Why the London Screenwriters Festival is necessary for London and Screenwriters

It’s been one week since I journeyed from deepest, darkest Wales to attend the London Screenwriters Festival. I was nervous, I was anxious – what if I forget my loglines? What if I meet proper writers and clam up? What if nobody likes me?

Thankfully, while I did ramble at one poor producer, I did meet proper writers without mishap (they had been drinking) and some people seemed to like me okay, or well enough to chuck their business cards at me.

So, why the grandiose title, London and Screenwriters? Am I being absurd to call LSF vital to the hearbeat of the city and the screenwriting community? No, and I’ll tell you why.

I can honestly say LSF consisted of the three most valuable and positive days of my writing life. I gained practical, insightful advice from writers, producers, agents and readers – from those who attended as speakers and from those who were attendees. I honed my pitch in the sunshine chatting to a group of writers at lunch. While practising in the mirror was a good plan, it was even better to talk to people other than my reflected self.

I participated in Speed Pitching, where I threw down my steampunk assassins feature and my sci fi sit com to three producer types. Despite the aforementioned rambling, I secured two script requests and one man’s useful advice on how to develop my project further. I also learned that pitching is pretty much talking – and Heaven knows I can do that!

I also took advantage of Euroscript’s advice session to talk about my Asylum pilot. We went through my two-page treatment, working out how to reflect a three series plan in a spec script and what plot threads were necessary to set up the series. Amazing experience – and all for the ticket price.

That was all on Friday.

It just got better from there, really. I can’t begin to describe the surprises I had as I learned about my craft and my place in the screenwriting world. If you’re serious about being a screenwriter, you need to be at LSF.

And what about London? Well, guess what, we can make films. We can make damn good films, if that little Oscar hoarder “The King’s Speech” is anything to go by. Film is a big industry and one in which we should take advantage. We have hungry screenwriters, we have a rich oral tradition, we have gorgeous natural sets from mid-Wales to Scottish Highlands to inner city Manchester. London needs the film industry and LSF is just one way we can demonstrate that we’re here and ready to take on the challenge.

Now that I’ve rambled out my manifesto, I will share my top tips gleaned from the sessions I attended at LSF:

1. “If you haven’t written a screenplay, you’re not a writer you’re a fantasist” – Vadim Jean

2. “Write what you know – about the human condition” – Danny Stack

3. “In the end, it’s as basic as ‘do I want to know what happens next? Am I excited?’” – Vadim Jean

4. “If you don’t have that thing in you that makes you love the cinema, stop now” – Martin Gooch

5. “Great endings are inevitable and shouldn’t be predictable while you’re on the journey getting there” – Paul Ashton

6. “Yesterday’s no may be tomorrow’s yes” – Lucas Webb

7. “The script must be able to stand on its own two feet and be sensational” – Lucas Webb

8. “What you can’t fix is someone who doesn’t write well” – Julian Friedmann

9. “If I’m not gripped and impressed within the first two pages, I won’t read anymore” – Julian Friedmann

10. “If I get a feature script that’s 90 pages, I’m impressed. If it’s over 120 pages, I won’t read it” – Julian Friedmann

11. “If you’re blocked, going and writing in someone else’s house is the best thing” – Richard Tierney

12. “People don’t live their lives in satisfactory three-act structures” – Christian Routh re: Biopics

13. “The fear of the the unknown is what drives horror” – Christian Routh

14. “Bring them back to ‘what are the problems?’. Don’t just take their solutions” – Emma Frost re: notes

15. “I always explore a note fully before I turn around to somebody and say ‘I think you’re wrong’” – John Griffin

16. “You’ve got to go down all your blind alleyways and try everything, otherwise you won’t know if you chose the right route” – John Griffin

17. “Telling your story out loud to something is an incredibly valid exercise” – Olivia Hetreed

18. “Drama is about character fighting their way for something” – Kate Leys

19. “Why should I pay attention if you’re not being attentive to what you’re telling me?” – Olivia Hetreed

20. “I’ve found something that I’m passionate about and that I would die for and is commercial!” – Rob Thorogood

21. “The difference between a good writer and a great writer is how to take notes” – Tony Jordan via Rob Thorogood

22. “Survival is the only success you can hope for in series television” – Rob Thorogood

23. “You should never, ever get put off by rejection” – Roland Moore

24. “If you’re a writer, it’s an illness you’ve lived with all your life” – Rob Thorogood

25. “An idea is an idea is an idea – it can be any kind of thing” – Tony Lee re: picking a medium

Along the byway

Of course, it’s the time of year for summaries and conclusions, personal achievement counting and reflection.

I have finished Steampunk Assassins. By which I mean it’s with my beloved director and editor friends and I suppose there might be One Final Draft to complete.

I have made a start on The Greenwich Problem for Laughing Stack 2011. I ran the logline past my director, extrapolated the plot of the pilot and shaded in the main characters’ traits and tics. He was very enthusiastic – and, as I trust his tastes, this pleases me greatly.

I’m also going to try my hand at a Rom Com feature spec – we’ll term it Baking Lawyer. That has a beat sheet but nothing else at the moment.

Military Monster needs a complete overhaul before it can have anything going for it. I need to take a step back on Asylum and write a beat sheet for the pilot before I sink further into the intricacies of plotting Season 3 (it’s a very large shoe).

And, in the interests of quieting my ADD, the other projects are all on permanent hold until I can get to grips with my current workload.

Now, enough about me.

I hope 2011 beings you new ideas, fresh perspective, 3D characters, patient agents, eager producers and gifted directors. I hope your specs sell and the Beeb commissions your pilots. And I hope you find time for friends, family, and really good wine.

Happy New Year.

Square One

After all the pressure of competition deadlines over the past few months, I’ve gone back to the specs.

Having finally transferred all my work to Celtx (even if I haven’t resolved all my formatting issues quite yet), I’ve set Steampunk Assassins and Military Monster down to rest for another week. I’ve also actually written an outline for the Asylum pilot, because stumbling around Military Monster led to some bad creative decisions and a lot of words I had to unwrite and I like to dance to some kind of beat.

I have another long train journey tomorrow, so hopefully I’ll drum something out and flesh out my characters. Then, for the journey back, I’m going to pick up Steampunk Assassins and tear that thing to pieces. I really need to learn to love editing – writing is rewriting, after all.

Lens blur

What I am lacking in is focus.

Today, instead of knocking out another chapter of Overambitious Island (though the night is still young), I plotted a new six-part drama series that we will call Asylum. There is no need for this new project, it is not filling a hole of emptiness in my life, and yet it will not be left alone.

So I’m going to kick it into submission and get back to my novel, like a good girl.

Yeah, right.