Frolleagues Films!

Time to celebrate upcoming (or existing) stuff from friends and colleagues.

First up is Dan Turner's feature film The Man Inside. It's a thriller centered on a young boxer trying to distance himself from his father's gangster past and the relationship with his trainer. It stars Michelle Ryan, Peter Mullan, Bashy and David Harewood. TRAILER!

I'm pleased to say I was involved in the early script development process of The Man Inside (Screen East hiring me as script editor), and it was great to work with Dan on the script as he's very receptive to notes and isn't afraid to challenge himself and the story to get the best results (see what he had to say about us working together here, plus a nice testimonial for my consultancy page here). The film went on to be script edited by the one and only Jason Arnopp, and I can't wait to see the finished product. Check out Dan's blog for his ongoing breakdown of how he developed the film, from script to screen. Well worth checking out.

In some breaking news, Dan's teamed up with the mighty warlord James Moran to set up a series of hands-on workshops to share their experiences and to help budding creatives improve their skills. It's called Studio 5, based in Elstree Studios. FULL DETAILS HERE.

Elsewhere, one of my old (young) writing students from Leeds Film School, Peter Handford, has made a horror film with fellow Leeds alumni, Bethany Clift. It's called Heretic. LOGLINE! 'After he refuses to accept responsibility for the death of a teenage girl a Catholic Priest is trapped and terrorised in a house haunted by those he should have saved.' TRAILER!

For more details, check out the website.

Now, have you heard of The Amazing Guerrier Brothers? Non? You will. Simon & Tom Guerrier. They're brothers. They're amazing. I nabbed them to work on Origin (*cough* the AWARD-WINNING Origin *cough*) a couple of years ago and since then, they've made their own films. Their most recent one was for the Sci-Fi 48 Hour challenge. They finished the film but missed the deadline. Simon's blogged about how they planned & made the film, and what went terribly wrong. Some great bits of insight and info there. Read that, then watch the film here.


What else, what else? You p̶r̶o̶b̶a̶b̶l̶y̶ ̶d̶o̶n̶'̶t̶ may remember from the very first Frolleague update that Lara Greenway and Lucy Hay were busy making feature film, Deviation, with writer/director JK Amalou, and starring Danny Dyer. It had a recent cinema release but if you missed it, fear not, as you can buy the DVD here. TRAILER!


Brett Snelgrove is making an animated sci-fi web series (as you do). It's called New Eden, and it looks frakkin' awesome.

My podcast frolleague, Tim Clague, is busy in pre-production on his debut feature film, Friend Request. It's a unique story told entirely from the character's POV (literally). This approach poses some technical challenges so Tim went out and shot a short film test of his new POVcam, and you can follow his progress on the Facebook page. Here's Tim's introduction to the POVcam.


I bring you back to that original Frolleague update for the point of these posts: "...keep busy, keep active and keep working. Get your inspiration from wherever you can. Don't get sucked into a rut or knocked sideways by a rejection. Take it on yourself to do something or change something about your profile. What are you doing to stand out? There's more to writing than just writing, although ultimately that's what it all comes down to, so don't let it fall by the wayside either. Don't let online or other networking activities become the centrepiece of your profile. Let it inform and inspire, but stay focused on what really matters."

UK Scriptwriters Podcast: Mailbag

The latest UK Scriptwriters podcast is live!

In this edition, me and Tim round up the latest screenwriting news and opportunities, and discuss the hot screenwriting topics via our mailbag. You know the drill: listen, download, share!

Email us at ukscriptwriters@hotmail.com
Find us on Facebook (links, vids & extras)
Follow us on Twitter
This blog has its own Facebook page HERE (news, updates, opportunities)
ScriptwritingUK on Twitter

Or email me/leave a comment for any suggestions regarding the podcast or blog, or anything that may be on your mind.

Origin wins at LIFF!

Origin has won Best Sci-Fi/Horror Short Film at this year's London Independent Film Festival!

It's difficult to describe just how much this means, and how happy it makes me feel.

As any regular reader of the blog will know, making Origin was a real labour of love, and I got incredible help from cast & crew, not to mention amazing contributions from the blog and Twitter.

It's almost three years to the day that we started filming (a terrific four-day shoot), but it took another year to get the film in the can. Since then, it's enjoyed a fairly good festival run (Brancharge, Raindance, London Short Film Fest, Berlin British Shorts, Shortcutz London, Purbeck Film Festival) but, in truth, my resources for the film had run out, and I was unsure whether to push Origin further on the festival circuit. The call for entries for LIFF came up, and I decided to give it a punt, and naturally I'm delighted I gave a festival another go!

---

I attended the LIFF screening last week. Here's how it went down:

Get the train from Bournemouth to London in plenty of time for the 6.30pm start. In fact, I grab a quick bowl of noodles with the mighty Phill Barron, who's made it to the last stages of the Sitcom Mission. Noodles swiftly scoffed, and good lucks exchanged, I head for my screening but I'm unfamiliar with the location of Shortwave's cinema, and I end up doing a long sprint from Borough tube, arriving ten minutes late. Luckily, the screening's just about to begin, and my good luck charm Darren Doherty is waiting as he hands me a pint of Peroni. Erich Schultz, organiser of LIFF, announces that Origin will be the first film, which surprises & flatters me, and the familiar music of the opening titles booms out of the speakers. 14 minutes later, and the pint of Peroni hastily drained, the film is over and seems to have gone down well. There's a terrific line-up of other shorts, and there's a fun Q&A with all of us afterwards (which I wasn't expecting but very much enjoyed).

The key to a good short film festival, I think, is to structure the screenings into digestible & fun chunks. An hour of 4-6 short films seems to be the best way to do it, with a brief Q&A if possible. Then, everyone can decamp to the bar and have a natter. Which is what we did here. More pints of Peroni, going down far too easily, and me and Darren chat with festival staffer Caroline and her sous-chef boyfriend Greg (from Dstrkt restaurant). I also squeeze in a good old chinwag with Irish actress Clare Cathcart (who, as it happens, is very good friends with Lee Ross, the lead actor in Origin).

The Peronis have made me enjoy myself far too much, and I get the 2nd last train to Bournemouth. To help sober up, I indulge in my very first Night Owl burger on the way home (since moving here in 2005!).

All in all, a lovely night out. London Independent Film Festival offers a great vibe of films & networking at Shortwave cinema, and I highly recommend you go along next year or submit a film. Winning Best Horror Short obviously makes it my absolute favourite film festival, ever!

Origin at LIFF

Very pleased that Origin, my super supernatural short film, is going to screen on the opening night of this year's London Independent Film Festival (Thurs 12th April)!

Here's the full schedule & ticket info (only £2!). If anyone's going, then I will see you there. If you're fairly new to my blog ramblings, and not heard of Origin before (full blog rundown via the link), then here's the trailer:

Talking the Talks

Recently, in amongst my usual routine of reading & writing (and the odd bit of directing), I've been doing a fair few talks and workshops. It's always nice to be asked to do these types of sessions. They're usually a lot of fun and I like the interaction. Mine tend to be a mixture of studying industry standards and expectations combined with insights of my own experiences or my own take on a well-known topic.

The year kicked off with Prequel to Cannes where I did TWO workshops: Taking on the Role of Writer/Director & How To Write for TV. These were nicely contained workshops in the Lighthouse Poole cinema (my favourite venue). During the lunch break, I spectacularly fell off the stage onto the seats. OUCH! Luckily, no-one was there to witness the foolish fall. Although, if I had done myself a proper injury, I would have been waiting a good hour for anyone to find me! *Embarrassed* Later, I suitably recovered to take the stage again as I was part of a panel about going to Cannes (alongside local legends Suki Singh, Tim Clague and Alice D Cooper).

A few weeks ago, I went to the Isle of Man to do a short film workshop for Mannin Shorts (huge thanks to Poker Stars, who sponsored the event). Mannin Shorts is run by two creative powerhouses in the shape of Dave Armstrong & Christy DeHaven. Dave has written & directed Ghostgirl, an impressive short film, alongside his many other activities. Christy's a singer/songwriter/DOP/photographer who can probably add any creative skill you care to mention to her long list of interests. I met them for the first time over the weekend but it was like meeting old friends, and they took good care of me, showing me the best of Manx hospitality. During the short film workshop, I went through the history of short films (how/why they started) right through to the present day, and why they're still important. Here's one of the very first short films ever made!

For more details and insights from the course, including various soundbites from yours truly, then the Mannin Shorts blog is the place to go.

During St Patrick's Day weekend, the Southern Script Festival opened its doors again to student screenwriters and anyone else interested in Courier Pt 12 shenanigans. Here, me and Tim were invited to run a talk on 'Writers Who Want to Direct'. We compiled 10 tips on this topic, which Tim then put in a fancy prezi-tation, which you can watch here. Basically, though, the top 10 tips break down as follows:

VISUALS
1. You're a screenwriter, you already have vision!
2. Visual grammar. From wide shots to close ups, get to know the ABCs of filmmaking.
3. Watch out for 'The Writer's Disease' (filming 'he said, she said').
STAGES
4. Know the production stages.
5. Shooting/editing cycle.
6. The edit is the final draft of the script.
WORKING AS A TEAM
7. Casting - what can an actor bring?
8. Sound - the forgotten art.
9. Letting go.
FINALLY
10. Forget everything, and just do it.

We rounded up the festival with an interview with horror guru James Moran for the UK Scriptwriters Podcast. Catch some of that audio action here.

I also did a few talks in a variety of schools (from unruly teens to uni students to animators) talking about working in the media, and what to expect, as well as listening to pitches. There's an amusing irony at play when you break down the practicalities of what it's like working in the biz. It always sounds like grueling work, faced with impossible hurdles and constant rejections, yet by the end of the talk, everyone's usually inspired or determined to make it happen, no matter what! It's the gift and curse of being a creative: knowing that it's going to be endlessly difficult but that there'll always be that inner-voice that keeps pushing you on, and on, and on... until you fall off a cinema stage when no-one's around!

UK Scriptwriters Podcast: James Moran

In this month's nearly award-winning podcast, we sit down with James Moran and chat about his career, the difference between writing for TV & film, and he reveals his top tips for writing horror. CHECKIT!

Email us at ukscriptwriters@hotmail.com
Find us on Facebook (links, vids & extras)
Follow us on Twitter
This blog has its own Facebook page HERE (news, updates, opportunities)
ScriptwritingUK on Twitter

Or email me/leave a comment for any suggestions regarding the podcast or blog, or anything that may be on your mind.

European Podcast Award: Results!

A little while ago, you may remember me mention that the UK Scriptwriters podcast was nominated for a European Podcast Award in their 'Personality' section. Well, the results are just in, and we came 2nd in the UK! Wowza!

** UPDATE ** We came 5th in Europe Personality overall. Double wowza! **


Thanks so much for all your votes, and for everyone's continued support of the podcast. We love doing it, so it's great to know there's an appreciative audience out there. The next podcast is being recorded live this weekend at the Southern Script Festival where me, Tim, and a whole host of screenwriting glitterati will be celebrating St Patrick's Day by watching Ireland beat the English in the rugby. Yeah, WHO'S WITH ME?!

For confirmation on the UK Scriptwriters result, we're featured at 8:17 in the below vid. Thanks to the European Podcast Award for the nomination & result. We're well chuffed!