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Another Course For Screenwriters

Initialize Films would like everyone to know they’re running a course in the new year for those of you who want to get your first feature script written. It’s really good value – just £195 (+ VAT) for eight sessions over eight weeks. Don’t forget Skillset does bursaries for this sorta thing too, but if you don’t ask you don’t get!! ———————————————————————————PROJECT DEVELOPMENT – FEATURE SCREENPLAY DEVELOPMENT (FIRST DRAFT) “I had never written a script before but after taking this course I now have a feature script with an established producer. I can’t rate it highly enough!”
Pavel Barter, Screenwriter Who… Read More »Another Course For Screenwriters

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Hello. Are You Insane?

So there’s this guy on the SP list this morning who reckons writers should believe in their own talent and forget about using script readers. He also says that script reading doesn’t lead on to anything – his mates who were script reading ten years ago are still script reading today. As we all know, I’m a script reader, so I’m clearly going to think script reading is a good thing. So let me address his first point as a writer. WTF??? I believe in my own talent: if I didn’t, I wouldn’t send my stuff out. Hell, I probably… Read More »Hello. Are You Insane?

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The Tyranny of Typos

So I decided my entry for Red Planet was done over the weekend. I’ve been writing the thing since July; I even have a revised first draft of the pilot and will be doing a workshop with some lovely actors on it in October. David Bishop has given it a veritable script-kicking as only he can “Capital letters, WTF? That word’s wrong! Are you insane, this character is!”, as has Tim “you can do better than this” Clague, JK “You British people are all crazy” Amalou, the gloriously picky Scott the Reader, the divine Michelle Lipton and an offline, real-life… Read More »The Tyranny of Typos

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Sometimes Your First Idea Is The Best One

It’s largely accepted that things change – and get better – as you draft and redraft. I’d be a nutter if I didn’t say that feedback helps one’s writing, not only because I am an actual script reader, but because I have seen my portfolio of specs literally grow and improve thanks to the tireless of efforts of other professional readers I go to, plus of course my beloved Po3ers. Yet sometimes one can go off the boil whilst rewriting. Just as it’s possible to be blind to a particular device’s faults in your script, it is possible to reject… Read More »Sometimes Your First Idea Is The Best One

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Story Evolution

So a rejection yesterday left me with much wailing and gnashing of teeth – largely because I knew full well WHY my supposedly fantastic script had been binned. Don’t you just hate it when that happens? (Though I suppose it’s *marginally* better than NOT knowing why and thinking it’s your best work ever, with knobs on). It’s the beginning. Not the script as a whole. I’ve had feedback coming out of my ears the last year or so on it; I know the story is generally soiund (though I’m willing to concede a good tweak of one particular story point… Read More »Story Evolution

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The Madness of Scriptwriting

Here’s interesting feedback I have received this week so far (and it’s only Tuesday): “What I like about this script is it’s tightly structured and draws to a satisfying conclusion.” Compared with: “I had no idea what was going on here, you need to decide on a path for your characters – and give them a destination too, there was no dramatic satisifaction to your ending.” These were both for the same script by the way. This WAS going to be an inspirational post about not letting the bastards grind you down, not everyone will like your stuff even if… Read More »The Madness of Scriptwriting

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Do Your Preparation: How To Write Outlines, Beat Sheets And Treatments

You should do your preparation! Bang2writers often ask me what is the “best” way to go about writing a screenplay or novel. My answer? There is no “best” way. But it’s definitely going to help if you’ve done your preparation first in the form of an outline, beat sheet and/or treatment. Here’s why preparation work helps you get rid of all the obvious pitfalls and crap FIRST, as it … GIVES your brain time to “breathe” and work out all the machinations of the plot and the character motivations and themes etc concurrently STOPS you writing a load of junk… Read More »Do Your Preparation: How To Write Outlines, Beat Sheets And Treatments

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