Em português

The London Screenwriters’ Festival 2011 will bring an amazing team of top guests to share their experiences with us, professionals and aspiring scriptwriters – and everyone else involved in the film and TV industries.

Take a look at what will happen in three days – from 28 to 30 October – and book your ticket (use this code MONICASOLON to get a £30 discount):

Já falei um pouco sobre isso aqui no meu blog. Os posts mais acessados aqui são os que se referem a personagens, especialmente sobre protagonista. Abordei mais a construção deste personagem em roteiros do que em romances, pois as demandas são diferentes. Nos roteiros, a estrutura dramática requer certas atribuições que a literatura não exige. Mas isso é papo para outro post…

 John August explicou essa distinção de forma simples e eficiente, muito melhor do que eu faria.

Um leitor dele questionou como o roteiro de Curtindo a Vida Adoidado (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off ) pode ser considerado um ‘clássico’ e funcionar tão bem quando a ‘regra’ do protagonista não se aplica ao caso dele. Afinal, Ferris não muda durante o filme, ou seja, o ‘arco’ de sua trajetória se mantém horizontal. Isto é, Ferris termina o filme exatamente como é no início do filme.

John esclarece uma coisa importante: nem sempre o personagem principal é quem ‘protagoniza’ o filme. Além disso, nem sempre um filme funciona porque seguiu ‘regras’.

Pode parecer estranho, mas é verdade se levarmos em conta a distinção que ele fez em outro post (leia, em inglês, “What’s the difference between hero, main-character and protagonist”) sobre as variações desses três personagens. Vou traduzir esse trecho do post:

“Herói
Minha definição super-simplificada: este é o personagem que você espera que vá ‘ganhar.’ Embora não tenha problema pensar no Super Homem ou no Aladin, o herói não tem que ser nobre, corajoso ou especialmente talentoso. Contanto que você esteja torcendo por ele, é só o que importa.

Personagem principal
É exatamente como parece: a estória é principalmente sobre esse personagem. Confuso? Em geral, o nome dele aparece no título: Shrek, Rei Arthur, Tootsie, Cidadão Kane.

Protagonista
É o personagem que muda durante o curso da estória, viajando do Ponto A ao Ponto B, literal ou figurativamente. Ele aprende e cresce conforme a estória progride. Em geral, protagonistas querem algo no início da narrativa e, no final, descobrem que precisam de algo diferente.”

Em resposta ao seu leitor, John explica que, no caso de Ferris Bueller, não é ele quem muda pois o ‘protagonista’ é o Cameron – embora seja um protagonista relutante, que é arrastado por Ferris, o personagem principal. A mudança é pequena, mas no final Cameron confronta o pai. Como diz John no post, o ‘arco’ não precisa ser épico.

Na maior parte dos filmes, o protagonista engloba esses três personagens e é simultaneamente personagem principal, protagonista e herói. A Ripley de Alien é um exemplo disso. Como protagonista, ela começa o filme relutante e, no final, se engaja ferozmente na luta. A mudança da protagonista não tem que ser, necessariamente, para ‘melhor’ ou ‘pior’, basta que haja uma mudança – de A para B.

John propõe que se brinque de ‘encontrar o protagonista’ como um exercício intelectual. É fácil no caso de Curtindo a Vida Adoidado ou de Charlie e a Fábrica de Chocolate (onde Charlie é o personagem principal, mas Willy Wonka é o protagonista, pois é ele quem muda, enquanto Charlie começa e termina o filme como um garotinho legal), mas no caso de Piratas do Caribe, não é tão simples.

Foi o que aconteceu no caso do meu roteiro. Tenho dois personagens principais, mas depois me dei conta de que o protagonista não era quem eu pensava. O primeiro (personagem principal), embora sofra muito, seu sofrimento não se traduz em mudança. O segundo (protagonista) sofre tanto quanto ele, mas muda efetivamente.

O caso de Billy Elliot é diferente, já que Billy é o protagonista, mas ele não muda durante o filme – quem muda é seu pai, o que permite que o talento, o amor e a persistência de Billy não sejam desperdiçados e ele tenha sucesso,  sem que isso signifique que o pai possa ser chamado propriamente de protagonista…

Para John, no entanto, se a estória funciona, isso é o que importa, independente de os personagens estarem ou não cumprindo suas funções arquetípicas. Portanto, não os ‘force’ a entrar em moldes.

Eis os links para os posts de John (em inglês) sobre essa questão:

. If we played by the rules right now we’d be in gym (sobre Curtindo a Vida Adoidado)

. What’s the difference between hero, main-character and protagonist

Participei da oficina em 2004 e o curso foi determinante na minha decisão de me tornar uma escritora profissional. A Virgínia foi o meu primeiro ponto de contato com uma abordagem que trata a escrita como algo que pode ser aprendido através de ferramentas, processos e técnicas – na tradição das graduações e mestrados em escrita criativa (creative writing) dos EUA e Europa. Concordo que talento não se ensina, mas acredito que a capacidade de criação literária do escritor pode se beneficiar do entendimento e utilização destas ferramentas, assim como em qualquer outra arte.

A minha experiência na oficina foi sensacional. Virgínia, que tem mestrado em creative writing nos Estados Unidos, traz elementos teóricos que são exercitados na prática. Durante as aulas, aprendi as noções básicas da escrita criativa e pude usá-las como ferramentas para pensar e estruturar melhor os meus textos. Além disso, ela é uma professora muito legal, atenta e generosa.

Alguns escritores temem que o contato com essas teorias, técnicas e ferramentas possam de alguma forma tolher a criatividade. Alguns temem que seus textos acabem engessados em um “molde” e se tornem artificiais. Eu, sinceramente, não acredito nisso. Pelo menos, não sinto que isso tenha acontecido na minha escrita. Sinto, ao contrário, que esse conhecimento me ajudou de diversas formas – conhecimento que aprofundei muito no mestrado que fiz três anos depois de participar da oficina da Virgínia – pois me permitiu:

. Ter uma visão mais crítica do meu texto e uma clareza maior da minha intenção em cada texto, livro ou roteiro.

. Fazer escolhas conscientes e entender por que quero escrever tal estória de tal forma; o que quero explorar e sob que ângulo; escolher as ferramentas mais adequadas para produzir o efeito que desejo atingir. Eu não fazia isso antes, ou seja, escrevia quase mecanicamente (intuitivamente). Isso não está errado, mas, para mim, às vezes, era muito frustrante, pois o efeito que eu desejava não se produzia ou eu me perdia em construções mirabolantes.

. Ampliar meu arsenal de ferramentas, tais como: construção de personagem, construção de mundo, ritmo, em que tempo quero escrever, em que pessoa (primeira pessoa, em terceira pessoa, etc), como quero estruturar a estória de forma a atingir o impacto ou o efeito desejado, trabalhar os diálogos, subverter uma determinada ‘regra’ e muitas mais.

. Trocar com outros escritores, expor meus textos, ouvir e contribuir. Todos estão ali com o mesmo sentimento: o prazer da escrita que pode levar ou não a uma carreira profissional. Por isso é importante ouvir as críticas e comentários da professora e dos colegas, sem medo ou excesso de zelo. Embora às vezes doa, uma crítica pode ser muito mais útil e construtiva do que um elogio. Querer ouvir que seu texto é bom é mais do que natural, mas fechar os ouvidos às críticas, a meu ver, é perder a oportunidade de descobrir e trabalhar suas falhas, vícios e fraquezas. A avaliação crítica positiva me ajuda a evitar minhas próprias armadilhas – tendências e hábitos que não necessariamente são parte da minha “voz” autoral, são a minha “zona de conforto” que às vezes se torna repetitiva e ineficiente.

Estes são apenas alguns exemplos. A experiência da Oficina da Virgínia me rendeu uma oportunidade de trabalho concreta: depois dela, por exemplo, me senti preparada para encarar o convite de escrever profissionalmente e – de certa forma, por encomenda – participar de um projeto da Editora Escala, em 2005. Eles queriam lançar uma série de romances de banca (tipo Sabrina) escritos por autoras brasileiras. Fui selecionada e escrevi três romances (dois foram publicados e o terceiro não, pois o projeto acabou – não dava pra competir com as editoras internacionais). Esses livrinhos estão disponíveis no blog Mônica de Miranda – meu pseudônimo nestas obras, pois na época fazia um trabalho na área social e não queria misturar as estações.

A Virgínia sempre frisava que a oficina não era para você ser publicada, ou seja, ninguém ia sair dali direto para as livrarias. A oficina era para te instrumentar e contribuir para o desenvolvimento do ofício de escrever. Vale muito à pena. Se você puder participar, não perca. Na época, eu estava desempregada e absolutamente dura. Me candidatei e consegui uma bolsa. Não é fácil, mas não é impossível. Mesmo que você tenha que pagar, acho que é um investimento valioso. Mais tarde, fiz um investimento ainda maior no meu mestrado na Inglaterra. Continuo ralando muito mas hoje me considero uma escritora profissional. E devo isso, de certa forma, também à Virgínia e à Casa da Gávea, a quem sou muito grata.

A oficina tem início em 21/03 e vai até 09/05, sempre às 2ª feiras, das 14:30 às 17:00. Mas, por favor, confirmem essas informações no site da Casa da Gávea. Como eu disse, eles oferecem algumas bolsas integrais.

Não perca essa oportunidade e depois me conta como foi.

Hope you have some time to look into some of the highlights of the past three days and find useful stuff to apply to your work from the sessions you missed because you chose other seminars or activities or because you couldn’t (or wouldn’t) attend the festival for some reason.

Again, if you think I got something wrong – I make furious notes during the sessions but I do miss stuff or may misinterpret them – please let me know and I’ll be glad to amend it.

Craig Batty delivered a most useful sessions: The Creative Screenwriter. I think the idea of applying “creative writing” techniques to screenwriting somehow scared some people out of the room – to their loss… I agree with Craig when he says screenwriting training and practice tend to focus a lot on the technical aspects of the craft, rather than on the creative side. I talk from experience: the MA in creative writing I did included tons of exercises to expand or focus my creativity; almost all screenwriting workshops I attended focused on technical issues.

So, here are some interesting things Craig said and some of the exercises we did:

. People have different perceptions of creative writing and screenwriting: creative writing is usually associated with “the writer as a creator”, whilst in screenwriting the writer is seen as a “mechanic”; the writer seen as an “author” in creative writing, whilst in screenwriting the writer has a lower status…

. Creativity somehow has been lost, it has become mechanical rather than creative.

. Training for screenwriters is industry-style, focused on scenarios, facts & figures, formulaic models and rules. The “creative” perspective can bring back the enjoyment of writing as a “felt” experience.

. “You can’t teach talent but you can train one on how to use talent.”

. One of the exercises was to think about how to externalise an emotion through actions or images, so we had to come up with 10 ideas or images of what people do to show that emotion. Then we had to choose 1 action from that list and find 15 reasons why that person is doing that (or why one person would react like that).

. During one of the exercises I could see a character develop in an unexpected, much more interesting direction than I had first intended. It gave me an option I hadn’t thought before. For me, it proved straight away that Craig’s approach really work and can be a powerful tool expand your creativity and generate new ideas.

After this session I rushed to Keith Cunningham‘s The Writers’ Voice, which was actually more about creative block than writers’ voice but, in the end, I learned a lot about how the human creative process work. It was simply awesome – and exceptionally hard to summarize. Keith’s book The Soul of Screenwriting – On Writing, Dramatic Truth and Knowing Yourself has the complete take on the creative process and understanding this process can help you get around the natural, totally human – huge sigh of relief – , barriers we face when engaging with it. Highlights:

. All books about screenwriting talk about the product (the script) but ignore the creative process. I heard Craig Batty say that too in the previous session, remember? They look at the writer as a machine and the writers’ subjectivity is ignored. To ignore our subjectivity is to sign up for a writers’ block…

. People get creative blocks when the fall out of rapport with the story. You have a relationship with your story and your characters. The characters are fictional but the relationship is REAL. Therefore, you will invest in it as much energy and emotions as when you have a relationship with a real person. For me, this was a WOW! moment…

. All human beings create “resistance” when they cross thresholds and move into different territories, because everything changes. It’s like moving between dimensions. So when we leave our banal, day-to-day world, and plunge into the world we have just created, we experience that resistance. That’s why humans create rituals when crossing thresholds: for instance, we break a bottle on the ship before it first goes at sea; some writers, when they sit down to write, set up the desk in a very specific way…

. That resistance sometimes can be felt as if an invisible magnetic field is preventing your hands from hitting the keyboard keys… you kind of black out and suddenly… BANG… you’re at the kitchen, opening the fridge… or… BANG! you find yourself hoovering the living room… this is called: resistance.

. Resistance also happens when characters become alive and you lose control over them, they won’t behave solely as you dictate, they’ll have a life of their own and you have to start negotiating with them – or even try to force them back into the mold you’ve created… this can get in the way of your relationship with them.

. Useful tip when the “infatuation” period is over and you want to bring back that “juice”: try everyday to get things that don’t relate to the story or the creative process out of the way by doing some “wild writing” – give yourself an arbitrary time-frame (let’s say 5 mins) and pours out on paper whatever is in your head. It has to be totally transparent and have no censorship: banal things, a shop list, I hate this, I hate this, I hate this… whatever.

There’s so much more I learned from this session – I’ll have more on my full notes – but my advice is: buy the book. I did.

There were 4 new sessions on Sunday. What about that as a bonus! The festival organisers got two new rooms at Regent’s College and promptly arranged 4 new sessions. I was amazed at how quickly they operated and how keen there were to give more to the delegates. Totally awesome!

So I chose one of those new sessions to attend: Julian Friedmann‘s 20 Negotiating Tips for Writers. I would have seriously regretted not to have attended this because now, despite the short time Julian had to cover so much ground, I understand a lot more about deals and contracts. Eager as I am to sell my scripts, I am now much more aware of what they involve, the pitfalls and how to protect myself. For example:

. To aim at writing TV series is a huge, risky and difficult to achieve ambition. However, if you get it, try to make sure you write as many episodes they will allow you – normally, they will allow you to write none. In any case, make sure you get the “format fee.”

. Also negotiate to be allowed to read all scripts written for the series and to participate in the meetings – to sit in the corner, listen and learn, not to interfere. According to Julian, the producers of the show have a moral obligation to at least allow you to learn from what you’ve created.

. Some beginner writers don’t know that when someone “options” your script they are not actually buying it. They may pay for the option but this doesn’t mean they can make the film. Producers may option your script and a time-frame will be established to give them time to find the money to buy the script and start the proper production process and, in the contract, the purchase price will be established. If you can get your option price to be 5% of the purchase price, fantastic; normally, it’s 1%.

. Try to get into the option contract a clause saying – and producers will try to keep it out – that you’ll get your script back if material (meaningful, substantial) progress hasn’t been made within the agreed time-frame. Normally, options are automatically renewed and you can’t option your script to anyone else whilst a producer has optioned it. Therefore, if you include this clause, then it can only be renewed if the producer actually demonstrates progress, so you can get it back and option it to someone else.

Again, I’ll try and compile full notes for this session but this gives you a brief sample on deals that can really protect you. The Writers’ Guild and TwelvePoint.com are also valuable sources of information about that.

Writing for Crime was the session I chose to go after that and, again, what a panel! Rick Drew (Shattered), Daniel Eckhart (the German Tatort), Andrew Taft (The Bill), chaired by Barbara Machin (Waking the Dead) gave us a fantastic overview of what it’s like to create those shows. It was mostly about writing crime television series, which is not actually what I normally write but, as they say, it’s about human drama and this is pertinent to all genres. Here are some highlights:

. Rick Drew talked about this fantastic, fresh, brave new concept, in Barbara Machin’s words, in Shattered: a cop with multiple personalities and how those personalities affect his work and his relationships. It’s just amazing. I’d never think of a cop that had to deal with such a hard mental condition! What Rick says is that this very “damaged” character had, dramatically speaking, a lot of leg to carry the show.

. In such series, and this applies to most series, not only the central character is important, you must get the ensemble of characters right: they must have lives of their own but, basically, they exist to illustrate characteristics of the central character and make him or her deal with/confront them.

. Whilst the concept of Shattered is very fresh and new, so is the concept of Life on Mars but it took 7 years for the series to come out of the paper because the UK industry seems to be a lot more conservative and afraid of taking risks. Apparently, nobody seemed to be able to take a decision.

. Barbara’s advice for writers: Be brave! Make it happen! We have to find a way to do more new things – it has to be genius and it’s tough but give it a go. Producers and broadcasters say they’ll recognise genius when they see it but they don’t, she says. You can’t really see genius in a treatment or a pitch, those new concepts need to be allowed to evolve, to be developed.

. Why cops & docs are so successful? Various reasons: they are characters in life & death situations; the stakes are very high; the dramatic situations are picked up quickly by the audience; the audience enjoys solving the mystery with the show; people empathise with the characters… As a writer, Daniel says he also likes to be on the edge of his seat as he writes it.

. Crime shows are getting harder to do because they don’t deal with burglars and bank robberies anymore, they deal with terrorism and identity theft, which are “faceless” crimes… so it’s harder to grip the audience.

. Andrew says we need more interesting villains, more interesting bad guys – not to glorify them – but more strong characters in interesting situations. This again applies to all genres.

. One way to keep characters fresh is to dig deeper – and therefore to know a lot about – their history, to explore under their layers. Revisit their stories and find small things that can reveal a whole new aspect of the character. The most innocent little thing in their past can be a key in keeping the character fresh. But beware: don’t use your back stories too soon – sometimes it can take years for those “personal issues” to arise – just like in real life…

. When looking for a new crime show be sure you’re doing something different. Find the spin. Find the way to make it utterly distinctive. The Sopranos, for instance, is a type of crime show (rather a family saga disguised as crime show, according to Barbara, but brilliant) where the police is almost an outsider.

There’s so much to digest, to consider, to think about. I’ll revisit those notes soon and much more will come out of them. What those brief notes tell, for sure, is how much you can get from this Festival. My advice is, if for some reason you couldn’t attend this year, next year, make sure you are there.

Check the highlights of Day 1 and Day 2.

At the Why 98% of Scripts Get Rejected session, with Noelle Morris, head of drama at Kudos, and Chloe Sizer from Icon, it was very useful to know how those big companies operate when it comes to dealing with writers. Here are some highlights:

. Basically, Kudos’ policy is to only read scripts submitted by agents so they don’t read materials from unrepresented writers. At Icon, since they are mainly a distributor, they get scripts that have already been picked up by producers. Both are always looking for original things and new talent.

. At Kudos, what they want are writers with original voices. Therefore, don’t submit scripts based on what you think they want or specs of their shows. This would prevent them from actually assessing your real voice as a writer. They are also looking for skill so sometimes the writer has a strong voice but may never develop the skill… So they measure the writers’ potential against those two elements.

. Chloe says sometimes the writing is good but the script doesn’t fall withing their remit so they try to keep in touch with the writers.

. Another interesting thing. Noelle says they do read the whole script, since for them the 10 first pages don’t do the job of showing the writer’s potential. After all, you can do brilliant 10 first pages and not be able to deliver the rest of it. Makes sense…

. According to Noelle, a common mistake writers make is to miss being true to yourself, to your own voice and this is very easy to spot, since the script will end up sounding contrived and as having an “agenda”. So don’t assume what Kudos wants you to write.

. Chloe says the specs ‘market’ in the UK isn’t very healthy – more people should be more ambitious and write more specs. They can be picked up and made so don’t always only to write if you get paid.

The next session was something close to an avalanche. Excellent stuff for writers interested in using or learning more about different approaches to structure. Linda Aronson‘s lecture Writing Non-Linear Stories was about some amazing models of non-linear structures. It was a session so packed with info that it’s hard to point out the highlights, but I’ll try. Also, her new book The 21st Century Screenplay, that covers all her models, is already available from Amazon.

. A basic trick to make the non-linear structure work: If you’ll do a time jump, do it at the 2nd Act Turning Point, which is a powerfully dramatic moment in the story. Slumdog Millionaire, for instance, opens precisely at that point (the boy is being brutally tortured) than flashbacks to tell the boy’s quest.

. Non-linearity can pump up slow films and invest genres with a new twist.

. Also, if you’re jumping between time lines, always do it at cliffhangers. Sometimes, the fun of time jumps for the audience is in piecing together the clues about people and events. Jump from exciting points in the present to exciting points in the past and back.

. One interesting thing that Linda mentioned, that would be considered by some people almost as a heresy, is that you can sometimes get rid of the entire 2nd act. In a romcom, for example, the most difficult bit is to get through 2nd act in order to keep the couple apart. In Love Actually you have lots of couples and there’s no 2nd act in any of their stories (or they are concealed)! Clever.

. Another interesting note Linda made is how some films do subvert the basic principle that protagonists must be strong. In certain films, such as Scent of a Woman, Al Pacino plays the blind man, the protagonist is actually the young man who has to put up with (and ends up learning from) him. In this case, you have an “mentor antagonist” whose wisdom is born out of pain, and the protagonist has to be a weaker character. The same happens in Dead Man Walk and The Reader. So protagonists don’t have to be the strongest characters in all films.

In Writing for Soaps, Marc Pye, Danny Stack and Lisa Holdsworth took us through the joy and pain of being a writer in EastEnders or Emmerdale or Doctors. Sounded like incredibly hard work. Here’s some of their takes on the job:

. Danny says it was great to write for Doctors because you can write 60 or 70% of the episode when they like your pitch and they can also give you the serial element of that episode. However, developing ideas for Doctors is hard – it’s hard to find something that hasn’t been done before.

. If you really like a show, the best way is to find out who is the script editor and email the person – obviously, don’t send a sample script straight away but tell that person why they should be interested in what you have to show. Then if they say they’re interested, send the script.

. Writers want to get into soaps because it can be an opening door for the whole industry. Most of the great British screenwriters have written for soaps at some stage in their careers. It can be a good springboard and also a way of getting regularly commissioned. It’s also a fabulous way of getting to learn the job, the discipline required, the craft. It also teaches you how to deal with directors and actors.

. One weakness is, because soaps are shot so quickly – in certain cases an episode per day – great scripts may suffer just because there’s no time enough to get the best out of them. And usually writers get very criticised.

. A question prompted an interesting response: can writing for a ‘template’ damage your voice as a writer? The answer is, if you don’t concentrate and be careful to avoid that, yes it can.

. Unanimous opinion: the Writers’ Academy is incredibly tough. You may get into the scheme then get 4 commissions, you’ll work like crazy, but after that you’re on your own. Another unanimous opinion: if you’re going to write for soaps, forget about writing your own stuff. You won’t.

. What commissioners want are different takes on ideas and/or characters, the twist on characters, the passion on the page, in your voice.

Moving on to Writing for Younger Audiences, with Danny Stack, Gale Renard, Andy Briggs and Chris Hill. Fantastic session, lively and interactive. They covered a lot of ground and talked about writing for tv shows, animation, cartoons, novels. Some highlights:

. Writing for teens and children can be incredibly intense because everything is incredibly intense when you’re a teenager or a child. So, having been there, you know what it feels like wanting things badly ot not knowing yet that you can fail – we can all remember it.

. Children are the toughest and most ruthless audience ever! They are very fast at picking things up, much faster than adults. They are with you all the time – even ahead of you. They are more sophisticated and have hours and hours of storytelling experience so they know pretty quickly if the story is lame.

. Careful: nothing will date more a show than having slangs that are no longer being used by teens…

. According to Danny, there’s potentially more money in kids writing than in soap writing. Chris agrees and he reminds us that teens are the highest consumers. The way they consume may be changing but still, they are top consumers. When thinking about writing for kids or teens, think cross-media.

. In terms of what’s acceptable or not sometimes writers will be told not to put in the show what it’s called “imitable behaviour” – things children will see and perhaps do, like sticking something into a socket or food wasting or not wearing a life vest. However, bashing somebody’s head with a racket is acceptable…

. There’s an emerging interest for family/kids stories now – high concept ideas that can even be done in CGI. So if you have one, a good sample, it’s time to send it out.

. Explore different media: write for online, a novel, a show – the more diverse your writing, the better your chances, according to Andy. Remember that lots of books are turned into films.

. What people look for is the quality of your writing. Networking is crucial, make contacts and keep in touch with them.

The last session of the day was Julian Friedmann and Tim Claugue‘s Self-Agenting. Julian gave us a perspective on how to do things yourself and Tim Claugue showcased himself as a successful writer/ filmmaker who never had an agent. Here are some interesting points made by them:

. Agents don’t want clients who are socio-phobics – they want clients who network, who learn about the industry. The writing obviously matters – it actually matters more than projects when it comes to choosing a client.

. So do your networking, meet other writers, share information. Set up a writers’ group, share your stories with them, read their stories. Share the costs of trade information, for instance, a subscription of Broadcast is very expensive but has vital information about the tv industry.

. Knowing about what’s happening in the industry is crucial and will tell you who is working for who and doing what. For instance, a new head of drama is likely to be interesting in bringing new stuff to their slate and this might be a very good opportunity to send them a script.

. Be prepared for endless rejections. Remember, most successful writers get more rejections than deals.

. You must have a strategy to submit things: you have to know to whom you’ll submit to and what you’ll submit. It’s very hard out there, the industry is saturated. Make multiple submissions even if the agency or production company tells you they won’t read things that have been submitted to other people. Just do it. Don’t waste time sending things only to one person. Be prepared to persevere.

. Have a portfolio of diverse samples of writing. But make sure that sample is your best possible writing – have your stuff read by professional script readers and only send stuff out that are actually good, otherwise you may miss that one only chance. You should be writing, according to Julian, 3 to 5 scripts a year. He also pointed out that it’s more important to read scripts than to watch movies.

. Diversify your writing. Write for different media. Write in different formats. Write for different genres. Being able to do that makes you a lot more attractive as a client.

. Tim showed a film he made to showcase himself, which was pretty smart. His rationale makes sense – to stand out from the crowd, he uses visuals to talk about himself as a filmmaker. He makes a good point as well: our creativity should not end or be restricted to the scripts – they should also be used when communicating with people.

. Tim thinks, differently from Julian, that being good at one thing and having a style is better than doing lots of different things. Identify your strength and improve it then you can tell people about it. Don’t put yourself in a reactive position, make your work so good people come to you to become part of your projects.

There’s so much more to this and the other sessions – not to mention the ones I couldn’t attend. If you are not part of this event, you’re really missing great stuff.

Check the highlights of Day 1 and Day 3.

Checking the schedule for earlier that day I found out that, at 10am, there’ll be two hard choices again: Writing for Games or The Creative Screenwriter? The latter will be delivered by Craig Batty – who has written many fabulous articles for TwelvePoint.

Writing for games can be a fantastic new challenge for writers. The game market is HUGE and games are not only becoming increasingly more sophisticated, technically speaking, but are also evolving plot-wise. There’s a new market opening for screenwriters in that area. Although it is unlikely I’ll ever attempt to tap into it, it’s still an area of interest. A while ago I attended a talk at De Montfort University by a screenwriter who’d been writing Doom. I never played Doom but I found the idea of writing for it awsome.

The Creative Screenwriter seminar can be a rather relaxing option for Day 3. Craig will bring us a lively and interactive approach that ‘will help you rekindle the creative spark, remind you why you enjoy writing, and create new ways to help you expertly express the stories you want to tell – and sell!’, according the LSF website. This sounds like loads of fun!

Most of the sessions today were packed! I mean, literally packed! Here are some interesting highlights – I’ll have full notes soon. Please, if I got something wrong feel free to send me a message and I’ll amend it:

In conversation with Tim Bevan

He obviously covered a range of subjects, from the beginning of his career in music video productions to the scrapping of the Film Council. Some things stood out for me as a writer though:

. Working Title is quite unique as a production company and they invest a lot in development so they can have the best script before they go into production. They also tend to have a commercial project counter-balance it. For instance, less commercial films such as Atonement and Billy Elliot can be made because, on the other side there’s Notting Hill and Johnny English… Not all production companies can afford that but it’s nice that Working Title works hard to keep the balance.

. He discourages people to try and write according to the “Working Title Formula”. They are seeking original stuff not to continuously do the same things. Also, they’re less concerned about what people in America wants. “Who cares?” Four Weddings, Notting Hill, Billy Elliot are there to prove that films that touch at the British culture can be successful.

. Sometimes, budget constraints can be a good thing: the whole Dunkirk scene in Atonement, for instance, was supposed to be bigger and the only way to do it – to keep it – was to do it in one day. The result is a much praised scene.

. People go to the cinema to escape reality not so see it. The writing then has to be slightly heightened.

. The writer has to be very resilient in this industry – actually, all its professionals must be resilient.

. “The day you get the first no is a great day: it takes you closer to the yes!

50 Ways into the Business

. Shirani LeMecier: Find a mentor, especially one that would be generous with their knowledge, and learn as much as you can from them. 50% of your time is networking. Never dismiss anything or anyone. She agrees with Paul about the writing though and says: only take your script out if it’s in its best shape – don’t take half-backed stuff out.

. Paul Trijbits: For Paul, though, it’s more important investing your time in writing. “If you’re a writer, write!”. Hone your craft. 99% of your time should be dedicated to getting your script to the best possible state. Sometimes, it’s good to ignore the “nos”, the “we’ll never do this or that” just keep believing and keep going. A good script is your best tool.

. Stuart Hazeldine: “You have to target the path you want to follow.” There’s always the next higher level of “break”, always a bigger, more ambitious next project. Suggestion: write a spec script for a famous movie. It intrigues people, you can learn a lot, it can attract attention to the quality of your writing – people do it all the time on the internet. Be your own agent to get projects and have an agent to help with contracts and stuff.

. Jonny Newman: it feels like you are continuously starting from scratch – as a writer, director or producer, your next project feels like you’re always starting from scratch. He also says it’s important to build a body of work and avoid to put all your eggs in one basket. Sometimes you can get a “I love it. I want to be part of it. How much do you want to make it” and the film never gets done… on the other hand, he says, “It’s not the rejecting that kills you, it’s the hope.” Another important note: you must be able to summarise your film in a few words – if you can’t, nobody else can.

. Marc Pye‘s break happened after he bombarded people with scripts. So specs can lead to commissions. Sending tons scripts out finally got him a job on tv. That’s how you break the catch 22 situation of not being commissioned because you don’t have credits.

. All agree: be proactive and TAKE ACTION!

How to make a good script great, with Kate Leys

Fantastic session. Kate knows a lot about developing scripts, that’s what she does. She says she is not a writer but the writers’ audience and a “story junky” – which makes her love stories as much as writers but to be able to see them from a different perspective.

She also said something great “Storytelling is the single most important thing humans do as a species.” I just LOVED to hear that.

Great tips on how to get that perspective, as a writer:

. Screenwriting is the most difficult type of writing of all.

. You need a great hook. The hook is the core of the story, it’s how you describe it to your mum, to your friends. It’s the key thing about the story. Look for hooks on IMDB – click in synopsis and go further. It’s not the logline, it doesn’t need to be clever or well formulated. It gives you a “picture”. Doesn’t sell the movie but it’s what moves the story forward. It’s not meant to be clever.

. Make sure your story is about the drama. For instance, Star Wars is not about destroying the Death Star, it is about saving Princess Leia – that’s where the drama lies.

. Theme/Idea: is what you want the audience to understand at the end of the movie. You have to nail it. Everything in your story must lead back to the theme, relate to the theme – it’s in every scene, every camera angle, every costume, everywhere. Good movies shows us the theme over and over.

. Big Characters: They need to be clear and well defined personalities. We may not like them, but we can recognise them. They must want something and do active things to achieve that. Look hard: is your character moving the story forward or is the character reacting to what other people are doing?

. Stakes: that’s what connects us to the characters and the story. They don’t need to get what they want.

. Conflict: throw rocks at them; give them impossible situations. Don’t protect them or yourself – give them conflicts and no way out situations – if you can find a way out, so can the audience. Usually, you don’t want to confront the impossible dilemmas so we defend ourselves from them in our writing. Don’t worry, you’ll find a solution…

. Strong original voice: it’s about bringing your personal vision into the story, is to show your truth. That’s why it matters to the audience – and don’t try to fool the audience, they will know, so be true to yourself and to what you want to say in the story.

There’s so much more from this session it’s impossible to highlight everything so soon there’ll be full notes about it.

Writer notes, a necessary evil

Steve Hawes, Gub Neal, Barbara Jago and Kate Leys are more or less unanimous about notes: even when they’re bad, they’re good.

Even bad notes can hint on something that’s not working on your script so the advice from all of them is basically; LISTEN! John August said the same thing later on: Listen, listen, listen. Don’t be defensive about them, they can be incredibly useful.

Sometimes one note can be ill formulated and not actually be about what it says it’s about. But it can point out to an area of the script that needs to be looked at – sometimes they can contain a totally different message that needs to be decoded.

Kate stressed that out: sometimes you need to give the notes “subtitles”, you need to translate them. So sometimes you have to try and get what it actually is signalling needs to be improved.

Everybody in the film industry get notes, not only the writers: producers, directors, casting directors, editors, everybody get notes. They are part of the business, so get used to them. Collaboration is in the nature of this industry.

It’s great to have the first reactions to what you’ve written by whoever it is. That first impression, this first instinctive reaction is usually very telling, it’s really precious.

Chris Jones interviews John August

What can I say? I love John. A very dynamic and broad Q&A session.

. Things writers normally do wrong? For instance: to write a film they themselves would not go to the theatre to watch. Be honest to yourself otherwise it won’t appeal to anyone else.

. Writing specs is something writers do when they’re not writing things they’ve been paid to write. Therefore, write them. Your specs can showcase your writing and get you into rooms to discuss projects…

. John normally doesn’t write in chronological order – just like films aren’t shot in chronological order, therefore, he chooses the scenes in which he feels enthusiastic about. He also always tries to write the 10 last pages quite early on, instead of leaving them to the end, when you’re normally tired.

. As a writer you need a lot of feedback, so swap scripts with fellow screenwriters. As we tend normally not to interact, it’s great to have a Festival like this.

. Notes are a reflection of issues and problems of the script. Their proposed solution may not be great but they signal to problems that should be tackled. So his advice is: listening, listening, listening, listening…

. It was fantastic, for him as a writer, to see people come out of the theatre wiping tears from their eyes at the end of Big Fish. Great to be able to move people and see that reaction.

I’ll have a lot more on John soon… you can find a lot about screenwriting on his blog: http://johnaugust.com/

Now it’s time to get some rest and be ready for tomorrow’s marathon.

Check the highlights of Day 2  and Day 3.

As usual, later on Saturday, at 4pm, two relevant seminars clash (check the schedule). The first is From the Famous Five to Skins, Writing for Young Audiences with Danny Stack, Andy Briggs, Gale Renard, Helen Brunsdon and Chris Hill. I have a two projects that have been on hold for a while but I’ll certainly go back to. One is a novel and the other is potentially a tv series, both aimed at young adults. I can’t miss Chris Hill since Skins has an edge to it that I want to incorporate into my writing. I wonder how “edgy” one can be when writing for young audiences. And I understand Andy Briggs has half a dozen commissions from both sides of the Atlantic, so how does he do it?

The second seminar taking place on Saturday, 4pm, is the Negotiation Skills seminar. I must learn to negotiate. I’m not good at it. I hate negotiating with producers (or estate agents, for all that matters…) so I think this is a MUST attend: very experienced media lawyer Nick Lom will be with Steffen Weihe, equally experienced agent and also lawyer. Writers (at least the ones like myself) so often let themselves down by being so grateful when they are offered a deal or commission even if it is for £1… I surely can use one trick or two these guys can give me. Maybe I should ask Julian which to go for as he is also on the negotiating skills panel?

Julian will be talking about that at the seminar Self Agenting, Saturday, 6pm, and I’ll most certainly be in the audience. BAFTA nominated screenwriter Tim Clague, who has a great track record and doesn’t use an agent, will also be on the panel, sharing his experience with us. I’ll be taking notes to send to several of my friends who won’t be in London for the weekend and will benefit from learning from this valuable crash-course.

Speaking of agents, there’s another interesting seminar, Getting an Agent and Beyond, also on Saturday, at 10am, with agents Katie Williams and Gary Wild. It’s worth listening to the agents’ advice, if you don’t have one. One thing I’ve learned from Blake Friedmann and Katie, who supervised my internship there and is the most caring person ever, is that they’re looking for long-term relationships with clients. Therefore, you as an individual and team player as well as your writing are being assessed. Bear in mind that good ideas are great but if the writing isn’t there, no deal; whilst if the writing is really good, poorer ideas can always be improved… Julian also told me once that he was asked by a prospective client how many times a year he took his clients out to lunch: ‘You are unlikely to ever find out’ he replied.

I’ll probably not attend this one because it clashes with Why 98% of Scripts Get Rejected? with Head of Development at Ealing Studios Sophie Mayer, Head of TV Drama at Kudos Noelle Morris; Head of Creative Affairs at Pathe Coleen Woodcock, which might help me polish my current drafts to get them closer to the top 2%. Sophie explains what’s expected of scripts in the LSF website:

‘It’s rare to find a script which combines great writing with a proper hook for the audience, original ideas, strong narrative drive, characters we care about and a real emotional impact. The script needs to grab the reader and take them on a journey worth the price of a cinema ticket.‘ I think I have ticked those boxes but the Festival is such a wonderful opportunity to double check.

Download the latest version of the schedule and make sure you don’t miss any of your favourite sessions.

Tickets for the festival are still available, but not for long… book now. Quote “twelvepoint” to get a £37 discount.

Originally published on TwelvePoint.com.

Looking at the LSF 2010 schedule more attentively, I realised that on Friday, 4pm, screenwriter Stuart Hazeldine, alongside Ollie Madden and Nik Bower will discuss: Should I Write a Spec Script? Well I have written two specs so far – one has a chance of being produced, the other, well, not so much… My question, in this case, would be: Should I continue investing time and energy in writing specs? What are the real chances of having a spec script commissioned?

When I first offered to write a script in exchange for a chance having it read by an agent, I didn’t even know that this was called “writing a spec script”. I thought my request was something short of absurd, to be honest. Actually, it worked and this spec has become a project with a chance of becoming a film. This isn’t always the case, but specs can be your entry into the industry even if the scripts themselves never make it to the screen. What people usually tell me is that spec scripts can showcase your writing and this can land you a commission. I’d definitely like to hear more about that.

At the same time, on Friday, Julian Friedmann will be giving us advice on Becoming a Great Pitcher. Julian is a very experienced agent (and pitcher) from both sides of the fence – pitching and being pitched to – so this one is a MUST GO. Why? Because I totally suck at pitching. It’s sad but true. I dread pitching. It makes my stomach churn. My voice disappears, my hands go all over the place, and I go on and on and on until I lose track of what I was saying… It’s dreadful. I heard from fellow screenwriters that, in time, pitching becomes sort of a second nature, like driving a car, riding a bicycle… I certainly hope so. Until then, I have to make the best use of all advice I can get.

What choices will you make? The script gurus say that the choices we force our characters to make define them. Do our choices at LSF 2010 define us? Or just our weaknesses?

Have you booked your ticket with TwelvePoint already? By doing so, I’ll get a £37 discount if you quote “twelvepoint“.

Oli Lewington continues giving out some useful advice on his daily blog. It’s a special Countdown to look at ‘how you can get the most from your weekend and the biggest bang for your buck’. Today’s post is about the Festival’s Nitty-Gritty: “You’re primed and ready to make your assault on the first room of the day – networking over breakfast with people you don’t know, or walking into a room full of strange faces (in the unknown sense, not as in all the LSWF delegates are alien-freaks). How do you do this thing?” Check it out!