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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, 7 October 2011

London Screenwriters Festival.script comp



Congratulations to the TWO first prize winners (they get to share the cash bit) of the fab London Screenwriters Festival short script contest, Dave Turner and Milethia Thomas.

Note it's all T's in the surnames, so I musta been close...

Ahem.

Still, considering the awesome competition (every Scribe in the land who wanted to bag a free ticket) I placed well, - in the top 5% the organisers say.

And if that wasn't enough, all us shortlisted scribblers received sage like feedback from the wondrous Lady Lucy V of Bang2Write fame.

Full details from the comp uber-judges here.

Many thanks to LSWF directors Lucy V Hay and Chris Jones putting on the contest.

Have a great Fest!

Keep writing.

Monday, 3 October 2011

Whey-hey! Though the first round!




Whey-hey! Though the first round!

Congratulations to all the others also on the long list and sincere commiserations to everyone else, but remember Superscribes, it's all subjective: Keep Writing!
http://2011.londonscreenwritersfestival.com/blog/4-nights-in-august-script-comp-longlisted-entries/

Be a fairground pilot? He didn't see the attraction...

Plane hits Ferris wheel: Police say the pilot is slowly coming round.

Tuesday, 27 September 2011

Happy Birthday Google!



13 today and still provides 90% of searches. Apparently.

Saturday, 17 September 2011

Stand up and be counted...



Why did I do it?

You know what it's like: You're watching a Comedian, and your friends say "you're funnier than them; you should try that" or you're telling your fave joke in the pub and your mates say "you should be on stage."

Well...

I went for it.

And guess what? It's much harder than it looks...

I wrote a funny little script. It's part of the job description. Conned Groundlings Theatre into letting perform on one of their excellent Embryo nights, where new acts try out their new material, hence the title, and got a brilliant o.t.t. introduction from Rafe, the flamboyant compere.

And...

Froze after the first two lines!

The lines garnered the laughs they were supposed to, but rest of my rehearsed skit seemed to have flown out the window.

After a silent, internal blind panic of what seemed hours to me, but, I was assured later, was mere seconds in real life, I recovered enough to bung in a few ad libs, whilst my brain desperately tried to recall the rest of my script.

Fortunately, having had the presence of mind to leave said script with my friends, I made a joke of challenging the audience to heckle me with their bizarrest one line heclkles, but obviously cheated by only responding to the odd phrase shorted out from my script!

These covert prompts did the trick and the show flowed (sorta) on.

As well as the applause, I received some much needed feedback on my performance.

The most important being "learn your bloody lines" and "Don't freeze."

Still, I couldn't have been that bad, because they've actually booked me for the new acts comedy night on the 28th this month!

Oh dear...



Images courtesy of the lovely Kirstie Meredith http://kmeredith90.tumblr.com/

Kirstie would love it if you could visit and tick "like" on her facebook page http://www.facebook.com/meredithfashion More great pics to browse there too.

Saturday, 27 August 2011

Dr Wow!

Dr Wow!



Who?


Wow! How good was that?

Clever, funny, confounding - everything a great Dr should be. I nearly named this post I am not worthy II.

All hail the Moffat

Back on form, can't wait for the next ep!

Missed it?

Shame on you. Watch it here http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0146h0q/Doctor_Who_Series_6_Lets_Kill_Hitler/

Tuesday, 16 August 2011

I am not worthy...

Cemetery Junction written & directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant.




Where the hell was I?

Better late than never I caught up with this fantastic touchy-feely good movie on the old telly box tonight...

Wow!

I am so not worthy: What a master class in scriptwriting, Character development and plain good ol' fashioned really beautiful story telling.

Even the minor characters are so well rounded they spring into believable life and breath truth on the screen.

If you haven't had the pleasure yet, I urge you catch rent/download/steal/borrow/watch it a.s.a.p.

And then rewrite all of your own scripts 'cos of what you've learnt!

And Lord Stephen and King Ricky, if you're reading this, and, yeah I know you're big Sheiky fans, where can I download the script to read?

(Course, should Rick and Steve be too busy, at the mo, what with Hollywood, bloggy things, cartoons and TV projects, to reply direct, or in the comments to me... does anyone else know where I might download their wonderful script to read for edu-ma-cational purposes?)

Stephen's official site: http://www.stephenmerchant.com/

Rick's: http://www.rickygervais.com/

The movie's: http://www.sonypictures.co.uk/movies/cemeteryjunction/



Take from this whatever you will, Grasshopper...


"It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness." – Chinese proverb


Wednesday, 3 August 2011

Everyone's a critic...



"Criticism is something we can avoid easily by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing."

Aristotle