Script editing for writers, directors and producers

A five-day workshop which focuses on essential areas of scriptwriting with emphasis on script editing has been sponsored by the Department of Arts and Culture.

The workshop will consider how to read a script, ask the right questions, break it down, create a shooting plan and execute it. Narrative dynamics will be discussed including the grammar of filmmaking; visual and creative approach; pace and rhythm; as well as shooting and editing.

A practical element will also be included. The facilitator, Robyn Aronstam, will use scripts and films that she has worked on as script supervisor including “Monsoon Wedding”, “Country of my Skull” and “Rendition”.

Participants are encouraged to bring a scene of their own to the workshop.

Application deadline: Monday, 3 March 2008. Course Dates: 13 March – 19 March 2008

Contact details, motivations and CVs should be sent to:
Connie Mosegedi: mosegedic 'at' bigfish.org.za

bloghood

Jon had some questions about blogging

• Why did you start blogging and why do you continue?

I was always reading blogs especially Danny's and Lucy's and started commenting occasionally and it grew from there. I'm not too interested in reading about craft on blogs - I prefer reading about other writers' journeys, successes, failures and schemes or what-have-you. Blogs provide a good barometer of what's happening in scriptwriting all over. I thought I might run out of things to post about in the beginning so stockpiled about 5 posts at first (and then ended up starting on exactly the same day as Pot.)
For about 2 weeks I don't think I had any readers at all and then it picked up gradually. My hit rate isn't that high but it suits me - I get about 10 visits a day when I don't post and 2 or 3 times that when I do. I'm very attached to my blog now - like an online handbag I rummage around in now and again. Mostly it helps focus my thoughts on scriptwriting etc. Sometimes it is just fun.

• How do you decide what to blog about?

In the early days I thought I'd blog about all sorts of intriguing scriptwritery things and review various scripts I'd downloaded and stuff (ha!) - but now I veer more towards the anecdotal. Every so often I'll post a meandering ramble linking disparate trains of thought. I love adding images and the fact that you can now post cell-phone videos straight on to blogger. If I ever shelve anonymity and say goodbye to this blog then I may well do it in a video post.

Quite a few scribos have slowed down lately and it seems to have a knock on effect. I don't consciously sit down and think of something to blog about - either there's a story or there are opportunities etc. Strangely my most banal posts end up being the most popular - like brads (!) or toes. Recently someone typed 'what can I do about burning toes with black spots all over them?' into google and then spent 3 minutes on my blog. Well visitor, if you come back - my advice is "See a doctor. Immediately!"

• Do you write straight out or pre-plan what you’re going to write.

I tend to write it up first in word and then post. I get annoyed seeing typos after I've posted. The only time I write straight is when I'm doing a quick link or something.

• Do you censor yourself?

Definitely and more so as time goes on. Not just the karma thing either. Even with a miniscule readership, you start to become self conscious about who reads your blog.

I'd say if a working relationship or some scriptwriting endeavour turns a bit sour, it's probably best not to post screeds of vengeful bile - although it may be tempting. Things can turn in your favour again - in fact I've just experienced this in regard to a situation I posted about.

I also censor myself about family. I'm not anonymous on facebook but I am here (well not to those who know me) and that offers potential for collision....

So what about you?

Laters

thatandthis

Bits and pieces really this one. February's whizzing by with much happening under the radar and intriguing opportunities opening up here, there and everywhere. Is that vague enough to deflect blog karma?
Lately have been budgeting and re-budgeting. Once in a while, every scriptwriter should perhaps sit down and minutely cost a film (any film - short or feature) - if only to realise how much more gratifying the process of scriptwriting is - ha!

What else? - interesting post over at WC Martell's blog today He suggests that the key to writing successful films that are both political and mainstream - is subversion. I would agree.

Local news for those who may not have spotted it is that the briefs are up - that's the SABC'S latest request for proposals - a hefty document at 126 pages) so if you want to save paper, then probably better just to print out those that are of interest. There are only a few drama briefs.

That's it for now. Laters.

meme

Ok so now for the "scriptwritery tomes meme" - as tagged by Elinor - here's my mixed bag. My all-time favourite is second from top 'The Fragrance of Guava' which I've mentioned before - not really about scriptwriting at all. Anyone recognise the dark green binding second from the bottom (he he - er yes still reading it!!) Apologies for the blurry phone photo - might upload a clearer one in a minute....
BTW I tag Robin as I don't think anyone else has yet...

Times online filmschool

Lots of exciting articles and information now available online (for those who are unable to get hold of the Times newspaper). Yesterday was all about scriptwriting. Catch up by clicking here.

earth rat

Happy Chinese New Year of the earth rat!
The Rat Year is a time of hard work all round for everyone - a good year to be resourceful and think on your feet. People born in an Earth Rat year are supposed to be realists, logical, inventive and shrewd.

toes

The toes on my left foot have been plaguing me lately and I feel like cutting them off. I used to get chillblains in the UK a lot especially in winter time, but it's hot over here now and what I have now is fairly similar; itchy but burning and more like water blisters. I thought it might be the pool but can't see why really. Then I thought it could possibly be gout (there's a lot of it about over here) but a quick surf indicated that it probably wasn't (the internet really is a hypochondriac's paradise) Anyway gout sounds far more painful - and affects the joints - apparently you can't even bear to have a bed sheet lightly pressing upon a gouty toe - they get that sensitive. Plus gout seems to be affected by diet. I only eat two-legged meat for a start (bar the odd rasher) and I don't drink red wine or spirits only pinot. Maybe it is the swimming. Hmmm. I should try lavender water tinged with pink - but that didn't do the Pobble much good...

local scene

Four new South African films on release now or coming to the cinema later this year. Read an overview here.

scriboscope

The solar eclipse on 6th February (7th in some parts) will likely be significant for scriptwriters (closure, moving on - an end to the WGA strike is indicated - ha!) Benefits may not be seen until a few days afterwards.

For writers who want to know more about what the February eclipses have in store, read TJ Macgregor's horoscopes for writers at Booktalk - they've just been updated here.

Imitation of life

Imagine a scene where two Moslem women with Down's syndrome, (separately) walk through a busy market place full of animals and people and announce that they have birds to sell. Then they stop and throw open their burqas - the signal for remote controlled bombs, hidden under their garments to be detonated. Afterwards, 93 people (including the women themselves) lie dead.

Shocking bloody and nasty and most of all real.

As I watched the news yesterday, my conflicting thoughts (as a scriptwriter) were 'wow that's cinematic!' and (as a parent) 'f*** how callous'.

I suppose this dual response typifies one of the most difficult tasks in scriptwriting: - provoking an emotional reaction through visuals.

In fact yesterday's news from Baghdad seemed almost like a re-working of that nail-biting scene from Gillo Pontecorvo's classic 'Battle of Algiers' where the 3 Algerian women shed their burqas and smuggle bombs out of the Casbah to explode in the French quarter...

**

Anyway what else? This year is off to a good start. Have been working gently on a treatment for a TV thing. For some reason I started doing it all on A5 to make it read like a little book - do you ever do weird things like that? (No - I won't send it off like that!- I just like the size for now.) plus the other project seems to be zooming along quite nicely.

So here's to February . Slurp!

Boost

The big news of the week over here concerns the revised incentives for the film and television industries which aim to increase foreign investment, local content production and BEE.
Read more by clicking here.

And for those who'd rather dance here's Freddie Gwala.

Why I don't read scripts

I'm all for perusing the growing stash of filmed scripts that can be found all over the net nowadays - particularly recent films. Sometimes I'll rush back from the cinema to google up the script and take a look. I even scribble things down in the cinema especially when it seems that there's some kind of a message I could use. Today after watching 'Talk To Me' I scribbled down Dewey Hughes' early advice to DJ Petey Greene (N.B. this is general gist not word for word)

Know more than your audience
Whatever bullshit you talk, make sure you can back it up
Don't underestimate me

Anyhow it already looks like I've contradicted myself in the title of this post but what I mean is that as a general rule, I don't go out of my way to read other writers' scripts unless I suspect they might be good. The more I read writers' scripts, the more my admiration for script reader /writers grows. It's a great job you do.

I mentioned elsewhere on this blog that I don't have the temperament or sensitivity for script reading. I hope this doesn't sound facetious but I suppose it is because I don't think a scriptwriter's creativity is best served by imbibing too many scripts that aren't working. I prefer to be inspired. On a couple of occasions I've read scripts that happen to be magnificent (and remain unmade) but on the whole I end up grunting and groaning as I force myself through the pages. [Quite possibly there's folk out there doing the same with mine..]

If I had to choose a job tied to scriptwriting - it would be teaching rather than script reading. With teaching, at least you can try and deflect or off-set the wholesale generic borrowing that saturates scripts. But then what do I know huh? - I dont read scripts (other than favours returned) Or at least I try not to until people force me to.

This week I succumbed. So of course I first send out a disclaimer "I'm a harsh critic" just in case the recipient is likely to be of a delicate disposition (I'm a harsh critic of my own work too - saves a lot of trouble in the long run)

Anyway aside from the litany of crafting elements that can usually be improved in all scripts - (and I couldn't give a blue banana about incorrect format - so long as there's original story) ultimately with any 'competent' script - it all boils down to (reader) subjectivity / taste and familiarity. Meat or poison. Fly or flail (fail).
Ambivalence is not good. It is better that people either violently hate or passionately love a (competent) script than feel ambivalent about it. Ambivalence doesn't work and will not get anyone anywhere.

'Love' or 'hate' at least provide a coat-hanger for the script reader who can then question or explore the writer's intent or their need to tell the story.

Cor this turned into a long ramble innit? Must be the pinot grigio...

Later

Lucky strike?

Over at Rouge Wave my attention was caught by Sheldon's Bull's intriguing take on the WGA Writers Strike at this potentially pivotal time for the industry.

Read the complete article in Storylink. Here's an excerpt:

'Take a deep breath and think for a minute. Maybe you don’t need to pen that spec or genuflect to that agent. Maybe what you need to do is bypass them all and just do it yourself.
Do I mean that you should make a short movie or three-minute TV series on your own and then post it on the web for free? Yes. That’s exactly what I mean. Can you think of a more effective way to introduce yourself to the world? If you get ten thousand hits on your video, don’t you suppose that people with money to invest will come looking for you?
The ’07-’08 Writers Strike could be the seminal moment in the collective lives of every screenwriter alive. This could be the beginning of the biggest tectonic shift in the history of entertainment.'

Quick one

Just checking in here for the few regulars. Been a strange up-and-down week worldwide it seems (and still only Wednesday.) On the script front, I now feel I'm being propelled by circumstances beyond my control towards a certain decision (updated info in the comments below) After all you only need one 'yes'.
Manana.

Africa and Hollywood

Just caught up with this interesting post over at the Leo Africanus blog. Leo Africanus recently interviewed Mahen Bonetti, Director of NY's African Film Festival about Hollywood's renewed appetite for Africa.

Here's an excerpt:

"In some ways, it is exciting to see Africa get some recognition on the Hollywood landscape. In other ways, it is important to be critical of the ways in which Africa is depicted and the stories that are told. We must ask, from whose perspectives are these stories being told, and what exactly are these stories themselves saying about the state of Africa today, and her relationship within the international arena? I’m wary of films that do exactly what you mention – use Africa as a “backdrop,” as if the continent were simply a place where western stories happen."

To find out how to get hold of Farafina magazine and read the full interview, click here.

holiday casualty

so guess who screamed the most when the frog's stretchy arm finally came off - my daughter or the frog?

Anyway back to work today. At last.

Later.

that and this and that

Writing is still on hold here until the long summer holiday finally draws to a close at precisely 8 am on Wednesday 16th January - when my daughter and thousands of others start a new school year and I can finally get back to the desk - yippee.

'Write every day' may be the mantra, but an enforced period away from the desk is often just as productive. Time to set ideas sailing and see where they go. Lately I seem to have replaced writing with swimming (with the upshot that I'm now contemplating something set in a pool - ha!) On my writing 'to do' list for 2008 there's:

a fragmented family TV mini-series thing - pivoted round an absent father (have a title but not sure whether I completely like it yet)
a new SA story - for which I have a perfect title and pitch - and which has been percolating gently for several months now, and
WF (a UK/SA thing) which has been in the top drawer for ages but is missing some vital ingredient - probably needs more mulling over
Let's see.

There are also the 2 SA scripting projects from last year still under negotiation but my feeling is that if things are going to happen - then they tend to happen quickly. Hmmm..

Plus there's one (or two) schemes I'm excited about here and there - mainly there ;)

Laters.

PS: regarding the 'script with legs' - am in less of a quandary and have made up my mind to wait...

round up

Here's a new year round up of the latest scriptwriting and film opportunities (and deadlines) for those based on this continent.

Firstly there's the SASWU 'Script Camp' an exciting fully funded 3 month training initiative for 12 writers who want to script the ultimate South African feature film between 1st March and 1st May this year. Writers will receive a stipend/part option fee of R30,000 during training. Read the full details by clicking here.

For queries and submissions email Nicola Rauch: nicolarauch 'at' webmail.co.za

****
Maisha Film Lab is now accepting applications for 2008. Maisha seeks applications from Screenwriters, Directors, Editors, Sound Recordists and Cinematographers for the 2008 Annual Lab to be held in Kampala , Uganda. For more details visit the website by clicking here.

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Telkom Media, one of the four new South African commercial satellite and cable subscription operators licensed last year, has published its first round of briefs for the production of local content, as well as a guide to its standard Terms of Trade for acquiring local content.
The briefs can be accessed on www.telkommedia.co.za under 'Content Proposals'

****
'Scenarios from Africa' film contest calls for submissions.
Community and Youth Development Initiatives and Imo State Action Committee on AIDS have launched the fifth edition of this contest in Nigeria which accepts entries until March 15, 2008. Young African journalists /aspiring journalists under 25 are invited to submit storylines for short films on HIV/AIDS. The grand prize winner will receive US$1,500.To learn more about the competition, visit the website by clicking here.

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There's still time to get together an entry for the BBC's annual African Performance playwriting competition 2008. Plays must be half an hour in length when read aloud, and feature no more than six characters. The subject matter must resonate with an African audience. Entries are sought from Africans living in Africa. Deadline is January 31st 2008. There are three prizes. The first prize is £1000, the second is £850 and the third prize is £650. Visit the website here for full details of how to apply.

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There's another radio scriptwriting competition on climate change which has a deadline of March 15th . Read the full details at the website by clicking here.

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The Pangea Day online film competition deadline is 15th February. Still plenty of time for filmmakers to enter. Full information is available right here.

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For those developing and packaging features, it may be worth taking a look at these two granting opportunities - the World Cinema Fund's next deadline is March 13th 2008 and application information and guidelines can be found on their website here.
The Global Film Initiative (promoting cross cultural understanding through films) provides small amounts of funding for feature length dramas that have already attracted some backing. Further information is on their website - click on this link.

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All Roads seeds grants for filmmakers have quarterly submission rounds. Full details on their website here.

Quandary

Had the meeting yesterday - they like the script and want to make it (a UK/SA thing) Now I have to make up my mind and sign by 16th. The offer is fine. Only trouble is they want a 'mr big' director on board - aggghhhhh. Now I'm having a Potdoll moment. Should I say yes because - who knows after this one maybe I'll be better placed to direct? Should I say no and stick my neck out for what I really, really want (and risk not getting it at all)? Or should I try a bit of gentle persuasion and say I'll be happy to step aside WHEN 'mr big' director is on board (if that is at all possible?) Is this a girl thing? I can direct it, in fact I'm best placed to do it, I know I am! Maybe I need to show them my shorts. (What if they determined my directing ability from that cell-phone puppet video underneath - that was a family co-production and I only did the camera -work (shaky I know) and the cutting out - aggggh.) Oh I should be dancing round in my flip-flops instead of tearing out my hair. Answers in comments please. Asap. Ta

move over blue cow

Here's mermaid, mrs rabbit ear-ears (and the whale) cell-phone puppet show.

report

Last year was a mixed bag. Started off well with our company's first children's educational series commission broadcast here weekly from Jan - March (this after a demoralising re-edit in Jo'burg). The feedback was good. Then came a meeting about the re-commission of a storytelling series with another prodco. Things didn't turn out well and I followed my instincts and ended up stepping off.
I turned my attentions away from local production towards international markets and stories that could travel. A couple of new drama outlines received positive feedback. There were other minor writing successes, but mostly I spent my time honing and rewriting.
Later on, I successfully pitched for a large (non-film related) writing project - the contract for which should now be coming through early this year (those distant shores are still beckoning...) A hefty portion of the year was spent writing a brand new spec which I am now touting (can't say too much - but it does have legs). Towards the end of the year, I dragged my heels over other 'slow' projects - either due to the lack of funds or the protracted negotiations. Had a small boost at the end of the year with a promo commission. And that was about it..

I'm not one for making writing resolutions but I do feel very optimistic about 2008. Maybe it's all these fabulous horoscopes I keep reading.

Later

first post

A quick post to change the date on here. For Aries scribes - 2008 is the year we've all been waiting for. Let's see...
On the last day of 2007, my daughter learned to swim and script news arrived that seems like a yes (whether that's a big yes, a small yes, a no-yes or a no, remains to be seen...)

Last night parked in a laybay up on the side of the mountain to watch 6 minutes of fireworks over the Waterfront.
Happy New Year!

swimming and scriptwriting

At this time of the year, I'm down the local lido as soon it opens every morning at 9 am. I love swimming and the water temp now is around 22 -24 degrees - perfect. I take my daughter - who can't swim yet - but at least she's big enough to stand up and try in the shallow end. In between, I get a chance to do a few widths. I only do widths because I won't swim in water that's over my head (i.e the deep end). I won't go underwater and I only do breast stroke - I'm terrified of drowning.

There are two distinct types of swimmers - those (mainly women), who like me, only do breast stroke and never go underwater. We take life easy and even chat while we swim, we don't get swim-rage when others cut in - in front, we tread water, pace ourselves and we don't over exert. Maybe we're scaredy cats?

Then there are those for whom swimming is a mission. They get irritated with the laconic widthers slapping across the pool. They do front crawl, back crawl, they pound and pummel the water with their fists. They do underwater stuff, they dive, they jump in, they race. I admire their tenacity and verve.

Maybe there's an analogy to be drawn with scriptwriting? Something about daring - or maybe about finding your own way...

Well my swimming is probably not going to change but the writing always can..

***

After a bit of bloth I've managed 2 posts in one day - must be something in the air! Post on 'future' coming soon..

past

One Christmas eve a long time ago when I was sharing a nice woody house in West Norwood with other lodgers, the live-in landlord decided to treat us all to a traditional Polish festive dinner and told us not to eat at all that day because it was going to be 25 courses (!). Earlier in the day, my sister had phoned to wish me season's greetings before she caught a train somewhere down south. It had just started snowing lightly and as the day went on, the snowfall grew heavier until several inches lay on the pavement.
We started eating around 8 and my main memory of the food was the texture rather than the colour or taste. There were things like herrings in jelly, a sort of sago pudding, a thin black sausage in lentil paste and jellied eels and such like. Hmmm. Happily the courses were small and they kept on coming, dish after dish. Luckily there was plenty of wine to wash it all down. At midnight we were finally finished, inebriated and attempting a few Polish phrases. Then the call came. My sister now 200 miles away had just remembered that - before she had left her flat in Tulse Hill that morning - she had put an apple pie in the oven fairly high and wanted me to go over right now and switch it off - because she was scared the house would burn down.
Furious, I slammed down the phone. Ten minutes later she rang again. But I was already out the house - muffled up to the eyeballs in hats and scarves, cursing her. I'd climbed on to an old bicycle and was pedalling through the blizzard straight down the middle of the empty main roads. I reached her basement flat and as I didn't have a key, I clambered first over the side gate and round the back. The windows were all steamed up and the kitchen was full of smoke. I broke a pane of glass in the window and climbed in, switched off the cooker, took out the pie which was just a black crust, wafted out the smoke for a few minutes, climbed back out, pulled the window shut, staggered back to the bike and cycled back home.

******

The template has changed because I tried to add falling snowflakes to my blog (didn't manage it) and then went back to my old one to find it had gone all back to front - so I had to get this new one and now I've lost my label cloud... grrrr

OK so next post - the future

wherever you are...

Season's greetings and may 2008 be the best year ever!

Thanks for dropping by and a special shout to those who have left comments, (however sporadic) - because you make it all worthwhile - including Potdoll, Pillock, Lianne, Lucy, Elinor, Verging Writer, Martin, WC Dixon, James Whyle, Jon Peacey, Oli, Facety, Sal, anonymous and anyone else I've forgotten!

Laters

Seasonal sloth

Seem to have turned into a bit of a blog sloth of late (or should that be bloth). I think this is probably due to seasonal factors or the subliminal trans-atlantic effect of the strike or even possibly that I have nothing writerly of interest to report.. My time has been consumed by holiday-schooly things and following the political goings-on over in Polokwane.

I wondered why my blog was still getting a fair amount of hits lately (peaking yesterday) and it seems that its all to do with the Amarna princess again. Another piece of the Bolton trio's fabricated art turned up in the US last week and has re-ignited interest in the story.

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Now for a couple of bits and pieces. Here's information about Pangea Day an online film competition/award with a script development grant for the winner. Deadline is Feb 15th 2008.

PARTICIPANT PRODUCTIONS AWARDS & GRANT. A grant and awards program has been established through a partnership with Participant Productions, the production company behind such socially conscious films as An Inconvenient Truth; Syriana; and Good Night, And Good Luck. For the "Outstanding Filmmakers Awards Program," Participant Productions will select five filmmakers, each representing a different continent (North America, South America, Europe, Africa and Asia [including Australia]) to receive a $5000 filmmakers grant to both reward outstanding achievement and provide support for these filmmakers to continue making films. In addition, Participant will invite all the filmmakers whose films appear on Pangea Day to submit a treatment for a feature film or documentary. Participant will then reward one winner with the "Filmmaker Grant" which includes $20,000 to continue the development of the treatment and a non-binding first look deal with Participant for the treatment.

More information can be found on the website by clicking right here.

Plus here's a heads up for scribomatic - a useful site where the most recent posts from a range of screenwriting blogs and websites can be found all in one place. This is now my starting point for scribosurfing. Those with blogs can install the widget.

With everything now shut down for at least 6 weeks here, there's not much to report on the writing front - so am catching up on a few films, reading and taking it easy until the new year.

Plus of course I'm busy sticking glitter and sweet wrappers onto my beautiful blog greeting card ready for the next post...

Laters

Doris Lessing

from Nobel Lecture December 7th 2007

'The storyteller is deep inside everyone of us. The story-maker is always with us. Let us suppose our world is attacked by war, by the horrors that we all of us easily imagine. Let us suppose floods wash through our cities, the seas rise ... but the storyteller will be there, for it is our imaginations which shape us, keep us, create us – for good and for ill. It is our stories, the storyteller, that will recreate us, when we are torn, hurt, even destroyed. It is the storyteller, the dream-maker, the myth-maker, that is our phoenix, what we are at our best, when we are our most creative.'

Read full text by clicking on this link here.

© NOBEL FOUNDATION 2007

Thoth

In times of strike or stalemate, who better to turn to than Thoth - the ancient Egyptian patron of writers (and by extension scriptwriters)? Diplomatic Thoth who was credited with inventing writing and numbers, was also God of the moon and magic.
In art, Thoth was usually depicted with the head of an ibis with a beak resembling the crescent moon.

"Thoth the Scribe, wrote the story of our reality then placed it into grids for us to experience and learn through the alchemy of time and consciousness."

Hmmmm...

video messaging

So I noticed the other day ( just before LAN went down) that there is a little 'create video' icon in the menu bar of my inbox. Probably always been there but I've just never clicked on it - well I found that when I do, it triggers my webcam and I can send email video messages - just like that! So of course I've been sending them here, there and everywhere, one to my sister on Wednesday wishing her a happy birthday. This week, I was making a promo and I booked the edit via video message.

Then, getting bolder, I did a video pitch of my latest script and emailed it in to drama at the local broadcaster. The same day, I received a reply directing me to the film portfolio.

So it seems to work. Perhaps - in a sea of correspondence - the recipient welcome a real person popping up in their inbox - who knows? Maybe it is also the shock value. Anyway I say give it a go....

Today I might even try the bank manager..

Laters.

keywords

when short of things to post about - there's always keywords. Here's a list of the top keywords & phrases that have brought people to my blog lately (highest number of hits - those at the top of the list... etc)

amarna princess/ princess amarna
scriptwriter on strike/ scriptwriter strike/ strike action scriptwriter
xhosa initiation ceremony
give yourself a pat on the back lyrics
talk to me cheadle
scriptwriting opportunities
skokiaan blogspot
internet cafe claremont wynberg south africa
treasury tags
scriptwriter
registration code snail mail
how far away is nigeria from the UK?

radio competitions

The BBC's annual African Performance playwriting competition 2008 is now open for business.
Plays must be half an hour in length when read aloud, and feature no more than six characters. The subject matter must resonate with an African audience. Entries are sought from Africans living in Africa

Deadline is January 31st 2008. There are three prizes. The first prize is £1000, the second is £850 and the third prize is £650. Visit the website here for full details of how to apply:

and now here's another more specialist one which may be of interest:

Africa: Radio scriptwriting competition to cope with climate change.

The Developing Countries Farm Radio Network (DCFRN) and the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) are launching a scriptwriting competition entitled African Farmers’ Strategies for Coping with Climate Change. The competition is open to African radio organizations, including broadcasters, production organizations, NGOs with a radio project, farmers’ associations with a radio show, etc. Competitors are invited to submit a radio script on one of the following themes related to local adaptation to climate change:Water and soil management; cropping strategies emphasizing drought-resistant plants; livestock management practices; fisheries and agroforestry; other (for original topics related to coping with climate change and not listed above)To assist radio practitioners with producing the radio scripts, a climate change resource kit and a guide to writing radio scripts will be prepared and distributed to interested African radio practitioners. Professional coaching and mentoring on scriptwriting will be provided to participants throughout the process.

A special website has been set up for this competition and includes info on coaching etc. Click here to visit the website. Entry deadline is: March 15, 2008. Winners will be announced in May 2008. Scripts will be reviewed by an international panel of judges. The top 15 entries will receive high quality digital audio recorders.

pencils down

merits of feedback

I've blogged briefly about feedback but I think it might be useful to go into more depth especially since feedback on my latest script has varied so much in quality and usefulness.

I think there are basically 6 types of feedback

1) The mum (best friend) feedback. Well we all know what this is like - usually over the top, complimentary, uncritical and non-analytical, always delivered verbally and ends with "well I know you're a good story teller anyway." The best thing about the mum/best friend feedback is that it is quick - they read it usually before anyone else. The worse thing is the lack of impartiality.
However, I have been wondering lately whether it is possible to combine the mum /best friend feedback with the Michael Arndt feedback sheet.
If you hand your mum/best friend a printed sheet where they have to rate particular categories of your script from 1- 10 and also rate the weakest elements - then perhaps it could be more helpful....hmmmm?

2) The spot on feedback - usually comes from someone older and wiser than the writer. This feedback is from someone who knows you, knows your writing, your narrative leanings, your weak spots, your inspirations, your motivators. This is the most valuable feedback you can get - because not only does it hone in on exactly what is wrong with a particular script but it presents that information to you in a wholly acceptable manner and thus propels you towards writing greatness.. ahem. The 'spot-on' feedback is always correct. It can say when the idea is completely off the boil and should be abandoned.
The downside to such feedback - is that it is rarely available 'on demand' so there's a tendency for the writer to over-rely on it. Remember the feedback favours must be returned with as much wisdom as can be mustered.

3) The mish-mash feedback. The mish-mash feedback is your average, everyday run-of-the-mill feedback containing some moments of brilliance yet little to surprise the writer. It is quite likely that the mish-mash feedback person does not respond particularly well to your story or was not excited by the writing.The mish-mash feedback is indecisive and contains mixed messages which tend to confuse the writer.

4) The slasher feedback. This is feedback from someone who either doesn't really 'get' the story at all or who only ever scanned the script - but nevertheless considers their opinion to be both important and useful. Slasher feedback is delivered with confidence and aplomb and holds little regard for the writer. Slasher feedback is characterised by negative phrases, snarky witticisms - and always demonstrates a lack of ability to see a way through any narrative difficulties. The slasher may even take it upon themselves to cut up your script for you and send you back a mutilated or completely re-arranged version of your text for your appraisal.
It is worth reading the slasher feedback with care, as on occasion, there can be the odd suggestion which may prove valuable ..

5) The late feedback. There's the feedback that always comes after you have sent your script off - usually from a busy person. Luckily it usually confirms all the strengths and weaknesses that you have acknowledged in your script and therefore rarely creates much agitation.

6) The executive feedback is frequently paradoxical or confusing. Never wanting to appear mistaken, it tends to be short and convoluted. This type of feedback usually accompanies a 'no'. The 'no' can arrive quickly or slowly. However if the 'no' comes from someone high up, who has obviously read the entire script - within a week of it being sent, then don't be disheartened - because that's really not too bad at all.....

a way forward for sithengi?

A new Sithengi board was elected at a special general meeting on November 16th 2007 which may prove to be the first step in the revival of South Africa's key annual film and TV industry event.

The board however faces an uncertain future with major financial issues awaiting resolution.

Read more on Screen Africa's website here.

comments are for post below..

should black stories be told by black directors?

Read Jason Solomons in Guardian filmblog.

'This week I meet Kasi Lemmons, director of the startling Talk to Me, about African American 'shock jock' Petey Green. Could a white man have told this tale?
Talk To Me is one of the most enjoyable films I've seen all year. It's breezy, funky fun because of the two terrific performances of Don Cheadle and our own Chiwetel Ejiofor and because the music and milieu feel genuine and heartfelt.
The story of radio DJ Petey Green, set in late 60s Washington DC and featuring scenes around the killing of Martin Luther King - but I venture that its authenticity really stems from the film being directed by a black woman, Kasi Lemmons '

Read on here.

answer

"the story doesn't necessarily have the kind of pre-recognition factor that allows this type of factually based drama to find an audience"

Half a packet of pink paperclips goes to the first person to provide the correct interpretation of the sentence above.

pox

Nice word pox

Blog hiatus while my daughter is off school with chicken pox. The whole class seems to be off. Probably because these days, chicken pox's time-line has shrunk to fit in with parental schedules. In my day you were off school for 2 weeks. Nowadays parents slap on a bit of calamine, wait until their grizzling infants look a bit less spotty and send them back to school to infect the entire class. In the chemist's queue my itching daughter's eye fell upon some discounted children's DVDs (a big no no) so along with calendula and calamine, I came home with what I thought was an Australian version of Peter Pan but actually turned out to be a mishmash of Pan and Captain CrustyMumpyGrumble or something. Perhaps it was re-cut to specifically target low attention span masses for whom visual coherency and narrative have become redundant. The fact that my daughter didn't seem to mind was a little worrying. Five is a funny age.

Not long before the chicken pox landed, she went off for a 'play day' with a couple of other schoolfriends wearing a new pink hair-band lodged in the front of her Afro. (I have never been into pink, but in this era of consumer conformity, it is hard to counter) When she was returned home, I was appalled to see that her hair had been hot-comb straightened into a style resembling Condoleeza's. Aggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

A pox on that parent!

Amarna princess

Here's one for the cuttings file (which I'm sure will be turned into a TV drama soon) - the story of the family from Bolton who successfully conned the art world for more than two decades.

In 2003, the local council used grant money to buy a stunning translucent alabaster Egyptian statue from them for £440,000 only to later discover it was a fake. Shaun Greenhalgh created the Amarna Princess from a block of calcite using an ordinary mallet and chisel.

For successful forgers, the Greenhalgh trio 'had an unremarkable lifestyle.' Despite having £500,000 in the bank they lived "in abject poverty", said police. 83 year old Olive had never even left Bolton.

Read the full story on the BBC website here and see a slide show of all the various forged art pieces here.

strike

South Africa might seem a little off the radar when it comes to the US Writers Guild strike and indeed the majority of scriptwriters here produce for local content and broadcasters - and tend to be consumed by a different set of pressing professional issues.

Striking US writers have stated that it is not proper for writers anywhere (that includes here in SA) to approach, negotiate, pitch or do business with any of the 'struck' WGA signatory companies during the strike action. The list of companies is available here and contains a fair number that have done or are currently doing SA co-productions.

Last year alone, film and television production (the majority of which here is overseas co-production) contributed over 5 billion rands to South Africa's economy (3 billion in the Western Cape and 2 billion in Gauteng). It might be timeous for the writers union SASWU to issue some statement of solidarity - since any benefits eventually won by striking US writers will have far reaching impact, and may provide additional leverage for on-going local negotiations.

For further information and to read various recent media coverage of the strike - see Robin's blog here.

snail mail

So I take my smart, professional looking manila envelope to the post office, to find that the online services are down and for some reason stamps can only be sold in low denominations and by the time the man behind the counter has finished sticking on the sixty plus stamps, my letter is transformed into a multi-coloured medley of flora and fauna..

this and that

A meandering post, this one. The script is now re-written, polished, tweaked, combed and edited as thoroughly as I can manage and ready for the off sometime this week.

I've been considering whether to overhaul the blog - either that or link to a web page of professional stuff etc - something fairly low maintenance. Maybe I'll first put up more information in my profile and then make the transition bit by bit. Any ideas?

The other day I went to the dinner launch of the Parliamentary Film Festival. Before we ate, they showed a fascinating 2 hour-long documentary by Egyptian filmmaker Jihan El Tahri - Cuba An African Odyssey which first I thought was going to be a bit heavy, but ended up being riveted by the tragicomic story of Che Guevara's military campaign in the Congo and his numerous disguises. Being more drawn to fiction than documentary, I thought this whole little known segment of Che's story would make a brilliant movie in itself. Anyway the fish was delicious and some twist of fate found me seated at the same table as the prodco whose job I'd stepped off - earlier this year. Bygones perhaps..?

Last thing I want to ruminate on today is contracts. The big jazz one hasn't yet arrived which means other plans have to be postponed. However, the contracts for the next two scripts have - but major issues still need to be resolved. Hmmm. Sometimes I prefer to work on an ad hoc basis - than be tied into difficulties very early on.

Let's see.

brads

Ok another scintillating topic - brads. The industry standard brad of choice for scriptwriters all over the globe is the ACCO brad.

I actually prefer the wider headed silver brads that used to be fairly easy to purchase in many UK stationers but they are difficult to get hold of here. I arrived with a large box but after they were all consumed I resorted to re-using them and even prizing them off other people's scripts (ha ha!). After a while they can rust and the washers go astray or they get too bendy or break. Here in Cape Town I've hunted high and low for them - to no avail.
So I started using butterfly pins which are almost identical to the industry brads - gold and two pronged but there are no washers to accompany them. It doesn't bode well (for a critique) if someone stabs their fingers trying to extract a script from an envelope.

Purely for home (or temporary use) there are treasury tags. I've always found these to be highly impractical and have never, ever sent off a script fixed with treasury tags. I've never used those curly ring bindings either.

My latest binding of choice is the 'file fastener'. These metal knife things bend through the punched holes and then slide into a clasp for safety. I know that these are also a 'no no' in industry circles but at least they look neat and are easy to remove - though they can also prove lethal for readers. They're also readily available.

So what do you use?

seeing spots

warning: banal post ahead

The easy bit is typing 'The end', then it gets more and more difficult. To help with rewriting today, I decided to use multi-coloured spot stickers - only because there are packets of them in my top drawer. I started off sticking them in the right hand margin of each page (a different colour for each story thread and up to 4 spots on one page). This was pleasantly time consuming and repetitive.
Then I laid the pages out on the floor - three rows for the three acts. It looked rather pretty - a bit like a colourful morse code or braille. I thought this might make it easy to see where story threads were going awol and it did, I suppose. Then I returned to the much more practical notebook. Just hope I have it all sorted now - just want to get this out of the way.....

Laters.

good, bad and the ugly

Just received another helping of feedback on my script - which this time was apposite, thorough, practical and constructive. It articulated issues which I hadn't been able to put my finger on as well as confirmed that I'm on the right track and was right to follow my instincts. So for now I'm going to do another print off, work out the 'through story' properly and then tackle the last revision.

Getting a critique is a bit like taking a child to the doctor when you don't really know what's wrong with them. Amputation is unlikely to be the best answer.

Laters

TVC blog bows out

read here

and the final post here.

lame

Tagged by Elinor in the lame meme

1. I once went to a fancy dress party dressed as Florence from the Magic Roundabout and won.
2. I don't really see the point of memes but do them anyway.
3. At school, I learned to do fast, backwards, mirror handwriting. Worryingly, I can still do it.
4. I'm a magpie. In London I used to have a box full of odd gold and silver trinkets that I found on the pavement and on tube seats. I once found a thick gold bracelet lying right outside my front gate in Camberwell. I never wear anything gold. Every so often I'd go and take it to be melted down and then start all over again.
In this country, I've never found a thing - maybe because there's so many people looking
5. When I was a teen I used to go to the Orrell Legion disco in Wigan with two gold stripes painted in my hair. One time the bus driver asked if a motorbike had run over my head.

modus

Following Lianne's Arvon inspired lead, I'm answering twenty questions about writing methods.

1.Do you outline?
Yes - I never like to start without an outline - the more detailed the better

2. Do you write straight through a script, or do you sometimes tackle the scenes out of order?
Usually straight through, though I might skip a difficult bit and come back later

3. Do you prefer writing with a pen or using a computer?
PC of course - though I started out always writing with a pen in big notebooks

4. Do you prefer writing in first person or third?
Third. Though 1st is useful sometimes (eg recent monologue)

5. Do you listen to music while you write?
No.

6. How do you come up with the perfect names for your characters?
Sometimes names are there from the word go. If I'm basing a character on someone, I tend to keep their real name (and change it at a later date). In several scripts, my female lead character's name begins with a B - for some reason

7. When you’re writing, do you ever imagine your script as a book/short story?
Yes sometimes.

8. Have you ever had a character insist on doing something you really didn’t want him/her to do?
Characters should surprise. Recently a character convinced me that, although he'd bludgeoned someone to death, it wasn't murder.

9. Do you know how a script is going to end when you start it?
Sometimes not always - as I said on this blog before - I tend to travel hopefully..

10. Where do you write?
At home at my desk

11. What do you do when you get writer’s block?
I don't believe in it so I don't get it. If I don't want to write, I don't write. Anyway we all write crap sometimes.

12. What size increments do you write in?
Depends. I like to write a lot fast, say at least 10 pages a day then rewrite much slower

13. How many different drafts did you write for your last project?
My last I'm still working on. I'd say it'll have gone through about 5 major revisions before going out.

14. Have you ever changed a character’s name midway through a draft?
Yes in the last draft - a black character became white and his name changed too

15. Do you let anyone read your script while you’re working on it, or do you wait until you’ve completed a draft before letting someone else see it?
I wait until I've finished - although I do like to have feedback or input on outlines or whatever before I get started.

16. What do you do to celebrate when you've finished a draft?
Have a glass of Pinot Grigio

17. One project at a time, or multiple projects at once?
Although I tend to have several on the go, there's usually only one that I'm truly focussed on.

18. Do your scripts grow or shrink in revision?
Shrink.

19. Do you have any writing or critique partners?
Yes I have one long-standing critic who I've known for years and some others.
Have had mixed involvements in collaboration - once developing a series - which was fantastic until the money ran out. I also brainstormed a sitcom here once but wasn't enamoured with the process or the project - so I left.

20. Do you prefer drafting or revising?
Revising. I think but I like finishing a first draft too

19 pages

Well I suppose you could call it feedback - but hacking nineteen pages out of a script and then sending it back - feels more like amputation...

Hmm. But it has sparked some intriguing solutions - so here I am - back at the drawing board. But after this, it's finished and going off no matter what...

Update: have now decided to await feedback from long-standing 'friend-in-scripts' (whose feedback is always spot on.) Have to follow your instincts sometimes - and mine was telling me to put those pages back in!

etc.

Slightly garbled blog as things seem to be speeding along. Awaiting feedback on the script but have already been told that there are 3 beginnings (hmm don't know how I managed that one - but I do see what they mean - still nothing that can't be fixed with a small tweak). Since sending it for reads, have been doing a few more passes on the dialogue - snips here and there.

Yesterday had a long overdue conference call about the next two scripts - a thriller - (have I ever written a thriller? - no but I'll give it a try) and a tug-of-love drama. Both quite meaty. I said initially that I could 'more or less knock out a script in a month' but I've now revised that to 'the more time I have - the better the script is likely to be.' Hmmmm. I also managed to persuade them, that at this stage I should write only the thriller treatment for the same (lowish) amount. 50% will be back end on both - which is not what I like but hey - beggars can't be choosers.

Laters.

The End

Yee haa! The script is finished. I'm fairly pleased, (I think) though of course there's now a hefty edit awaiting and a few holes that need to be filled.

It has been the most difficult script I've ever written for various reasons. One story thing that emerged is - since the conflict is explored from the POV of the main character - the antagonist becomes (almost) like a figment of his imagination. Hmm. I hope that works. You see this is a story, based on real life events - and while I have free reign with my main character, there is less leniency with the antagonist (he could sue) - so with him I've had to stick more or less to court records and news stuff in the public domain.

Early next week I'll send it off to the producer and a couple of others for quick-turnaround feedback (ha!). Let's see. If there's not too many dramatic adjustments needed, hopefully I can put an application in the post soon.

Onwards.

Advanced Sreenwriting Workshop

I haven't really been doing much in the way of round ups lately - but here's a free training opportunity for those based in Gauteng:

Creative Industry, supported by the Embassy of Ireland, is offering six screenwriters the opportunity to attend a fully-funded Advanced Screenwriting Workshop with a highly qualified Irish screenwriting tutor. The workshop will take place at Sasani Studios in Johannesburg over two long weekends, 8 – 11 & 15 - 19 November and writers are invited to apply with an idea for a feature-length screenplay. Preference will be given to applicants from a previously disadvantaged background.
Collaborators working with the individual screenwriters or with an interest in their project, such as directors, producers and script editors, are also invited to participate. There is no cost attached to attending the workshop. The weekends will consist of a mixture of screenings, lectures, writing exercises and workshops focusing on the writers’ projects with visiting script consultant and screenwriting tutor Mary Kate O’Flanagan. These sessions will offer a mixture of theory and craft, designed to develop six projects which are at outline or draft stage. The workshop offers an invaluable opportunity for committed writers who need professional input and clarification as they undertake a screenplay or work to polish a first draft.
Mary Kate O’Flanagan works as a script consultant across Europe, lectures on the undergraduate and postgraduate courses at Ireland’s National Film School and is the course director for an advanced project development course for FAS/Screen Training Ireland.

For further details please email fiona"at"creativeindustry.co.za

The poisoned dog

Thought I'd clarify a few things about the poisoned dog in the script. The poisoning is a cruel act of revenge and the dog is a beloved pet. I realised I'd forgotten to bring in the dog earlier on in the script but I've now fixed that.

So now the dog is seen out and about (with the protagonist) and of course generally enjoys life until the fateful morning .....

stealth

Ok have finished off the second act and literally just banged the story out on to the page. Now it's printed out ready for me to shift it all around, pull together and make it work. Much more stealth is needed, and so now I need to work backwards through the narrative. For instance, there's a 'honey-trap' journalist and right now it feels obvious so I'll have to go back and feed her in but this time as potential 'love interest'. There's also a poisoned dog - who prior to being poisoned - hadn't even made an appearance ..
Hmmm

family (2)

I wrote letters to my estranged father and other newly discovered half brothers over the next 6 months or so and then the correspondence dried up.

Just before Christmas of the following year, I had a large chunk of funds from the Arts Council deposited in my bank for a short film. My friend Penny wanted to go on holiday and so did I. Casablanca sounded intriguing but then I thought - hey Sierra Leone, why not? My friend was eager to meet my re-discovered family.

It was 1990 and after booking flights, I fired off four telegrams to relatives at various addresses in the hope that this was enough notice.

We stepped off the plane at Freetown airport down the rickety iron stairs on to the runway where a small crowd of African men waited in the 40 degree heat. Some held hand written placards. I felt a surge of panic as I surveyed the faces - seeking out the one that might be my father.

Over the years me and my sister has speculated about him. We had a few faded photographs of my mother's wedding in Edinburgh. The summer after we'd first arrived in the UK over 20 years ago, our father sent my sister a birthday present - a small, illustrated book on Roman ruins with cellophane separating each page. After this, communication stopped completely. We moved numerous times. He moved too.

Years ago he was in government or something - in forestry and we'd heard all sorts of rumours - about diamonds and the like. I now knew from recent letters that we had a half-brother - just a bit younger than me - who'd spent 18 months in Pademba Road prison. Four of his uncles had been executed for planning an attempted coup.

At the bottom of the iron steps I suddenly saw it - a placard with 'Barbee Surname' written on it. Penny shrieked. I stared at the man holding it - he was tall, well built - but not old enough to be a father. It was my half brother. There was another young man next to him- squirming.

We greeted one another. He tried to mask his disappointment. We went to collect our luggage. Mine had gone astray - to Russia - and during the 3 weeks stay, it never turned up. My brother led us to a shiny, white Mercedes parked in front. We chatted. He had expected me to be wealthy and be bearing gifts. Here we were - looking like student backpackers. His friend drove us to the largest hotel in Freetown. We went inside and discovered the prices were way beyond our budget. At this point the friend became fidgety and told us we had to pay for the Mercedes. We handed over some pounds and then asked him to take us to the cheapest B & B in town.

There was a B & B opposite the dilapidated City Hotel (immortalised by Graham Greene). Downstairs was the bar and upstairs the small, dank, smelly rooms were separated by sheets of plywood. We were tired and thankful. I fell asleep straight away.

After a couple of hours, there was a hammering on the door. It was my brother again telling me that my father was now outside waiting to see me. I pulled on smart clothes and went outside. It was night time. A thin man reached out to me and I clutched at him but I couldn't see him in the dark, narrow corridor. Penny followed. We went down stairs.

In the dim bar, I sat across the table from a thin, stern man with a deep frown. We sat and stared - a twenty year gaze. He told me; 'You look just like your mother.' We talked. He asked after my sister. He was vague - sweeping his hands through an unknown past; he hadn't expected questions. He was still cross with my mother and said she'd 'taken all the furniture' and never told him she wasn't coming back.
I told him I had hoped he was going to be rich and have lots of diamonds. He laughed.

Penny and I travelled round Freetown with my brother - we saw the prison, the cotton tree, the bars and schools. Sometimes a wave of memory came in the smell of food - 'sakitomboy' or palm oil and I was five again.

Five and remembering. There was the uncle whose house was packed to the rafters with empty, green bottles. There was Holy Rosary school and the nuns. There were the pitanga cherries in our huge garden in Kenema. There were the animals that my father brought home regularly from the forests - the owl that stayed up in the tree for a week before it fell down from the branch like a plum - dead. Monkeys, tortoises.

We had to go to Sendumei - the village where my grandfather -the Paramount chief came from.

We took a coach. My brother and father travelled ahead and said we would get a lift back. It was more than 40 degrees. On the ride I developed 'freshblood' a bumpy heat rash under my knees. After 5 hours, we arrived at the small village.

Here everyone was related to me in some way. In the small huts, the women fawned over us, plucking the earrings from our ears. We heard their life stories. 'I am Bintu Tonye' an aunt told me, 'I have had thirteen children and only one survived.'

We went to meet the village leaders - my father's elder brothers - in the central hut. There were speeches and I was presented with 'Barbee' a mask and given a gown to wear. Penny was given one too. Then together with numerous aunts and relatives and children, I had to lead a shuffling pied-piper dance through the village. It went on and on and on. I'd stepped into Indiana Jones. Later the devil dancers came out - men decked in fringes of straw whirling round and round.

The aunts cooked for us and cleared out one of the houses in the middle of the compound especially for me and Penny. Tonye pointed out of the window and told me 'That is where your brother is buried.' I knew my mother and father's first child was a boy who had died as a baby - before I was born. It was only now I found out, he was buried here.

When I tried to sleep, I felt an overpowering, ancestral quickening rolling me backwards into the past. Terrified, I got up - I didn't want to join them. I told Penny to not let me fall asleep, because I knew I would die. She had a travel alarm clock by her bed and she set it to go off every half hour. We stayed awake - our whispering punctuated by the half hourly shrills - until the morning.

The next day we went back to Freetown.

momentum

My head is starting to spin. Waved off my sister and her hub back to Brum via Blighty from Cape Town International this afternoon after a weekend of 70th birthday celebrations (and a sneaked-in bit of writing here and there). The trouble with being a scriptwriter is that people (who may've flown 5000 miles to see you) never think you're actually doing anything important at your desk and that you're messing around or something (ahem...)

Right now I've just about hit the wall with this script - you know the challenging bit where the writing momentum seems to have flown out the window. What is left is the unappetising graft - an uphill slog, knocking it out. But soon it'll be time for another act print out - to shift everything around, pull it together and add pizzazz. That's much more interesting ..

The back burner script projects will be on the front burner as of next week (with contracts and money all being spoken about in the same call.) I always believe it's best to say yes to everything first (within reason) - because most of the time it'll take forever to actually get off the ground anyway. But first I have to get this one finished. Phew! What else?

I was a bit perturbed after reading the UKFC's new development criteria (which now seem wonderfully writer-friendly as well as pecuniarily enhanced - that no re-submissions are allowed. The old scheme of course allowed re-submissions. As I previously submitted (prematurely and with only a treatment) I despatched an email query to clarify matters. Happily it seems it will be ok.

There you go. Onwards type, type!

dialogue

I once received this feedback on an urban teen script set in South London; "the writer certainly has an ear for the cadences of London patter." I read that back and thought; 'Hmmm what a shame you don't" (ha ha)

I love writing dialogue. I just had a scene in the current script where a bloke from the UK converses with my SA protagonist. Two characters from completely different worlds and the collision is mostly reflected through their speech.

Really dialogue has to work on a number of levels - be authentic and accurately reflect the milieu/ background/ world of the character, communicate (of course) but most importantly it has to sail off the page or rather sail out of the mouth - whoever the character is...

Just a brief musing today - but feel free to contribute any thoughts...

Laters

october

October already but I keep thinking it is still September. Posts may be a bit sparse while I juggle writing the script, entertaining family from overseas and keeping up with plans for my mum's big birthday party at the weekend. But hey - the sun is staying out now and it might be time for a swim soon.
Laters.

beads & beats

Ok so now writing work is piling up on the sidelines while I crack on with the current script. Act one is in the bag. The 'layered time' stuff was rather like threading a multi-coloured beaded necklace, stringing in one colour and then another. Then I trimmed all the VO right back. So that's done.

I've beat sheeted the next two Acts which now should be fairly straight forward to write (ahem).

Looking ahead I can foresee a problem with the ending. I know some folk think you shouldn't bother starting a script without knowing the ending but I tend to be of the opposite opinion - better to travel hopefully than arrive - allow the story to find its conclusion. But maybe that's waffle.

The problem I have with this script is how to end a story based on 'real' events. I think I may have to insert a hefty dose of fiction to tie it all up. Hmmm.

Laters.

family

My sister and her new hub are coming to stay on Saturday. Their forthcoming visit has set me thinking about all sorts of things to do with siblings and location and family etc. (I'm a bit cautious about mentioning family members on the blog in case they suddenly discover it and get all sensitive or something.) Anyhow...

I think I mentioned in passing how, once upon a time, after a 20 year estrangement I saw my father in Sierra Leone again.

As it happens - finding him was a fairly easy task. First I went into the Sierra Leonean High Commission in London, sat in the waiting area for a while, told them what I was there for and was ushered into an office. The conversation went a bit like this:

Me: 'I'm looking for my father'

Large Official: 'What's his name?'

Me: 'MBD'

A ripple of frowns, then the large official turns round and bellows round the office: 'Anyone here know MDB?'

Everyone shakes their heads.

Large Official: 'No. Sorry no one has ever heard of him'

I smile politely and leave.

At the time, I was sharing a nice woody house in West Norwood with a couple of lodgers and a live-in Polish landlord. It was nearly Christmas and I'd told them what I was doing. The Polish landlord suddenly became more obsessed about the search than I was.

'Directory enquiries!' He urged and snatched up the phone.

In five minutes he presented me with 2 numbers. There were only 2 MBDs in the whole of Freetown.

A bit shakily, I sat down and rang the first number. A small boy answered.

Me: 'I'd like to speak to MBD'

The phone dropped and the boy ran off - back through time, shouting 'Daddy, Daddy!'

A man came to the phone. My heart stopped beating

'Hello' the deep voice said.

Hello I said, 'It's Me, Barbee Surname'

There was silence. Then a rapid: 'Oh my God, oh my God, Oh my God'

Across the room the Polish landlord and other house inhabitants eyed me inquisitively. I gripped the phone and hoped my father wasn't going to have a heart attack there and then. Then the rush of questions: 'How is your sister? How is your mother - when are you coming here?'

So it was a while and a bit after this I went to Sierra Leone to see my father again (I may post about that sometime.) Intriguingly - when I did see him again - he knew that I'd been into the High Commission in London to look for him.

It was a trip that my sister never made. A pity. Our father died a few years later.

****
Recently my sister has been delving into family trees and the like - history, people, location, connectedness, places. She found out a whole heap of things that none of us ever knew about my father - another family in Liberia - even half sisters with the same names as us!

Another discovery was finding that we have another older, half brother in the UK.

My mum and my dad met at Edinburgh University in the late 50s. Before my mum, my dad had a brief fling with a young woman. When she announced her pregnancy he denied the baby was anything to do with him and never ever saw him. So our half-brother grew up with no contact with his father.

But now my sister has met our new brother and his family and everything.

And weirdly in photos - he looks a bit like me....