How To Make A No Budget Movie…

I know I’ve been quiet, but by now you will have guessed I was up to something. I’ve been busy developing a new course. Upon realising there was a gap between those who may have done a course, or made a short and then translating that into a feature, I’ve spent the last month or […]

The Best Comps For You

The screenwriting competitions you should like will very much depend on what you want to get out of it. To be clear: Don’t enter, if you don’t actually want the prize on offer. For some the prestige, for others a big prize pay-out. Others are going to be drawn to the possibility of representation and […]

LaunchPad Feature comp

Well, having beaten myself with a birch for summarily failing to deliver to the ravenous maw that’s called My Blog for the longest time, here I am crawling back, hoping to make amends. I can’t promise though that this good intention will last.. I’ve yet to be convinced anyone travels down the windy, overgrown track […]

Stage 32 Fellowship Comp

In my experience at least, it can be a long trawl as a writer. I’ve known more than one screenwriter who’s never had a script made into a film, I’m relieved to say that isn’t the case with me, but only because I went and made a few of mine. I’ve also entered a fair […]

FORD VS. FERRARI/LE MANS ’66

Favourite Quote:‘When I was ten years old. my pop said to me, “Son, it’s a truly lucky man who knows what he wants to do in this world, cause that man will never work a day in his life.”  But there are a few a precious few — and hell, I don’t know if they’re […]

CBC – Querying

Having completed the mentor process and, once happy with Query letter, synopsis and full manuscript, there comes the nutty issue of pitching agents. The good thing about the mentorship is that you are, in theory at least, connected to Curtis Brown and Colville & Walsh far better than a cold-call, having journeyed through the process […]

THE NOVEL PROCESS, POST-MENTORSHIP

Once you complete the Mentorship Scheme on CBC, you may not of course have completed your novel. In my case, I went into the mentorship perhaps further along than some, such that by the time I’d had my three sessions, I also had a ‘finished’ MS. This was not an easy thing to arrive at. […]

CBC MENTORING – THE COMPLETE ENGINE OVERHAUL FOR YOUR MS

It’s pretty sobering when something as massive as an invasion happens. It can only throw things into perspective, underlining how fortunate I am in my own circumstances, but also how fragile we all are. All one can do it seems is to carry on living one’s life as best one can and hope that situations […]

Curtis Brown Mentorship

Two-thirds in to my mentorship through the Curtis Brown Creative mechanism. Mentorship is something one can apply for, once graduating from any of the novel-writing courses they run. The novel courses select around 16 participants, split between two tutors, so there’s a couple of hurdles to getting to the point of launching with a mentor. […]

Greys Inbetween Drops on Amazon Prime

After almost 14 years, arthouse indie ‘Greys Inbetween’ finally debuts worldwide on five channels, including Vimeo, Tubi and Amazon Prime. A long labour of love, it feels good. Perhaps a lesson to myself in not giving up. I guess we all get into a rut of thinking something is so, is fixed when in fact, […]