So, I started the year with a bit of good news. My short film script Cancer Hair had been shortlisted for the Eastern Edge Film Fund. Eastern Edge is part of Film London. Essentially the shortlisting meant the film was in with a fighting chance of receiving a £3000 grant to make it.
It has been an interesting process. We’ve met several times with the Eastern Edge teams and put the script through the wringer a couple of times. We have an interview and pitch in a few weeks but the paperwork – script, budget and schedule are submitted. No going back now.
As a writer I have found the process incredibly enlightening. Even though the script was at about fourth draft when it was submitted, I have – subsequent to notes – written from scratch two entirely different takes on the same story.
As the script is only 10 pages long I tend to subscribe to the page 1 rewrite theory. What does this mean? This means I forget the script I have and go back to the drawing board, draft after draft, honing and refining and trying to get the description and dialogue down to the essence of the idea. Some writers find this a massive waste of time. I find it works well for me as I tend to focus on and retell the parts of the story that move things forward.
Regardless of whether we make it with Eastern Edge and Film London I think the script is at a far better, more producible place than it was when we first went into the process all down to the development process. And development is hell, regardless of whether it is a 2 page short or a 122 page feature – people asking you questions about your work that you can’t answer is embarrassing, but believe me it is not as embarrassing as making a script that has giant plot holes and drifting dialogue.
We are going to make the script into a film anyway, but the Eastern Edge/Film London money would make the film inevitable in the first half of 2013.
Fingers Crossed!
It has been an interesting process. We’ve met several times with the Eastern Edge teams and put the script through the wringer a couple of times. We have an interview and pitch in a few weeks but the paperwork – script, budget and schedule are submitted. No going back now.
As a writer I have found the process incredibly enlightening. Even though the script was at about fourth draft when it was submitted, I have – subsequent to notes – written from scratch two entirely different takes on the same story.
As the script is only 10 pages long I tend to subscribe to the page 1 rewrite theory. What does this mean? This means I forget the script I have and go back to the drawing board, draft after draft, honing and refining and trying to get the description and dialogue down to the essence of the idea. Some writers find this a massive waste of time. I find it works well for me as I tend to focus on and retell the parts of the story that move things forward.
Regardless of whether we make it with Eastern Edge and Film London I think the script is at a far better, more producible place than it was when we first went into the process all down to the development process. And development is hell, regardless of whether it is a 2 page short or a 122 page feature – people asking you questions about your work that you can’t answer is embarrassing, but believe me it is not as embarrassing as making a script that has giant plot holes and drifting dialogue.
We are going to make the script into a film anyway, but the Eastern Edge/Film London money would make the film inevitable in the first half of 2013.
Fingers Crossed!
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