My 1st London Screenwriters Festival Experience

If time wasn’t such a pain to find, I would have been writing this much sooner. I have a massive list I could share but it gives me peace of mind to say that if I’ve not got the time to write here, it means I’m obviously busy writing for another project or even better busy putting it into production…. So there!

I really wanted to talk about my experience last October, where I was in attendance at the London Screenwriters Festival. Someone I know as being one of the pro-active one’s in my circles, David Wylie had previously been and had told me a lot about it (watch out for him guys and give his radio show: A Little Bit Racey, a try).

Yes, I already knew of it but its another one of those big things that siphons the lazy, ‘not as bothered’ writers from the more outright determined ones. Obviously, I class myself in the latter so I dug deep into my pocket and paid for a ticket for the early rate before I thought about rent, food, bills etc and got myself a ticket a long time ago before reality had a chance to stop me. Paying almost £300 for the weekend I got was well worth it.

Chris Jones

First and foremost, lets start with the guy who runs it and is actually responsible for one of the best books in film-making I ever bought.
He is an absolute gem and really fights to give new writers the voice, asking all those questions to the execs and producers we can’t reach ourselves.

He is approachable, full of heart and my newest hero in the arena. My only regret at the end of the festival was not getting in a photo moment with him but I did manage to steal 10 minutes to write him a letter which I delievered to him personally to thank him for one of the best experiences of my writing life… The stuff that I got in three days for that amount of money whilst I’m paying a well over-hyped uni £8,000 a year was insane – That final night explosive unification of writers in the room is something every writer should go to if only just the once… The energy was terrific!

Lee Jessup

Who else…? Well, my next favourite was Lee Jessup. She’s one of many who came over from the states to give some “useful” taps and resources in terms of getting your work in front of the industry; things like how scores work on ‘The Black List’, the constant use of her favourite word; ‘pedigree’ and how you make things stand out; has it been looked at by a recognised script editor (like Lucy V Hay, Euroscript etc), has it won any festivals etc prior.

I had three complete pages worth of notes and resources from her hour session alone & clearly seasoned for my level of writing, compared to most, which I felt were slightly to do with the entry level writer, purely motivational or trying to elusivate on other areas such as radio, theatre, the thinking of an agent etc – ALL excellent stuff but I just went in there looking for new resources and avenues I can explore and Lee Jessup was my answer.

Linda Aronson

I stepped upon a hidden gem that put me at ease after the agency Linda Seifert rejected me when they fed back that they didn’t understand why I had given two characters an equal amount of spotlight. Not only did Linda announce her explanation of the ‘Tandem Narrative’ which pretty much made their opinion look pretty silly and out-dated but there was also another person in the room, Edward Davenport who beat me by announcing similar feedback on one of his own projects, which won me my first acquaintance and business card over the weekend. I also stayed back for their session referred to as a ‘script chat’ where a more focal bit of attention is available for you to get more answers to your questions. This was a amazing I was speaking to yet another author of one of the books on my shelf where yet again, she had said that the duel-protagonist stories are becoming more marketplace but in turn it may have also been a literary agents preference or that it simply wasn’t in their taste.

Examples she mentioned were; Thelma & Louise, Timecode & Sliding Doors and in turn also mentioned that films that have a subtle ploy of attention stealing is that in films like ‘Rain Man’ you are more interested in Dustin Hoffman than your are Tom Cruise, which was a great boost of confidence for me when I have to defend myself against the next close-minded critic. There was plenty more she went onto say with regards to tips about TV series developments, use of flashbacks and plot points before she started going a little too far into the “BUY MY BOOK, BUY MY BOOK” phase but then again what could people expect when  we’re trying to cram a lifetime of knowledge into a couple of hours, which makes my future ownership of it (her book) a big consideration.

Lucy V Hay

One I’d been looking to for quite some time was being able to share a room with Lucy V Hay. Someone who’s actually far younger than I thought and isn’t afraid to be the Gordon Ramsay of the script edit world. She gave us a taste of everything, how scripted movement in descriptions keeps interest and in essence ‘physically’ allows the story to keep moving along with it and a big “FUCK YOU” to writing; the character is waiting in descriptive actions. There was some insightful information to go through in terms of how script format is changing and how many “CUNTS” we’re allowed on scripts (which had the room in stitches) – the word on the script that is but we couldn’t help but be aware of the other pleasurable ironic subtext either.

In addition to be paying attention to the new lengths of the formats you’re writing for:

Indie Features – 80 – 90 pages in the UK / 90 – 110 in the U.S

Spec TV Pilots – 55 – 60 pages in the UK

Spec Sitcoms – 25 – 30 pages in the UK

Short Films – the shorter the better but not really above 10 minutes.

A couple of other things for writers to start thinking about was; ‘Can You See / Imagine The Poster For Your Project?’ and to stop directing actors on paper, which she concluded saying it should be a ‘SCREENplay not a screenPLAY’
for anyone who misses the analogy there it is remembering you’re writing for the screen not the theatre, capiche?

I have to say that, I didn’t understand why she was reporting back to cut down on sluglines, character appearance and only using one word locations… That was a bit disturbing; mine are definitely concise enough but sacrifice any more, surely people start saying shit like; “Yes well… What KIND of house, yes well, WHAT or HOW is he wearing his attire” etc. That’s not what shocked me the most; that was her saying that “Guys… your work is being validated by work experience intern kids out there…” – that pissed me off but then again I should’ve probably guessed.

Julian Friedman

Another useful speaker was Julian Friedman… Yep that name sounds familiar for a good reason… If you can’t put your finger on it, I’ll tell you: It’s the fucking Blake Friedman Literary Agency – yep, there’s nowhere the LSF leaves untouched.

Naturally, looking for representation is a bitch, the waiting to hear back is bitchier, the not knowing why, how, etc no matter how hard you keep trying is a complete joke so getting some understanding here was really helpful. Of some of the things Julian said he mentioned Berlin were more receptive than Cannes when it came to new writers and his advice joined on the back of what Lee Jessup had already said in terms of exercising the pedigree in your script(s).

Naturally there were many others I got to sit in a room with; Pilar Alessandra and the cast + writer of Utopia but the money I’d spent was clearly more valued over the ones I’ve already mentioned for me. I came across a great blogger, whom I’d manage to miss at the festival but made for a far better run-through of the speakers than I’ve done here. For a more holistic view, I encourage a trip to KT Parker’s blog.

My most pressured yet most anticipated moment arrived when it was time for me to pitch my ideas.

First up it was; INERTIA with Liam Garvo (Dresden Pictures)

Secondly it was; REALM with Daniel O Toole (ReelArt Media Ltd)

Thirdly it was; PSYCHICS with (I think) Matt Nelson (Irresistible Films)

Finally, WHAT’S UP WITH SETH? with Ian Jackson (Fastnet Films)

Each time you’re sat down and have five minutes marked on a big monitor countdown display behind you to speed through hours and hours of work in a way that you hope that just even one is fully awake to listen and be patient with to have you get it all out. I know EACH one of my stories like the back of my hand… Can I pitch them? – Jesus, I really can’t tell, whether I felt it went well or not, whether their interest was feigned or not, whether this is one of the core reasons I need a goddamn agent yesterday. However its clear after this though – I FUCKING HATE PITCHING!

After all the years I’ve spent developing my skills in everything but chiefly in writing, I’m now expected to be a fluent pitcher as well? Everyone gets told what the exec is looking for if you choose to get in line for that particular person, a THIRD of which didn’t even show up which I found extremely rude so thank CHRIST I came with four projects instead of just 1 or 2. My most surpirising result came from Daniel O Toole as if he just wanted to find the earliest hole and insist there was no way I’d manage to this project in 90 pages. Despite every deflection, I was assuring him every step with a “strong” first draft and summary sheet which depicts how the entire thing is already broken down, has been done. Handed it all over but I reckon if he’d been more honest and said it wasn’t for them, shit would be simpler on both sides.

Surprisingly my best pitch was my first, I’d say, Inertia is my oldest feature script and I understand it so well and the budget being so low and such a simple yet gripping ethical concept definitely had this guy’s attention. Yet again, I’d handed over all he needed and nothing back here either.

The experience did wonders for my nerves and preparation for next time but am I in a rush to go through it again…? Yeah, not really. In any case I’ve been working on my pitch techniques ever since but Christ… I’ve just turned 30… I’m getting a little sick of learning and developing skills now… I should be able to deploy and start using them. I swear the next person who says: "Well, you can't START like this Dan"
* remove this word from your philosophical lecture before I whack you one!

I’m a little pissed off that it was only me and a friend of mine from Bournemouth University that had to pay for ours whilst everyone else I knew from our uni circles got them for fucking free – Grrrr!

Anyway, all in all… What a fantastic experience meeting new people and a thing to be part of. It’s the closest to a ‘Writing Family’ I’ve ever discovered, its like belonging to a tribe or something and Chris Jones… Thank you so much for it!

Useful Resources From Talks (also on Useful Links)

The Black List

Austin Film Festival

Page Awards

Script Pipeline

Big Break

SpecScout

Euroscript

Screencraft

Story Expo

Happy Writers (Stage 32)

Ink Tip

Great American Pitchfest (June)

Hollywood Pitchfest (August)

Screenwriters World (August)

Brooklyn Weaver – Top For Commissioning

Honest NOT Angry - "The Best Answer U Can Get Is A Look In The Mirror, That Tells U All Need To Know As It's The Only Person U Can't Fool"

It’s funny how certain people stand out for having a pair to speak tough love and honesty. Obviously you put it into context but since half of many jokes and issues are linked to celebrities, here’s a few to start you off. Take two I actually respect; Alan Sugar and Gordon Ramsay.

They’re not like those sell outs that smile through their teeth at you then bitch about you behind your back, you spend a long time learning to be good at the trade they are renowned for then once you start performing at a good level, a compliment from them makes it all the more meaningful.

Whilst last year I had already taken on several responsibilities, the latest things involve me having been scouted by two MA filmmaker groups at Bournemouth University, a recruitment agent from Microsoft and a sort of ‘mentor’ for two new scriptwriters and overseeing another four who are at least two years in. Why?

Good question and in fact returning to education for a degree that will mean sod all in my industry and doing more teaching than studying actually makes me feel cheated. Not only did I end up working for a cheapskate for a month, earlier this year whilst he reaped the benefits of my production skills, I’ve spent years and thousands of pounds for absolutely no expense on his behalf. But other than my immediate friends, whom I like to help out, there are others who hear about me, I’m now expected to be drawn in to work for them for free… What, just because you want a good mark for your course and / or I may have a chance to extend my showreel etc… If you’re in a position to pay me, you better have a damn good reason why you don’t as well as those who can’t pay me diddly squat, if I agree to write for you, then don’t turn it into a car crash please.

"EXAMPLE?" - I hear you say, sure, here you go!

How To Make A Film from one of my scripts:

 

 How NOT To Make A Film from one of my scripts:

 

DEFINTELY How NOT To Make A Film from one of my scripts as you clearly don’t give a shit:

 

Funnily, the one at the top, Murad Ali, has been the only one who I keep in contact with both professionally and personally, who when stuck for ideas after working himself stupid on some other edit projects told me he had seen his lecturer who invited him to watch his favourite short film; DESSERTS (please watch!)

Murad has had many a meeting with me and would not hesitate to tell you my favourite question; WHY? – which in this case gave way to the following

Character – Who is he? What pulled him in? Why?

Location – Why a beach? Why the title, instead of ‘Human Fishing’ or something?

Objective – What was the message of the filmmaker? Were they an animal activist? Is it a protest of some kind, in which case where was the empathetic side of the story? WHY? WHY? WHY?

He said; “Mate, I became YOU” as he’d asked a couple of the above questions to his tutor, whom replied; “Well, have you ever thought about what its like to be a fish?”

SERIOUSLY? In one of my earliest blog’s I speak on Art House and the bullshit they think is so amazing and why do they need to exist… If these people are indeed the kind of audience they attract, then why are there so many offices in the immediate proximity that bother teaching their students about constructing narrative? “ARGH, ART HOUSE… FUCK OFF… HANDCUFF YOURSELF TO THE CONFINES OF THE TATE MODERN OR SOMETHING AND LET THESE GUYS WANK OVER YOU THERE… “

You want to see something ‘really’ amazing, take a look at one of my favourite Youtubers. I mentioned the ‘Angry Joe Show’ before but here’s another I’m subscribed to called; ‘The Phillip DeFranco Show’
(Here's a story for those saddo's who don't shut up about their phones, namely that shit over the damn iPhone thing)

This guy delivers you spoonfuls of news within 10 mins or less, with an actual personality (unafraid to swear when something’s “fucking obvious”), voicing everyone’s inner monologue, he promotes at least one new artist and one ‘feel good’ story each time. Admits he doesn’t like TV NEWS so makes his own, backs it up with facts and doesn’t bullshit or speak in the same monotonous tone of voice, whilst wearing a suit and tie, afraid of accidentally upsetting a broadcast network like the BBC who promote this middle-class image to the world when every single foreign mate I’ve ever had would probably agree with me (believe me, there’s enough) that say, “Hmph, you guys aren’t actually like that at all” – which in many ways is a good thing.

One final thought was an excellent, albeit sarcastic at times, review of a student film recently, which most would agree wasn't badly shot mostly but the story was poor. In my opinion mostly due to the excessive dialogue and an actor’s face like a smacked arse for 18 minutes feeling sorry for himself. Any decent writer who’s studied other writers work before like Robert McKee will tell you; “Self-pity does not evoke empathy.” The review itself came from a scriptwriter who I worked with before. Unsure of the compulsion but nevertheless extra time he put in, would have made for good editorial showreel material perhaps as he went through great detail to explain what was shit, what was good and what he would have done differently but given the filmmaker in question, accrediting himself for parts in films he doesn’t understand, in this case writing (usually choosing to explain everything through dialogue than action), is a lot of strain on the actor and somewhat lazy, at least take on a script editor, so you can learn as you go so yeah… Maybe in the future you won’t need one.

The wider picture of this is a scriptwriter gave a great constructively criticised account until another came along and told him (to what I have been told didn’t even read the entire article) that he was “bullying.” No, mate, bullying would be to call him a c**t or punch him etc. What actually took place here is another example of someone who avoids conflict like the plague, unafraid of undermining their friend’s confidence and alike MOST people I’ve met down here, will never be able to write proper conflict because they never go through any themselves. A half-adult on either side would make the filmmaker all the wiser and grateful and the other to have said something similar to what I have said here.

“Oh but Dan, you’re just the same as us”

*sigh*

“No, I’m usually 8 – 9 years older than most of you, I started over 7 years ago, compared to your 2 possibly 3, I completed an intensive filmmaking course at Ealing Studios, I’ve made several films, had 3 screenings, got to an international nomination shortlist, as well as invited to an official pitch for a feature I wrote and not only starting to attract the attention of literary agents (touch wood there, something materialises soon) but I’m also working 5 – 7 days a week, job hunting, writing and collaborating on other projects and forked out to pay to go to the London Screenwriter’s Festival in October… So, NO… I am not the same as you”

It gets really heated if I have to play the childhood card; some of these academic geniouses turn out to be nothing but lazy, spoilt bastards half the time but will still insist on sitting on their invisible pillar of bullshit.

All I’m saying is people who can’t take criticism… Or as you call it… ‘Bullying” (especially if you’re a writer)… ‘GIVE UP NOW… YOU’RE FUCKED” or stay the hell out of the way.

Stability & Success - 'Only Doubt Me If You Want Something To Be Sorry About'

News good and bad really… Where to begin? Lets get the bad stuff out of the way. As with all unrecognised (… as of yet) filmmakers, I struggle with the one thing that many of us do – Money!

However, its not as if the job for a writer is advertised as well as adverts for a plumber, electrician, secretary, accountant, or my personal favourite; I.T technician. I have stressed many a time to the younger writers; “Embrace other trades within production – Don’t be JUST a writer” by this I mean, try and learn what you can about producing, directing, cinematography, editing even acting. You know, just try and tick more boxes – MAKE yourself more employable. Add more strings to your bow and add to your IMDB credits and showreel after all, people watch more than they read, employers are just the same.

Do you know what really pisses me off? How we’re always expected to work for free with promises of “maybe” being paid if the film is a success further down the line. Fellow filmmakers, it’s a mutual pain we have probably all experienced. It makes you wonder though, would any of the trades and jobs I named above work for free… Why not? You don’t need a reputation to be a sales clerk, team manager as you’re sure to get paid, even minimum wage – Makes you wonder and just hope that this all changes pretty soon.

... Plus, we're the few expected to pay to get job alerts and our festival submissions, I mean, come on!

I wanted to share my latest experience. As part of an undergraduate course, I finally got to understand exploitation at its worst. Whilst some courses only require students to work four weeks others require them to take an entire year. Let me get this straight – this is a GOOD idea “BUT” lets get another thing straight “WORKING FOR FREE” when you’ve got rent to pay ISN’T!

In Bournemouth, the opportunities, even working for free in film are highly constricted but I worked for ‘FONIX’ for a month, told that I was going to be helping out with shoots for some great events like the ‘Bournemouth Air Festival’, ‘Bristol International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta’ & ‘Notting Hill Carnival’ but working for free. The business sells massive screens like the ones you see plastered around X Factor and stuff but the other part of the business seems to take pleasure in exploiting the shit out of students to make trips to London and back, spend their hours locking down ALL the research behind each and every event, doing VoxPops (the silly-named expression to interviewing random people on the street, regarding a subject matter), orchestrating shoots from the ground up, all the way from contacting the client yourself through to the edit. In addition any client that pays for Fonix’s services, lets say £3,500 for a promotional video is also totally down to you to orchestrate, respond to emails and texts into the night, the client putting all the pressure on you (technically the sub-contracted intern) as your employer hardly ever turns up and is renowned by most as annoying and talks till you're blue in the face as well as ‘always expecting rather than asking.’

To nail it down, you’re given some decent equipment to play with and shoot stuff for your showreel and work with some other awesome students who know their stuff BUT you’re expected to take control of clients (paid and unpaid), make trips and cover several shoots…  Just working entirely for free unless you covered a couple of days away, vision mixing for the cricket.

I covered the awkward month I was expected to and then after another email from him having expressed “I’m disappointed” despite the fact at that point he hadn’t even respected all the time he’d gotten out of me for free nor the work and effort I put in, when I’ve got other things to do, I basically told him to go shove it. Especially, as its interns who end up saving this guys ass every year covering these essential events and projects. He needed them far more than these guys needed the placement, they could've done elsewhere.

I think that most students, being aged 18 – 22 still haven’t developed the awareness to know when they’re being exploited and usually tuck their tail between their legs and the other employees in the office, I made good friends with (THEY were really nice, which is what makes it such a shame), were telling me this is exactly what the guy did and the less they were involved with him the better. Anyway, it doesn’t matter what age you are, I’ve never worked for free, since I was 13 years old unless its on my own or other peoples film projects and there is ALWAYS respect – and manners cost nothing.

Onto the good stuff - Straight after I walked out of that joke of a job, I received an email for ‘The Short Film Cinema’ in Leicester, saying that I had made the shortlist to be screened the following month and recently, I have just been given another at ‘5 Lamps Films’ in Derby, which was great… Marking the latest success in the same place I was born.

I have also decided to embark on a few more projects (big surprise) to take some interesting stuff with me to the London Screenwriters Festival this year.

Fuck me, the technical constraints I had on getting my pilot webisode for my web series was a nightmare, in editing you’ve got two royal sods known as ‘rendering’ and ‘exporting’ that take hours to tell you if you’ve got a film of the right size with no glitches that can be uploaded to your desired internet platforms… I was going out of my mind and after months and several repeated apologies that really fucked with my reputation, I finally got it up and running and it came out pretty well.

There were two MA groups of filmmaking postgraduates that sought me out to write their scripts as well (not bad, seeing as they’re technically supposed to be two years ahead of me), which should be online for all to see in a couple of months.

New TV Series Project - Psychics

Yes, money has really been torturous but with the latest power of TV, there’s been a few things that has caught my eye and got me thinking in time for me to develop some of my own work, involving a new TV series focussed project depicting on our psychic abilities, being oversaw by an international psychic expert, Heidi Sawyer – turns out I’m chiefly a ‘Clairvoyant’ that explains my occasional ability to see how people need to be spoken to, see a goal and seem to have a strong vision of what goes where to get there and my freakish occasional occurrences of being able to see as well as hear stuff before it happens was well explained. More to come on that one.

INSPIRATIONAL COMPARISONS

New Feature Film Project - REALM

Imagine a world where we’re taken in as refugees, after a desperate voyage into outer space, being the last hope for humanities existence by a new civilisation after the death of Earth. New powers dictated by our birthstones are possible here, battles joining ancient and futuristic weaponry together in a completely new landscape and re-imagined societal structure. My protagonist ahs had his past kept secret from him, whilst living in guilt over the death of his mother around a decade ago and when the ball drops… Oh, boy! By far the most ambitious and high-budgeted project I’ve ever attempted but really like the characters and world I’ve got nailed down so far.

New Media Approach - The Augmented Non-Linear Narrative Film Project


Make Sure You Contribute Your Results: Click Here

This tough bastard, I wanted to explore after absolutely refusing to write another bullshit essay for university. I am shit at academic writing or at best… Borderline! When you’re approaching 30 years old, you don’t want to be ‘average’ at stuff anymore, its not enough… Not for me anyway, so what the hell is this thing?

Okay, well, I used to love those adventure books when I was a kid and I also love video games with a choice you could make that would affect my next objective and alter the end of the story. Imagine watching a brand new film when at certain points it would freeze frame and you would be confronted with a choice of what you did/used/said next? Not only does this engross the viewer within the narrative in a new way, never done before but to be honest, isn’t this where media is headed anyway… Media seeks to deliver more and more choice and power to the viewer, so… Well, yeah, its early stages but the end result should be interesting.