tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61208301923604424242012-01-24T13:36:22.044ZCracked ScreenwriterAdaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.comBlogger5051100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-28131838704881025602012-01-24T13:36:00.000Z2012-01-24T13:36:22.084Z

It has to be. Over the past few weeks I've been swapping my writer's hat with my producer's hat for our web series WINTER. And I've talked to people about it, trying to encourage them to join our merry little band of pre-production heroes. (The AD and composer from MONSTERS are on-board and we have two CGI peeps so far.) And over that time something's started to nag me. Back in the 1980s

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-77098688498363397052012-01-18T23:06:00.000Z2012-01-18T23:06:09.371Z

Over on the Voidships channel the latest blog about WINTER. (I've been studying about the producer-ing business - look, ma, I'm a hyphenate.) What's on the turntable? "Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-74436411176727734912012-01-04T07:22:00.000Z2012-01-04T07:22:12.281Z

What a title! I'm so funny! I bet you laughed 'til you stopped. Why do experienced writers always enjoin (today's special word) you to have a portfolio of scripts? So that when you read about some producer saying I'm looking for a script that's blah blah and blah, you can say "I have a blah blah blah script". Because a blah blah bleargh script will not be good enough. Happened to me this

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-1690341021615050032012-01-01T00:01:00.000Z2012-01-01T00:01:01.076Z

(I am not writing this at midnight I've just scheduled it to appear at that time.) Two years ago I organised some additional shooting for the Monsters trailer. In my past I have run businesses, organised and run exhibitions, been an organiser of massive events. Talking to people and in front of large groups doesn't scare me. Which is why I finally decided to embrace something that has been

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-63113412092241758622011-12-31T12:10:00.000Z2011-12-31T12:21:17.025Z

Traditions are for fulfilling so here's my look back at 2011. In many ways it's not been a great year. Nor has it been a bad year. There have been bad things though not on the screenwriting front. I've had two bad contracts this year - one of which cost me money. I could take time going to court over it but frankly it's not worth the effort. I went down that round years ago when I ran a

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-16735376007025926982011-12-25T17:06:00.001Z2011-12-25T17:06:25.373Z

This is not a look to the past or really much into the future, that'll come later in the week. This is just this week. I got back from London on Friday afternoon, picked up by The Teacher from the station and home. She's managed to get most of Christmas organised with the help of the Daughter and The Boy - who are both tremendously helpful and neither had the terrible teens the way that they

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-54639359879053045052011-12-19T19:43:00.000Z2011-12-19T19:43:35.118Z

I just want to say at this point that if I get told I'm a "competent" scriptwriter just one more time I think I may skweem and skweem and skweem until I make myself sick. Seriously, I think it's four times this year that someone who knows what they're talking about (different someone's in each case) has described my writing as "competent". Unfortunately competent doesn't win you any

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-85936616670585197302011-12-06T07:22:00.001Z2011-12-06T07:28:26.542Z

There's a new entry on my Voidships blog about how I came to write Winter so it's a blog that probably also belongs here 'cos it's about writing. I have an entry for the Red Planet prize which I'm just sprucing up - how's yours? What's on the turntable? Something by Tangerine Dream

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-2003092673765159832011-11-16T18:43:00.001Z2011-11-16T19:23:10.903Z

Writing 101. The concept called Dramatic Irony sounds complicated. It isn't. It's when the audience knows something one or more of the important characters in a story doesn't know. As in Hitchcock's bomb under the table[1], if the audience doesn't know it's there and it explodes, that's a surprise. If the audience does know it's there and it doesn't explode... the fact the audience knows is

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-60152293303949689622011-11-13T15:22:00.001Z2011-11-13T16:07:26.085Z

I realise my empty last posting needs some explanation. I mean I could delete it but where would the fun be in that? Fun? Not feeling very fun-ny today I must admit. This is not because anything bad is happening in my life, it isn't. Just had a bad night a combination of the weather suddenly turning hot and humid (just for a couple of hours), people just down the way having friends round and

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-5341328355389767452011-11-10T20:20:00.001Z2011-11-13T15:20:30.851Z

What's on the turntable?

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-223913191938185532011-10-28T23:16:00.001+01:002011-10-28T23:17:55.334+01:00

In previous years I've made lots of notes and done a blow-by-blow account of this and similar events. I'm afraid that's not going to happen any more - at least not in detail. There are a couple of reasons for this: they are filming almost all the sessions so if you have access to the site you can see most sessions - even ones that conflict; and because once upon a time I was completely ignorant

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-44276719668710026402011-10-24T18:47:00.002+01:002011-10-24T18:50:08.385+01:00

So much to say, so little time. I am going to LSF'11, this week. I got onto the speed pitching on Sunday, and miracle of miracles I also got the Advanced Mentoring session (which is going to start with Dragon's Den-style pitching and cross-examination from the floor) with Gub Neal on Friday. This is all good. I know pitching is a very scary thing, and people will tell you it's all down to

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-50758273196429900852011-10-07T17:46:00.001+01:002011-10-08T12:58:43.340+01:00

It's been a while since I wrote a blog exclusively on writing, the craft of. And that's what this is. I've been reading "The Tools of Screenwriting" and finding it a very useful book indeed. I'm not one for formulas (except Aristotle) but I'm always keen on tools for the screenwriting toolbox - they don't necessarily make things easier but help you to incorporate those things that make your

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-38933133700899080492011-09-10T11:59:00.001+01:002011-09-10T11:59:05.548+01:00

Hard on the heels of my last post about the nice producer, I got an email from an agency who asked to read a sample script - and then I got an email from someone in the BBC also wanting to read a script. So that's three in a week. Gosh. Screenwritery fun I'm a bit late to the party on this one but just in case you missed it Two Philips are sunning a weekend of screenwriterly goodness -

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-48161196741584542882011-08-30T22:28:00.000+01:002011-08-30T22:28:40.706+01:00

Just received confirmation from a producer that he does indeed like a feature script of mine. And likes it to the point that he is interested in moving forward with it. Which is nice. Of course it's the nature of the business that the magnitude of said "movement" will be zero for months - and possibly forever. That's not being critical, I'm very happy about it, but you can't eat hope or promises

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-86590630797285376072011-08-26T17:17:00.000+01:002011-08-26T17:17:52.734+01:00

It's been nearly a month since I last blogged, which is a rather long time for me, and writing did not form much of the reason why I've been quiet. I've just been very very busy. And still am. But I thought I'd write a summary of what's happening in my universe. Just so you know I'm still alive. But where to start... In the past few weeks I've started to use Twitter (@adaddinsane) I spent several

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-46034115508106405912011-07-30T11:30:00.000+01:002011-07-30T11:30:51.951+01:00

I've been very busy mostly not writing screenplays or any of that sort of creative. Instead I've been doing a different sort of creative, working on a website that will hopefully generate some cash for me (sorry Chris not Voidships) it's a web developer - or indeed any programmer - kind of thing, of absolutely no use to any writer - except (weirdly) it just might be. I shall explain: Sometimes

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-66286001724639429562011-07-11T12:51:00.000+01:002011-07-11T12:51:38.760+01:00

This week I have mostly been watching webseries. I have observed that, with (very) few exceptions, webseries have the following qualities, in order of frequency:Bad scripts. Bad acting. Bad production values. Bad music. Any combination of the above, but the first two are the winners by a huge margin and generally go together. I have been doing this as research since I'm writing one. The

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-80209013259445804972011-07-04T09:28:00.000+01:002011-07-04T09:28:12.051+01:00

The day job continues unabated. I have the rest of the month to complete it then, who knows, I might have to get a new contract or this one may get extended. Had a good conference with Chris the Director about our Steampunk project - all about promotion, marketing and the direction we're going with it. Plus talking about the first actual film project associated with it, Winter. A real business

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-4777900597761762952011-06-18T13:36:00.000+01:002011-06-18T13:36:12.741+01:00

Marketing is not a dirty word. Without it nobody would know you exist. The person who said that "if you build a better mousetrap the world will beat a path to your door" was only partially right - they have to know your mousetrap exists otherwise they won't know where to beat the path. This is why new writers are told to network and why social networking is considered important. People have to

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-26789221313394934562011-06-16T08:00:00.036+01:002011-06-16T08:00:02.807+01:00

A couple of weeks ago I got the final feedback on a feature I had sweated blood over, in its 5th major rewrite. This time I knew I'd got it right, I had really got a feel for the theme and the characters, it was all there. I knew it. Jez was very apologetic in saying there were serious issues. The US coverage company were businesslike in their damning analysis. Philip Shelley was somewhere in

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-50902626064681587732011-06-15T08:27:00.000+01:002011-06-15T08:27:24.817+01:00

This time I'm not talking about the collaboration aspect of film/TV production. This is a reference to something I wrote about a long time ago (2009); how factors like sub-text, the "off-screen screenplay", "in late, out early", dramatic irony, character emotion, and so on, are all aspects of the same thing: audience involvement. I was reading the Bitter Script Reader this morning and he was also

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-65436910743484717762011-06-01T08:00:00.012+01:002011-06-01T08:00:03.203+01:00

David Bishop just* posted a blog on the invisible bits of a writing career, which reminded me that I needed to write an email to a producer. Which I was just doing when I thought that's something that needs saying. I have a feeling that new writers think the only thing that's important in a writing career is the writing. Even though all the experienced writers will tell you that networking,

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-30278395043980391552011-05-31T07:54:00.033+01:002011-05-31T07:54:00.111+01:00

(And what's that got to do with screenwriting?) The  Teacher has had to do two presentations in the past few weeks - and she'd never used Powerpoint. In fact, I likewise had to do a presentation recently and I'd never used it either. Both of us have been using computers in business environments since the mid-80s. We both have lots of experience talking in front of audiences - my largest was about

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-36717738749731126432011-05-29T22:00:00.001+01:002011-05-30T10:52:00.237+01:00

To be honest there wasn't much to the second Q&A - but I'll see what I can put together. Can we do historical? Connal: The current controller doesn't like historical, it's not a cost thing. There's no reason why not otherwise, as long as it's distinctive in period and has relevance. Having said that we are doing "Just William" and have "Leonardo" coming up. What about animation? Connal: We won't

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-6657860688872602932011-05-29T18:00:00.001+01:002011-05-30T10:51:37.200+01:00

Connal Orton is Executive Editor of the CBBC In-house Script Unit. You can look him up for the rest of his extensive, and appropriate, career. Suffice to say he developed, produced and wrote for My Parents are Aliens and I think that says it all. What I write here is not a transcription, it is my interpretation based on my hit-and-miss notes. So it may not accurately reflect what Connal said, or

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-1795716660233124982011-05-29T14:00:00.001+01:002011-05-30T10:51:13.422+01:00

I decided to put the Q&A session in its own blog post...Following Lynn's talk there was a Q&A session What do you do about contemporary references that date a script (like technology, since that's what they use)? Don't put them in. Do alternate methods of storytelling (like voting on how the story goes forward) threaten writers? Garry thought it was a worrying trend; Lynn didn't agree and thought

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-61806491132586059142011-05-29T10:00:00.034+01:002011-05-30T10:50:40.635+01:00

Lynn Whitaker is an academic researcher of children's media culture, who has just spent three years researching with BBC Scotland's Children's Department. She taught English and Drama for 10 years. (And lots of other genuine experience which means she is worth listening to - I tend to be very critical of academia especially when it comes to social matters [because most of it is utter bollocks]

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-58046834698855844362011-05-28T16:00:00.091+01:002011-05-30T10:50:07.205+01:00

Garry Lyons is an award-winning screenwriter whose work includes The Worst Witch, Leah's Trials and musical adaptations of The Secret Garden. He is also a lecturer and the Programme Director for the MA in Writing for Performance at Leeds University. What I write here is not a transcription, it is my interpretation based on my hit-and-miss notes. So it may not accurately reflect what Garry said,

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-43030434249696391852011-05-28T10:40:00.002+01:002011-05-30T10:49:45.739+01:00

I'm going to divide my report on the "Something for the Kids" event into four bits, this introduction and three of the talks during the two sessions (maybe a fifth part if I decide to do a summing up). With all due respect to Jo Combes of the BBC Writersroom she essentially went over stuff which you can get from their website and I don't need to repeat it (I didn't write it down anyway). I'll be

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-68614228049127311892011-05-10T22:21:00.001+01:002011-05-10T22:23:24.892+01:00

On the writing front I am getting feedback on Running some of which is causing me pain, but in a good way. I am in the process of talking to producers about a script or two and I have succeeded in getting onto the BBC's TV Drama - The Writers Festival in Leeds in July - on the very flimsiest of commission history, but I was completely honest. Which means if you have flimsy commissions you might

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-49312322778678063222011-04-29T18:17:00.000+01:002011-04-29T18:17:08.380+01:00

So, I have completed my script for ScriptFrenzy this year, 101 pages. Funny I always seem to hit almost exactly 100 pages every time I write a ScriptFrenzy script (I've done it five times), of course 100 pages is the amount I need to "win". But I never overrun which is surprising since I barely plan these things - I start with a rough idea of the characters and the plot, and nothing else (except

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-39571554009102327662011-04-18T21:47:00.000+01:002011-04-18T21:47:38.219+01:00

I have been remiss and not blogged for a while. But I have been busy, among other things with ScriptFrenzy, however while battering my way through the first draft of this 100 page feature script this evening I had a passing thought which I thought I'd share with you. Because you are my friend. It's to do with what you call your characters in your script ... or perhaps it's to do with what I call

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-32303163852921274482011-04-10T22:42:00.000+01:002011-04-10T22:42:35.444+01:00

Can't say much about this but I can confirm that talking to producers is a good idea for writers. I talked to a producer, and within the week I have a script idea heading BBC-wards. It may come to nothing, I follow my primary rule of "send and forget" but without talking to the producer the opportunity would not even have appeared. What's on the turntable? "Until I Meet You" by The Manhatten

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-43657009847552274542011-04-07T14:47:00.000+01:002011-04-07T14:47:10.860+01:00

As previously mentioned, ever since I got onto the Circalit Gold List scheme, and the Industrial Scripts Connections the number of people accessing my Shooting People profile page has shot up - from 30-40 per week average, to 140-160 (170 yesterday). Well, there's a cumulative count which I knew was approaching 5000, and it hit that. Honestly, I wasn't sitting there refreshing the page until it

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-73261495406156405822011-04-05T21:37:00.000+01:002011-04-05T21:37:01.413+01:00

So we're on Day 5 and, as of yesterday, I was on target - not sure if I'll get my 3-4 pages done this evening but we shall see. (Might help if I stopped prevaricating.) But I have a name Rebels (not Rebellion, not personal enough), a plot, I have characters and I have flora-jutsu: the use of flowers in a combat situation. I know, sounds silly, but that's deliberate; in fact it's far from silly in

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-25478617569140511032011-03-31T22:39:00.000+01:002011-03-31T22:39:19.640+01:00

Right. That's the rewrite of Running finally finished. Just in time for me to start work on this year's ScriptFrenzy, oh good grief. Now I was going to write an SF thriller based on the idea I got at the end of watching Timeline which I called Pox. But I'm also supposed to be re-writing Winter which is a story set in a Steampunk setting. So I thought I'd get myself in the mood by writing a

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-69965734104777164802011-03-29T20:23:00.002+01:002011-03-29T20:46:20.528+01:00

Can I get myself into any more trouble? Of course, I can. Getting into trouble is easy, it's the getting out that's the hard part. You see, something's been bothering me for a while now. And then I was on the phone to a producer last night, a very experienced producer, and the subject of the BBC TV series Outcasts cropped up (which I didn't like much, though I watched all of it). Then this

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-49055190309599621532011-03-27T13:35:00.000+01:002011-03-27T13:35:30.621+01:00

Yup, this has nothing to do with writing. And isn't spam :-) Do you have maxed out credit cards which you repay at the minimum amount every month? Me too. Or rather I did but then I thought of some very obvious facts: First: If you have a maxed out credit card you stop using it, right? Which means that you are able to survive without the credit card. You may as well not have it, it has no money

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-1168287283082481062011-03-26T10:45:00.000Z2011-03-27T11:12:19.094+01:00

I had the meeting with the agent. It was fine but I didn't get promoted to the "New but unproduced writers" list. But they still want to talk to me and see any new scripts. I'm pretty happy with that. So I call them my (almost) agent. Having an (almost) agent retains all the disadvantages of not having an agent but also contains the soul-destroying* hope that one day they might actually want to

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-26601052802402757122011-03-16T22:58:00.000Z2011-03-16T22:58:56.155Z

So Being Human and Outcasts have finished their seasons. Being Human is a shoe-in for renewal, Outcasts is already cancelled. (Apparently the US version of Being Human is doing well - some of the dialogue is straight out of the UK version.) I went to a Q&A with the creator of Being Human, Toby Whithouse, last year. I have read an interview with the creator of Outcasts and read a comment or two

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-44469465035303326852011-03-14T20:31:00.001Z2011-03-14T22:30:02.204Z

In fact more people are looking at me than have looked at me before, and I have no idea who they are. It's not even paranoia, it's just a fact. I have a profile on the Shooting People website, and it tracks how many people have looked at the profile in the last week. I usually average 30 per week (though I did go through a period of 70/week). But now it's up to 103. Trouble is there's no way of

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-54770334534996546762011-03-11T23:22:00.000Z2011-03-11T23:22:31.238Z

...I have a plan, and it's cunning. Six days to the meeting with the agent. Bring ideas they said. "What else you got?" I have ideas, quite a few. (And twelve original ideas for Hustle plots.) How about two kids series from the 70s that could be "re-imagined" for Saturday evening. A naughty $200m blockbuster book adaptation without permission (my excuse? Kate Leys told me to just write it - and,

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-303558082323307952011-03-05T23:21:00.000Z2011-03-05T23:21:31.992Z

Hop over to the BBC iPlayer here and listen to the wondrous Alan Bennett introducing his Talking Heads monologues. More than an introduction, he discusses the process of writing them, how monologues differ from playwriting, something about creating characters - and writers finding themselves with dirty underwear in their suitcases. Quality stuff - and then you can listen to the Talking Heads

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-63561501969393009632011-02-27T22:05:00.000Z2011-02-27T22:05:33.681Z

It's been a fairly pressured few weeks - the day job, my contract at that time, was in a very bad location for travel, had an appalling work schedule in relation to my travel, and was improperly specced which meant I ended up working all hours to finish it. Even though I wasn't getting paid for those additional hours. Harrumph. Just as well it was a short contract. My new contract is in a better

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-7564755789428389922011-02-10T21:06:00.000Z2011-02-10T21:06:57.068Z

No one deserves success. I'm not saying that because I'm upset, or received a rejection, or been pipped at the post by some other writer. (I love it when others gain success - I used to watch Blind Date, not for the angry break-ups or hate-filled diatribes, but for those precious and rare times when people liked each other.) "I deserve it" is for those X-Idol-Got-No-Talent no-hopers. The harder

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-25093945862410768192011-02-07T23:14:00.000Z2011-02-07T23:14:24.405Z

I have finally managed to watch Metropolis. And all I can say is "Wow!". Alright, it's true, I can say a lot more. But it's just classic storytelling, and it's visual because that's pretty much all they had. (My 13 year old son wasn't particularly taken with the story - but he thought the music was fantastic, which it was.) Metropolis is an epic, cast of thousands (really) and the scale is

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-368587792159382002011-02-03T21:17:00.000Z2011-02-03T21:17:54.468Z

What? Bolivia? No. I mean, in a minute. First things first. Writing. Oh yes. The talented Bill Martell has a great screen tip, which was recently re-aired, about the Antagonist. He makes the point that there's loads written on the journey of your Protagonist, but very little about the Antagonist. Which is odd because the Antagonist is the most important character in the story. Without the

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-45190356578375959262011-01-17T21:49:00.003Z2011-01-17T21:53:08.080Z

Just felt I had to draw your attention to this Script Secret by Bill Martell:It's not about timeWhich explains why structure isn't the limiter that some people think it is.It's good stuff.What's on the turntable? "Do What You Like" by Blind Faith from "Blind Faith"

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-90353986589561351172011-01-16T18:45:00.004Z2011-01-16T19:02:50.029Z

I'm on a train heading back to London to begin a new web development contract, having got my head screwed on straight during my Birmingham getaway.There are two main types of contract job in my field: one where you are embedded in the company you're working for (as I was at NBC); or working for the client of an agency, as I am this time.This job is much easier to get to than the previous one - no

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-29565294695842580382011-01-11T20:34:00.002Z2011-01-11T20:43:37.485Z

...but I can't tell you exactly what it is.Except that it is to do with someone liking a script what I wrote. But there are a few more hoops to jump through before I can say what it is ... or, if I trip in a hoop, what it isn't.What's on the turntable? Nuffink.

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-57341646873049230022011-01-08T22:30:00.003Z2011-01-08T22:47:14.459Z

What?Sorry yes, midway through my exceedingly refreshing two week sabbatical. I know, everybody else goes back to work and I go on holiday. How inconsiderate of me is that?So what have I been doing apart from getting my head put on the right way around?I've done some writing - still working on the Running rewrite, pretty happy with the way that's shaping up, a new ending popped into my head which

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-6198229211365149112010-12-31T18:16:00.007Z2011-01-01T18:45:11.959Z

Now that's just silly, I spent 5 minutes converting 2010 into binary, (by hand, none of this electronic gizmo help) and then checking the result to ensure I got it right.So here we are at the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011 most bloggers have already done the customary look back and look forward, so I'm a bit late to the party - but I brought a bottle.One of the most significant aspects of

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-8023932100821635642010-12-20T22:23:00.003Z2010-12-20T23:11:40.832Z

and I have so much to say that I just don't know where to start - the end result is that this is probably going to be quite disjointed.Currently I'm having fan-girl squees all over TV writer Howard Overman - which sounds as disgusting as something he might write for Nathan in Misfits; now in its second season and as brilliant as ever (he created and writes the series - it's not for the easily

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-76145204477077938682010-11-24T22:38:00.005Z2010-11-25T09:02:22.064Z

The day job has been very busy - I'm responsible for the redesign, rebuild and relaunch of a major UK website, next Thursday.Lots of writing things have been going on in the background which I am not in a position to discuss at present. As with much writing stuff it may not even happen.There have been some personal events which have been damned inconvenient.But one maintains a jovial outlook and

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-85243559235086007522010-11-01T13:58:00.002Z2010-11-01T14:00:24.577Z

Bill Martell on theme...http://www.scriptsecrets.net/tips/tip181.htmWhat's on the turntable? "Jeux d'enfants" by Laurent Garnier from "The Cloud Making Machine"

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-69292418147852057872010-10-31T22:02:00.004Z2010-10-31T23:13:34.947Z

Sooooo.Wake. Pack. Check out. And carry heavy bags to the college. Hide heavy bags under a table, then discuss with Event staff person about storing them, and she says she'll move them to the cloakroom.Today I am travelling light, just the one fairly light bag.Eat a hearty breakfast when they finally let us in - 15mins ahead of when they should. I didn't quite such a hearty breakfast as things

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-73362275828448297112010-10-30T21:55:00.004+01:002010-10-30T23:54:25.754+01:00

I was out like a light last night. Seven hours later I was awake.Something I hadn't done the previous evening was prepare my attack on the speed-pitching. Sorting out which pitches I was going to deliver to which of my victims. Stapling the one-sheets to my writing CVs and business cards. (Yes, I am that sad/prepared, I brought a stapler and sellotape, though I have no idea what I might use

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-42654486053977753302010-10-29T22:55:00.003+01:002010-10-29T23:38:51.875+01:00

I am very tired. End of Day #1 at the LSF. I'm going to try and crack through this fairly quickly because I need my sleepy-byes, but once I start writing I tend to just keep going.Wednesday evening I prepared one-sheets for Monsters and Une Nuit in Paris, because these were most likely to be the things I pitch - oh and my writing CV. It had to be Wednesday because Thursday daytime was the only

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-22675622655580957222010-10-27T14:30:00.002+01:002010-10-27T14:32:31.807+01:00

I haven't written a word on this because I made no notes. However David Bishop made copious notes and has started to post them here:http://viciousimagery.blogspot.com/2010/10/rewrite-notes-1-what-is-script-editor.htmlWhat's on the turntable? Nuffink

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-12852433696365966552010-10-20T21:47:00.005+01:002010-10-20T22:10:00.722+01:00

Well, there it is.Two weeks ago someone who taught me a lot about writing passed away, he'd had a good innings and, in his own way, he was a great man.This week a cousin of mine died at the age of 37 - for no apparent reason. We weren't particularly close but it's bad to go so young and he was married with kids.And today I learned that someone with whom I had fought goblins and demons* has also

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-82778507258795363072010-10-18T20:16:00.003+01:002010-10-18T21:16:48.748+01:00

You may have gathered from my recent posts that I've been thinking about Story a lot. This may or may not be a good thing, but I usually do it while walking so I'm not wasting valuable writing time.I've been trying to get back to basics, down to the quantum level you might say (though I think that's (a) pretentious and (b) probably inaccurate). Anyway I thought I'd run a bit of it by you so you

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-46795618037739873772010-10-15T13:54:00.004+01:002010-10-15T14:20:29.685+01:00

Not talking about fencing today though we may discuss Tae-Kwon Do. (I'm feeling in a frivolously twisted mood.)The other day I was thinking about stakes - you know, why it's important the protagonist succeeds in their goal. There are things that have to be true about the stakes - we have to believe in them. That's the most important thing, believe that they really are important. Otherwise there's

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-43195721127922945282010-10-03T14:04:00.003+01:002010-10-03T14:06:21.877+01:00

I could be writing about the Adrian Mead-fest I attended in Edinburgh yesterday - but I won;t because I just read Roger Ellory's latest blog - and I think you should tooWhat's on the turntable? Nada.

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-63381567212336165882010-09-30T18:39:00.003+01:002010-09-30T19:44:11.548+01:00

I went to the "Made in Dagenham" Q&A with writer William Ivory on Wednesday and I had written a blog on it. But I just deleted it because of what my mother never said: "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all".It's not that he's a bad person or a bad writer (clearly not that) or that the interview was uninteresting, it's just I don't think he had anything to say worth

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-85679610586041350252010-09-29T13:20:00.003+01:002010-09-29T13:54:59.869+01:00

The fourth of the MetFilm school evenings, once again with Justin Trefgarne.We started with a viewing of "La jetée", an unusual and highly influential French short-ish film (about 30 minutes with no dialogue just voice-over and almost exclusively black and white stills instead of moving pictures) - it was the basis of Gilliam's Twelve Monkeys among others. Without going into detail let's just say

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-64055432134625133322010-09-20T13:17:00.005+01:002010-09-20T13:50:36.164+01:00

This is the next instalment of my reports on the London Screenwriters Festival short MetFilm evening class course ... phew. There was a two week break between the second and third evening, and I've been a bit busy the last week hence the delay.New speaker Justin Trefgarne a writer-director. He is a man with strong views, but a very gentle way of putting them. He has experience not only as a

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-90927571359433136382010-09-12T10:56:00.003+01:002010-09-12T11:22:43.818+01:00

I (and those around me) have been having a very Victorian weekend.Apart from the alternate Victorian timeline I've been working on for the world domination project, a friend had a Victorian role-play evening to mark his 50th birthday, which was jolly fun. Met lots of people I hadn't seen in years too, which was nice. My, how they've grown.It is the Teacher's birthday today, and she received a ton

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-77352154236650991632010-09-07T13:41:00.003+01:002010-09-07T13:45:52.939+01:00

Well, I'm out with Mara (otherwise known as Tec), but I'm in good company.Onwards and upwards.(When I was young I used to whistle on my way home from school - very often I would improvise on the tune Sweet Georgia Brown, currently playing in my ears.)What's on the turntable? "Sweet Georgia Brown" played by Coleman Hawkins from the very best of...

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-92092874048765614722010-09-05T17:22:00.007+01:002010-09-05T18:06:40.480+01:00

I was doing the ironing, which is something I seem to do a lot of when I get home at weekends, and watching a film - we have a TV conveniently located in the room where the ironing is done. The film in question was the new Sherlock Holmes which is a fun film and good for passing the time when you're ironing.The next bit is spoilery if you haven't seen it, but not seriously since I'm focussing on

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-75138363196844411362010-09-02T20:40:00.005+01:002010-09-02T21:15:06.957+01:00

Oooh, aren't I the bloggy one all of a sudden.As Chris the Director said, over here, we had a meeting at the weekend. You know, like a business meeting. When I say "like" a business meeting I mean it, because we were sitting in the middle of the Cheshire countryside talking while wives and children were having fun.This is not to say that we weren't having fun - talking about potential futures is

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-55574644469014029102010-09-02T09:25:00.001+01:002010-09-02T20:40:41.399+01:00

From Roger Ellory's blog:"As I have commented before, this writing business is a strange one. Seems you spend half your life alone, sat in some room somewhere, hammering away at the keyboard creating your latest work, and the other half of the year in new and far-flung places explaining yourself to strangers."What's on the turntable? "Somehow ... Someday" by Yes from "Open Your Eyes"

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-59369915293478332292010-09-01T13:14:00.003+01:002010-09-01T13:50:23.891+01:00

So ... last night was the second night of the free screenwriting course as part of my London Screenwriters Festival ticket, once again with Claire Moorsom.It's kind of tricky, we have a huge range of writers on the course from people who've barely put finger to keyboard to create a screenplay, to those who are pretty competent and experienced. Which means that not everything is either going to be

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-37183856203505045612010-08-29T21:39:00.006+01:002010-08-29T22:44:38.832+01:00

Watched the movie Battle of Britain (1969, script by James Kennaway and Wilfred Greatorex) yesterday. I haven't seen it since well before I started getting into the whole scriptwriting thing so I was watching with my brand-new "screenwriting head" on.How is it that this film actually works at all? And pretty well at that. Who is the protagonist? Who's the antagonist? Does this film break all the

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-36784809726667517942010-08-25T13:10:00.003+01:002010-09-01T19:31:47.140+01:00

As part of my ticket for the London Screenwriter's Festival I and a few other attendees get a short course on screenwriting. The course is based in the Met Film School building at Ealing Studios which, for me, is a bit of a trek from the place I'm staying, or is on the way back but you can't get enough education.The first evening was introduced by the one and only Chris Jones who then passed us

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-86634576690093086082010-08-20T17:20:00.001+01:002010-08-20T17:38:11.364+01:00

I finished rewriting my entry, renamed from Tec to Mara, for the Red Planet prize a couple of weeks ago, have been having a pleasant holiday and then back to work - this time in the Fancy London.One might think that working for NBC/Universal might give me some sort of a leg up - well, it's a big organisation and I'm not in that bit. I just do websites.I am living with my parents for the first

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-83981335608826664372010-08-18T21:14:00.006+01:002010-08-18T22:26:47.468+01:00

I have been remiss. It was almost two weeks ago that Michelle tagged me for a meme, for "that moment where you decided that this was something you could/should/would do".I did write a lot about this back here - nearly two years ago. Gosh. (You could also click the inspirations tag to see everything related.)In those blogs back then I traced my writing career from rubbish SF novels through poetry

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-11917157874133903292010-08-02T19:46:00.003+01:002010-08-02T19:53:57.920+01:00

...is hard. Seriously hard. He grew up and still lives in (I think) a place most of us would not want to drive through even at 100mph.And he is one of the most decent people you could meet. This link is him reading the first chapter of a novella he recently completed.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjEplsjnR70It may be that he's not the greatest writer in the world, but there's an authenticity you

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-72929915392153887242010-07-30T07:42:00.003+01:002010-07-30T07:44:07.660+01:00

You know the saying "If you want something done, give it to a busy person to do"?That's a lie - just because someone is apparently busy means nothing, lots of people run around at high speed making a lot of noise and doing almost nothing.It should be: "If you want something donw give it to a productive person to do".I thank you.What's on the turntable? The sounds of suburbia waking up.

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-46518410274297921392010-07-25T22:51:00.003+01:002010-07-25T22:57:54.807+01:00

Brilliant. Mostly.If it hadn't been Moffat and Gatiss I probably wouldn't have even bothered watching (considering the recent TV output).But this was good. Impressively maintaining the feel of the original stories in a modern setting - I really didn't think it could be done but they managed it.It wasn't perfect, the "what sort of person could it be committing these crimes" was insultingly obvious

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-51673659490266773892010-07-20T10:41:00.004+01:002010-07-20T12:05:23.708+01:00

I'm at home, yesterday I was in London.It's all the fault of the Government - well, isn't everything?[1]I won't bore you with the insanity of Michael Gove (this is not a political comment, it's a technical fact, he's what we call in the business "a nutter"), but from the start of the election all Government departments go into purdah. I shall avoid obvious jokes[2]. Essentially no further

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-33512381925530087872010-07-15T20:43:00.002+01:002010-07-15T20:59:24.585+01:00

There are some films I can watch only once (such as Mercury Rising, or The Birds) not because I think they're bad films, I may really liked them but ... never again.Then there are films I could watch again and again - and do. These are not necessarily deep films - in fact, terrible writing fraud that I am, I really don't care about "deep" and "important" films.So here's a non-exhaustive list of

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-69804766131860176002010-07-08T20:53:00.004+01:002010-07-09T08:28:47.135+01:00

A friend of mine has written a novel. It's his first - and he finished it, which is an achievement in its own right. Knowing that I have some experience with both writing and editing (I have edited novels for money) he asked if I would have a look at the first two chapters.Like most beginning writers he was very nervous about the whole thing, and feeling vulnerable. Yup, been there. Anyway I

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-13258473523735022632010-07-07T13:35:00.004+01:002010-07-07T13:42:50.071+01:00

I had to smile. Watching an episode of The Mentalist recently where someone expressed the opinion that behaviour "did not have to make sense", and the lead character Patrick Jane says "yes, it does".Which mirrored almost to the word a piece of dialogue I had written the day before in Tec, my Red Planet submission.Of course it's not entirely unsurprising, the lead characters share similar

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-23400554046127293122010-07-04T16:25:00.002+01:002010-07-04T16:55:47.258+01:00

I've been thinking about story. And have come to some conclusions which I know (or, at least, imagine, or hope) most professional writers of story already know. (Either that, or I've got it completely wrong.)In almost any subject you may know the basic principles "intellectually" but there comes a point where you really know them. I don't think it tends to happen in one fell swoop, it's

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-42183351101893333292010-06-25T23:10:00.003+01:002010-06-25T23:29:16.982+01:00

So, Jimmy McGovern felt it acceptable to attack playwrights as being useless at writing stories for TV or film?Well, no, actually he didn't. As one comes to expect nowadays he was misquoted. He didn't say all playwrights don't know how to write stories, he said some. And he'd be right. Just like some people can't tell the difference between "all" and "some".And then Alan Plater died. Playwright,

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-16210964089173662572010-06-21T13:13:00.003+01:002010-06-21T13:38:21.137+01:00

Over the past couple of weeks I've been working my way through the version of my TV detective story Tec (Draft 4) which I'll be submitting to Red Planet. I'd got feedback about a year ago but I've been distracted by other writing so only just got back to it. (I do have an aborted Draft 3 but I decided to start again rather than continue that one because of new ideas.)And I've just been reading

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-28104053214056339612010-06-12T10:03:00.005+01:002010-06-12T10:14:10.971+01:00

You know how it is ... it's evening, too late to start anything significant, too early to go to bed so you just mess around on the computer ... load up Google Maps ... wander down to Australia ... decide to take a look at some of the smaller islands ... find one you've heard of ... look closer ... discover a sheet of metal bigger than a football pitch.Normal sort of thing.Sheet of metal bigger

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-85846777301977760782010-06-04T22:40:00.002+01:002010-06-04T23:02:24.542+01:00

...asked these questions and since I love talking about myself I decided to answer in my blog and if you;re a screenwriter with a blog, you can do it too (you can find the Kid here).1. What project are you currently working on or thinking of working on?A steampunk web series called Winter.2. Why is it important to you and why is it needed in the world? (Feel free to ramble at length)Because it

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-3822090074467627812010-06-04T08:41:00.005+01:002010-06-04T09:02:07.663+01:00

Red Planet prize is go...Two months to the deadline - which is good for focussing the mind, I'll need to zap through a page 1 rewrite of Tec which was my original plan.Got my second set of feedback on Running from BlueCat which was interesting. If you resubmit you can choose whether to use the same or a different reader, I chose a different one - the more viewpoints the better in my opinion.The

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-86638305929472312732010-06-01T13:18:00.004+01:002010-06-01T13:46:21.610+01:00

John August has been reminding everybody, who doesn't already know, about the Bechdel test which assesses the presence of women in movies. The questions are simple:Are there two or more female characters with names?Do they talk to each other?If they talk to each other, do they talk about something other than a man?This is relevant to me because I've just completed the page one rewrite of Winter

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-55718167641742766292010-05-15T11:13:00.003+01:002010-05-15T11:41:45.724+01:00

The Daughter took a year off before going to University. The original plan was to spend six weeks volunteering with the orangutans in Borneo. Unfortunately that ended up being too expensive.So instead she's heading to the Antipodes - four weeks of volunteer work in New Zealand followed by some time in Australia with family.She has paid for a lot of it herself - she found several jobs including

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-46828288331289011912010-05-08T22:19:00.005+01:002010-05-08T22:49:07.068+01:00

Had an interesting couple of days.We didn't even make it into the Trailer Festival. Boo hiss. Anyway we'll be revamping the Monsters website with the trailer and additional footage. I'll let you know when we've done that. At which point we'll be making a more concerted (in the proper sense of "concert") efforts to get some interest.On the other hand...One of my "secret" projects (codename Traitor

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-17480978396968097382010-05-03T20:07:00.004+01:002010-05-03T20:55:23.611+01:00

I don't think there are any spoilers here - but you may not want to risk it if it bothers you.Regular readers - well, not so regular since I haven't been blogging so much in the past year - may recall that I have a thing about people who feel the need to turn their emotions up to 11. Or, more accurately, have their emotions stuck on 11.These are the people who claim, for example, to "hate" some

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-80141566913553888712010-04-20T15:38:00.003+01:002010-04-20T15:39:41.123+01:00

Alexandra Sokoloff on Theme. Tasty.What's on the turntable? "Hide in your Shell" by Supertramp from "Crime of the Century"

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-5461445940742875062010-04-18T10:24:00.004+01:002010-04-18T16:34:53.489+01:00

Not the great blues singer - I've hit act III of my ScriptFrenzy script and I'm procrastinating. Now the movie plot has to deviate significantly from the book plot because the original ending just won't work for an action movie. Mostly, up to now, I'd been following the storyline although I had changed the order of some events and lost a few superfluous characters. If truth be told, I haven't

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-68122261604649453472010-04-11T07:11:00.003+01:002010-04-11T07:19:23.969+01:00

Jane Espenson who wrote for Buffy, Battlestar Galactica (I even claim to have recognised her style before discovering she co-created and wrote the pilot for Warehouse 13) and a host of other stuff you know and love - has returned to blogging. Yay!She's a cat who knows where it's at.But she just wrote this blog, and who am I to disagree?Had a say or so away from the old computer, spring cleaning

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-8141414197075775242010-04-06T22:49:00.001+01:002010-04-06T22:51:06.154+01:00

Missed a couple of days of Scriptfrenzy but I'm on 41 pages which is well ahead. Really need to finish this quickly so I can get on with Winter.What's on the turntable? "Fear of the Dark" by Stare from "Haunted"

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6120830192360442424.post-5028541476331218972010-04-04T14:54:00.003+01:002010-04-04T14:59:16.067+01:00

There's not much I can add to what pretty much everybody else is saying - Stephen Moffat was right: Matt Smith makes a good Doctor.I had been very nervous although a recent article in SFX magazine had made me feel a bit better about Matt Smith. Turns out that changing everything has changed nothing - it's still Dr Who.Oh and I should say that considering some of my earlier comments a year or so

Adaddinsanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10577587188266580561noreply@blogger.com0