I love it when a plan comes together. Fresh off the back for being in the top 100 scripts for the 12/13 Collabor8te scheme, my little short story/script "Me for my Father" is now shortlisted for the BBC Opening Lines strand. This is where up to 3 short stories are turned into Radio Plays for newbie writers such as myself by the BBC.
I'm really pleased about this. "Me for My Father" is going to be made this year with Producer Sean Langdon, hopefully where it was set, in and around Lanarkshire, Scotland. It's about a young lad, on the verge of becoming a teenager, who has to take his fathers place as a pallbearer at a family funeral. The funeral, and the subsequent wake, brings a mysterious stranger into the family circle and dark, deep secrets are revealed. Told through the young lad's eyes, its about being an outsider in your own family and feeling like you never quite belong. Just goes to show what a good ear for dialogue and a creative brain can do. This former LSFer is now nominated for a Bafta because of this. Well done Gavin Grant - visit Gavin's website here
After weeks of hard work, blood, sweat and a few tears we are now getting ready to pitch Cancer Hair to the Film London/Eastern Edge Film Fund. Exciting, and frankly, nerve racking stuff. The one thing that has come bounding out of this process for me how clear our vision for the film has become. From a script on its umpteenth redraft, with solid characters that have a journey throughout the story, to the step by step storyboards, from Mood Boards declaring the look and feel of the film, through to the production schedule - we have pulled up the bonnet of this project and really tinkered with the engine. I’ve always found deadlines a great clarifier. They allow focus your mind and in turn your mind focuses on what you need to do to make it happen for that specific timescale. This has been no different. If we hadn’t had the Eastern Edge deadline we’d likely have drifted until after Easter with a vague idea that this was going to be our project this year. Instead, regardless of the decision from the panel, we have a short film – budgeted, written, storyboarded and ready to go. And so, to the pitch. 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! "COWARD" from Stephen Murphy on Vimeo. |
AuthorGail Hackston is a filmmaker, screenwriter and producer. Her blog is about getting things made in the UK Film Industry. Archives
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