Thursday, April 30, 2009

Evening off

As my reward to myself for finishing Scriptfrenzy successfully I'm having the evening off and just watching some TV. And catching up on my email.

Due to my Internet problems I haven't had any email for 2 days and it all came flooding through this evening once the gates were opened - and, as I stepped delicately through the sea of messages, picking my way through the flotspam and jetspam. I came across the report on my fun Being Human/Torchwood 15-minute crossover script. See this for full details.

I have to admit that, after my little debacle with Unit X, I had suffered a little from self-doubt. Was it possible I only had two good scripts in me? I didn't actually believe it, but those little niggles can be hard to squash (even with the heel of your shoe). Besides you can't let something like that stop you. Pah!

So what was the result? It got what you might call a 6/10 - characterisation and dialogue good for all the Being Human characters (particularly George) and Jack Harkness from Torchwood, but less so for Ianto and Gwen. Lots of nice Wizard of Oz references; and basically a fun read.

BUT, viewed as real script, the plot was more Torchwood style so didn't do the Being Human characters any favours and 15 pages really isn't enough for character depth when you have seven major characters (don't forget the baddie: Mrs Wormwood from The Sarah Jane Adventures).

I've decided to get another opinion on this - not because I disagree, I completely agree - but one viewpoint (even one as good as Philip Shelley) is never enough. Not even for this - because you need to be able to compare and contrast viewpoints to extract the full meat.

However it does answer one really important question: Can I write in the voices of characters from someone else's show? Apparently I can.

This is good.

(I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I have spent some time re-doing my background research on my next project, Tec . Have to put together a nice complex plot.)



What's on the turntable? "Hunter" by Bjork from "Homogenic"

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