Screenwriting: Giving it a polish

A few weeks ago I finished writing my 4th feature film. It was an animated film, and it’s a genre of film that I haven’t written an animated film before and boy was it tough! You’d think that as it is aimed at a younger audience, the material would be easier to write, but I found it to be the complete opposite. And as a result the write took way longer than I thought it would. But I preserved, and the reason being is that I know I have a unique idea. When I told it to others, it got their interest and they asked more questions. With the level of interest, it was a challenge to see whether I could put my unique ideas into well-formed compelling characters and plot.

When it came to writing I put too much pressure on the opening ten minutes. The first ten minutes of any film is there to hook the audience, get them to start connecting with plot and character. With an animated film, I think there is added pressure to make sure you’ve got a younger audiences attention straight away, otherwise you’ve lost them.

I also put a lot of pressure on trying to make the screenplay funny, and at some point in the process I made a decision to focus on getting the story on the page, and adding the humour in later.

So what now? I met several people at the London Screenwriters Festival who wanted to read the screenplay once it was complete. Now it’s time to test the waters and see if there still want to. I’ve already got one yes, and I’m hoping for a few more yes’s to get balanced feedback.

One of the areas which I am weak in is scene descriptions. I immediately think that the reader knows exactly what is happening on the page, but without much description to go on. .

Reading the screenplay there were a couple of plot hole areas that I need to solve. Simple ones like characters knowing other characters names before they’d even met or been introduced. A few more lines of dialogue would solve this.

The screenplay came in at 86 pages, and the usual for an animated film is 90 pages, so the good news is I have a few pages to play around with and hopefully inject some more humour. I’ve already got a few good ideas for extra scenes.

One of my new years resolutions is to do something with screenwriting everyday; whether it be writing or reading about screenwriting itself, or listening to related podcasts. Some days I fall behind but I catch up. I’ve read a great deal of really useful articles from Screencraft on their blog section about different elements of screenwriting, so I’ll use some of their techniques they suggest in the polish.

So now to spring clean my screenplay!

Screenwriting: London Screenwriters Festival

From the 15-17 September I went to the London Screenwriters Festival! I found out about it last year, but didn’t go as I didn’t think I was ready. With a couple of new screenplays under my belt I thought now was the right time.

I didn’t know what to expect, but in the days leading upto it started to look at the sessions on offer, and with one of them being about Pixar and the art of storytelling, I started to get really excited. The festival had five streams of talks and going in I thought it would be a great opportunity to learn lots and meet like minded people.

And that’s pretty much what the festival did. There were hundreds of people all with different levels of experience; some people hadn’t written anything, others had several short films made, and others who had just written one project. It was really interesting to talk to others about their writing processes and see what I could learn from that. I was a bit wary of talking about all my different ideas I had, but I ended up just talking mostly about what I had written on in the past and what I was working on currently. There wasn’t a writer that was writing for the same genre, as most people I met wrote dramas, and it will be useful to keep in contact with them, for when I write darker pieces.
What was surprising was how generous people were with their time; ranging from other delegates, to speakers. It was hard to gauge how much time to spend with each delegate. I didn’t want to spend too long because I thought otherwise I might miss out on meeting someone who could provide a different opportunity or approach to writing that I might benefit.

The festival had a few extra sessions on which you had to book in advanced, these were the Pitchfest, Table Reads and Speed Networking. I only went to the networking, but upon hearing from others who took part in the first two, I definitely want to do those next year, even if they do feel extremely daunting!

The speed networking was beneficial but was a bit of a blur as it was an hour session and you only had 2 minutes to talk to each person. Some people stood out and I got lots of business cards, but the people that I spoke to before and after the session stuck in my mind.

I left the festival, firstly completely knackered. But I left with a nice group of screenwriters that share the same enthusiasm about screenwriting, and don’t glaze over when I go in depth about screenwriting ideas, which some people who don’t write sometimes do. They have also said they would like to read my screenplays and provide feedback which will be invaluable. I learnt way more than I expected. I learnt a lot about the industry, how you need to be strategic, and make opportunities yourself, and about how to improve my work straightaway. I took lots of notes from the sessions I went to, and a fair amount of new ideas for screenplays I’m already writing. I even started listening to On the Page podcasts, which is a podcast series one of the speakers runs, and I’m learning a lot from them already.

Now it’s just the constant balance of trying to fit the day job and screenwriting in. I left with a great enthusiasm and motivation. I just need to keep the momentum going!

Pictures from London Screenwriters Festival; photographer Naomi Koiji Paton.

Screenwriting: Like-minded people

When I was at uni I did a short course on writing short films. It was a four day course spread over a month. One of the things I learnt on the course was that if you had a ‘Hollywood meeting’ about your work, you should also have something up your sleeve, in case the powers that be like your work and want to see what else you’ve written.

This is something I’ve always remembered and going into 2016 one of my aims was to join a screenwriting group. During my 29 challenge, I wrote a fair bit and as a result had ‘something up my sleeve’ to show people. So armed with this I went about joining a group where I could a) learn about the industry and b) more importantly meet people who could help, collaborate or point me in the right direction of somebody that could get my screenplays made (that being the ultimate aim.)

At the start of the new year I discovered Industrial Scripts which I have mentioned before on this blog. Industrial Scripts put on Insider Interviews once a month in London. These are interviews with a variety of people in the film industry; screenwriters, producers and directors. Networking then follows after.

Armed with my Vista Print made business cards I went to my first event and it couldn’t have gone any better. I ended up getting a reputation for being a powerhouse after explaining how much I’d written in 18 months (which apparently was not normal.) Give or take a couple of months I’ve been to most of these this year and I’ve learnt something everytime and met other people who screen write. People that have got something made, or are at the same stage as me, or have yet to start writing.

I also attend a monthly group called the Creative Meat in Hitchin. This group was recommended by my old boss as she knew I did screenwriting as a hobby and thought this could help. The first ‘meat’ I went to everyone was friendly and it was a great atmosphere. The format was pretty similar to Industrial Scripts, except the focus is on creative people in general and not just screenwriters. In fact, I didn’t meet anyone who did screenwriting until the start of December.

At one of the ‘meats’ there was an exercise we all were asked to do. During the weeks between that ‘meat’ and the next we had to pick a name out of a hat and meet for a drink with that person to see how we could help each other out creatively.

As a result, I got to know Frankie who is a Jack of all trades and Pete who is a freelance photographer. Meeting anyone creative instantly gets me motivated. Pete was and is really enthusiastic about my work. He in fact encouraged a passing idea I had years ago which I mentioned in our initial catch up and got me to write it as a short film. And following this I entered my first competition with it in September.

The screenwriter I met at the start of the month, Nigel was a great person to meet. Upon chatting we realised that we’re both at the same point and realised that we could help each other out. We could be a sounding board for potential ideas, and a new pair of eyes for any drafts we have that need reading and feedback to be given.

At the last Industrial Scripts event I went to I met two others who have offered to read my screenplays. Although some would broach with caution people who want to read my work, in the fear that they would nick my ideas for their own; I think you have to get to know the person beforehand. The people I’ve spoken to are writing in completely different genres, so if I can get someone who isn’t a fan of the genre I’ve written in, to respect and even like my work, then I maybe onto a winner.
With Pete and Nigel, I’m going to meet up with each individually on a monthly basis going forward and I think this will be incredibly beneficial. I already feel inspired and motivated after every creative event I go to. Meeting up with like-minded people will mean I’m constantly motivated.

Both Pete and Nigel will tell me if what I’m writing is rubbish. I’ve yet to receive feedback from Nigel on my work, but Pete was the only one I sent my short film to before sending it off for competition and his feedback was amazing. Although I didn’t win the competition, his feedback gave me a real boost. The short film was about M and James Bond and he said he could imagine the characters saying the lines and said he was laughing halfway through the first page. You can’t really get much better feedback than that.

Going into next year I look forward to getting a good set of contacts to help me on my way in screenwriting. One person I met at Industrial Scripts in December called Shell said I had an infectious enthusiasm and I inspired her to start writing. So even though I haven’t had any of my screenplays made, the fact I got someone else to start writing is something I didn’t expect to do. I write because I don’t want to be one of those people that say I’m going to write someday. I want to be the person that writes and gets on with it. I want to continue this into 2017.

Screenwriting: Voice memos

A while ago I blogged about how I used a long car journey to give me time to think about how to think about certain parts of my second feature film. What I also have a tendency to do is think about the dialogue the characters would say. More often than not, I’d think of something great, but then when I get to my destination, I never can write it down exactly what I said.

Then my flatmate Rachel had a suggestion; that I should use voice memos. This was an app on my phone and you can just talk for as long as you want and then play it back later. So I set my phone up to record before I set off (safety first of course), put it on the passenger seat (obviously I couldn’t hold onto the phone when driving) and just started talking as I drove to one of my friend’s house for a catch up.

In the days afterwards I’ve been spending time listening back to what I wrote and writing it up. Although it was for a few different scenes, it’s good to have a bases for upcoming scenes which I can flesh out if need be.

I was worried the recording quality wouldn’t be able to capture what I was saying, and sometimes outside traffic was too overbearing and drowned out my voice. But for the most part it was a great app to use, and I’ll definitely use it again in the future on car journeys when I’m on my own.

Screenwriting: Festive brainstormng

The other week I was round my mum and dad’s and we ended up watching one of those Channel 5 Sunday afternoon Christmas films. You know the ones that are continuously played on the Christmas 24 channel. The one that you can probably figure out how it’s going to end within 2 minutes. We sat there listing all the traits that the films had, and if it was a drinking game looking out for all these traits, we all would’ve been drunk very quickly!

I don’t who suggested but the idea of me writing one of these films came up. They are my guilty pleasure and I’ll say that already I’ve watched my favourite one Matchmaker Santa twice this Christmas season already (there was nothing else on TV!) My mum and I have seen a fair few of these and I’m sure my dad has seen his fair share as well. Together we all worked on a basic plot and I thought this might actually work.

Then a few days later I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t get back to sleep for a couple of hours. So I thought I’d listen to some Christmas music and figure out the plot in detail. But I was focused more on trying to get back to sleep and thought my amazing brain would remember the plot I got sussed. Wrong! I woke up the next day only remembering the start and the end.

I saw on a Screen Craft post on Facebook about using note cards to write out plot points and spreading them all out to help figure out the structure of the screenplay.

So I thought I’d give this a go. I didn’t strictly have plot points written. I’d started brainstorming character development and ideas for things to include in the screenplay. So I wrote those down first and then explained the plot to my parents. Then we all came up with different ideas of how we could get from the start to the finish. How different characters could be developed, the traits in those films and how they could be featured. We managed to come up with two great names for the male and female leads (for some reason my dad was adamant that the male lead had an Italian sounding surname!) It was a lot of fun working on ideas with my parents, and at times I struggled to keep up with writing down all they were coming up with.

We didn’t entirely figure out the whole plot; there’s a part about halfway through that I need to figure out in its entirety but armed with my index note pointers I managed to write a pretty detailed synopsis for the screenplay and even wrote 3 pages straight away.

Now being in the festive season, I’m hoping that the dialogue flows easily. Who knows maybe I’ll get it written by Christmas.

Screenwriting: 2nd draft complete!

In mid June my friend Coops gave me feedback on my screenplay ‘If We Aren’t Married’ and gave me a deadline of his birthday to have second draft written by. His birthday is the 8th September (happy birthday Coops) and I finished the screenplay yesterday and dropped it off at his today.
Getting the second draft done has been quite a challenge. At the time of Coops setting me the deadline of the 8th September I was doing 2 jobs at work. I thought this would last a month or so but in fact it turned into 3 months, and everyday I was coming home shattered. Add to this prepping for job interviews and other things cropping up, time was really an issue with this draft. But I did it.

I’ve blogged along the way about different things that proved interesting to deal with. Firstly, I reduced the number of main characters from 6 to 4, and changing one of the original 6 into a secondary character.

In the first draft there was barely any backstory and furthermore only a fleeting mention of the whole premise of the film. With the second draft the back story takes about 20 minutes of the film; 10 minutes a piece for each pair of friends. Is this too much backstory?

There was also one plot point which I think is viable but I won’t know until I’ve had another opinion as to whether it is. If it isn’t, then I’m going to have to rethink one of the key plot parts of the Ed and Jen narrative.

I rewrote the ending completely, as the first draft focused on the one of the couples that are no longer in the piece. What I wrote instead was 3 sets of outcomes for the different characters. I’m hoping they aren’t too convenient as that was the main feedback of the original ending. I like to feel that I’ve created a sense of closure but also a sense that life goes on for these characters and the ending gives the audience the opportunity to figure out how life will pan out for the characters.

With the rewriting process I thought it would be tough to edit bits out as you grow attached to your screenplay because you’ve worked on it so much. But throughout the process it was getting easier to cut bits out and move things around.

One issue that has lingered since finishing the 2nd draft is timing. I feel this could be improved or at least the passing of time displayed better. From the offset it looks like at times things happened in a rush, some scenes which should be shown over a period of weeks might be interpreted as a period of days. Switching between the two sets of narratives also proved challenging as I liked having a third strand originally to make every narrative have an equal amount of screen time.

So what now? Well I’m going to let this screenplay rest for a bit until Coops and my friend Lizi have read it. I’ve got a short film screenplay competition and another TV show that I’d like to write as well. Both of which I want to write by the end of the year; so I better get my writing skates on!

Screenwriting: Backstory baking

I’ve got around 2 weeks left to get the second draft of If We Aren’t Married completed before my friend Coops’ birthday. It’s the first rewrite I’ve done of any piece of work I’ve written and it’s not as hard as I thought it would be. Writing new scenes has given me a chance to improve the plot, give more depth to the characters and the overall structure of the screenplay.

One challenge I have come up against in the past few days is balance and getting the right quantities of backstory and present story in the screenplay. In the first draft for some reason I thought that everyone knew my head. So the reader would instantly know the backstory of each character. In the first draft Ed had a discussion with one of Jen's brothers, however this was the first appearance of her family in the screenplay and I assumed that everybody knew the backstory and why they were estranged. So I ended up writing a strong scene explaining what had gone on before.

The problem I’ve got now is making sure that there is a limit of how much backstory there is, before it overtakes the present day story. And also how you display it, which has proved tricky. For me there seems to be only one way that backstory can be shown and that’s through a flashback. (If anyone has any other ways please let me know.)

With Coops’ initial feedback (of getting rid of the Halla and Olly plotline) I reduced the number of main characters from 6 to 4, and this has proved a little troublesome sometimes when it comes to balancing each couples’ plots, and making sure there is equal distribution of each couple’s plot so it doesn’t side with one couple. This factor in particular is a continuing problem. However maybe once I’ve written all the scenes, it might be easier to play around with the order. When there were 3 couples in the screenplay, I’d always use the third couple as a way of balancing the distribution of the other 2 couples plots.

When it comes to character development, with adding extra backstory scenes, the characters have developed in different ways. With Jake and Sydney, their struggles are from the offset physical and happen around halfway through the film (currently) and with Ed and Jen, their struggles are more emotional and are established at the start of the film. I like the contrast in how each couple have different types of struggles, and when I started writing the screenplay this wasn’t initially how each couple would be. So I like how each character is growing and developing from what I first came up with.

In summary what I’ve found this rewrite is it reminds me a lot of baking and getting the right quantity of ingredients in the mix. You need just enough backstory to make the story rise, but put too little and the screenplay falls to flat. And it’s the same vice versa, put too little present day story and too much backstory and then your screenplay just wrote rise as it’s just not moving anywhere.

Over the next few days I’ve got one more important scene to write and then it’s just a case of seeing what scenes are still a decent standard from the first draft to include in the second draft, and make sure both plotlines with each couple are fully developed. I don’t want anything ending up half baked!

Screenwriting: Mistakes and opportunities, journeys and destinations

Last week I made a couple of really long round trips, and both involved mistakes. I made a minor mistake at work and this resulted in me driving to Bristol to do damage control (but because of where I work and having signed the secret service act, I can’t say what it was.) I’m someone that makes mistakes, not a lot but a fair few. I seem to make more mistakes then most but I learn from them and I’m hopefully constantly improving.

The main thing you get from mistakes is that you won’t make the same mistake again, but on these two occasions I actually got more from them; a chance to be creative.

As I said in my previous post I’ve started doing the rewrite for ‘If We Aren’t Married’ and the writing I’ve done so far has gone well. The journey to Bristol gave me an opportunity to think over a few key points that Coops had said in his notes; these were the back stories for the premise of the film, showing how one of the character’s new girlfriend is good for him and how the ending could be changed after getting rid of two characters.

So on the way to Bristol I thought through how one of the backstories could extended into the present day of the plot and how other parts of one couple’s narratives could be improved because upon reading through the first draft there are parts that are two dimensional.

With the way back from Bristol I thought about the other couple in the story and how the new girlfriend had an effect on things, and instead of thinking of ways she was good to the guy, I ultimately thought of how things would finish between them.

On Friday I went to my friend Hayley aka Rock’s hen do in Chester. I left at 2.30 and my phone said it would take 3 hours, but because it was a Friday and Google maps deciding to take me on and off the M6 toll road I ended up arriving at 7.30. The main part of Rock’s hen do was a party boat and guess what time the boat set off at…yep 7pm! I literally missed the boat! The mistake there was not thinking about Friday rush hour traffic (which Charlotte informs me starts early afternoon.)

                                            Rock and I at her Hen Party

With the trip to Chester after realising I had missed the boat the big question of ‘what if’ came into my mind. What if there were two people that missed the same party boat? And so with the Chester journeys I started to think of the funny things that could happen and how it could work in a film.

I didn’t think at the start of last week I’d end with a lot of miles driven, a new screenplay idea and different things to add to a second draft, but it just proves that sometimes the journey is more important than the destination.

Screenwriting: Hanging out with your characters

At the start of August I’m going to start the second draft of my film ‘If We Aren’t Married’, which gives me just over a month till my deadline of the 8th September.

One of the comments that Coops made when giving feedback was that you need to give the audience a chance to get to know the characters and get some form of attachment to them.
So before I start the rewrite I thought it would be good to see how other films do this, and as my film is a chick flick, I’ve got a good resource of them.

However, after watching a few this evening; watching only the parts the female and male leads are hanging out together it seems that all they do in this time is talk relationships! Even the ones where the characters have been friends for a long time. All the conversations are as I thought to carry the plot forward.

I’ve got a big collection to work through, but at a glance I think the only film that does show the two leads just hanging out for the sake of hanging out are ‘When Harry Met Sally and One Day.’ (If you can think of anymore films that show female and male leads hanging out for the sake of hanging out, let me know.)

This got me thinking about my own friendships with guys. I think every time I hang out with my guy mates I would briefly mention relationship updates but not dwell on it. On Thursday I went bowling with a group of guys from work and I was the only girl. We went out for food and drink afterwards and chatted about a wide range of subjects; films, politics, even Pokemon!

Tom, Chris and John to name a few of my uni mates I’ve known for over 10 years. I’ve been to cricket matches with Chris, lots of nights out with all of them and many road trips to uni meet ups.
My mate Dan and I try to celebrate pancake day with each other each year. Ando and I try to meet up at Nandos because it rhymes!

When I was at uni my friend Tom whose mum worked with my mum was the friend that back in the day when I had a monthly pay as you go package and you had to use all your minutes or lose them, I’d call him at the end of every month to use all my minutes.

Audrey Hepburn once said; ‘Everything I learned, I learned from the movies.’ Well I’m afraid the icon that you are Audrey, you maybe wrong on this occasion. Time to look back on friendships old and new for inspiration.

Challenge within a challenge: Short films

This year as you know I’ve been going to a screenwriting and creative networking events on a regular basis which are really beneficial. I really enjoy talking to other screenwriters and creative people in general as it you always leave feeling motivated and full of ideas.

There’s one thing that’s been suggested to me a couple of times in these events, which I was also thinking of as well that is the natural next step in my screenwriting, and that’s to write and eventually make a short film. The reason is firstly they are a great way of profiling your work and writing style, but it could perhaps be easier to be made on my own steam.

In terms of short film knowledge, mine is very limited. A few months ago with Coops and Fran we watched 4 short films as part of a film festival in a box set I got years ago from an old boyfriend. But I’d only just got round to watching them. The concept is simple with the set; you watch 4 films which all had the theme of love and be like a judge at a film festival and decide which one is the best. The films in the box were all completely different and made in different styles and they ranged in length; from 2 minutes to 12.

I’ve already got ideas for 2 short films and at first thought I think with short films you can be more expressive in completely different ways.

With a limited knowledge I definitely need to watch more short films to see exactly what can be done in 15 minutes or under. So for 30 days in July starting today I’m going to watch a short film a day.
Not knowing where to start I asked the creative group I go to for their suggestions. I put something on their Facebook group and within minutes I got quite a few recommendations, so I’m going to work through them and see what other ones come up.

I’m looking forward to seeing what short films I’ll see and what ideas I’ll come up with as a result. And if anyone has any suggestions for short films to watch let me know.

Screenwriting: First lot of feedback!

This evening my friend Coops came round with feedback on my film ‘If We Aren’t Married.’ I was pretty nervous about it and even managed to muck up making mug cakes in the process (I forgot to add the flour.)

But once he started giving feedback it wasn’t that bad and there were even some positives that came from it.

So what are the main areas that I need to improve on? Well for one I need to brush up on writing a synopsis. I gave a paragraph explaining what the screenplay was about and that was it. When I did Journalism at uni I was so used to writing the basic details in as few words as possible, then writing in more detail takes some practice.   

The other area is parenthetical description and it’s an area I was pretty clueless about to begin with, so I still need practice.

With regards to the plot itself there were a few points that were covered. The first one being that the whole idea of the plan of if a couple of friends aren’t married by a certain age then they should marry each other doesn’t really get covered, and Coops points out it’s a concept that hasn’t really been covered before. So I need to explore that in more detail and I’ve got an idea of how already.

I knew from the get go that having three strands of narrative would be tough to write, and ultimately one would be weaker than the rest. And so it was suggested that the Halla and Olly plot would be lifted. I can see where Coops is coming from on that front as the character of Olly, although developed in character development, on the page it just doesn’t show through.

There are pros and cons with dropping a narrative strand, it means that it free’s up more time to develop the other characters and create scenes where you can start to like the characters and see their personalities. I think when you reading screenwriting books, there’s so much focus on the plot and moving it forward with every line that you forget that you need time to grow to actually like the characters.

But then I do like the character of Halla and her backstory. The point was made that she could still be in the screenplay, just as a soundboard character instead of one of the main characters. And although Coops said one of factors as to how the film ends was a bit convenient, I do like how emotional I got writing it, so I’ll take that as a positive even if I go with changing it slightly.

So what happens now? Well Coops really wants to read a second draft and with doing 2 jobs at the moment at work it doesn’t leave me much time for much else at the moment. So he’s given me a deadline of his birthday which is the 8^th September for a second draft to be completed by.

In the meantime I want to get one more viewpoint on the screenplay before starting the rewrite. Any takers?

Screenwriting: A kick up the backside

Last Monday I went to another screenwriting networking event run by Industrial Scripts. The talk this month was given by Nisha Parti who discussed her career and discovering Harry Potter and running her own production company and working with Dev Patel.

Afterwards there was networking and having arrived late I didn’t get a chance to talk to anyone before the talk started. Also there wasn’t anybody that attended the previous month, so I had a blank canvas.

There were quite a few people in groups and I find it awkward to begin with standing with a group, and I spotted a guy in a corner of his own and I went over and introduced myself. His name was Fred and was actually a friend of Nisha’s, but had also directed and written short films.

What I’m starting to learn with networking, well screenwriting networking is there are different people you’ll meet who each have a different purpose. The 3 people I met at the first event I went to were supportive, and keen to read my work and knowledge. And Fred’s purpose? To give me a kick up the backside!

With my screenwriting for a long time, since graduation I’ve been saying I want to screen write, but job hunting has also got in the way. But thanks to the 29 challenge it got me writing on a regular basis. Because I’ve been in theory about screenwriting for so long, my goals have been relatively short term. To finish writing a screenplay, to get somebody to read it and so on. Very small term goals.

Fred on the other hand had bigger ideas. I said that my aim was to enter one screenwriting competition. He asked why one? Why not more? He also suggested I’d write and make a short film, and that idea had been on my mind for a short time. And he mentioned the London Screenwriting Festival which I hadn’t heard of before. It’s a place where hundreds of writers, directors and producers are there, and Fred said because I have written several pieces I should go and see if anybody would be interested in them.

I think having people who will give you a kick up the backside is something that we don’t see too often. Or at least I haven’t seen it in a long while personally. I think when you’re job hunting you’re used to hearing either a yes or a no, and no encouragement. And if like me you’re on a contract at work you not really encouraged as you’re there for only a set time and not given the opportunity to develop and grow. I guess above all it’s refreshing to find people that believe in you and your abilities, even if you may never meet them again, that little kick up the backside maybe enough to take things to the next level. Who knows how many levels I’ll go up this year???

Screenwriting: Getting out there

When I was at uni I did a 4 day intensive short film screenwriting course. By the end of the course everybody had written a short film. The course was great and really sparked my interest in screenwriting.

The tutors gave some great advice and one piece was that if you got to the of stage of meeting with people from big studios or other important figures, always have another piece of work up your sleeve, in case the like one piece of your work and want to read more. So I’ve always kept that in mind, and I wanted to go to a networking event when I had a body of work.

Last week I went to a screenwriting networking event organised by Industrial Scripts. There was a talk given by Alexandra Rossi who used to be a producer at Paramount Pictures. The talk was interesting as I always like finding out how people have got to where they are.
The networking didn’t start off great as I ended up at the wrong networking event. It was in the same place and a guy bought me a drink and then there was an announcement saying welcome to the songwriting networking event. I was at the right venue but the screenwriting was taking place in a smaller room!

Once the talk was over I got talking to a woman next to me called Lucy. We were talking about what we had both done writing wise. And I said what I had written in 18 months….which I honestly thought was the norm. But apparently writing 2 full length films, a 6 part TV series and a one off piece for TV in 18 months isn’t normal. At this point a guy turned around and asked me to repeat myself. And he was very impressed. His name was Uzo and I also got talking to a guy called Clive and another guy who had won a screenwriting competition. Uzo also gave me the nickname of powerhouse which seems to have stuck.

It was a great evening and I really enjoyed talking to people about screenwriting, and finding people that were on the same wavelength, and people who were generally interested in my writing. The people I met and swapped details with really wanted to stay in contact with me which is great, and who knows where that might lead.

Screenwriting: Getting back on the starting blocks

As I have said previously I first thought of ‘If We Aren’t Married’ around 5 years ago. The dialogue I originally wrote then was clunky and two dimensional and I shelved it. It was a real struggle to write.

So why did I go back to an idea that I shelved? The idea itself wasn't the reason I didn't continue with it, it was my writing style that needed improving. For me there are two parts to writing dialogue; obviously the words, but also the emotion behind them. Since thinking of the idea I've written a fair bit. Regardless of what standard my screenplays are at, I've had a lot more practice of actually writing dialogue. And without realising it also I needed to go through highs and lows before I could start writing as well.

I hadn't thrown out any of the notes or pictures I had for ‘If We Aren't Married’, so I started looking through what I’d worked on and I thought the characters were still pretty strong and I still had something to work with.

The first thing I did was figure out the plot. It was a multi strand narrative, with three couples (each couple being a strand of narrative) and the first big challenge wasn't getting their plots all on paper (this had been done some time ago) but actually combining them into one mega plot. So this involved a lot of chopping and changing in order, so the film didn't have a preference to anyone couple; although some people may feel there is a favourite couple and to others there isn't. Just this exercise alone got me thinking about how it could all work.

Now originally I did want to start writing the screenplay again last summer; although I found this too tough as I was going through a break up and surprisingly some of the things I was going through had actually happened to my characters….which I had created 5 years previously! Because of the coincidences and things still being too raw and emotional, it was too hard to start writing. However come September/October time I started to slowly start rewriting.

And then I stopped. After writing a 120 page screenplay in Marathon Money, I needed a break. When my dad said to finish a screenplay, I looked at what I had already written, which was 32 pages and it was a good foundation to work on. Being in a much better place emotionally meant I could write in a regular routine, and add depth and emotion to my characters that I hadn't been able to before. Also because of some of my life experience had happened to the characters, it gave me a chance to think of the ‘what if’s’ in my life. What if I had said this? What if I had said that? Those missed opportunities at last I had a use for. I put some of them in the screenplay for the characters, as they like I said they were going through similar things and it helped me look back on things that had happened in the past year as well, and in a way give some closure.

So my main tip for restarting a screenplay that you struggled to get off the ground….give it time. Live a little, listen a lot as people you meet in your life and experiences you get may inspire characters in your head.

Screenwriting: Song inspiration

I’m not an expert in screenwriting; far from it I haven’t even reached the second draft of any of my scripts yet, and I haven’t even sent any off for submission. But through reading books about screenwriting I can tell there’s no right or wrong answer when it comes to listening to music while writing.

I am all for it as I find it can be a great inspiration, especially if there’s a part you’re struggling to write. There are different songs I associate with different screenplays; for Stuck on You it was about a holiday in Europe and so I played quite bright songs while writing. With Hea-Van the 6 part series I wrote; although I didn't have one key song, I listened to the Glee version of Pure Imagination repeatedly when writing a particularly emotional episode about reunions and that helped quite a bit.
When thinking of how the plot would develop for If We Aren’t Married, For The First Time by The Script was my go to song. It helped me visualise one of the key scenes towards the end of the film and as a result made me think about how each characters plot would develop from that point going on and leading up to it as well.

When I restarted writing the screenplay the song was still useful, even though I’d grown and matured in my thinking towards the characters. It took me back to the scenarios I had created for the characters while listening to that song.

Around about the halfway stage of writing I discovered another song which captured the ending perfectly. Now in daydream land if this film gets made, I’d love to have this song on the final scene of the film as the lyrics match exactly what is happening. Or rather what’s happening to a few characters and ultimately what turns out not to happen to another character. The song is Army by Ellie Goulding and I’d listen to it on the way home to work, while figuring out dialogue for the all-important final scene. I actually put in a curveball right towards the end which I didn't plan on when I first thought of the idea. It’s quite emotional and a couple of times driving home I did start crying with the dialogue I was saying and the song that was playing. I really did look like a crazy person!

I think the key to listening to music while writing however is shuffle. Put your ipod, spotify playlist or whatever you’re listening to onto shuffle. Bringing up a song you haven’t heard in ages might give you a random idea that could work in your screenplay that you didn't think of before. Another thing you could try which I haven’t done, but am thinking of doing in the future is creating playlists for characters. That would be another way of developing the characters emotionally, and you can create reasons why certain songs meant certain things in the characters’ lives.

Do you find it easier to write with music on or without?

Screenwriting: Unfinished business

A couple of weeks ago my dad set me a challenge to complete another screenplay I had been writing by the end of the month. On Tuesday, two days ahead of schedule I completed my second film. After putting about my achievement on Facebook, an old work colleague said about how she needed inspiration to restart what she had been writing. So in a three part blog posting, today’s post will be about character development.

The film I wrote is called ‘If We Aren’t Married’ and is about 3 women who each have a best guy mate. I don't want to go into much further detail in case someone uses my idea, lol.

So how did I develop the 6 main characters? Well I literally did it by the book- Screenwriting for Dummies to be precise. I thought of the idea back in 2010/2011 and it was one of my first ideas. My only screenwriting experience prior to having the idea was a 4 day intensive short film screenwriting course I took in my final year of uni. Yes I had plenty of experience of reading plays as I went to drama club for 15 years, but writing a screenplay I had zero experience.

Now some people struggle to think of names for their characters, and if that’s you I strongly recommend you get a baby name book. It sounds crazy but it’s a good resource, particularly if you want a name with a specific meaning. I got my baby name book when doing research for a two week work placement at Mother & Baby magazine at uni. So that’s a good place for first names. As for surnames I just look at my bookshelves and find one that sticks.

I used my Screenwriting for Dummies book to get thinking about the basic details of my characters. The book suggests detailing the geographical background, family, past relationships, occupation, and successes and failures of your characters. As I hadn’t written before this was a great thing to do; although with all the rest of my screenplays I haven’t followed suit. This maybe a good exercise for me to do before the second draft stage. As I maybe able to give even more depth to the characters I've created.

What I also did with ‘If We Aren’t Married’ which I haven’t done before is visualise my characters with actual pictures. I love magazines, and I used to have a big collection, until it looked like I had a hoarding problem. For years I have been keeping articles that I found interesting and kept them in several folders. While looking through magazines in general if there was anybody that stuck out, for whatever reason I kept that page. I’d see pictures of real life people and in the photo shoots and think; that’s what I think Sydney James would look like, or that’s who I think Ed Dean would be like. I’ve kept these pictures and although your plot should aid what your characters look like in your mind, I've found the pictures I kept to be a great help; especially when trying to restart the whole writing process.

Everyone has different methods as to how they develop characters, so if anyone has any other ways of developing characters, it would be great to hear them.

Screenwriting: The challenge to complete another screenplay

For anyone that read my 29 challenge blog, you will know that one of the parts of the challenge was to write 29 pages of a screenplay every month for a year. I had various other categories to work through the 29 challenge, but the screenwriting proved the most difficult. However at the end of it I had written; 2 shorts, a TV made film, a 6 part TV series, a 2 hour feature film and restarted another film which I got to 32 pages of. That restarted film is what I'm focusing on today.

On Friday I met up with my dad and he asked me about my screenwriting and whether I’d sent any of my work off, to which I hadn't. I was more focused on getting words on the page, then fine tuning what I've written at the moment. I explained that I had restarted writing a film during the 29 challenge and my dad challenged me to finish that film by the end of the month.

At first I was daunted by this suggestion but then I had to remind myself that the 2 hour feature film I wrote took me a week to do and that was alongside work. So starting today I have 17 days to write, including 2 bank holidays and 2 weekends.

The screenplay in question I'm hoping to complete is one called ‘If We Aren't Married.’ I went into depth about it on the 29 challenge blog and when I came up with the idea. However in short it’s about 3 couples of guy/girl friends who have agreed that if they aren't married by the time they are a certain age, then they’ll get married.  

As I said I have written 32 pages, so if I'm going to write a 90 page screenplay (which is a 90 minute film), then that’s 58 more pages, or if I'm going for a 120 page screenplay (which is a 2 hour film), then that’s 88 pages left to write. Spread over 17 days I either have to write 3 pages a day or 5 pages a day. This doesn't seem too daunting.

So as Barney from How I Met Your Mother would say; Challenge accepted!