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7 Things I Learned Writing, Making And SELLING A Thriller

So, I did a blind-read on THE STOLEN waaaaay back in 2010 via an investment initiative — and I gave it a RECOMMEND. I wondered what had happened to it off and on over the last seven years … So imagine my surprise when the filmmaker Emily popped up in my inbox recently! It must be fate! I’m DELIGHTED to hear how THE STOLEN has made it to screen and I’ll definitely be getting my tickets. Make sure you support indie filmmaking, female filmmakers AND female leads by throwing your weight behind it. CHECK HERE or click the below for cinemas… Read More »7 Things I Learned Writing, Making And SELLING A Thriller

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How NOT To Pitch Agents: 21 Tips For Writers

How Not to Pitch Agents If you want to pitch agents, you have come to the right place. One of the most oft-hit articles on B2W is 29 Ways NOT To Submit To An Agent by BFLA’s Carole Blake. So, with LondonSWF around the corner, I thought now was a good time to invite another agent to give her tips … So please welcome Jennifer Johnson-Blalock! Jennifer is a lit agent in New York and is offering her top tips on how NOT to pitch at conferences and pitchfests. There’s some stellar advice here on how to pitch agents, so… Read More »How NOT To Pitch Agents: 21 Tips For Writers

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Gender Inequality In Film: 5 Key Findings

Gender inequality in the film industry has been a hot topic for a good while now, but especially in recent weeks. Over the past nine months, Stephen Follows researched gender inequality in the UK Film Industry. Stephen is an award-winning writer and producer, so we can feel assured he knows exactly what he’s talking about. Check out his full report HERE, plus the many projects he’s been involved in, HERE. You can follow him on Twitter as @StephenFollows (and you should!). So Bang2writers! I read Stephen’s whopping 140 page report, not to mention a stack of other articles and discussion. Stephen himself also… Read More »Gender Inequality In Film: 5 Key Findings

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Audiences & Ownership OR The REAL Reason You Reacted Badly To News of TOY STORY 4

I love sausages (quiet at the back). Seriously, I do. TBH I’m fairly ambivalent about eating them myself (arf) but as the working mother of three kids, sausages are handy as hell: they’re relatively cheap (always handy when you’re a broke writer) and during the week my brain is invariably distracted by the Bang2writers and their stories, so I nearly always forget to defrost meat in time (I haaaate microwave defrosting). But you can cook these little beauties from frozen and whip up some mash and boil some veg in no time. What’s more, sausages are pretty much the only thing… Read More »Audiences & Ownership OR The REAL Reason You Reacted Badly To News of TOY STORY 4

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6 Things You Need To Know As A Screenwriter If You Want Your Scripts Made

“Being a screenwriter is 10% craft; 90% trying to stop someone fucking up your script.” I remember a professional writer coming in to talk to us at university. I forget his name or what he wrote – see number 2 on this list – but I remember having seen his movie, thinking it was shit and therefore he must be a shit writer. How wrong I was. Fact is, until a writer is produced, there’s no way of truly understanding how screwed up filmmaking really is. That’s why lots of new writers point fingers at various productions they dislike, believing… Read More »6 Things You Need To Know As A Screenwriter If You Want Your Scripts Made

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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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How To Maximise Your Screenplay Portfolio

Script Leads What’s in a screenwriter’s portfolio is very important. Most screenwriters know this, especially when they ask me for script leads. But there is usually a disconnect. The screenwriters often have the vain hope they MIGHT have *something* that magically ‘matches up’ with what producers and directors are looking for. Of course, 9 times out of 10 they haven’t. The writers in question will have written simply what they wanted to write. They won’t have done any research on target audiences, budgets, what’s in demand etc. In other words, they are throwing spaghetti at the wall. Sure, some might… Read More »How To Maximise Your Screenplay Portfolio

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Marketable Screenplays: what is the “hook”?

Ashley Scott Meyers has a great article up at the moment about how he can tell if a feature script is marketable or not, just from the logline. He gives a few reasons for scribes’ work not being marketable (make sure you read the article to find out), but put simply, he says the concept – the seed of the story, if you like – just doesn’t work, which adversely affects a script’s chances in the marketplace. I completely agree with Meyers. Over the years I’ve seen countless scripts – feature, TV, shorts, web series, you name it – that fail… Read More »Marketable Screenplays: what is the “hook”?

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The Writer Is King (Or Queen) … IF You’re In Ultra-Low-Budget Film

So I was talking with a writer-director friend recently who had this to say: “Modern technology can allow filmmakers to make films with next-to-nothing (And I am talking CGI effects, monsters, etc.) And that offers GREAT hope for writers everywhere: in ultra-low budget films, the writer is KING. Why? Because ultra-low-budget films depend on one thing and only one thing: the concept / script. In fact, I’d say: 80% of it depends on script. 10% on actors. 10% on director.” I completely agree. With the RIGHT feature script, a writer will find him/herself hot property with people actively fighting not… Read More »The Writer Is King (Or Queen) … IF You’re In Ultra-Low-Budget Film

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The Tip Of The Iceberg

Once upon a time, not so long ago, we might have heard something on the radio or TV or read it in a newspaper and mentioned it to our spouse or housemate when they got home. Perhaps we might mention it at work and have a brief five minute conversation, before moving to do something else. It’s all different now. Never before have we been able to share opinions so quickly and so widely. With the like of Twitter and Facebook, we can send something to someone on the other side of the world at the touch of a button.… Read More »The Tip Of The Iceberg

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Relationships & Teamwork

We all know by now it’s not JUST about the writing. We should all be getting “out there” and creating relationships, too. But what does this really mean, bar the obvious, like not hiding away out of sight? I am not a religious person and nor is my family, but I went to a church school when I was a little kid. Obviously much was made then of various tales and parables in the scriptures, particularly ones about teamwork, like: A father takes his son out to a forest and shows him a stick. He gives it to his son… Read More »Relationships & Teamwork

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The London Book Fair, Monday Apr 19th – Notes

I attended the London Book Fair this Monday just past… Here’s what I learned in three seminars there. Enjoy!——————————Assess Your Manuscript – Rebecca Swift, The Literary Consultancy Several Bang2writers have used this service for their own novels and spoken highly of it, so I was keen to hear what Rebecca had to say. I was a little disappointed to hear what I felt was essentially a extended sales pitch for the full half hour: I’d have liked to hear about Rebecca’s own experiences with the slush pile and HOW she might assess a person’s manuscript (as the title of the… Read More »The London Book Fair, Monday Apr 19th – Notes

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