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SCRIPTWRITER. TV. FILM. THEATRE. RADIO, Portsmouth, United Kingdom
Hi there! Welcome my Scriptwriting blog. When I'm not here I write Scripts, Sketches, Stories and Lyrics. All enquiries welcome.

Friday 18 September 2009

(171) Hasta Luego Amigos



Well, as the Bunny said, that's all folks!

And as the old soldier and the good Space book said...




"Don't Panic!" for 'tis only for a short while, the lovely Mrs S and I are off on another little jaunt to the sun.

Look after yourselves, good luck with your projects, and don't break the Scribosphere as I shall need it when I get back.

See ya soon,

Sheiky


p.s. in the meantime, this was an excellent event last time, so, if you're nearby, make the effort to go along and join in. Tell them I sent you! I'll see you at the next one.
xxx

DV City Screenwriters: Wed 7th Oct - Writing the Short Film Workshop
The Arts Lodge, Angelsea Road, Portsmouth, October 7, 2009 from 7pm to 9pm
http://www.artful-lodgers.org/
Full details here

Sunday 13 September 2009

(170) Workshop Report

The workshop was very informative and great fun. We watched a few shorts, discussed them, what we thought worked best, how clever they were. Or not!

Brevity, and quick and clever visual character clues were the order of the day. Show, don't tell. Clearly, with shorts, time is off the essence. Get in late, get out early. Though, of course we should be doing this anyway with all our scripts by now. Yes?

Tina Walker, our star guest, was funny, animated and interesting. She talked us though the lengthy submitting process for regional awards for funding and commissioning of her short. She showed, not told(!)us her successful treatment document and generously circulated her short script for us to peruse.

As usual, the finished film is changed a tad due to budget restrictions, etc, what was canned on the shoot and bizarrely couple of key scenes just being dropped by the director.

Her overall take on the schemes was very positive and she encouraged us to "have a go".

We then saw another impressive short by a local film maker. His short has been around the world at various film fests and is taking him to the Venice festival too!

He ended his brief, friendly chat with an invitation for us to send him our quality, low budget short scripts...

Poor fellow was suddenly inundated with biz cards, scripts and hastily scribbled email addresses on scraps of paper!

The evening ended with a couple of beers and scribey, filmy chat at the local pub. Yeah!

How's you? Whatcha up to?

Tuesday 8 September 2009

(168) Reminder - Tomorrow!

Reminder - Tomorrow! See you there!

From Roy's page:-

Roy Hanney - Mission Coordinator has invited you to the event 'DV City Screenwriters: Wed 9th Sept - Writing the Short Film Workshop' on DVMISSION 48-Hour Film Challenge!

DV City Screenwriters meeting this Wednesday when we will be workshoping "writing the short film" with guest Tina Walker (Doctors) who has recently completed a short film for Screen South.

DV City Screenwriters: Wed 9th Sept - Writing the Short Film Workshop Time: September 9, 2009 from 6:30pm to 9pm
Location: The Arts Lodge
Organized By: DV City Screenwriters

Event Description:
The workshop is intended to start the process of writing a short film script with the intention of submitting a first draft to the 2010 Screen South Digital Shorts programme In November this year. The workshop will include a screening and critical analysis of previous Digital Short winners from the last three years. Tina Walker (Doctors), with hands on experience of the scheme, will be in attendance to give a short talk and answer your questions. There will also be an opportunity to workshop your own “Premise Statements” as a prelude to developing your ideas further. The group will meet again to review draft scripts in October.

If you would like to attend you SHOULD FIRST join the group and then READ the guidlines: Full details here

Wednesday 2 September 2009

(167) Advice

A kind reader forwarded one of those "buy this special offer writer software" emails to me. As well as the usual plugs and ads it had some gems of Pro advice.

This is my fave...

"Surprise Your Mind. List laughable, ridiculous, outrageous and bizarre ideas. Don't limit yourself to ideas that other people consider "sane," "reasonable" or "logical." The best and most creative ideas stem from silly ones. When you're in a creative mode, you're suspending judgment on ideas you generate. You simply list them all down and never worry whether they make sense or not. Allow yourself the freedom to think outside the box."

Yep. Already do that one all the time...

How 'bout you?

Tuesday 1 September 2009

(166) The Films - The Report

Hi Scribey peeps!

Hope you all had a great bank holiday. Yep, cheers, I did.

Last post I told you I was going to the "Shorts::Cut '09 screening @ No.3"

It was a great night. I met loads of talented local peeps, swapped some biz cards and chatted plot points and reversals over a nice glass of wine.

And we got to watch, and then vote on, some great films. All the films were good, from talented future names.

The best were, i.m.h.o.:-

Bloody Daisies - directed by David White. (Comedy) Two men are sent to a blind date with the same woman, but there's only room for one man in her life. Who will she choose? And why does she need a spade? (4 minutes)

A fun comedy-horror full of really great SFX and trick, sharply edited camera work.


Pesticide - directed by Cameron Kerr. (Animation) Has Bob's computer been possessed by a malicious virus intent on persuading him to commit murder, or is it his own subconscious trying to tell him otherwise? - 6 minutes

A clever comedy animation that must have taken ages to film.


Mark - directed by James Harrison. (Documentary) Professional BMX rider and local resident mark Webb ignores medical advice after breaking his back, and travels to China to compete in the international X-Games 10 minutes.

A good natured doc of an amazing local guy who overcame all odds (and a broken bike as well as a broken back to win the x games in China

It's got me all fired up for the 48hr film challenge

Can't wait for the next screenings!