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 design agency and we were ripped off by someone who said to our faces "If I can get out of paying you, I will".
Here's a tip: If you choose to take legal action against someone to get money you're owed: Get the biggest legal firm you can - even if it means that you'll lose most of your money in fees. Why? Because you'll win, and that's more important than the money.
But here's another tip: Think long and hard about taking legal action. It's very stressful, very expensive and seldom really worth it.
Mmm. Cheerful. Let's move on.
Agents
Early in the year I met with an agent. They liked what I could do but it just wasn't quite ... enough. Later in the year I made the Talent Connector through Industrial Scripts and had two bites from other agencies. They read my stuff but it wasn't quite ... enough.
As mentioned in a previous blog I am competent. But nothing I currently have has sufficient spark.
Not writing
I spent a lot of time not writing this year. Partly because of the contracts I was working on and partly because of the travel time to and from work. And partly because of a web site I've been working on for a while now, though it's finally coming together. Part of my plan is to make myself less reliant on the day job but since I have a family, mortgage and credit cards to support I can't dedicate myself 100% to the writing, which would be what I'd like to do.
Events
But I did go to the BBC's writing festival in Leeds which was very good indeed. And where I made a contact with a major US TV writer and producer (a legend in the TV SF world) currently working on something for the BBC. I have his email address and he's reading my stuff :-)
I almost didn't go to the London Screenwriters Festival. But I did and what happened? I got onto the advanced mentoring session with Gub Neal. Awesome.
But curiously that leads into something else which will be in my "Next Year" post coming up tomorrow.
The LSF also taught me something very very important: Rehearse pitches. I pitched at Gub Neal's session, the speed-pitching and, on the spur of the moment, the Pitch Factor. For Gub I had rehearsed the pitch and narrowed it down to a set of reminder cards that just kept me on track, though I barely used them. The speed-pitching was hastily written and only slightly rehearsed, while the Pitch Factor wasn't planned at all.
Result: From Gub "Good pitch" and from the others no kind words at all, and some critical ones. This also becomes relevant for the future (in the obvious way but also a less than obvious way).
ScriptFrenzy
I always do ScriptFrenzy and write a feature script in April. And this year was no different. Except I wrote a Steampunk story in the same universe as the Winter project.
ScriptFrenzy has been going five years which means I have five feature scripts I wouldn't otherwise have. Of course they need work but they're out in the real world.
Winter
This web project has been in development for three years now - you can read the potted history of that developing on the Voidships blog and if you're a Google+ person you can circle the Voidships page (and please don't believe the anti-hype about G+ being quieter than the grave - that is truly bollocks).
Two months ago the pressure I'd been building up internally to rewrite Winter suddenly kicked in and the story poured out. I zoomed it off to various readers and a month later I had all the feedback - which wasn't too bad and the areas that need work were agreed on by all readers which is a clear sign of what's needed.
Angels One Five
When we make the Winter project happen a lot of it is going to be crowd-funded. I could take the attitude that, well, we'll find the people and they'll pay. But that's not fair, really, is it? How can I justify asking people to pay money towards my projects if I take no notice of anyone else's? There are other filmmakers (and other creatives) who are trying to get their projects made.
What goes around comes around. As ye sow so shall ye reap. Treat others the way you'd like them to treat you. Stuff like that.
So I started funding projects - short films and book. Those on a personal basis.
Then, as my business, I became an investor in Piers Beckley's Red Table stage productions.
Let me say this: If you're in it for the money, or the rewards, forget it. That's not what it's about. What it's about is supporting creative people because they are the ones who make the real difference in the world. (Not that I want to give the impression that Piers' Red Table does not give ROI, but that's not the reason why.)
Summing up
It wasn't a bad year, much of it felt like treading water. There were a few good things and a few bad things, but the coming year is shaping up to be totally awesome and I will speak on that anon.
What's on the turntable? "Tubular Bells" by Mike Oldfield
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