are involved in a relationship with the industry.

- Remember that everyone involved in the development process of the script is a slave to the story.

What do you look for in the first draft?

GF: Something never seen before. For example, the world, characters are persuasively different. The Writer's intention needs to be on the page.

PM: Originality. Think about the first draft as if you were laying out your canvas. For example, the size, scale, representation of the world, story and characters are important decisions to make.

General discussion:

- It's for the Writer to find the solutions.

- Giving notes to a contributing writer on a pre-existing show is a different process.

- Come to the Writer in conversation.

- Don't be prescriptive.

Writer For Hire:

Chair: Mark Catley (MC). Panel: Sally Wainwright (SW), Nicola Shindler (NS).

How prepared should the idea be?

- There needs to be sense of the bigger story.

- There needs to be an understanding of why the Writer wants to write this story and what empassions the Writer.

Where is the Story?

SW doesn't know where the story comes from. It's a germ that the Writer has to keep working on.

NS: The story is the engine.

They Won't Like That:

Panel: Sophie Gardiner (SG), Ben Stephenson (BS), Peter Bowker (PB).

Do Writers alter their own work to fit in with the Broadcaster?

PB: The Writer has to say to themself, this is what I want to write and this is why I want to write it.

BS: If you second guess the Broadcasters, you won't get a commission.

SG: We don't know what we want until we see it. It's important for the Writer to be interested in their story and to know why they are trying to write it.

BS: Originality is key although of course, fashion does happen.

In Conversation:

Chair: Kate Rowland (KR). Panel: Pete Bowker (PB), Paula Milne (PM), Tony Marchant (TM).

How do you feel about the current state of television?

PB: Optimistic.

PM: The recession isn't just affecting drama.

TM: Broadly optimistic.

If you were a Commissioner, what would you commission?

PM/TM/PB: Single pieces for newer voices.

Other points made:

TM: Watching drama should tell you something about yourself.

TM: Crime is the only narrative.

PM: The audience are looking for something more confident and self-assured than themselves.

PM: There's more appetite for daytime drama.

PM asks herself 'Would I be a better writer as a result of writing this story?'

TM: Dennis Potter said that a Writer has two subjects. The Writer should find different ways to explore these ideas.

What Does It Take To Become A Successful Screenwriter?

2010-06-14T18:21:00.024+01:00

Over the last week, I've comes across some interesting reading/watching that have made me think about this question. Some of them aren't obvious references, others are.

Here's what I learnt:

Via @HollywoodOrBlog: Screenwriter Sheldon Turner interview.

From Robin Kelly's post Linkage: Why Most Fail At Screenwriting.

From David Weedmark, Success is A Choice.

From Jeanne Bowerman, What If.

From Rudyard Kipling, If.

From The WritersDen, #shutupandwrite.

And from Albert Einstein: "Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere."

So, in short you need:

Skill Sets

Goals

Failure

Passion

Opportunity

Risks

Guts

Integrity

Imagination

And simply, to #shutupandwrite.

Have I missed anything?

Also check out Michael Lee's The 8 Steps to Becoming A Screenwriter.

Writing for BBC Radio Drama

2010-06-11T12:17:00.027+01:00

I went to the BBC Radio Drama Masterclass yesterday at The Drill Hall. The session was led by Kate Rowland, BBC's Creative Director of New Writing, and also included two radio drama writers who also write for theatre and television between them.

Here are the notes I took. I hope you find them helpful!

Writing for radio:

Do you know what radio drama is? Do you have the belief in yourself that you’re not going to write what’s already been written?

Write something so that it catches the light; this will grab the reader’s attention.

Difference between radio and other mediums:

In theatre, there is plenty of tension for several weeks (rehearsals) and then there is the opening night and reviews.

With television, the Writer is at the bottom of the process.

With radio, there is more in terms of ownership of the story and there is a collaborative relationship with the Producer.

How to get into writing radio drama?

The Writersroom: either the Writer has a full script that is sent to a Producer or the script is a fantastic writing sample and the Writer is asked to provide ideas for potential radio plays.

The Writersroom doesn’t expect the writer to know how to write a radio play. They are looking for the potential in the writer; something special in their writing.

Develop a relationship with a Producer: target the Producer carefully and find out which Producer would be good for your work.

There are 30-35 Producers working with the BBC. Find out and identify which producers are making work like yours.

How do you make the initial contact? Contact their department or the Writersroom; email them directly: first name.surname @ bbc.co.uk; find their details in the Writer's Handbook. Find that person and get them to read your play.

Let the Writersroom and Producers know when you have something on: a play or a reading for example.

Getting commissioned:

The Producer is the main port of call for Writer. The Producer will champion the project and follow it through.

Pitching ideas:

The Writer should have more than one idea up their sleeve.

So you have an idea, ask yourself these questions: Where’s the tension? What fuels the play? What’s at stake? How do you keep an audience hooked?

Pitching adaptations: these usually go to the more established writers unless you are the author of the original work.

- Taboo subjects:

Being fake: if you don’t own the story and/or you don’t know much or care about it, you shouldn’t be writing about it. The Writer must write with integrity.

From a commissioning point of view, there are plenty of stories that are set in the head of the protagonist who is in a coma. These stories can work but there seems to be quite a lot of them out there.

How do you know when the radio play is ready to send out?

Listen to your play. Get some friends round and let them read it.

Other tips:

Music sets the tone and the mood.

Use stage directions to lead the ear of the listener.

Silence is the most powerful thing on radio.

Be scared of people going adrift and focus on always pulling them back in.

Never send your first draft out. Don’t think about the first draft; think about the first read. What’s the impact you want to have?

Voice-over provides economy but make sure the narrator has an attitude and character.

Don't use internal monologue to describe or colour in. Find a way to do this in less words. The listener will be able to conjure images without the Writer providing descriptions.

Think about the world you want to write about first and translate it to radio. Don’t think about the radio first.

Making 'The Game'

2010-05-31T08:04:00.012+01:00

The Game is a short film I shot over two weekends last summer and edited in 4 days last week. It was an exercise in storytelling and it was also a chance to take something from the page and make it real.

As far as screenwriting goes, the path is long and arduous with fear of rejection and the waiting game as the main (psychological) obstacles to tackle. So it is the most rewarding experience for a screenwriter to see their work come to life.

I didn't have access to actors, crew or a production team. It was just myself and my trusted b.f. (who thankfully like me is a kid at heart). So armed with puppets and the right location, we set about shooting this film (under my direction, of course). Whilst the shoot took place last summer, I didn't get to the edit until last week. This was mainly because my main focus has been on my writing. But last week I had the sudden and very strong urge to dig out the footage and make a story out of it.

During the editing process (which I have always loved), I learnt more about pacing and the need to keep the audience's attention. At first I had edited the footage according to the script but then taking a look at the short film, I realised that I had to mix it up a bit in order to make the film more grabbing.

In short, what I learnt during the process of making The Game is that the story I wrote was different to the story I shot which in turn changed during the edit. If screenwriting is rewriting then filmmaking is constant editing.

What began as an experiment has surprised me beyond my wildest dreams; that an audience who have watched it have actually enjoyed it. I wanted to first share my short with the tweeps on Twitter and with a few personal friends who have children. I guess this was some kind of safety net for me as I didn't know how people would respond to the film: Twitter is a great place to try out new ideas because most people on it are doing the same.

So here it is, The Game. If you are about to watch it, I hope you enjoy it!

It's a Blog Party!

2010-05-25T00:06:00.026+01:00

Why? Because I wrote my first blog post a year ago today.

So I want to celebrate!

With fellow bloggers who have supported Journey of a Screenwriter over the past year. So please click on their names to discover their invidual voices.

Michelle Goode

Michael Lee

Kim Garland

Jared Kelly

Lucy V Hay

Robin Kelly

On a final note, Lucy V Hay tweeted me her required reading list, which includes blog posts about screenwriting from One Page Outlines to The Business of Screenwriting: A Guide For Writers (and everything else inbetween). Read it here.

Thank you so much guys for reading my blog and for all your support. I really appreciate it.

Now, back to my journey. Good luck with your writing everyone!

What’s The Story?

2010-05-17T21:35:00.009+01:00

That’s what I’ve been asking myself all day today.

Last week I worked on a one-pager that had passed the walk-away test over the weekend. Getting back to it this morning and liking what I was reading, I thought I was ready to proceed onto the next stage of developing this idea: Fleshing out the one-pager into a scene breakdown.

So this morning, I got straight down to it. The first act flowed. Each scene designed to establish the main characters whilst taking the plot towards the act one turning point. Easy.

But when I arrived at the start of the act two, I froze and I didn't understand why. I had already plotted the turning points, so surely the first part of act two should just head towards the midpoint? But no, nothing. My mind went blank. Suddenly what I thought was a solid concept with an interesting enough character had fallen at the act two hurdle.

Taking a step back, I found myself taking the second act apart. What’s the active question? What’s the protagonist’s goal? What’s the conflict? What are the stakes at play here? I answered each of these questions as if ticking off items on a To Do list. Ticking boxes as if plotting by numbers. Then I stopped myself and asked myself but what’s the story? I froze again.

Right now, I have to admit defeat. I don’t know what my story is. I know that the concept is a potential crime series. I know the world I want to explore and I have a strong idea about who my main protagonist is. I even have a logline that I think works. But I don’t have a story. What is this idea fundamentally about?

Earlier this evening, I started to think about all those concept movies that have storylines rammed into them. Some work. Some don't. The recent examples being The Back-Up Plan, Valentine's Day, The Break-Up and soon to be Friends With Benefits. A strong concept is what sells the idea but a story is what hooks in the reader/audience.

There has been much discussion about what story is compared to plot: The classic definition provided by EM Forster in Aspects of the Novel: “The king died and then the queen died” is a story. But “The king died, and then the queen died of grief" is a plot.” Plot is about causality whereas story is about the audience wanting to know what happens next.

So whilst I have the turning points in place and have a logical understanding about how to progress with the plot, I still need to figure out why the reader/audience should engage with this idea.

This evening, I received a great bit of advice from fellow screenwriter Andrew James Carter – to stop thinking about my idea because the solution will come to me.

So having spent today scrabbling around for words to type onto my netbook without much inspiration, the plan for tomorrow morning is to get on my road bike and take a long cycle to and around Richmond Park. There's nothing like freeing up one's mind.

What's In A Name?

2010-05-10T12:59:00.013+01:00

So this weekend I bought my replacement city bike after my last one had been stolen and boy do I love it! But taking the newbie out for a cruise around town on Sunday morning, I realised that I was not over the pain of losing my other bike. How did I know this? I couldn’t think of a name for my new one.

I’ve clearly got my defences up just in case some thief gets his bolt cutters out again and preys on my latest ride. As a result, I considered just calling my bike, 'Bike' and be done with it.

But this feels wrong. After all, my road bike is called ‘Rouge’ and my last hybrid was called 'Henrietta'. Then I remembered that Holly Golightly called her cat, 'Cat'. It makes sense.

Holly Golightly is a character that doesn't form emotional connections with other people. Her values are superficial. She has run away from her painful past and in the guise of a glamorous party girl, she formed a new identity for herself. Maintaining an emotional distance from the rest of the world keeps Holly Golightly from remembering her original pain.

This thread of thought led me to think about the names I have given my characters and to ask myself, ‘what's in a name?’ Granted, I have spent many frustrating hours trawling the internet for inspiration on names, only to find that when I have chosen something – its meaning doesn’t suit the character’s personality or function. Sometimes I find the perfect name for a character and having clicked on ‘find and replace’, discovered that this name sounds or looks too similar to another name that is just as plentiful in the script. So it’s back to square one. Having names that look or sound similar to each other is a (textbook) no-no. It's too confusing and doesn't help distinguish the differences between the characters.

Right now, I am working on a 1-pager. I have a vague idea who the characters are but still I have no idea what their names should be. I know that as I get to know them, I will have a clearer idea what to call them. But for now, I have given them 'just any name'.

Still, a name is more than identity. It is personality. It is, as I have said earlier, function. Good names serve a purpose. They provide clues to what the story is about. For example, in Nolan’s Insomnia, the protagonist’s name is Will Dormer – Will Sleep. In The Matrix, the protagonist’s name is Neo – One. He is the one.

A good name not only helps to create an emotional connection with the character, it gives the reader/audience a greater insight into the meaning of the character's relationship with his/her world. And even in the case of not giving a character a name, such as Cat, this decision still acts to tell us something important about the protagonist.

So I guess for now, I think I'll continue calling my new bike, 'Bike' - if only to remind myself that I shouldn't get too emotionally attached to it.

Would I Watch This?

2010-05-05T12:09:00.004+01:00

So this weekend I finished my latest script and boy, the feelings are mixed. But rather than dwell on the emotions that are swirling around inside me, my music is turned up loud and I’m moving onto the next project.

Until this morning, I thought I knew what that project was going to be. I thought I’d be developing another story that I’ve been keen to tell for many years. I had learnt so much from writing the last drama script that I felt I was ready to go with this one.

But as my fingertips hit the keyboard this morning and the words crawled along the screen, I started to wonder whether I’d actually watch this drama myself.

For a few sentences, I tried to ignore my gut instinct. But in the end, I had to admit to myself that if I wouldn’t sit in front of the television to watch this drama, who would?

So I started to think about different ways I could tell this story in terms of point of view and genre, to make it more interesting. As I worked on sprinkling magic dust onto this idea, I also started looking through the other one-pagers/loglines lingering on my C-drive.

By chance I came across a logline I’d written sometime last year. As soon as I read it, I was excited – now this is something I would pay to go and see! The genre is horror – true, very commercial. But also, the story grabs me. It’s a twist on the familiar. A cautionary tale to those who think taking the safe road is the safest way.

Of course, I’d like to think that once I’ve finished this script, someone would buy it. But also, with the process of writing, I need to be able to visualise the drama/action in order to write it. And in order to visualise what’s going on, I really need to be watching the film in my mind as I write it.

So that’s where I’m coming from. Would I watch this drama/film myself? If the answer is no, then how can I write it? Thank goodness I have a broad taste in film and television. But when looking at my own ideas, I know I need to take them to the next level if they’re going to leave my head and hit the page. I need to make them interesting enough for an audience other than me.

Let Go

2010-04-27T11:54:00.007+01:00

As I prepare to send my script out, I am listening to ...

Thank you @twatterer for sending me this link. I think I'm looking forward to putting this script in the post now.

Hope your writing is going well too!