beginning

As it was in the beginning, so it shall be in the end
Matt 24, 38

Ok back to the script. The end is sorted - as regular readers should know by now. All written up and written out, finito - a nail-biting heartbreaker - so no need to worry about that.

So it's the beginning I'm having to work on - work backwards - a bit like choosing the wrapping paper after you've opened the present.

So what is needed is passion and punch and power and all words beginning with 'p' really - and playfulness. And pregnancy. Yes that's it. I thought the beginning needs a pregnancy - a late-in-life, yearned-for conception. And because this is a 'hot' script (the producers tell me it has already been sold on a promise just on the tag line. Hmmmm I don't know whether I believe a word of that, without seeing further funds but it keeps me at the keyboard. [The tagline is fab though]) Anyway because of all of this and because this is drama - the unborn child is doomed. You see the drama was missing an inciting incident..

Thinking about all of this brought me to ultrasounds. I took out my daughter's from 6 + years back (see above). I must admit when I first looked at it, I wasn't that impressed - maybe the artist in me wanted picture but could only see noise. It was only after I'd glanced at it every now and again, over a few years (by which time my daughter was already five) that I started to see how it all fitted together. Anyway..

So lately have been going off on a writing thought-tangent about creating pictures from sound...

All thoughts welcome. Speak to me.

two

years old today - happy birthday blog! And to blog twin Pot - many happy returns!! So the blog gets its annual makeover today. Somehow I don't think it will make it to three...

Two years eh? I looked back at the very first post here when I starting chirping at the universe 'Life is not a plot!'

Oh how wrong I was...

Little did I know then, that this blog was actually remote controlled by some universal cyber-puppeteer (Thoth perhaps?) and I was merely an 'appropriate' conduit for typing up pre-determined stories, thoughts and rants, under the delusion that they were all my own. Hmmph.

But I can stop anytime I want to (I think).

In the meantime, the bar's open all day, drinks are on the house and there's even a cake with icing, that's been left out in the rain specially for Helen.

Cheers

moment

As writers we collect moments and images - particularly ones that puzzle or which can't easily be explained; moments from our lives, memories of parents or relatives - but most often incidents which seem peripheral or irrelevant at the time. We store these away somewhere in our subconscious. Then sometimes during writing, an image, plucked from some faraway recess, re-emerges in an eureka moment of understanding within a story. The narrative enables the understanding.

I was once in a small group of art students travelling out of Paris on the metro. The train stopped at a station. The carriage doors opened. No one got in and no one got out. Then, just as the doors were about to shut - a man standing on the platform darted into the carriage, picked up a minuscule piece of 'nothing' from the carriage floor and sped out again just as the doors slid shut. The train moved off. All of a sudden, passengers looked round at one another, baffled. Someone quipped; 'Aha le microdot!' and everyone laughed.

I'm throwing this one open. Any clues?

war

Zimbabwean novelist and poet Chenjerai Hove, and Nigerian novelist, Okey Ndibe, are co-editing a volume that explores African creative writers' experience of war.

We invite writers poets, short story writers, novelists, journalists and professors of literature to submit personal essays detailing how war or conflict has shaped their work or changed their lives. In addition, we will accept a few analytical essays looking at literary works (fiction, poetry, memoir) inspired by wars or other forms of violent conflicts. Since the projected book will be targeted at a general audience, we welcome essays that avoid overly technical language. We conceive this as an accessible collection of (mostly) essays by writers reflecting on how conflicts have impinged on their professional practice and lives. We are particularly interested in submissions that dwell on such areas as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Somalia.

Submissions should not exceed 5,000 words. Deadline is October 31, 2008. Send manuscripts as attached word documents to Okey Ndibe at okey.ndibe 'at' trincoll.edu.

mask funk

normality

Just for the record - an informational post (and sanity check). Regular service will resume shortly (ha!).
Hub returned with a shed load of amazing photographs for the jazz book, collated from under beds and inside wardrobes of the Eastern Cape - an absolute trove. My daughter was sent home from school today with tonsillitis - so she's asleep on the sofa right now. I managed to get about 3 hours sleep last night. Now the sun is out - clear as clear. Had talks with the producers yesterday about moving the stalled script forward. All good. Onwards.

Hope all is well where you are.

Untold Stories MTV

Aspirant writers are being invited to write an ending to one of three short stories that will raise awareness about HIV/Aids and be turned into a short film for MTV.

The Untold Stories competition is part of MTV's Staying Alive Campaign, in partnership with the MySpace social network website.

"MTV has just launched a groundbreaking competition called Untold Stories, with a chance to not only get on MTV, but also win a trip to India," says Janet Feldman, founder and director of the Kenya Aids Prevention Project Group (KAIPPG), which has given its full support to the competition.

The three short stories are written by well known personalities, such as writer Gautam Malkani who wrote Londonstani, writer Emma Gold who wrote Easy and actor Jimmy Jean Louis, star of the TV series, Heroes.

Stories convey a specific message

"The stories each convey a specific awareness message and have been purposely left unfinished, leaving you to decide how they end," says Feldman.

For more info click here.

quickening

'... can't sleep at night, no peace of mind, can't close my eyes.'
Charles Burnett: Killer of Sheep

Love both the way Stan delivers that line and the film. Think it was recently brought out again - with improved soundtrack

Seem to be suffering from a rare bout of insomnia at the moment - resting but not sleeping for about 5 nights in a row, now. Taking valerian . The mind gets jumpy. Words fall out of the sky. Silvery. The blog gets weird. Need proper kip. Dark new moon looms. Have to whisper. Make a wish.

misc

So quiet on the blogs now - can hear a pin drop.

Took my daughter to see the two big early Summer kids films here; Kung Fu Panda- on a promise for the last month and WALL-E.

Kung Fu was fun. I probably guffawed the loudest in the cinema, a couple of times - though I can't remember why now. Plus it did have some story in there and a nice panda. WALL-E on the other hand I was reluctant to watch - having seen the poster on buses - and not being particularly excited by the title. The positives of the film kind of passed me by. Where was the story? The WALL-E robot itself looks so awful - unappetising and just yuk - I know that's maybe supposed to be the point. Little Robots are much more pleasing to look at. I hated all the sludge and rust and garbage - the monotonous mulchy browns were relentless. Felt like staring for ages at those blodgy groups of circles that test colour blindness. I couldn't have cared less about Ev-A either - maybe my age. Do folk really have emotional attachment for shiny, white wifi i-gadgets? Maybe I'm missing something. I like my tech gizmos as much as the next writer but I practise tough love. The obese 'big-Mac' people brought the film's only touch of genius - but without real story, even they were wasted.

I think I'll catch some grownup films next week.

What else? Was going to talk about rugby. SA loves sport and rugby in particular. Massive, massive, massive here. Last weekend had to navigate the hordes arriving at Newlands (not so far down the road.) I can't say I've a clue about the game - all the scrumming and scrunching - what's all that all about? - but hey I do love a haka…

So what's on your mind then hmm?

tough

Eish this re-write is proving tougher than an old, narky, meatless bone. I can't even bear to look back at the last few posts to see how long I've been supposed to be tackling it. Not dropping yet. But it will. It will. There are the rangy editor's notes - which are interesting but very broad based. Then there's the predilection for flashback to accommodate - that I don't think will work. I'm still waiting for that 'zen moment'. So I've been walking and dancing a bit.

I even wondered whether taking out the script fastener and tossing the entire script up in the air (like in Alice in Wonderland) then re-assembling it in a random fashion might lend perspective..


web ref: http://www.victorianweb.org

Tssk - you can see why I wouldn't really make a good teacher huh? Too anarchic maybe. I did some scriptwriting teaching here once and asked all the students to come up with pictograms for their current scripts, And then they each had to get up and draw them out on the board. One drew a large penis - of course.

Laters.

fire

trying

Maybe there are a couple of you out there who are wondering why I haven't posted my 'messages from the other side' wooooooooooooooooo video yet. Believe me I did try.

You see the cell camera (that has everything uploaded for easy xfer to PC) is in PE so I thought what the hell - I'll do it all on web cam. So I readied myself with my bundu mask on my desk. All I had to do was right click 'record' & slip the mask over my head. (It is so important to look the part as Helen probably knows…)

The eye-slits are where the cheeks are - so basically I can't see out at all. And it's hot and kind of spooky (in an ancestral way - in fact there are all these muffled echoes). So I do it, but afterwards the mask wont budge. It's stuck on my head. I'm all stuffy and thinking 'shit' and trying to yank it off.. So then I calm down, calm down. And think well hub is miles away in PE - so he can't help. I can't actually see out to try and use the telephone and call anyone useful. But then aha! I can hear the old lady next door out in the garden scolding her dogs. She's rarely unnerved. So I feel my way over to the back door - but our chow suddenly goes crazy growling at me. I think maybe I should run over quick and tell the neighbour - but the dog is so feral, I retreat. I even consider a walk to the 7-11 looking like a slithy tove..

Then I think 'if it came on, it must come off', so I lie horizontal across the bed, with head & mask hanging over the edge and pull it manically until it shifts slightly and soon - fresh air - I'm out!

Now the video can wait.. Ahem.

Next week rewrites.
Laters

quiet

Quiet here now - everyone's gone away or off somewhere or to bed or something. Just me and the glimmer. I quite like this limbo between eclipses. Not a time to start anything new - but good for mulling...

On one script they want me to re-pivot the drama via flashback. I hate flashbacks. (Well OK I may have used them sparingly in the past - but hitching the entire story on flashback is probably the most predictable script device ever. Isn't it?.) Anyway that's the tango. The real problem is the first act - those pedestrian pages - that I said needed throwing out - well I never threw them out - (ha!) I just sparked them up a bit - or tried to. So that's where the work is really needed. I know. They know. Flipping in a flashback probably won't work.
But I'll do it anyway. *grin*

Anyway blogs have gone a bit quiet lately. Apart from Helen making her cheese films. I fancy joining in and doing some of that. Can I? I could send messages from *the other side*

woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

RIP Isaac Hayes 1942-2008

Soul music legend Isaac Hayes, who composed the award-winning theme for the film Shaft, died yesterday aged 65.

More here.

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts

I want to tell you about my cousin. She was pregnant and she didn't want the baby. - like lots of girls here. She could have gone to Marie Stopes - I suppose but they still cost and anyway, even outside the township everyone talks. You go to Wynberg and meet this aunty, that aunty or the sister of the neighbour next door buying Durban spices. Everyone talks. You meet this cousin, that cousin taking a taxi at night time to some faraway 24 hour chemist to get their ARVs just so no one who knows them will tell on them. She could have gone and got away with it with a bit of effort. It would have taken some lies and then maybe word would have got back to her man. People around knew she didn't want the baby. We knew - not because he didn't stick around - that's no big deal. It was the way she hit her stomach - with her hands - hard, punching her bigging belly, trying to kill it.

My cousin she came down to Cape Town from the Transkei some months back - paying a bitty bit rent in NY38 and got herself a job. Then this man, who she'd already got a young son with, came down too and what not and what not and in no time she was pregnant again - and she cursed herself but that didn't help. She didn't want another baby and then he was off again.

I spoke to her once - after seeing her. It's not normal to hit your own stomach that hard is it? She dressed like she wasn't pregnant and carried on going in to work. Then she went on leave, had the baby boy, stayed home 2 weeks and went back to work. She left the baby with a neighbour. When he was 4 months old - no one saw him any more. He disappeared. She said she sent him up to the Transkei to stay by his older brother.
Then someone found a dog going wild in the street tearing at a plastic bag. The dog had a head in its mouth - a baby's head - her baby. They found other bits of the body later all cut up and arrested her and took her to jail. All the neighbours came and shouted and screamed to say how evil she was, how twisted. She'd cut off the arms herself and left him in a gutter - her own child.

But Miss Lonelyhearts, I know my cousin never wanted that baby in the first place - and look what happened.

Will she go to hell now?

sizzle

Update: I've been letting both scripts simmer on the front burner. So it's been more about absorbing and responding to feedback and having discussions towards the next draft and thinking and drinking lots of tea. There's a great post from Danny here 'writing wrongs' which deals with the writer's role in rewriting. (Yeah I know you've all read it but maybe there's someone out there who hasn't)

There's now the possibility of an absolutely sizzling film project which I'm very excited about and definitely want to be involved in. Ok powers that be - make it happen!

On other fronts - attended a Film Finance seminar the other evening - organised by WIFT and the Cape Film Commission. This provided a case study for financing a low budget R6mil local feature film (not a co-prod) under the revised film and television production incentive.

Speakers Nadia Surjee and Karin Liebenberg from the DTI provided an overview of how they process projects of this budget and how the new tax rebate works.
Basil Ford from the IDC then gave a detailed overview of the IDC's equity funding and the instruments he is currently developing to accommodate the changes that the new incentive is bringing about with regard to cash-flowing the rebate. With the incentive likely generating a greater spread of risk and therefore more lower budget local films being financed, there will also be a requirement for 'shepherding' newer and inexperienced companies.
Kethiwe Ngcobo from SABC drama then outlined the broadcaster's plans for a new film fund which is now in the 'implementation cycle' with a potential spend of between R20-40mil by 09. She mentioned plans to accommodate films with a range of budgets. She also pointed out the challenges facing the SABC (being a government backed, commissioner of content) as it establishes ways of working with other local financiers.
Next up producer Paul Raleigh from Film Finances together with colleague attorney Guy MacLeod presented an overview of their new initiative 'PAL' established to employ their experience to shepherd young, new and HDI companies through film financing. PAL will look at projects at script stage.

Well that turned into a long one.
Laters

secrets

Call for submissions

'you don't have a self unless you have a secret, and we all have moments throughout our lives when we feel we're losing ourselves in our social group, or work or marriage, and it feels good to grab for a secret, or some subterfuge, to reassert our identity as somebody apart.' Dr Daniel M. Wegner

Encounters in partnership with the SABC and the Jan Vrijman Fund call for submissions for AFRICA SHORTS 2009

Following on the success of the first Africa Shorts workshop and productions launched at Encounters this year, Encounters, SABC and the Jan Vrijman Fund are running a 4-day storytelling and production workshop this year.

Five filmmakers from Southern and East Africa will be selected upon the basis of their proposals for a short film (of up to 12 minutes duration) on the subject of Secret Lives.

Deadline for Submission: Friday 19 September 2008

Entries should consist of no more than: i) 2-page synopsis (in English) ii) 2-page biography of the filmmaker with references iii) DVD copies of previous films iv) All contact details

All entries should be sent by email to: project "at" encounters.co.za

Info is also available here - but still to be updated.

SA TV drama briefs

Four briefs outlining new SABC drama requirements were launched at DIFF last month.

They include a brief for literary adaptation from South Africa, family comedy, a youth drama and a call to research new local telenovelas.

Briefs can be accessed here. See DIFF 2008 - Request for proposals.

scopes

Those horoscopes (for writers) are now available at TJ MacGregor's own site here.
See how both of August's eclipses will affect you.

Jazz

A couple of people emailed to ask - so here's a brief overview on the jazz photo book.

'Ijazz' will celebrate nearly a century of South African jazz and include never-before-seen images researched and collected from across South Africa and beyond as well as essays from established photo documentarists.

Ijazz will portray distinct phases of South Africa's jazz history - from the early years and segregation - to developments in swing and township jazz under early apartheid government, on to jazz explosion - with the political catalyst of the Sharpeville massacre etc. Divergent lives and experiences of South Africa's jazz 'exiles' and jazz 'insiders' will be examined. Finally Ijazz takes a look at SA jazz since the advent of democracy. Photographs will be accompanied by three short authored texts.

Screenwriting thoughts to resume shortly. Laters

karmic accountancy

Ok after Helen's post this morning it is clear that the phenomenon of 'karmic accountancy' needs further examination. (After all there may be 90 pence at stake.)

I just googled and found this on karmic accountancy here

'....If one acquires more than he has rightfully earned, he assumes a karmic debt. If one is cheated or robbed of that which is rightfully his, he receives a corresponding karmic credit. If a man's karmic debits and credits have not been balanced out by the time of his transition, that is, death of the physical vehicle, they are carried over until the next incarnation...'

Hmm it kind of goes off on one a bit - but maybe there's something in it? It wasn't something I'd experienced before.

Anyway as I prepared to fly out of the country last month, my passport was whipped away by immigration control and handed to an uncompromising looking official who called me over to a separate cubicle in Departures - where he proceeded to finger the expired visa and shout at me loudly. This was an hour before take off and for some reason I was giggling weakly inside (probably wrong I know) despite threats of imprisonment until the following Monday morning. In the end, the official fed a roll of paper into his rickety dot matrix printer and stabbed my details into his computer before presenting me with a notice of a fine - to be paid within 3 days. He scribbled something that looked like 'MISCREANT' and 'deposit + UK ticket' in ink on one page of my passport before handing it back, smiling. So I was 700 UK pounds out of pocket and I hadn't even left the country. I slunk on to the plane and fumed. Having a husband, daughter, house, company and even a permanently resident imported mother clearly didn't count. Plus I'd paid taxes. I calmed down as I tucked into the tiny but tasty chicken casserole and figured there are people in far worse migratory predicaments.

On the way back in I pushed the trolley through arrivals a little fearfully. I'd paid my fine, had the receipt plus a single ticket back to the UK. I joined a different queue from the rest of my family. Suddenly there was flurry of whistles from the officials at the front. They were smiling and waving, and ushering me over. They joked and bantered and barely glanced at the newly bought UK ticket. They stamped a temporary visa and I was in. Painless.
It was the next day when I ripped through the unopened letters that I came across the tax rebate notice - in rands but the exact equivalent of the cost of fine and ticket.

So maybe it's really just about payback - this karmic accountancy - when it feels wrong and stuff. What goes around etc. I don't know

So Helen that 90p. Hmm maybe there was a bus fare left off your tax return perhaps...?

Write Africa!

PEN / STUDZINSKI Literary Award

The South African Centre of International PEN (SA PEN) is pleased to announce a new literary award in Africa known as the PEN / STUDZINSKI Literary Award.

The award aims to encourage new creative writing in Africa and will offer talented writers an exciting opportunity to launch or develop a literary career.

One of the more financially rewarding literary competitions in Africa, the first, second and third prizes respectively will be £5 000, £3 000 and £2 000.

Nobel Laureate John Coetzee has agreed to be the final judge for the new award.

Full details are available here. Deadline is September 30th 2008.

desk again

Helen tagged me with the desk meme, which I've already done some time ago. It still looks pretty much the same - a little messier maybe.

The photo is here:

Later

back

Hello blog! There's nothing quite like being back, sitting down at your own desk is there? My head is still full of French phonetics after watching The Diving Bell and the Butterfly on the plane from Frankfurt. Really enjoyed it - moreso after having attended the Harwood talk at Cheltenham.

After the unexpected additional costs* (fine + another plane ticket) incurred by my trip, I returned to find the taxman has given me a rebate that precisely matches the overspend*. Karmic accountancy - what's that about then?

Anyway back to work. Must start rewrites and finish off stuff and read and go to the cinema and be nice to the dog. Lots going on and all tinglingly exciting. I think.

Laters

on my way

There’s a way people have in Cape Town – when they meet someone they know and want to keep on talking (but are in a hurry) – of carrying on conversation while walking in opposite directions, until they’re both out of ear shot. Talk drifts away in the breeze. No goodbyes. I quite like that.

So after nearly a month dashing round the country and catching up with numerous friends, I‘m thinking about packing. At last I’ve experienced the weirdness of meeting up with bloggers - getting a bit hammered with the delightful Helen, Potdoll and Lara last weekend (plus had a rather more sedate chat with engaging Elinor, the week before.)

Managed to meet my fab new half brother (and wife) In a way, I wanted to just sit and have a good stare and contemplate any shared traits from our father. There is an odd resemblance. Also made a quick trip to Havant to see an uncle I’ve not seen in ten years. After 15 years in the navy in his youth, he spent a frugal life either travelling the seas in self-built yachts or cycling across various continents. Now 73 he has spent the last 8 years building and perfecting what is likely to be a final yacht, all meticulously detailed woodwork – now moored on Hayling Island.

So no writing done at all, at all. But on the plus side – numerous photos have been sourced for the jazz book. Stunning ones of the Blue Notes when they first sought exile in London – looking all stylish and slim and in clingy cardigans and even one of SA's Mokaleng with Thelonius Monk.

So I’ll be back here. Yes I will. My hub says his idea of hell is 50 years working on the London Underground. I think mine is possibly 50 years in purified Cape Town.

Ha!

whirly

wooo and what a whirl is July so far. Firstly a threat of incarceration prior to flying out of Cape Town (odd circumstances which I absolutely can not go into here) but something I still have to sort out pronto...

But the Screenwriters Festival* was a delight (as everyone has blogged elsewhere) - the highlight of my 3 days in Cheltenham was the Ronald Harwood interview. Met lots of lovely peeps - although my time was topped and tailed by the commute from Smethwick meaning that I mainly missed the early sessions and, come evening, didn't get to hang around much at all..

Since then have been catching up with family in leafy counties & scratting around in boxes stowed in garages for mouldy belongings and pieces of art (found some! ). Still have to meet up with others including not-yet-met facebook half-brother and old, old friends. Yes.

Laters peeps.

*can't seem to do links (or much else) on this mac

off

offline soon for a while now. Even though ipass (or something) is now installed on the mac for travel - don't know whether it will work - so blogging and online activity will probably be minimal until end of July...

In the meantime - feel free to leave rude comments.

Laters

Africa First

Focus Features is pleased to announce a Call for Applications for the Focus Features Africa First Short Film Program. Applications will be open starting May 12th, 2008. The postmark deadline for applications is July 15th, 2008.
For complete details of this program, please refer to the website - click here.

Focus Features is committed to bringing moviegoers' original stories from the worlds most innovative filmmakers. With this in mind, the Focus Features Africa First Short Film Program was created to foster and develop long-term relationships with some of the most promising up-and-coming filmmakers from continental Africa. Through the financial support of the fund and the mentorship support provided by the Focus Features Africa First Advisory Board, we aim to bring filmmakers into an environment that will allow them to grow as filmmakers with an international audience.

*****

Here's another opportunity from Botsotso - this time for African women short story writers based in Southern Africa.

Call for Short Story Submissions

Modjaji Books, the exciting new publisher for women in Southern Africa, is inviting submissions for its upcoming short story anthology. We want innovative stories that define the world from a woman’s perspective.

The topic for the anthology is “BED”. What does it mean to you? Memories of cosy bedtime stories, sterile beds in hospitals, or that sexy bed where a lover waits…

You tell us! We’re waiting to hear from you!

Send us your best, unpublished story before 31st July, 2008 to modjaj 'at'gmail.com
For full details and rules visit Botsotso by clicking on this link.

filling

Sometimes you just want to post utter carp full of typos because life's too short for spellcheck.
So then the dentist. This new one is a fan of the '45 degree reverse upturn' - where patients lie down, get tilted horizontal on the chair, then swivelled feet upwards so all the blood rushes to the head. Maybe it's good feng shui to lie like that - during consultation - but certainly doesn't feel like it. I was windmilled for a whole hour for 2 fillings. 1 miscellaneous root extraction + polish.

Was going to post something about the latest goings on with local broadcaster SABC but things seem to be such a right hayms I can't keep up. Let's hope it all settles down soon..

Current mood: say cheese. Page count: zippo

why film matters

Mark Cousins "Movies made me"

'when it sticks close to questions of self, confidence and eros, of who rather than how, when it’s about medium-sized things like aloneness and fear, when it doesn’t bite off more than it can chew—when it does these things, film matters.

Read this great article in full here.

roly poly

All go round here, all of a sudden. Jazz book is now rolling out which means funds which means research which means travel which means I'll see (some of) y'all soon yeehaa! Now I'm just trying to book into the SWF by any means necessary. So a whole load of admin things consume me. Jeepers, 7 years in Cape Town. it'll be like coming out of rehab (I imagine)...but anyway...

In script news: The producers seem (guardedly) pleased with the draft + missing page - which is now with their script editor. Reading between the lines, I can see I'll be committed to tweaking it for the next while - they do so like to get their money's worth. It is real tear-jerk stuff. Now have to re-jig the treatment before month end..

I also need to do another pass on the UK/SA (previous) script - sparkle the VO, tease out more tragic-comedy. The moral dilemma of the main character has been likened to that of POH (*of course this story is nothing like POH, but there are parallels ;-)). So I've been hunting down a POH script pdf - high and low - to actually see the VO on the page. Not the same as watching it. Need to see the layering and texture, the saccharine and the salt. So if anyone knows where to find a pdf let me know. Ta. (Can buy it from scriptfly - but takes forever to get to SA - so far only found it in Japanese)

What else? - titbits really. The letter and pencil sketch mentioned a while back is going to auction on July 10th. Might even go. You can see and read all about it here. So anyone who wants to buy a piece of living history that will only ever increase exponentially in value as time goes by, go bid. You read it here. Ha!

And now I need to go to the dentist.

BTW does anyone else have the Swiss federal government visit their blog? Give up politics & start scriptwriting, I say. Storytellers have the real power (and more fun)

*titter*
edited to counteract karmic kickback ;)

etc

Moving on now - here's a playwriting opportunity that Robin pointed up on his calendar (which is worth keeping your eye on).

I try and post script competitions open to the southern hemisphere. This is the International Playwriting Festival contest and has a deadline on 30th June.

Full info is available here.

Other stuff bubbling - maybe see you soon. Hope so.

Just now been off to the Book fair with mum, daughter and hub in tow. Something for everyone this year - talks, sushi & wine - not bad at all. There was even a giant size Miffy strolling round. I almost fell in love - I do so like a kindly, mild mannered, well turned out rabbit.

*sigh*

mylittlemusicalmemething

OK so have been tagged by Lianne and Robin for 7 songs that are shaping my spring - actually its winter here now - so the vibe is probably a bit different - ha!
This week, the house is full of SA jazz mainly because of the imminent book rollout - so I'm listening to (but not necessarily playing) Abdullah Ibrahim and also The Blue Notes. That's two down.
Then Freshly Ground's 'Doo Be Doo' from last year - all light and a bit bubbly. Then there's iconic Brenda Fassie - something haunting like 'Istraight Lendaba' (or 'Yizo Yizo') Plus lately, I've been getting nostalgic - thinking of summers walking though Lewisham market with Alton Ellis' ska number 'You make me so very, very happy' pounding out of some tinny system - now there's a sound from my Leeds days. Then for some reason - there's also Jimmy Cliff's 'The Harder They Come' (ha ha ha ha!) running around my brain. And to round off - something I can't find anywhere on the net - but which I'd love to use in my film (the one written before this) Freddie Gwala's 'Ngiboshiwe' for an upbeat township vibe
Is that 7? Hope so.
So I'm an old person now innit...

SA script orgs in funding crisis

The South African Script Writers’ Union (SASWU) and its training arm; The Scriptwriting Institute have called a public meeting on 21June in Johannesburg to address their current funding crisis.

Full story read on here in Screen Africa.

The missing page..

Funny how you can knock out 24 pages all in one day and then spend a whole week toiling over just one.

This particular scene takes place against the backdrop of the referendum result broadcast here on March 17th 1992 - an historical turning point in SA. Then there wasn't any of this 360 degree media delivery, or digital frenzy. Anyway it needs to play out all kind of light and bubbly, frivolous and frothy - like a game of ping pong or even badminton would do it for visuals (except of course neither fit the circumstances of the script) So anyway that's what I'm struggling with now.

It'll come...

Laters

change

I don't often write about psychic stuff on the blog because it's easy to dismiss as bonkers and even when you know it isn't - it's probably best to tow the line and present a fairly sane face to the world at large. But we are all writers here aren't we..?

But the other morning something strange happened.

First an aside. One time we had this cleaner and I was walking towards her when she was polishing the front stoep, and she kind of buckled forwards. In that moment everything turned monochrome - all colour just bleached away. Then she regained her composure and stood up and it was back to full colour again. I remembered this clearly because 3 weeks later she died suddenly - and only then I realised what I'd seen.

So the other morning, I was outside, walking towards the mountain when everything in the world just 'shook'. Not an earthquake or anything but a kind of psychic rumble as I walked along. So I kind of made a little bow toward the mountain to accept this piece of information and carried on walking feeling a bit panicky and thinking - 'this is about massive, unsettling change' but what the hell does it mean? No one ever wants things to stay the same all the time do they? Hell no! But change is scary too...

I once went to a fortune teller in Convent Garden and I think I was wearing a black velour sweater and so she asked if I had been to a funeral recently, and I had so I said 'Yes' and she asked 'How was it?' And I told her that actually it was the best funeral I'd ever been to - everyone thought so - a send off for a brilliant artist - whose influence continues to be felt - even now. There were daffodils in all the windowsills of the church and sunlight flooded in and he was laid out up at the front in his coffin. I didn't go up to look at him again - but you could. Black funerals are always 'in your face' kind of affairs the world over...

So - even though this ramble has brought me to death - it's not a physical death that is making its presence felt now. But an ending of sorts.

A chapter closing...

Please send page 30

Ha! Delivered the script on Friday and that's what their email said today. I kind of half hoped they might not notice that I'd left out this smallish chunk. Instead, I'd inserted a note. Now they want the missing page. Hmm - better hand it over.

Other than that, there's tightening up to be done, but they seem pleased. Result.

Mood: smiley. Page count: Finished (- 1)

The end

I'm all written out. Want to stop for a while. Pause. Breathe. Have fun.

But first I've to deliver this script by the end of the week. Still have to hack, shape and prune it ruthlessly. If a scene doesn't multi-task - it's out.

The ending packs a real emotional punch. A real heartbreaker. Sob sob. When I script, I tend not to worry about the end - I travel hopefully. Some say that if you don't know the ending, when you start, then the script won't work. This time I did, so maybe they're right…

Laters

Software may identify blockbuster scripts

Now a team at Royal Holloway, University of London, UK, has developed an algorithm to keep scriptwriters ahead of the game. The algorithm assesses how good a script is as it is being bashed out on the keyboard (F. Murtagh, A. Ganz & S. McKie Pattern Recognit. ; in the press). Computer scientists Fionn Murtagh and Stewart McKie teamed up with screenwriter Adam Ganz to find an objective way to compare new scripts with successful ones in their genre. They analysed a selection of scripts from films deemed successful by critics to find common patterns.

“On the crudest level, we could distinguish action films, such as Die Hard , from a drama such as Casablanca just on the frequency of verbs compared with character names,” says Ganz. “We wanted to see if we could find a more sophisticated way to uncover deeper structural patterns.

For full article (including a fab quote from me!) read on here

'Celebrate Life' short script contest

Filmaka.com and SAB Miller have teamed up for a world-wide short script competition. Theme is 'Because Life is what you pour into it' so they want pitches for short films that "Celebrate Life." The competition ends June 11.

They will pick 15 of the best script pitches and give them $1500 (USD) each to make their film! Then 5 of those filmmakers will win $5000!

Full details available by clicking here.

bingo

After a mammoth 24 page scripting bing* - the script romped home on friday. Finito. Well not quite.
A short breather before the snicker snack. My typing is so atrocious at that speed - I'm hoping I can work out what I wrote.

So sluurrp!
Now for a glass of pinot g...

*(ha!)

distracted

You know those messages that Mystic Meg always puts in front of her horoscopes; 'Carol from Penzance - please look in the blue spectacle case under your bed' or (less likely) 'Mani en route from the DRC, your brother is happy now and wants you to return the shoes' etc - well blogging seems a little similar sometimes - sending out missives into the universe in the hope that they might be intercepted by an appropriate person or failing that - impart something useful somewhere..

Anyway - just a short catch-up post today - been a bit distracted and the writing goes slow. Well a little bit faster now because they just emailed to ask where is it? Indeed where is it?
Better crack on.

Sharp sharp

revelations

Ok here's my take on Danny's scriptwriting revelations meme (via Kevin).

Not easy to try and pinpoint exactly 'what revelations you've had since taking up your writing career' and many of the things you learn are not to do with scriptwriting - plus Danny has covered most of the ground pretty well in his post.

I'd add that a scriptwriting career path is rarely linear. Although you may have this 5 year or 10 year goal plan mapped out in your head - life pays scant attention to it. Often opportunities come about from left of field - unexpected sources especially when you've not got much invested in them.

I spent several years making short films before I started writing scripts. Things happened easily. Then I wrote my first feature script treatment which broke all rules - it was only 6 pages long, I even drew a family tree on it (!) It came runner up in a newspaper scriptwriting contest, brought me shed loads of meetings, went on to attract in excess of 40K (UKP) in development finance and big producers on board. That script didn't get made. 4 years later I was working on the London Underground. Now I'm over here - mostly getting paid to write and making bits of TV. Still not where I want to be - until the feature(s) is/are made....but moving a bit closer each day. I don't regret any of it.

Along the way, friends, colleagues and people around grow with you and past you - so if you get on well, stay in touch. The actors you did readings with or the scripty types you hung with ten years ago - may end up award winners or Heads of funds.

As a writer - be yourself. Know yourself. If you're not really a fan of TV soaps then it's unlikely you'll ever find yourself writing for them. Find your own path.

As Phil says here you definitely need a life outside scriptwriting (unappealing as this may sound - ha!) - family and or partner support is pretty vital.

In business relationships - follow your instincts - about people. If that little voice says 'yes' - listen - it's always right.

Develop a thick skin and indefatigable self-belief. Take affirmation from your successes. Do your best. Be better. Keep going.

Industry acts against xenophobia

Members of the South African production industry are responding to the horrific xenophobia attacks that have been raging in Gauteng’s informal settlements for more than 10 days by collaborating to make an anti-xenophobia public service announcement (PSA), which they hope will be widely seen in South Africa.

More in Screen Africa here.

There is now an organisation FAR (Filmmakers Against Racism) and their blog featuring details of recent activities, images and links to videos can be found here.

words and letters

excerpt from Shalimar: Salman Rushdie

So today - been thinking about words and language and its use. Most times on the blog, I tend to write the way I speak (ha!) and go off at tangents frequently and speak too fast - so I'm told - but then get back on course again - hence the numerous brackets found in one sentence. Someone once used this skiing term; 'linked recoveries' - I've never tried to ski and don't intend to - but apparently there's a way you steer yourself down - zig-zag style to keep yourself on course - well that I think is what happens with the tangental thoughts. Hub on the other hand likes to illustrate a point with a story - a parable really - but only at the end of it all do you realise that the story told has absolutely nothing to do with the topic in hand - but hey - that's communication ...

Anyway where is this all going? Letter writing was going to be my real topic here. There's a film (like Central Station) where the lead character writes letters for other people...

Letter writing for other people seems to have evolved into a sideline for me. In this country, the written word commands a lot of power. Here, firing off an email with the subject header 'notification of intended legal action' can release unpaid funds within a matter of hours. I've no problem with launching into battle via the written word (and fighting to win) - in fact I'd rather write than phone. So I get co-opted to write on various people's behalves (behalfs?); I've fired off accusatory missives, complaints, counter-claims, damning indictments, pleas, declarations of intent, job applications and even drawn up press releases to re-launch jazz musicians. At the moment I'm embroiled in a 4 year long bureaucratic battle to win back someone's house - sold for the price of 2 pints of milk. Yesterday evening, I drew up a family friend's (dream) proposal for a township music school (that is currently being built) and now find myself more deeply involved.. let's see..

So anyway - as in that film (or maybe it's a different one) love letters would make a pleasant change - to have someone come, sit down and tell their story of yearning or betrayal or forgiveness or aging or something.. I'd sit and listen calmly, then craft a simple, perfect letter to work some magic....

This is really getting a bit long but who cares. There was a time when someone who I'd been in love with once, came back into my life and I asked them to leave me the message I'd always wanted to hear - the 'closure' thing and so they picked up the phone and dialled my number and left a message along the lines of 'Far Away I always thought you were a sweetie and it's a shame it never worked out but these things happen xx.' And that was it. And later I went home and played it back a couple of times and listened and smiled. Perfect. An ending.

Just like in the movies.

limbo

Adrift in Zimbabwe.

Read journalist/ scriptwriter Farai Sevenzo's fascinating blog posts here.

Female directors

From the LA Times - an analysis of why film directing in Hollywood is still a man's world...

'The paucity of female directors seems rooted in a variety of hard-to-define issues, including lifestyle choices, aesthetic interests and personality differences. But one key contrast stands out. While there is a sizable number of women working in indie films (Sofia Coppola, Mira Nair, Nicole Holofcener, to name just a few), when you ask studio chiefs to name women who would be on their list to direct a mainstream summer movie, they offer up Nancy Meyers, Nora Ephron and -- well, then they start to run out of gas.'


Read full article here.

ships that pass in the night

Heartening to see (and a reminder of the need to persevere) is the tremendous critical response to Terence Davies' latest film Of Time and the City. I've long been a fan of his work. Here in another interview from 2 years back - is Davies' damning and passionate assessment of the UK film industry. Interesting to note that much of what he says chimes with what is being articulated elsewhere lately - the need for spiky, original and 'difficult' voices and narratives to be returned to British cinema and television.
Perhaps change is in the air..

In other news: I'm still making headway on the current script - (even better news they just agreed to give me more money - yee haa!) - despite the various shortcomings of the online stuff (I'm now loath to mention any scriptwriting tool by name on the blog now - since it sparks a mass of visits from developers.) Why don't they just put all the functionality of word into an online system - or better still - why not have writers just type in a few key words and let the programme write the script instead?

Locally, the state of affairs at the SABC continues to baffle with yesterday's news that the CEO has now been reinstated after his suspension was ruled unlawful. Watch this space.

And finally an opportunity: Migr@Tions International have put an international call out for short films about immigration. Full details are available by clicking here.

So there you go - bits and pieces today. And where are you by the way?

global local

Reviving SA's reelpolitik

'Two years after Tsotsi brought home an Oscar, our film industry is still languishing in the doldrums. Ryan Fortune meets the youngsters who might just give it a boost

Earlier this week, a delegation of local film mavens flew off to Cannes to sell South Africa as a player in the international film industry. They might haul out Presley Chweneyagae or Madiba or both, but the disappointing truth is that they have very little to sell beyond our great locations, well-trained crews and cheap equipment, for not a single South African film is in competition on the Croisette this year.'

Read the full article here.

scriptgeist

From Stewart McKie - the creator of scriptcloud comes a new ideablog for those who have ideas about improving screenwriting and want to get more involved in online idea sharing. Click here.

Click the big orange New Idea button then signup as a new user to post and track your ideas and vote/comment on the ideas of others. Although in its infancy, it may work as a forum to share opinions on scripped, zhura and other online scriptwriting tools.

Playwriting competition

'Protect the Human' Playwriting competition

“Making real and relevant the impact of human rights on our everyday lives.”

iceandfire and Amnesty International UK launched the 2008 ‘Protect the Human’ playwriting competition on May 6th 2008. By pairing up to create the competition our aim is to harness theatre's ability to make real and relevant the impact of human rights on our everyday lives. To do this we are looking for insightful and engaging plays that imaginatively interpret this aim.

Submission window: July 28th – August 1st 2008

All submissions will be read by a panel of theatre professionals including Olivier award winning actor, Chiwetel Ejiofor. The three finalists will receive rehearsed readings at the Soho Theatre in December 2008 with the winning play receiving a prize of £3000 and readings at The Birmingham Rep; Theatre Royal Plymouth; West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds and a London venue on 10th December 2008 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.


Full information is available by clicking on their website here.

Yo!

Ok my main news is scripped. I thought it was high time I dragged myself away from word (utterly prehistoric) and tried out one of these new, free online scriptwriting software thingies and yeah I'm already a fan (mmm yes I'm easily pleased) - apart from the fact that I can't magnify the page or cut and paste from other scripts (- hey there's always the possibility you might want to cut and paste whole scenes from previous scripts into your current one - I've done that before.) But I hear they're 'working on it...

So while that's going on, I alerted the producers to a potentially massive script 'issue' - you see - all this treatmenting and this and that really means nothing because when you actually sit down and hammer it all out and read it back and see whether the story 'works' - that's where it clicks. And yes while the final two thirds of the story are positively pulsating with feverish emotional excitement the first third is put to shame. In fact the first third can just be chucked out the window really. Yet probably those 30 pages had to be written just to understand why they needed to thrown out (and this is perhaps why treatments sometimes don't always work too) So yo! I feel like yo yo-ing to day. Yo!

So I've given myself another fortnight. Yo! And I did ask for more money but I don't think they heard me. Yo! Maybe I'll shout.

development heaven

An article by Barbara Schock on 'intelligent screenplay development.'

Robin just posted this and it is really a great read.

halfway

Today's page count: past halfway. Mood: cautious

bloggery

There are myriad things I don't blog about for various reasons - which probably creates a huge disparity between what appears here and what I (script)write about - which maybe some blog readers grasp and some don't - but who cares? I don't tend to blog about muti, black psyche/white psyche, AIDS, alcoholism, political shenanigans, bi-polarity or grimy crime - all of which however are intricately and intimately woven into the foreground of (my) life here.

Occasionally significant TV news seeps into the blog - such as the upheavals of the past week - and I start to wonder whether lurching from horoscopes and woolly sweaters to politics makes any sense at all - does it?

Anyhow last week's writing schedule became a little sidetracked (now behind by 10 pages - agh!) but other stuff cranks forward slowly.

Laters.

Recent page count: catching up. Mood: buoyant

SASFED statement on SABC crisis

Press Statement 8th May 2008.

In view of the present crisis within the SABC, the South African Screen Federation representing 17 professional bodies in the film and TV industry:

1/ Support the role of the SABC as a public broadcaster committed to quality local programming

2/ Believe political interference has undermined the original public service mandate of the SABC

3/ See the existing crisis as symptom of a long standing operational disfunctionality

4/ We independent filmmakers who make most of South Africa¹s TV programmes, experience daily the ineffective management which has undermined our capacity to produce quality and challenging programmes for the South African public.

We wish to see the SABC fully functioning for the entire public and all key stakeholders who make this possible.

Rehad Desai
Chairperson

growing clothes

My sister once bought a beautiful, grey wool sweater which she wore only once before casting it casually into the washing machine. When she took it out, it had shrunk to the size of a tea cosy. Thinking it might fit my daughter (who at the time was only two) she posted it here airmail - and it was exactly the right size!
The weird thing is over the years the jumper has actually grown with my daughter - so now that she is nearly six - it still fits - with room to spare.
Hmm - maybe I should send this in as a tip somewhere - how to use your children to grow shrunken clothes back to their original size..slowly....

Meltdown

The local broadcaster SABC appeared to be in meltdown today after the suspension of the CEO early this morning - following his earlier suspension of the Head of News.

The unfortunate timing coincides with Input2008 currently underway in Johannesburg and attended by a host of international TV commissioners and execs.


*******
Today's page count: 9. Mood: distracted

scriboscope

Yes these horoscopes for writers again - always good for encouragement.

Here's the link for May. Luckily mine (Aries) tells me:

Your best writing time this month falls between May 2-26, while Mercury is moving in direct motion. Between May 26 and June 19, it’s time to rewrite and revise.

Better crack on

Today's page count: 11. Mood: changeable.

pond

Spoilers: banal post ahead

Not a post about writing or progress but about the pond in the garden getting a bit overgrown. This is what it looked like yesterday morning.


The size of a plunge pool, don't know whether it ever had koi carp in it but I doubt it - it's a bit leaky and when the rains come (anytime soon) it can fill right up to the top. In fact once when it became a little too swampy, the neighbour at the back came round and accused us of breeding mosquitoes (as though anyone actually breeds mosquitoes - although perhaps Pandora did - after she opened the box) Same neighbour called in the environmental health whose advice was to pour in some paraffin - which didn't seem very eco-friendly, but perhaps it worked and anyway a couple of days later, the water all drained away.

So there you have it - a pond or rather a big stone-lined hole in the garden - that probably has imperfect feng shui. Mountain above water is that supposed to be a good hexagram? Wonder whether there's one for mountain above grassy pond...

Yesterday's page count:9 (including title page)

10²

Ok today's the day I get started on a ten page a day x ten (working) day scriptwriting blitz to complete the new script. The final treatment came in at 17 pages after being tweaked and de-pedestrianised (I removed all the zebra crossings) So now the fun starts.
I'm thinking of asking for an increase in my fee - cheeky I know - and a bit late - since I've been paid - but producers like to move the goal posts and often under-estimate the amount of time and work involved in writing and re-writing.
In contracts here I now stipulate the number of drafts and also script revisions I do (usually 2) for the fee as well as page counts for documents like treatments - otherwise it can keep going back and forth. I'll ask anyway - if only to put the wind up them. Just read in several horoscopes that today is a good day (new moon) to ask for money so it would be a shame to waste these astral benefits huh?
Later

peaks and troughs

Woo - had my first ever hits spike over the last couple of days - what with the survey (below) and results etc. But now thankfully everything's back to normal

Have been revising the current treatment as the first quarter was proclaimed too 'pedestrian'. In fact there've been some extremely heated email exchanges about what can work. At least both sides are now being extremely honest and opinionated about what is required - which I like - rather than vague, squirmy and roundabout - which I hate. After all, isn't that what expletives are for?

Onwards.

scriptwriter blog survey results

click on scans to go large:

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts,

I am at the end of my tether. Please advise. Lately my husband of 8 years has been receiving facebook messages from a man in Israel. I am not normally the jealous type and his desk top correspondence does not generally concern me. However, he has been inundated with hugs from this man who appears to be at least 20 years his senior in age. Apparently they met on the West Bank in a war zone several years ago.

Last night he received 14 hugs with big 'X' kisses from this man. I have considered that perhaps his admirer is someone who is not yet fully versed in the ways of facebook or that he possibly may be insane.

However my heart is full of gloom in anticipation

Please advise me urgently as I do not know where to turn...

Yours in torment.

Far Away

thin week

A barely there, size zero of a week this one - with only Tuesday and Wednesday that are not holidays here. I was planning to do a 10 pgs a day x 10 day blitz to produce a first draft of the current script in 2 working weeks - but the week's thinness is pushing me towards starting the week after.

The survey below had me skipping all over the scribosphere - trying to chivvy responses - so if you haven't done it yet - please do. I'll leave it up for another week (or so) while I try and work out a way of posting up the responses. UPDATE: There are 52 responses so far including 6 incomplete ones - would be good to round off the total at 50. Results to be posted on 29th. Anyone with an interest in scriptwriting blogs can answer - newbies, old hands, writers and non-writers. And it is global - so all US, Canadian bloggers - drop by for 1 minute. So far the UK is well represented, SA less so and there've even been responses from New Zealand and Zimbabwe…

Laters

the script blog survey is here!

but I can't put it inside a blog post aggh! Anyway please take the survey by going over there on your right - at the top of the sidebar and click on "view survey" under the pink square.

Any problems, leave a comment. Ta.

SURVEY NOW CLOSED

punchy

Feedback finally arrived and it's all very do-able. I'm on the right track - just have to punch up the emotional drama even more. So back to work and..

punch up, punch up
punch up...
(c'mon you know you want to join in..)

I had a blogwave in the middle of the night and thought why not do a visitor poll? All writers like filling out forms and answering questions about themselves don't they? - so yes! I'll have a fiddle with blogger over the next while and see... Of course you all must answer it - all eight of you - but it will be totally anonymous...

punch up punch up

blogface

Interesting week - had my half-brother pay a lengthy visit to the blog - which was kind of unnerving - especially since I've not actually met him in real life yet - only on facebook and email. Anyway hello! and glad you dropped by..

Been a bit slack on the blog. I could blame these power cuts (now time-tabled at 2 hours twice a week) but that'd be a lie, since they're fairly easy to work around. While awaiting my treatment feedback (which still hasn't come) thought I'd try and knock out a brand new one. But after 3 days, the story just wasn't happening and clearly needed to ferment some more - so didn't meet that deadline.

What else? After reading this story in the Sunday Times a couple of weeks back, I thought hmm - since I have some bits by the same artist - maybe I should go and get them valued at Christies. Anyhow they were in touch very quickly to say that my 23 year old letter and unsigned A5 pencil sketch on a piece of torn notepad were 'interesting' and could go to auction with a conservative reserve of £2500 - £3000 but may fetch 2 or 3 times that. Not bad huh? I'm tempted.

Laters.

Input 2008: Africa

Input 2008 (Africa) takes place in Johannesburg from 4th- 10th May. This year's conference includes various special sessions.

Made in Africa is an international training opportunity for new and emerging documentary filmmakers from across Africa and takes place on May 3rd and 4th.

Ousmane Sembene: Inside and Out explores the work and cinematic influence of Ousmane Sembene. This event on May 5th is moderated by Pedro Pimenta.

The Story Tree explores myths and perceptions of Africa (past and present) and the ways the continent is being re-imagined through African filmmaking. This discussion event takes place on May 6th and is moderated by Kethiwe Ncgobo and Jean Pierre Bekolo.

Input will also see the launch of The Human Bondage Project with Harry Belafonte as keynote speaker. The HBP is a global joint venture between the SABC, UNESCO and other international organisations and filmmakers. The aim is to produce - a drama series, a documentary series and various feature films on slavery within the next 5 years.

Full details of the Input event, registration, participation, Input blog and facebook group are available on the website - click here.

forecast

Last day of the school holidays today - yeehaaa! Managed to get my treatment in only one day late and since now have to wait for feedback until end of next week, maybe there's time to look at some of those deadlines...

The story I've been working on is a commission and rather a departure for me - being a real rollercoaster, gut wrenching, family drama. Although I am enjoying the writing - the peaks / troughs and emotional 'button pushing' is not something I tend to be drawn to when writing my own specs. I prefer to be more subtly subversive and peel away layers - which maybe doesn't always work in the right way. Perhaps the script will end up needing both.

Writing someone else's story can give you a perspective on the stories you like telling and why you enjoy telling them.

This one is again based on a true story (maybe I'm getting a bit typecast here). After reading the original script (which was all over the place and definitely did not work) and the various news reports etc, I found that I had little sympathy towards one main character - so the biggest battle was warming to her. I found that giving her an affinity for Pinot Grigio helped.

Being holiday time, daughter and hub are around quite a bit so inevitably I've ended up testing bits of the story on them. Hub had tears in his eyes at one point (ha!) and now my daughter keeps asking me to tell her 'the plane bit again'. Someone told me once that if a musician is composing a song - and other people around (usually children) pick up on the tune quickly and start humming it - then bingo - it 'works'. Going by my domestic barometer - maybe I have a result.

Until feedback indicates otherwise (ha!)

Laters.

deadlines..

Yes today I had a deadline to meet - finish writing and submit my 10 page feature treatment. So did I do it? No I didn't. Very unusual for me but, after 3 days of school holidays, Crusty Custard Mumple on a loop and an afternoon of extreme bungee trampolining with my daughter, I'd come to the conclusion that writing a treatment in 7 days was probably not possible. Instead I emailed off copious amounts of fascinating, distracting and thought-provoking (ahem) notes to sidetrack the producers along with a suggestion for a new date - which happily has been accommodated. [Lesson for producers - if writers have to meet a deadline - pay them afterwards not beforehand.]

As an aside - there seem to be so many other deadlines around this month - things to go in for, submit, write up bits for.. Don't you think? I wonder if its possible to meet all of them....

in love with a rabbit

I don't often get excited by these gadgety things - and it was actually my daughter who started jumping up and down today when an ad for this popped on to the screen - nabaztag - the wifi rabbit.

Now I don't think I can live without one. Has anyone tried it?

Script Camp Lite

Nice little opportunity here to GET PAID to write your South African spec screenplay - while staying at home. Almost too good to be true - isn't it?

This opportunity was specially created for those writers who work or do other stuff and are/were unable to devote three months of their life to the (previously advertised) residential 3 month script camp.

Deadline is April 18th 2008 and full details are available - click here.

headway

Time to get stuck into the world of the new script. It is the middle of the 3 week Easter holidays here and there's no holiday school - aggh! Why do deadlines happen at the most awkward time? Emails are flying - but trying to sit at the PC for more than 3 minutes is a juggle. At the moment I'm letting my daughter watch Captain Crusty Grumpy Mumble* CD on the mac here at the desk next to me - slightly distracting - but it buys me time. Hey maybe I could put it on a loop without her noticing....
Onwards!
*you'll never find this title on imdb

movement

Hello blog! Back to the grindstone now - since last week all the buses came along at once (Clapham omnibus - see that's a cultural reference - which few here are familiar with & reminds me why I blog)

Anyway I signed a contract and received funds in my account all in the same week (plus it was my birthday - yeehaa!) Remarkable - since the contract was not for the big non-film jazz thing which will now take another couple of months to come through - but for a back burner script commission which has been under protracted discussion for nearly 18 months. In fact I'd rather lost faith that negotiations would ever get anywhere. Now I have to get on with it - hammer out a treatment in a week and a (brilliant) script plus revisions in a month (plus or minus) - just in time for Cannes. So after two months of faffing (well 'gentle contemplation') and tweaking my A5 booky thing, now have to get down to some real mental graft.

What else - was reading the Guardian tv blog to see how the No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency 2 hour TV movie was received in the UK and perhaps predictably the audience was completely split - loving or hating it - with little middle ground - and most criticism levelled at the representation of Africa. Here's one comment from 'unclephaester' directed at reviewer Sam Wollaston; "when Sam says that there aren't enough black people on TV, he means "his sort" of black people. Blacks who conform to Sam's stereotypes and not those of other people." Ha.

Still I hope the series is flighted here soon. Since my daughter was born, I've tended to favour light reads - stuff that takes only a day or two and the No 1 series certainly fits. I'm finishing the 2 most recent books now. Few people point out how funny the stories are. I'm drawn to the way women bamboozle folk (mainly naive men)- maybe it is recognition. When I first came to live in Cape Town, I was probably a bit green and would stand by, uncomplaining when one or other of my hub's 3 sisters arrived, marched into the kitchen, tasted the food cooking on the stove before pronouncing disparagingly on the flavour. In the early days, in Montana, imposing neighbours invited themselves in just to comment on the shape and colour of washing on the line. Some even demanded old newspapers or bottles from the domestic worker (without my knowledge)! Now I put my foot down.

I must be grown up.

My one leg

No not another post about toes - sorry to disappoint. Rather some thoughts on language - or rather slang and grammar rolled into one - since we scriptwriters are often faced with these opposing concerns. On the one hand we (may) pride ourselves on our mastery of correct grammar - while on the other, there's a need to 'demonstrate a good ear for the cadences of whatever* patter' (as a reader once termed it) - write the way people talk.

Like many other places, Kaapstadt has spawned its own variations of familiar phrases. Recently my daughter came back from school talking about 'her one leg' - when she actually meant 'one of her legs'. Or she'll come out with something like; 'I saw this girl blinking her one eye.' Fortunately Cape Town is not populated with one legged Cyclopes. Another local particularity is the use of 'did' not for emphasis but to denote the past tense as in 'he did go to the shop then he did try on a new sock on his one leg.' The dids started to grate and fact I've now banned all use of the word from the house. So I can't even use it in scripts - ah well..

*insert locale/cultural/ethnic variation here

Fictive Days

An intriguing opportunity for those yearning to live the part of a real film character.

FICTIVE DAYS is a two-week performance studio for the collective research of fictional characters. Taking place during the NEW LIFE BERLIN Festival in June 2008, six to eight artists/researchers will be selected to live and work closely together in a large Berlin apartment. To participate in the project, you must apply to be a mainstream film character. For two full weeks you must adopt the identity of this character and always act as you believe this character would. To APPLY NOW click the link and for further info click this one

FICTIVE DAYS is a project developed by Peruvian artists Sergio Zevallos in collaboration with TEMPS – space support for nomadic projects.

SA screenplays wanted

In this week's newsletter - there's a lead from Inktip.

N.B - see update below

We are looking for completed, feature-length scripts that revolve around South Africa stories - not stories based on real events, but true stories, and South African only. Scripts are sought for a slate of three films to be produced back to back in South Africa in 2008/2009.

Budget should not exceed $2 million. WGA and Non-WGA writers may submit, as long as the script is about a true story that takes place in South Africa.

For more information on gaining access to this lead, please see www.InkTip.com/pnews.php

Update: - this has now gone live on filmmaker.co.za :
True Films (an initiative of Chris Roland's Zen HQ) is seeking polished feature film scripts revolving around true South African stories only. We are not considering books that can be adapted, short stories, concepts or anything else.

For full details of submissions, visit the website by clicking here.

non blog

Things going on but can't really post about just yet. Believe it or not - in real life - I'm not the world's most discreet person in regard to writerly goings-on but ho hmmm - deep breath.

Maybe I should go back to talking about my toes which actually have been playing up something rotten. I took to sandpapering them (had two types of sandpaper in the tool box - fine grain and a coarser version) so I started with the fine and then moved on to the rougher one. As a result I now seem to have purply-black blisters all over my toes, cracked toe knuckle-backs and peeling soles. Looks a bit like this here.

So now I know how that lone googler felt a while back. I've tried witch hazel, arnica, athlete's foot creams, silica and (since dock leaf doesn't seem to grow round here) aloe vera from the front garden.

Now I'm leaving off all medications and going transcendental - rising above the itching through sheer will power. Easy peasy.

Anthony Minghella dies at 54

Oscar-Winning Director Anthony Minghella, who turned such literary works as "The English Patient," "The Talented Mr. Ripley" and "Cold Mountain" into acclaimed movies, has died. He was 54.

His adaptation of McCall Smith's 'No 1 Ladies Detective Agency' is due to be screened shortly on BBC and 13 more episodes were recently ordered by HBO/BBC. (Photo: Jill Scott, Anika Noni Rose in a scene from the TV film)

More here: Daily Mail.
and Guardian

ICWP Mother-Daughter Monologue Project 2008

International Centre for Women Playwrights invites interested parties to submit material for an upcoming anthology of original monologues about the mother/daughter experience.

Length should be between 50-2500 words, or 1/2 to 5 pages, or 1-10 minutes estimated performance time.

Deadline is April 15th 2008. Full details and submission instructions are available here.

catch up

OK the blog has gone a bit slow. I blame scribomatic - I mean the idea that up to 300 beady-eyed scribes all over the globe might be reading your hasty prose - within seconds of posting it - is a little intimidating don't you think?

So about the script - it's starting to go out. At this stage I always like to get feedback from 'punters' - people who aren't in any way connected to the industry but who may like to go and see the film. This can be very useful.

Now I didn't set out to do this - but I seem to have written a story which men get excited about but which doesn't exactly get women dancing in the aisles. Hmmm. Women seem to want more of the 'family relationships' aspect of it - which is not really what the story is about. This is odd since, as a writer, I'm not really drawn to 'man films'. I'm not going to queue to see There Will be blood no matter how many plaudits it receives. Oil? - Sorry but no. Well not that kind of oil. Cooking oil possibly. Sun tan oil maybe. But drilled oil - agggghh .

Anyway have you ever found a particular script you've written appeals to certain folks more than others?

What else? - there isn't too much else that I can say right now about script progress* except that things continue to move forward and I've learned not to say 'no' straight away to suggestions (even when I want to - ha!) and that it is better not to have too many encumbrances too early on. Hmm.

Ok for anyone who might be in a writerly quandary right now - there's always the runes. Type in any question you need the answer to.
I was just piffing about and asked about my script and got wunjo (in the critical position). 'Wunjo is a rune of the gods and of perfection, carrying with it the elation that blazes from the creation of a perfect work - perhaps this is the true joy of the gods, that they can create perfection. That aside, this rune does not focus on the struggle for perfection or on our inevitable imperfections, but rather on a job well done and the satisfaction that comes from it.'

Yee haaa!

Laters

Good stories don't have colour

As Kwei-Armah pointed out last week at a discussion on the future of black playwriting organised by Talawa, an assumption persists that "black writing is somehow local, while white writing is universal". "It's patronising and segregating," says playwright Trish Cooke. "A good story is something that people can share and relate to, and those stories don't have colour."


From the margins to the mainstream - diverse UK playwriting at the Theatre Royal Stratford East explored in today's Guardian. Read the full article by clicking here.

Screening African Emotions

Just found this blog report on the Focus Africa event which took place at last month's Berlinale.

Read the post by clicking here.

Sithengi - the way forward

The new Board of Directors of Sithengi have announced plans for the relaunch of South Africa's annual International Film and Television Market:

The plan aims for a fresher, more streamlined and cutting edge event - ultimately smaller with fewer components - yet providing for a broader market. Key words are “Business” and “Knowledge Building”.

New market components will include a Co-Production Forum, Conference Sessions, and for the first time, a Knowledge Development Lab. The next edition will also introduce a New Media element - directed at Converging Media.

“There is an upsurge of New Media producers - who all need to discover new business and creative models of production, distribution and exhibition.”

Read more by clicking here.

why she blogs

'As to the question of whether blogging is somehow a cheap occupation because it is done for free, I would suggest that it fits comfortably among a minority of activities, including sex and charity fundraising, which actually make you feel better about yourself if done for nothing.'

Helen Smith reflects on her first year online on the WGGB website - click here.