Screendaily

On 15th September 2009 I posted this:

http://jezfreedman.blogspot.co.uk/2009/09/dough.html

So grateful to so many people I can't name them all here - but four years and one month later, this appeared in Screendaily

Director John Goldschmidt has started principal photography in London on comedic drama Dough.

Umedia International handles world sales and will bring the project to market at AFM next month.

Yehudah Jez Freedman and Jonathan Benson wrote the script, about the unlikely friendship between an old Jewish baker trying to save his family bakery and a young Muslim refugee from Darfur trying to help his mother by selling cannabis.

Producers are György Gattyán, András Somkuti, Goldschmidt and Wolfgang Esenwein, with Bruno György and Geraldine East executive producing.

The cast feature Jonathan Pryce, Phil Davis, Ian Hart, Pauline Collins and Jerome Holder.

Goldschmidt’s Viva Films partnered with German producer Esenwein’s Three Coloured Dog Films to package and finance the project. The project has been set up as an official UK-Hungarian co-production with Budapest-based Docler Entertainment fully financing. Esenwein said: “We are extremely happy to be working with András and Bruno and Docler Entertainment and with the terrific cast and very high profile crew that we secured for this film. We hope that Dough will work as a feel-good movie for a wide audience of all age groups and from all cultural and religious backgrounds around the world, because the message of the film is that no matter how different people are and how many prejudices there are to overcome – in the end friendship can conquer all.”

The project shoots on location in London and at Budapest’s Origo Studios.

The Funeral

Coming soon to the UK Jewish Film Festival

  

 Copyright © 2009-2013 BENIGN SAMUEL Art & Photography

Discount to London Screenwriters' Festival 2013

As in previous years, my good friend Janice Day is offering a £24 discount to the London Screenwriters' Festival.

http://www.londonscreenwritersfestival.com/tickets/

25th to 27th October 2013


London School of Film, Media & Performance
Regent's College

The list of speakers gets better every year

http://www.londonscreenwritersfestival.com/speakers/  

For the discount code email me

Pears Short Film Fund

Every year the UK Jewish Film Festival gives away two grants of 10K each for 2 short films. This year, one of the those grants was given to friend and client Dave Herman. I read his script and really liked it, and I was made up for him when I found out he'd won.

But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't slightly more excited by the fact that the other grant was bagged by... me.

The script is called The Funeral, and although I'm obviously not going to be giving away too many details at this stage, so far the team includes director Nick Green and the guiding hand of my boss at Viva Films, John Goldschmidt who will Exec Produce along with me.

We're in full Pre-Production mode and other members of the team, and of course cast, will hopefully be attached in the next few weeks, ready to shoot in July.

Something that has already been really useful to me is Danny Stack's advice, both on and off his blog, about the things he learnt whilst making Origin.

So of course I will try to do the same, as and when I can, because after all that's the whole point of blogs and a screenwriting community.

The film will premier at the Jewish Film Festival in November.

Everyone hold onto their hats...

New Screenwriting Websites

A couple of new websites have been created that I think are well worth a look for any up and coming screenwriter.

 

The first is http://askthewriter.co.uk/

 

Run by Aaron Hubbard, it's a really simple but very interesting concept. Just interviews with UK scriptwriters. That's it. No ego, no self, no rambling on about dead prime ministers. Just a chat with someone doing the same thing we are, struggling with the same problems, finding different solutions, etc.

 

Nice.

 

The second one is http://www.screenwritingspark.com/

 

Created by Jason McKinnon, this looks like a monster of a site. I've only had a quick look around it so far but it seems like it has the makings of a great screenwriting resource.

 

Check them out


 

Sir Peter Ustinov Television Scriptwriting Award 2013

It's that time of year again. All the details and application form can be found here.

 

http://www.iemmys.tv/foundation.aspx

 

So as not to waste your time, remember you have to be a non US citizen and under 30.

 

Deadline is 1st July.

 

It seems like a million years since I won this, but I still remember it fondly as both an amazing experience and an important step along the career path.

 

Good luck.

The Three of Us

This is a friend of mine's short film that only needs a bit more cash to be fully funded. I've read it, it's funny, but what's cool about this one is that for £50, you get a one-on-one session with the writer, Andrew Viner, to discuss and get feedback on one of your projects. 

And let's be honest, £50 is cheaper than most places you pay for written feedback. So to get a face to face session for that price, as well as other perks with just backing and being involved in a short film, is really good value for money.

I can also safely say that you will get top quality feedback from Andrew. I know this because I did my MA Screenwriting with him, have known him for almost ten years, and have co-written two features with him.

So to get involved, go here:

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-three-of-us-film

Approach Shot

A couple of months into my new role at Viva Films, give or take and with a bit of time off for paternity leave :)

But I can confirm the rumours are true. 

Whenever you hear from people who work in development or even from agents for that matter, at say something like the London Screenwriters Festival, more often than not you will hear comic stories about how people have approached them to read their work. 

They all swear they are not making them up. And why would they lie, what would they have to gain? So I assumed it was true, but in the back of mind I still felt deep down that surely people can't be that.... erm... misguided.

But it really does happen. People really do send emails, for example, with just the title of their script, a pitch paragraph and then a closing line saying something like if you would like to read the script please feel free to contact me - or something like that. 

That's it. That's the email. Not even a Dear So and So. (Probably because it's been sent out to dozens of people)

That's just uncool. It's unprofessional. But more than that, you're not exactly doing yourself any favours. Because you are swimming against the tide. The competition is fierce. We should be doing everything we can to stand out, but not in a bad way (and not in a crazy, over friendly kooky way either I might add.)

Now. Here's the secret you may not have heard before. 

If the pitch paragraph is blinding. If it completely blows you away, there's no way anyone would cut their nose off to spite their face and not ask to read the script just because the introductory email sucked. Because no one wants to miss out on the next big thing. No one.

But how likely is that? Even if the script is amazing; pitch paragraphs, a little synopsis, call it what you want, are incredibly difficult to write and/or do justice to a 100 page screenplay you have poured your heart and soul into. 

So give it some help. Don't come across badly in an email that will mean if everything else is equal, and it's between you and the next email who took the trouble to personalise it and say a bit about yourself or whatever, and not seem like they are doing you the favour by sending you the email in the first place.... 

Well, you get my point. I'm sure none of you do that. But the rumours are true people. There are some out there.

The Lazarus Machine

If you back one Kickstarter project this spring, back this one.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/adaddinsane/the-lazarus-machine

Why? Cos it's gonna be awesome.

(And no, it's nothing to do with me, I've just given script feedback a few times)

A couple of juicy opportunities

1. Vacancy: SCRIPT EDITOR

Employer: BBC

Location: London - Broadcasting House

Duration: Attachment/Fixed Term

With over 350 hours of in-house output a year, BBC Drama Production is making some of the most original, diverse and highly acclaimed television. These range from continuing drama such as Casualty, EastEnders, Holby City, and Doctors to series and serials such as Silent Witness, Luther and Silk, to name just a few!

Role

Reporting to the Head of Talent Management in the first instance, you will work in close conjunction with the Producers to provide editorial and research support to the development team. You’ll be advising on all script matters connected with all stages of the production from the initial ideas stage, to amendments and to the shooting of the script. Generating creative ideas as well as long term story ideas, you will work with the production teams representing the writers’ interests, ensuring their consent to script changes as well as ensuring the scripts are editorially correct and carrying out the necessary checks.

Where necessary you’ll be restructuring and generating new storylines within your script as well as turning around creative drafts in short spaces of time. You’ll be expected to take steps to identify and encourage new writing talent and to maintain an up-to-date awareness of emerging talent.

Requirements

People working within Drama Production are a talented, experienced and creative bunch. To join them it’s really important you have knowledge and understanding of new writers, copyright law, writer’s guild agreements, script sources and know the potential of emerging talent.

To be successful you will have substantial script-editing experience and a keen interesting popular entertainment, in particular drama.

You will have excellent communication, relationship building, team working and creative skills.

Drama production can involve long and unpredictable work patterns and pressure to meet tight schedules so you will need to have a flexible approach to their working day.

You can apply for this role and learn about how we do things at the BBC, by visiting bbc.co.uk/careers/home.

Alternatively, please call 0370 333 1330. Textphone 02890 328 478.

More Info: https://careers.bbc.co.uk/fe/tpl_bbc01.asp?newms=jj&id=46985

Apply to: BBC Recruitment

 

2. BAFTA Rocliffe New Writing Forum

2013 Spring Call for Submissions

The format remains the same: three ten-minute script extracts will be selected from applications sent from emerging writing talent all over the country, which are performed by professional actors in front of a live audience and critiqued by a high profile industry guest from the television drama world. The event takes place on 13 May at BAFTA headquarters, 195 Piccadilly in London.

Early Bird Closing Date for submissions on 22 February 2013.

Final Closing Date will be 18 March 2013.

Full details of how to apply can be found on rocliffe.com.

From Gate Crasher to Gate Keeper?

One of the things I was alluding to in my New Year's post has now been finalised. As of now, amongst the other things I do, I will now be working as Head of Development for Viva Films.

As I mentioned at the beginning of January, it takes me in a slightly different direction, but in truth, it really continues and builds on what I've already been doing for quite a while.

Viva Films and John Goldschmidt in particular are people I've come to know very well over the last few years and my transition is really one from being a freelance help to the company - as well of course as writing for them, to taking on a more active, day to day, official position.

I believe British films should make money, because that is the only way to grow a sustainable industry. Box office returns are impossible to predict, despite what Sales Companies would have financiers believe. But at the very least, we need to try and make films that people actually want to go out and see. But I also believe films should have something to say, even if that is just in a general thematic sense, and not a didactic message.  

And I don't think those two are mutually exclusive. I think Viva Films has an incredibly exciting slate that is trying to do that and I also hope there is room to add one or two projects. But overall, it was very clear early on that theirs was a philosophy and vision that I shared, and so taking this role was the logical next step.

It's up to me now to find a balance between what I do and how I divide my time, and I will definitely continue working on my own projects because that's what I love and that's why I got into any of this in the first place.

What it might mean, as I suggested in January, was that I blog less (and to be honest it's been slowly declining for a while!) Time management is very important, especially for freelancers and in my screenwriter guise, that's what I still am. So sometimes things have to give and in truth I was running out of steam with this blog anyway.

But it did occur to me that most of the blogs I follow are by screenwriters and script readers/editors/consultants. Very few, if any, are by people on the other side of the desk. And I've learnt an incredible amount about the industry from my relationship with Viva Films, that has undoubtedly influenced and helped my writing. So, as the whole point of this blog in the first place was to filter down useful information, tips and advice, to writers coming up behind me, it seems like there is still scope to do that, but maybe from a slightly different angle.

Having said that, the film industry is a precarious business. Just when things look like they are in the bag and greenlit, multiple rugs can be pulled from under you. And I think especially because it's a creative industry, confidentiality can often be paramount. So naturally I will be extremely careful about what I say and when I say it. But hopefully some useful things will still emerge, even if it's just every now and then.

Happy writing.

Walk the Line screenwriter in town

If those new resolutions of writing more etc, are beginning to wane, this might be of interest.

SCREENWRITING WORKSHOP MAY/JUNE 2013

This is a unique opportunity for UK writers to work with an inspirational writer and practitioner. Gill Dennis is Master Filmmaker in Residence at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles, and co-writer of the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line (2005).  He will be running a two-part workshop for eight writers (working in two smaller groups).

This course is suitable for screenwriters working on a feature or short film script, as well as novelists and/or short story writers who want to adapt their own work for the screen. 

There will be two workshop meetings for each group of four writers, plus a one-hour individual meeting with Gill for each writer.

• Gill will read all the scripts in advance. Participants will be asked to read and discuss the work of three other writers.
• The first meeting will be on Saturday 18 May. Group 1: 10.30am -1.30pm, Group 2: 2.30 – 5.30.
• On Sunday 19^th and Monday 20th Gill will meet each writer for a one-to-one meeting to set objectives for rewrites.
• The two groups will meet with Gill again on Saturday 1 June (same times) to discuss the resulting revisions and changes.

BIO: 

GILL DENNIS's screenwriting credits include the Oscar-nominated film WALK THE LINE (2005); RETURN TO OZ (with Walter Murch, 1985); RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE (TNT, 1996); and an original mini-series, HOME FIRES, named as one of the top ten television events of 1987 by Time Magazine. He also worked on scripts such as THE BLACK STALLION, APOCALYPSE NOW and POLLOCK.

His current projects include FOREVER  with director Tatia Pilieva, now in post-production and SPANISH BLOOD with Aza Jacob, starring Jennifer Lopez and John Hawkes, which will be shot in the Spring.

As Master Filmmaker in Residence at the American Film Institute, Gill has mentored many of the new generation of American filmmakers, including Jonathan Levine (THE WACKNESS), Jacob Estes (MEAN CREEK), Goran Dukic (WRISTCUTTERS), and Aza Jacobs, whose feature TERRI screened at last year’s London Film Festival.

APPLICATION PROCESS: 

If you’d like to take part in this workshop please send a short writing sample together with a covering letter telling us something about you and your writing and the screenplay you are developing. No attachments. Paste text in the body of your message and email to this address: londonwritingworkshops@gmail.com

  

Applications will be considered on a rolling basis. If you are accepted, you will be asked to pay a deposit to secure the place, and to send in a full draft of your screenplay by mid to late April 2013. The balance of the course fee will be payable before the start of the course.

DEADLINE:  applications before 31^st March.

WORKSHOP FEE:  £350

Watch a clip of Gill Dennis talking about scriptwriting on You Tube HERE

New Year's End

I can't be bothered with all that report card stuff, although other people's can be fun to read! What did I do this year? I worked as hard as I could. I studied as hard as I could. I tried to be as good a person as I could. What do I want to achieve next year? To do better in all of the above. As for the rest, it isn't up to me. 

I know this blog has tailed off a bit and it's possible that it/I have run out of steam with it. I'm not sure. 2013 is already shaping up to be an interesting year - full of changes - and it might just be that some of those mean I head in a different direction and when that happens sometimes other stuff has to give. One of those things might be this blog.

But in the meantime I want to thank everyone who has kept reading this year. To the 44 followers listed here for, er, following. And also everyone who has been kind enough to let me read their scripts and have appreciated the notes I've given. I hope I've helped.

Best wishes for the New Year. And I speak to myself when I say this: Focus on the things you can control, and don't worry too much about the things you can't.

Screenwriting and Storytelling

Always nice to give a shout out to a new blog on the block - so please check out Alan Denman's Screenwriting and Storytelling.

I've known Alan for many years. He taught one of the very first screenwriting courses I ever attended, and he's spent much of his time since then at the coal face of the industry in LA.

You can also check out my write up of his course about Breaking into Hollywood

The NBC Drama Challenge

The New York Television Festival and NBC have teamed up to offer aspiring TV writers and producers the opportunity to win $25,000 and a development deal with NBC.

Go here for all the information

http://nytvf.com/2013_nbc.html

Please note:


•The initiative is open to U.S. residents age 18 and over who do not have any contractual commitments preventing them from entering into an exclusive development deal with NBC.

The Writers' Couch

If you don't know about this then, well, you should definitely know about this.

All the details can be found in the link below but in short, this sounds like an exciting new opportunityy for writers, based purely on meritocracy, purely on the project, and not about who you know, what agent you've got, if you've even got an agent, and all the other rubbish that gets in the way of the thing that matters. The script.

http://www.cascade-pictures.com/couch.html

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/uk-film-start-up-creates-379953

CHANNEL 4 SCREENWRITING COURSE 2013

This has been running for a few years now - and all the details can be found at the usual place, over at Philip Shelley's gaff.

http://www.script-consultant.co.uk/channel-4-script-submit/

Shortlist's Sitcom Search

I have surfaced to tell you about this competition - one that I personally haven't heard about before, and just happened to come across as I picked up the Shortlist magazine as I stepped off the plane at Heathrow. 

The British sitcom is a strangely indestructible beast. No matter how many times it’s pronounced dead in fretful blogs and newspaper columns, it always comes back to life. Rising from the grave, zombie-like and marauding onwards into newly hilarious territory.

Alan Partridge’s latest bounce-back in Mid Morning Matters, successful new comedy-drama Fresh Meat, a clutch of critically acclaimed digital commissions; belaboured analogies involving the undead aside, you only need to glance at the TV schedules to see that there’s a comedy gold rush afoot. And, ludicrous as it sounds, you could be a part of it.

We’ve teamed up with Comedy Central UK, home of the funniest comedies on TV, and Big Talk (the powerhouse behind shows including Spaced, Friday Night Dinner, Threesome and Rev) to offer a cash prize and development deal to one triumphant reader-penned script. Interested? Read on – and check out the sample script and details of how to enter over the page.

THE PRIZE

The winning writer, or team of writers, in ShortList’s Sitcom Search will receive a truly monumental prize. As well as publishing an excerpt of your script in ShortList, we’re offering a £5,000 development deal with Big Talk and Comedy Central UK. This means that, together with the experts, you’ll work on your sitcom idea with a view to preparing it for production, and ultimately, broadcast.

To be clear, that doesn’t mean your gag-filled clump of A4 will languish at the back of a filing cabinet somewhere. Comedy Central UK has made it known: if it’s funny enough, it wants it on its channel. What’s more, each reader who makes it to the final four will receive a mentoring session with established comedy writers, and there’ll be an opportunity to blog about these sessions and talk about your script at Shortlist.com.

HOW TO ENTER

To be part of ShortList’s Sitcom Search, simply go here and submit your entry. This should include a brief one-page description selling your sitcom idea, your contact details, plus a correctly formatted original, unbroadcasted script of 3-10 pages (A4, sensible font, 12pt) that’s solely the work of you or your writing team. Entries from reasonably experienced screenwriters are welcomed, but we will not accept scripts from agents – they must come direct from the writer. You must be a UK resident over 18 years of age, as of 24 September 2012. The competition is open to both men and women.

THE JUDGES

The scripts will be judged by an expert panel including Kenton Allen, chief executive of Big Talk, Jill Offman, MD at Comedy Central UK, Friday Night Dinner creator Robert Popper and Martin Robinson, editor of ShortList.

THE DEADLINE

All entries must be uploaded to shortlist.com/sitcom by 11.59pm on 24 September. No entries by post or email. Any scripts arriving after this date, or not featuring the proper criteria, will not be accepted.

HOW IT WORKS

The competition will run over the next 12 weeks and consist of various stages as we sift through the entries before crowning our favourite script. The dates to look out for are below:

• After the initial script-reading process, the judges will reduce the list of scripts down to 40. These will be revealed in early October, so you can see if you’ve made it.

• The final 40 scripts will then be cut down to four. The writers behind these will be revealed in late October.

• For two weeks after that, our finalists will spend time workshopping their sitcom idea with an established comedy writer.

• After much deliberation, and perhaps the opening of a shiny gold envelope, we’ll announce the winner on a soon-to-be-revealed date in November.

Not worth the thin air it's written on

Did you read this blog entry from Piers, about the possessory (and frankly downright disrespectful) film credit 'A Film By' - and then enter the director's name. The post is spot on so I'm not going to repeat it, just read it there instead. The prevading disrespect in the industry to the work the screenwriter does is endemic. As Piers points out, it mainly arises out of self-interest. Namely from the director, but not always, for various reasons. That's not really an excuse, but at least we can understand where it's coming from. 

But what about when it's from people with no real self interest? For example award ceremonies like BAFTA not televising the screenwriting awards. Or movie magazines marginalising the role screenwriters play. Or film critics and reviews ignoring the screenwriter when something is great and then blaming the script when it's not?

Every Thursday my wife reads the new movie reviews from Roger Ebert. (She's American so we can forgive her for this.) And a few weeks ago she read about Bernie, the new Richard Linklater movie (see what I did there?) Here's a quote from the opening paragraph:

"Jack Black plays an east Texas funeral director named Bernie Tiede, and it is surely one of the performances of the year. I had to forget what I knew about Black. He creates this character out of thin air, it's like nothing he's done before, and it proves that an actor can be a miraculous thing in the right role."

I haven't seen the film. I haven't read the script. Jack Black is indeed a fine actor, it may well be like nothing he's done before and one of the performances of the year. Good actors can and definitely do bring an enormous amount to the role from what is written on the page.

But creating the character out of thin air? Really Roger? You don't think that maybe Jack was good enough to read the screenplay, co-written by Linklater and Skip Hollandsworth? 

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe the script is bloody awful and Black literally had to make everything up as he went along. Didn't do that recent BBC One drama any harm did it? Oh wait.

Maybe we should stick to what we've always done then and have a really good script before we start, and just for a change acknowledge the people who came up with it and the ones who probably spent more time than anyone else working on the movie.

The biggest screenwriting prize in the UK?

You've probably already heard about this but just in case you haven't, check out:

Wellcome Trust Screenwriting Prize

It's an annual prize, and obviously quite niche. But in this climate (or maybe any climate) a 20k development deal cannot be ignored.

Good luck