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11 Experts Share Their Notable Trans Characters Of Recent Years

2014 was – according to TIME magazine – a ‘transgender tipping point’. Increased visibility of transgender people in the media – Laverne Cox, Laura Jane Grace, Paris Lees – brought the trans community into the spotlight. Here in the UK, transgender characters are starting to become a staple of our rich diet of cops and docs, popping up as bit parts in Doctors, Holby and Casualty with increased regularity. Last year, Hollyoaks introduced a trans character, Blessing, and Paris Lees became the first openly trans person to play a trans person on UK television in a cameo on the show.… Read More »11 Experts Share Their Notable Trans Characters Of Recent Years

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How To Package Your Screenplay For Investors And Money People

All About The Package The Package is basically a set of notes that goes out with a feature screenplay. The Package is usually sent by a producer, either to help make the film or for some other reason (ie. secure distribution). As far as I know, there is no “industry standard” for these documents. That said, I’ve found they usually run between 5 and 10 pages, though I have seen much longer. Examples of the package are notoriously difficult to get hold of (oooh matron!). However, like spec TV series bibles, if you see -n enough of them like B2W does!… Read More »How To Package Your Screenplay For Investors And Money People

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How To Attach Named Talent To Your Screenplay

I get asked a LOT about by Bang2writers about named talent “attaching” to a spec screenplay to make it more marketable. Produced stuff makes this look easy, yet as spec screenwriters and filmmakers soon discover, it’s NOT. Here’s my 2p’s worth: i) Star Power is real. Yes, yes it’s very easy to slag off the notion of “star power” or even argue the toss over who IS a star: Danny Dyer is the classic example. Yet regardless of what you think of Danny’s previous output, Danny has a MASSIVE fanbase of lovers AND haters (1 million Twitter followers now!!) and he has… Read More »How To Attach Named Talent To Your Screenplay

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On Writing: Sometimes, it just *is*

As a script editor, I spend a lot of time saying this to writers: “Don’t worry about [that] … worry about THIS!” But, WTF? Obviously we should worry about every little single detail of our stories and characters otherwise we’ll go straight to WRITING JAIL and everyone will think we suck!!! Um, no. Fact is, storytelling is not investigative journalism, it is a smoke and mirrors game. If we had to worry about every single little thing in our stories, or to do with our characters, we would soon tie ourselves up in knots … Cos that’s simply not the… Read More »On Writing: Sometimes, it just *is*

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5 Reasons J.J Abrams’ STAR WARS Doesn’t “Owe” Anyone Gender Diversity

[CHRISTMAS 2015 EDIT: Okay, so this post is even more hilarious in retrospect now we know Rey is not the “token female”, but the PROTAGONIST in an otherwise male-centric franchise! But hey, apparently that’s STILL not good enough because now Rey is “too good” – yes, this is actually a thing! OMG … Well, at least you’re consistent Twitter in that you’re NEVER fecking happy. This is why we can’t have nice things or GOOD FEMALE CHARACTERS you nunchucks. CLICK HERE for a free ebook on how NOT to write female characters and if you’re one of the whiners?? DOOF! Punch… Read More »5 Reasons J.J Abrams’ STAR WARS Doesn’t “Owe” Anyone Gender Diversity

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5 Reasons Why Theatre Is A Writer’s Best Friend

If you’re feeling frustrated about rejections or getting a “way in” to the industry, then today’s short but VERY sweet post from Carla offers some GREAT food for thought on getting a foot in the door via writing for theatre … Also, make sure you check out the new playwriting award from Theatre503. Enjoy! Theatre is a great way to get your work out there and there are some fantastic opportunities for emerging writers. Over the past two years I have been developing a play with Theatre503, a new writing theatre in south London and found the experience invaluable. Here… Read More »5 Reasons Why Theatre Is A Writer’s Best Friend

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5 Reasons Why Compromising Can Lead To Creativity As A Writer

In February 2012 at The Guerilla Filmmakers’ Masterclass, Chris Jones encouraged people to stand up and make a commitment to make something and despite having no intention of doing so when I arrived, that’s how the journey, of my feature film of ‘The Journey’ began. Now yes, I am a writer/director, the story behind this film is quite a complex one and I learned a great deal from it. In any creative role, you should always admit that you never stop learning. Once you embrace this as an ideology, creativity will always work with you, not against you. From the… Read More »5 Reasons Why Compromising Can Lead To Creativity As A Writer

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7 Ways To Name Your Characters

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet.”  Names. They’re important. They’re not important. It depends. For me, names are important. I spent a long time choosing my children’s. I had various reasons for this and the names I chose (and I did choose them all; my Husband had power of veto, but we came to the agreement I carried the babies, so I named them. And no, don’t feel sorry for him – he suggested this!). Ultimately, I wanted a name for each of the children with a meaning… Read More »7 Ways To Name Your Characters

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7 Steps To Organise A Script Reading

Many thanks to Nidhi Gupta, who tells us of her experience and tips in organising a reading of your script today. I’m particularly interested in hearing from Bang2writers who can offer practical tips for writing craft and/or career advancement at the moment. 1) Why do you want a script reading? This is an important question. There are no exact answers, but if you know why you want to, then you can get more from the experience. My reading was done when I could no longer see what did and did not work in the script. In addition, no matter how… Read More »7 Steps To Organise A Script Reading

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Want To Get Noticed? Then Don’t Write These Type Of Screenplays

Updated Previously titled, ‘Want To Get Noticed? Don’t Write Low Budget Depressing Drama or High Budget Science Fiction/Fantasy Spec Scripts‘, this post will outline why trying to get out of the submissions pile with a low budget drama or a high budget sci fi TV pilot like a gazilion other writers (probably) ain’t gonna work for you. Strap yourself in and suck it up, peeps … Cliches + Stereotypes = BORING When I started script reading, everyone was writing very “worthy”, very personal psychological dramas where generally everybody died or was at least miserable as Hell and in the grip of addiction,… Read More »Want To Get Noticed? Then Don’t Write These Type Of Screenplays

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Sales Agents: Just The Way It Is

Lots of Bang2writers believe the biggest *thing* to aim for is an option on their spec script. It’s not: not only does your piece have to survive the development process with the optioning producer/company (for the script you option will NOT be the one that is filmed), the finished film then needs to be sold by Sales Agents to various territories – Europe and USA being the two biggies. Once these projects are sold this then means stuff like the film getting a theatrical release, DVD, etc, what is commonly termed as “distribution”. Distribution is not automatic, just because the… Read More »Sales Agents: Just The Way It Is

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