What's it all about...

Hello and welcome to On the Blog. I'm Jez Freedman. Screenwriter and script reader. That's me on the right. That's about as good as it gets for me, visually. Taken at my wedding, some fourteen months ago, you are more likely to find me in jeans and a t-shirt, unshaven, eating pizza and ice cream. Fortunately, as my wife does not seem to mind, it doesn't keep me up at night.

Whilst profile raising and a bit of self promotion are no bad thing in this industry, I actually thought long and hard about starting my own blog. Put simply, what did I have to offer that couldn't be gained from the many blogs I already read? What did I have to say that the excellent Danny Stack, Lucy Vee and Robin Kelly, to name but a few, were not? How was I different.

Well, I am a little younger than most (although am sure not all,) bloggers. At 29, maybe I have something to offer to the under 30 screenwriters a little earlier in their careers. I am an orthodox Jew, there can't be many of us doing this sort of thing, and that presents its own challenges. And thanks to a very rare genetic disorder, I am effectively disabled. And that certainly presents its own challenges that maybe others can relate to as well. But I still wasn't satisfied.

So I asked my friend Toby. (You'll be hearing more about him if you stick around. Firstly, because his antics are a constant source of amusement, and secondly, because he is a constant source of ideas, and always my first sounding board for my own.)

He said something interesting. He said that what you bring new to the blog table is you. Your own unique take on things. And then I felt a bit silly. Because after all isn't that what screenwriting is all about. Anyone who has ever written a rom com, or just read Billy Mernit's brilliant, Writing the Romantic Comedy, will know that there are so many similar elements in this genre (and of course, by definition, any genre.) But what makes your script different is your own take on it. Your own characters, your own situations and scenarios, your own voice.

So here it is, my own blog, and my own take on working in this brilliant, frustrating, excruciating and wonderful industry.

Stick around... there's more to come.