Well I finally managed to stop procrastinating about 10:00pm this evening, because I really really had to start writing Which.
And I did.
Oh, what a jolly time I'm having - and I've chopped out one of the TV shows I was going to incorporate.
Just because I'm writing something fun doesn't mean that I'm not applying all the tools at my disposal, because it still needs to be good (hopefully).
The TV programmes I'm combining are Being Human and Torchwood. And I've started the story by echoing the opening of Ep.1 of Being Human (script). Cutting to a brief scene in the Torchwood Hub (Cardiff), then an all-action sequence in Bristol.
But the writing tools? As Lucy mentioned on her blog the other day, consequence is everything - everything in your script must flow logically, and as a dependent action, from the previous event. Aristotle, over 2000 years ago, warned against episodic stories, so this has been known about for a while.
In his book "Writing a Great Movie", Jeff Kitchen expounds a technique which helps you to write consequential plot lines. It involves starting at the end and working backwards. You write down the end you want and say "which is caused directly by...". You do this at a high level for the overall action. Then do the same for each sequence within the story. And then even down to individual scenes.
I applied this technique to Which as I came home on the train today. Obviously it didn't take very long because I'm only aiming for 10-15 pages. But the important thing was that I had planned to include The Sarah Jane Adventures in the story as well but, using this technique, it was found to be surplus to requirements.
So there we go. Fun fun fun.
What's on the turntable? "Amarok" by Mike Oldfield (58 minutes in)
Showing posts with label Bristol. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bristol. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Being human
I'm looking forward to it, though I have not actually seen the pilot. And its return more-or-less coincides with me being in Bristol. I recognise one of the locations from the trailer.
Came down on the train this afternoon (the journey is 20 minutes less than the time to Reading, though, today, much less as there was a bus replacement service on the Reading line - lucky I was going to Bristol instead). I'm also in a different Guest House, this one is much nicer though a little more expensive.
I actually committed some script for "Unit X" though I'm not 100% happy with it, it feels a bit awkward and contrived. In this instance I think it means that I'm starting in the wrong place. Which, in turn, is because I decided which character should be the one the story is "about".
In "Monsters" I had originally conceived it as having an ensemble cast and had not nailed the narrative to a single character. This was criticised by one and all, and I had a very hard time bringing it down to being about a single character. Though I did in the end.
Now in "Unit X" I have the same problem the overall issue is "Who is this about?" It's true that the other characters all get their arcs, but who is this really about?
So I chose a character (having done a negative "okay, who isn't this about?" then choosing between the remaining two. I may have got it wrong.
I suspect this problem is down to the way I develop stories: usually starting with the setting, then getting a story, then finding characters to fill it. If I started with a character (like I did for "Air" and "Winter") the question doesn't even arise.
I've also had to send out for specialist advice: My knowledge of US Army protocols in 1945 is severely limited so I am trying to find someone who knows. I've used Yahoo!Answers, by finding a question like the ones I need answered, and finding an answerer who knows what they're talking about and has their e-mail enabled.
We shall see.
I may find out this week whether the BBC want to commission me for the Winter project, then again I might not. Not sure how I can stand the strain of that plus the impending Red Planet decision. (Never mind having to finish the current contract in two days and find a more permanent contract by next week.)
Well, I never wanted a boring life.
What's on the turntable? "Oxygene (Part 3)" by Jean-Michel Jarre from "Oxygene"
Came down on the train this afternoon (the journey is 20 minutes less than the time to Reading, though, today, much less as there was a bus replacement service on the Reading line - lucky I was going to Bristol instead). I'm also in a different Guest House, this one is much nicer though a little more expensive.
I actually committed some script for "Unit X" though I'm not 100% happy with it, it feels a bit awkward and contrived. In this instance I think it means that I'm starting in the wrong place. Which, in turn, is because I decided which character should be the one the story is "about".
In "Monsters" I had originally conceived it as having an ensemble cast and had not nailed the narrative to a single character. This was criticised by one and all, and I had a very hard time bringing it down to being about a single character. Though I did in the end.
Now in "Unit X" I have the same problem the overall issue is "Who is this about?" It's true that the other characters all get their arcs, but who is this really about?
So I chose a character (having done a negative "okay, who isn't this about?" then choosing between the remaining two. I may have got it wrong.
I suspect this problem is down to the way I develop stories: usually starting with the setting, then getting a story, then finding characters to fill it. If I started with a character (like I did for "Air" and "Winter") the question doesn't even arise.
I've also had to send out for specialist advice: My knowledge of US Army protocols in 1945 is severely limited so I am trying to find someone who knows. I've used Yahoo!Answers, by finding a question like the ones I need answered, and finding an answerer who knows what they're talking about and has their e-mail enabled.
We shall see.
I may find out this week whether the BBC want to commission me for the Winter project, then again I might not. Not sure how I can stand the strain of that plus the impending Red Planet decision. (Never mind having to finish the current contract in two days and find a more permanent contract by next week.)
Well, I never wanted a boring life.
What's on the turntable? "Oxygene (Part 3)" by Jean-Michel Jarre from "Oxygene"
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Bristol - by the skin of my teeth
I had this problem, I hadn't been able to get hold of the Guest House that I had decided I wanted to use - it had a location relatively close to my new place of work. I tried using t'Interweb and that didn't work, I wanted to ring but my mobile was out of steam.
I had already booked the train (you can get cheap first class if you're careful - I got Reading to Bristol at £35.50) but had nowhere to stay.
I managed to top up my phone at Reading station but when I called the number I got voicemail that made me think I'd got the wrong number. "I'll wait till I get to Bristol," I thought," then find somewhere to check the number."
The train was nice with leather seats, so far the only first class I haven't liked has been Virgin.
I worked on Unit X, having done lots more research I've been fleshing out the main characters. Interesting when you think one of them is an American career soldier born in 1890 (who survived WWI) and another an Austrian scientist born in 1880 - how does that inform their attitudes in 1945?
I got to Bristol and called 118 118 - they hadn't even heard of the Guest House. So I tried the number again and got a real person, and it was the right number.
Only one small problem: they were fully booked. Now I'm not blaming them, after all it was very last minute. But then it turns out that one of their bookings was from a person who had left a name and phone number weeks ago and couldn't be contacted.
After some deliberation they said: "You can have the room." Apparently this person did ring slightly later and was told they had to go somewhere else. Do I feel bad? Well, not really, it wasn't me making the decision.
Then there was the taxi. Is it just me or is it a bad thing to tell your passenger you had an accident recently and you're still suffering from it? And he had a cold. And he was very tired. And this was his last fare. And he had no idea where he was going.
As the meter clicked past £5 I indicated I wasn't entirely happy about paying for trip time and distance when he had no idea where he was going. He switched the meter off and I phoned the Guest House. We had been going the wrong way.
So here I am. It's a reasonable place though I'm on the ground floor next to the kitchen, I hope people are considerate.
So I start work in the morning.
Other job news ... I might be working at the British Film Institute. That would be cool.
What's on the turntable? "Radio Ga Ga" by Queen from "Greatest Hits II"
I had already booked the train (you can get cheap first class if you're careful - I got Reading to Bristol at £35.50) but had nowhere to stay.
I managed to top up my phone at Reading station but when I called the number I got voicemail that made me think I'd got the wrong number. "I'll wait till I get to Bristol," I thought," then find somewhere to check the number."
The train was nice with leather seats, so far the only first class I haven't liked has been Virgin.
I worked on Unit X, having done lots more research I've been fleshing out the main characters. Interesting when you think one of them is an American career soldier born in 1890 (who survived WWI) and another an Austrian scientist born in 1880 - how does that inform their attitudes in 1945?
I got to Bristol and called 118 118 - they hadn't even heard of the Guest House. So I tried the number again and got a real person, and it was the right number.
Only one small problem: they were fully booked. Now I'm not blaming them, after all it was very last minute. But then it turns out that one of their bookings was from a person who had left a name and phone number weeks ago and couldn't be contacted.
After some deliberation they said: "You can have the room." Apparently this person did ring slightly later and was told they had to go somewhere else. Do I feel bad? Well, not really, it wasn't me making the decision.
Then there was the taxi. Is it just me or is it a bad thing to tell your passenger you had an accident recently and you're still suffering from it? And he had a cold. And he was very tired. And this was his last fare. And he had no idea where he was going.
As the meter clicked past £5 I indicated I wasn't entirely happy about paying for trip time and distance when he had no idea where he was going. He switched the meter off and I phoned the Guest House. We had been going the wrong way.
So here I am. It's a reasonable place though I'm on the ground floor next to the kitchen, I hope people are considerate.
So I start work in the morning.
Other job news ... I might be working at the British Film Institute. That would be cool.
What's on the turntable? "Radio Ga Ga" by Queen from "Greatest Hits II"
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