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.
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?
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.
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)
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!
* 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)
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