A Good Writing Session

I wrote another five pages of a screenplay today, which I'm quite pleased with as I've also been doing other things as well. And it's also not bad considering I have a two and a half year old running around my feet for most of the day, wanting to be picked up so he can sit on my lap and see what his daddy is up to. Five pages was a good day.

It made me wonder what other writers would consider a GOOD WRITING DAY?

How many pages makes you happy?

How Not To Be A Writer Part 1

A possibly true (ish) story.

Bob (let's call him that to protect the stupid) has been unemployed for nearly eight months, he doesn't have a girlfriend, all his friends have moved away and, even though he never thought he'd admit to this, wanking is losing its allure... basically he's bored... suicide is beginning to look like a realistic option.

But after watching Dirty Harry he has an idea. He decides to write a script, can't be that hard after all, it's just a few words on a page...yeah, piece of piss - fame and fortune await.

So Bob sits at a computer and types like a man possessed, which is partly true because he has been drinking spirits for the best part of the day, and the words pour out. Two weeks later he has a 115 page thriller. He shows his mum, she thinks it's brilliant, so he puts it in a draw and forgets about it for five years...

...to be continued.

London Screenwriters' Festival

£299 for three days of ramming my head full of lovely screenwriting knowledge. I am so going! But how to afford it? I've just gone self employed so money is tighter than a duck's bum hole in winter.

Steal? Potential for an instantly large gain, but also a big risk of finding myself at Her Majesty's pleasure at the time of the festival. VERDICT - DON'T BEND DOWN FOR THE SOAP TYPE LOSE

Sell everything I own? I don't own anything of significant value that I can sell, except the wife and child, but I'm sure human trafficking is illegal. VERDICT - LOSE

Beg? I'm old and my knees hurt. If I got down on them I'm not sure I'd get back up again. VERDICT - LOSE & POSSIBLE PERMANENT INJURY

Borrow? My bank manager laughed at me when I asked, and my parents left the country the next day. VERDICT - LOSER!!!

Sell Vital Organs? I'm already in trouble for having three kidneys and two livers on eBay. VERDICT - DEAD

Actually Sell Some Work? Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. VERDICT - YEAH RIGHT

Charity? www.FundDomToGoToLondonScreenwritersFestival.com VERDICT - ASKING SCRIPTWRITERS FOR MONEY...NO CHANCE

My only choice seems to be to sneak over the wall on the day.

Who's with me?

Sprint Or Marathon

My writing as of late has been phenomenal, like my fingers are on fire. I just can't stop writing, but I'm also painfully aware that this isn't the case all the time, so I'm making the most of it.

I find writing usually comes to me in two ways.

Bits & Bobs

I write most days, but only half and hour, to an hour at most. Not much gets done, but what is written is good because I stop writing when I switch off.

The Blur

I write loads. Pages of the stuff, some good, some bad, but a good high word count. Not every day though, sometimes I write as much as I can for two or three in a row and then I leave it for a few days to give my brain a rest.

But which is best? Are there any other ways of writing? Tell me, how do you write?

Jazz Me Up.

I'm bored with the header on my blog, it's just too plain. It needs jazzing up a little. I'm in a new phase of my life and it just doesn't fit any more. Out with the old and in with the new as it goes.

Are there any technologists out there who could whip me up a special header for my blog, with a picture maybe, to make it look pretty? I would be ever so grateful. There may even be a snog in it for you.*

Please get in touch if you can help, or know someone who can.

Cheers my blog buddies.

*I have the right to withdrawn snogs at any time with out notice.

Coming Up Gone

My Channel 4 Coming Up entry is in the post, a little late but better that than not at all.

I've been very bold with this year's entry really, delivering a very dark haunting drama of suicide and why sometimes there are no answer to your questions. It's very different from anything I've entered before and we'll see if it makes a mark this time.

Good luck to everyone else who has entered.

On to my Red Planet submission now.

Flash Forward

So the series has ended and the second will not be going ahead. To be honest I don't blame the studio for dropping the show because the last few episodes were a big disappointment, and there were too many loop holes in the plot.

The series started off really well but tried to be too clever towards the end, concentrating too much on how people's flash forwards changed, rather than sticking with the original concept of how people would cope knowing, or not knowing, what they were going to be doing six months down the line.

And the plot suffered from some terrible loop holes. The biggest was why the instigators of the incident wanted to make it World wide? After all if they had been using it for years to see all the possible futures, to make money, to better their own lives, why all of a sudden did they want to share that with the whole World? To me it didn't make sense. What was the point of giving everyone a flash forward?

I also thought the idea of having a flash forward was that it was personal. Then why, and how, could Gabriel see other people's futures, and how did Dyson Frost know Demetri would watch his video tape in the future if he wasn't there to see Demetri find it? It all got more than a little confusing.

And the ending was very underwhelming. The only flash forward we got to see was Charlie's, when she was grown up saying, 'They found him'. We invested time in those characters and what we deserved was a decent pay-off. I personally wanted to see the main characters' new flash forwards so if there had been a second series you would be wondering right from the start how things were going to play out.

Overall I found it very disappointing and I won't be buying it on DVD. Give it a miss.

Red Planet Prize 2010 Part 3

It's here at last. The Red Planet Prize 2010 has been announced. Get writing, people, and good luck.

The Plunge

I've taken the plunge and become a self-employed writer at last.....EEEEKKKK!!!!

I have a lovely part-time job writing for a website which will keep the money rolling in to pay the mortgage. But now it means I can devote so much more time to writing my novel, scripts, entering competitions, and getting that all important first British TV credit. Let me in, damn you!

Now all you lovely people have to do is send me your scripts so I can read them and charge you for the privilege. My son needs a new pair of shoes and the wife a new handbag (beg, beg). Me? I'm just happy to be writing full-time. Fantastico!!!

I'm not crapping myself....honest!

New Script Reading Service

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WHO AM I?

I have a BA (Hons) degree in Scriptwriting For Film & Television from Bournemouth University and I've been a reader for Portman Entertainment Ltd.

HOW TO SUBMIT

You can submit your scripts via email in PDF, Final Draft, or Word format, or via snail mail.

Payment is by Pay Pal or personal cheque, but please remember scripts submitted by snail mail and with a personal cheque are going to take longer to process and return to you.

LAUNCH OFFERS

A BSSC SPECIAL - £5 per script

Available until the early deadline of the 31st of May 2010.

Please note the below prices are based on a 100 page script - please add 0.25p for every page over this.

BASIC DEVELOPMENT NOTES - Special Offer £30

A brief outline of suggested improvements, a list of what works and what doesn't.

EXTENDED DEVELOPMENT NOTES - Special Offer £40

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ANNOTATED SCRIPT NOTES - Special Offer £35

Want more detailed help page by page? Then this is the service for you. Here I will look at formatting, dialogue and scene description.

Please contact me for Pay Pal payment details and snail mail address at:

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South West Voices

Earlier in the year I applied to the South West Voices initiative, in partnership with the BBC Writersroom, when they asked South West writers to submit drama pitches.

110 people applied and out of those 18 were invited to a workshop at BBC Bristol. I was one of the lucky ones. So off I set via train to find out what it was all about.

The workshop was hosted by Paul Ashton (Writersroom), Beverley Booker (BBC Commissioning), Chris Moll (South West Screen) and Hannah Rodger (Writersroom). The first thing that Paul made clear to us all was that if we didn't make it through to the final 8 it wasn't the end. We had been invited to the workshop because they wanted to form relationships with South West writers, to have ongoing dialogue with us and to find out what we are passionate about.

I have to admit I was a little overwhelmed when I got to Bristol, because I'd looked up the other writers attending on the Internet and found that I was probably the least experienced one there. But then I thought if I had been chosen to be in the 18 with all those other writers, then the BBC Writersroom and South West Screen obviously saw something in my writing they liked. So I shoved my nerves aside and threw myself in at the deep end.

I really enjoyed myself, meeting other writers, learning more about the BBC commissioning process, making new friends and actually getting the opportunity to practice my face to face pitching. Let's just say I need more practice.

Unfortunately I didn't make it through to the final 8. A bit gutting, but as Paul said it wasn't the end for any of us. The BBC Writersroom have their eye on me and at least one BBC Commissioner knows who I am. Now all I have to do is keep those relationships alive and maybe it'll help me somewhere in the future.

The Mockers

Should I say something, or should I keep quiet? Thing is I don't want to put the mockers on it.

It seems that every time I do say something before things actually happen, these things eventually come to nothing. But I want to tell everyone, because I'm proud and excited. But if I do say something and then, as it has done before, it all goes tits up, I'll have cursed myself again.

No, this time I'm going to keep my mouth shut until things are sorted, then I will tell...but not before.

Podcast

I went out for a beer or two with a mate this week and he convinced me I should start a weekly podcast on my website and link it to this blog. Actually I think he bludgeoned me over the head repeatedly to make sure the idea staid put, judging by the way my head was throbbing the next day.

I have a few ideas of what I think would make good podcasts, the first being the long awaited "How Not To Be A Writer', post I was going to do. But I was wondering if there were any subjects other writers out there would like to hear about?

I don't know when the first podcast will be because I have to figure out how to do it in the first place and them upload it. I'm not a fantastic techie, but I will get the hang of it eventually. So send those ideas in and I'll get cracking.

Feedback

I've been having a very cordial email conversation with a writer who's script I read a week ago, about what constitutes good feedback. We agreed to disagree, but I have to admit that both ways discussed have their merits.

As a result of that conversation I thought I would post part of one of those emails below to show my attitude to script feedback.

"I've seen script notes given in loads of different ways. The reason I give the bad news first and the good last is because I like the writer to go away with a positive thought fresh in their mind, not a negative one.

I also don't like to suggest to the writer how they should improve their script, rather I prefer to raise questions and allow the writer to come up with their own solutions, after all it's their script and they're the author of it, not me. Who am I to tell the writer what they should write?

Everyone has a different opinion on how honest you should be with notes. The Head Of Department on my BA Scriptwriting course upset a lot of students with his direct and honest approach, some very nearly quit the course because of it. But as he said if he told people their script was good, or tried to soften the blow, when the writer had actually fallen well short, they would be in for a real shock when they went out into the real world. Script editors and producers can't afford to be nice. If they're not honest from the start they're not going to get the script how they want it, which will cost them more rewrites, more money and more time.

However, what isn't acceptable in my book is rudeness, a complete slagging off of the writer and their work. A personal attack on the writer and their script isn't professional, and isn't welcome. Politeness doesn't cost a penny.

I know a writer who worked on a well know show just when a new script editor was hired. The editor went as far as telling the writer how to change individual lines of dialogue, rather than relying on the skill of the writer. No wonder he hated that script editor.

If a writer can't take honest, constructive criticism then as harsh as it sounds they are better off choosing a new career. Some of the feedback I receive still gets me down on occasion, even after all these years.

But at the end of the day criticism is subjective and the writer isn't under any obligation to listen to, or indeed act upon, any of it. However, they have to realise it will severely restrict the length of their career if they don't. Script editors and producers don't want to work with opinionated, stubborn writers only ones that do as they are told and can deliver what they want quickly and professionally."

Discuss.

Ashes To Ashes

WARNING POSSIBLE SPOILERS


DO NOT READ ON IF YOU HATE SPOILERS


YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED, SO IF YOU READ FURTHER THEN IT'S YOUR OWN FAULT.


SO THERE!!!


I think I've sussed what's going on in the final series of Ashes To Ashes. There were certain things I spotted during the second episode that could be carefully laid clues. Then again I might be totally wrong. I'll list my ideas here and we'll see how close I was at the end of the series.

I think Jim Keats is the Devil. The reasons for this:-

(1) His office was in the basement - A metaphor for Hell.
(2) His office was scorching hot - As hot as Hell.
(3) Someone commented his office was fetid, meaning rotten or decaying.
(4) He wears horn-rimmed glasses - the Devil's horns.

Jim is also using his charm to try and get Alex on to his side, telling her he can help her, something the Devil would do. And does he really know where she is from?

If you remember in the first series Gene Hunt saved Alex as a child from the exploding car, so it's a good possibility that he is her guardian angel, which is why he gets up Jim Keats' nose so much. That would mean that the world they inhabit is purgatory, a halfway house between life and death, Heaven and Hell.

Again this is only a theory of mine and I could have got it all horribly wrong, but as I said let's see at the end of the series.

And as for Sam Tyler, I think he's very much alive and Gene Hunt is covering up for his friend (acting the guardian angel), but why? In Life On Mars Sam Tyler discovered his father was a crook and I think the bank robbery that supposedly got Sam killed was carried out by his father and Sam let him escape once again, but this time he followed his father to get to know him better. Well, that idea is a little dodgier than the Devil/guardian angel one above, but again we'll see.

What do you think?

Mid-Life-Crisis

I'm 41 today....is that too old to still be pursuing a writing career?

Scriptfrenzy

Enjoying Scriptfrenzy, although and unscheduled cold is playing havoc with my writing plans. I should be on fifteen pages by now, but I'm still on ten. Got to get my finger out and crack on. Ten pages today, whether I like it or not.

Red Planet Prize 2010 Part 2

So what has happened to the Red Planet Prize?

"Hi Dom.
Yes the prize will be going again this year. We are currently finalizing all
the details and they will be announced on our refurbished website in about 4
weeks or so. So hopefully it will start around early Summer time. Good luck
if you're thinking of entering and we look forward to your entry.
All the best.
Regards, Red Planet."

So now you know.

How Not To Be A Writer

Part One coming soon. Watch this space.

Angry Writer

After the post below on how I won't advertise on my site, I have decided to share this with you.

Angry Writer

I've not succumbed to commercialism, I just came across this site and it made me laugh, so I'm very happy to give it a recommendation.

Check it out and have a guess which one I ordered?