Coming Up 2012

It's that time of year again:

Coming Up 2012

COMING UP is currently the only talent scheme in the UK where emerging filmmakers have the opportunity to make an authored drama with a guaranteed network broadcast. Now in its tenth year, Channel 4 and Touchpaper Television continue their commitment to innovation, experimentation and new voices.

Commissioned by Channel 4 and produced by Touchpaper Television, part of the Zodiak Media Group, the aim of the series is to create eye-catching, innovative, challenging films.

APPLICATIONS ARE NOW OPEN FOR COMING UP 2012

We will make 7 films for a half-hour Channel 4 slot.

What do we look for?

Bold, original and surprising ideas with strong voices – unafraid of ambition, wit, urgency and fearless entertainment. Films that can be shot in four days on a limited budget.

Who can apply?

We are looking for the best fresh and talented filmmakers out there.

• Writers who have not had an original single, series or serial broadcast on UK television. Writers who have contributed episodes or series and serials (eg a long-running soap) are now eligible to apply.
• Directors without a primetime TV drama credit.
• Writer/Directors: We will accept submissions from writer/directors who meet the criteria for writers and directors as per above, but excellence in both disciplines must be shown to be considered in this category.

Submissions from multi-cultural and regionally-based filmmakers are encouraged.

How to apply:
Application forms are available here.

Submissions accepted by POST ONLY to:
COMING UP 2012
Touchpaper Television
3-6 Kenrick Place
London W1U 6HD

Deadline for Applications: 1pm on Thursday 9th June 2011

The International Student Film Organization: Short Film Competition

I've happily accepted another offer from the ISFO to be on the jury for their short film script competition. The competition is being run through Circalit and here are the details:

The competition aims to encourage students interested in screenwriting to publish their work on an international platform and present their skill through a short film script. One of the targets of the ISFO is the connection of the student- and professional film sector and the competition is going to give students the chance to have their work judged by experienced screenwriters and industry professionals.

This competition is hosted by The International Student Film Organization Ltd

How the winner will be selected?

All screenplays will be pre-judged by film students from all over the world on www.circalit.com. The 20 best scripts will be forwarded to a jury of industry professionals, who will give their verdict between the 27th June and 17th July.

The jury includes distinguished judges such as Catherine Shoard (The Guardian film journalist), Phillip Barron (Screenwriter), Taghi Amirani (Documentary Film Maker), Jenna Bors (Academy Award winning student film maker), Andy Baker (head of MOFILM), Jez Freedman (Screenwriter), Evan Leighton-Davis (Industrial Scripts), John Dalton (Screenwriter), Hazel Hayes (YouTube Representative) and Wendy Mitchell (Head of News of of Screen International).

PLEASE NOTE: As only the 20 top rated scripts are going to be passed on to the judges, it's going to be up to you, the author, to ask your friends to come to the Circalit website and vote for you. Scripts which have not received any votes will not have a chance of being passed on. We have decided to organise the competition this way because we feel that it is not just writing skill that makes a good screenwriter, but also the talent to promote him/herself.

Prize

The winner will receive a free copy of the Mariner Writers' Suite 7. As a runner up prize, Pauline Kiernan has kindly sponsored her book 'Screenwriting they can't resist'. The best three scripts will also be premiered on the ISFO website with the permission of the students. The 20 most popular scripts will receive comments from our distinguished jury.

Rules

-You must be a student to enter (university confirmation might be required as proof from the winners)

- You must be a member of the ISFO (eg have signed up for our free newsletter)

- All screenplays must be between three and five pages long

- The story should be freestanding

- The screenplay can be of any genre

- All work must be original

- The deadline is the 12th June 2011

- By entering this competition, you register on the ISFO mailing list.

- By entering this competition, you grant the ISFO permission to access your name, email address and city of residence for the purposes of identifying entrants.

Writing what you know

Along with 'nobody knows anything,' 'write what you know' is one of the most overused (and often misused) expression in screenwriting.

I recently read Starting Over by Tony Parsons. At the end of the novel there was an interview with him and he made what I thought was a very accurate and interesting observation. He said that writers have three things to work with; life as you have lived it, life as others have lived it, life as you can imagine it.

It breaks down as experience, research and imagination. What you have gone through, what others have gone through and what you can make up.

It really does boil down to that. Writing what you know is writing about what you've done, what you can find out about and what you can dream up. New writers often fall into the trap of writing stories based on their own lives - and to be fair, most of us have done bugger all by our mid twenties. That's why the slush pile is full of a night in the life of a bunch of clubbing twenty somethings. Like all 'rules,' there are exceptions. It didn't do Human Traffic, Swingers or Go any harm. But most exceptions prove the rule.

And different scripts require different combinations of all three. Here's how it's worked for me in four of my screenplays.

A Lonely War - drama inspired by real life exploits of the 43 Group. Set in post war London, this took a massive amount of research; books, documentaries and best of all, speaking to a couple of former group members. Nevertheless the story I wrote was fiction - it came from my imagination. As far as my own experience - probably very little to be fair.

The Storyteller - drama about a disabled, aspiring novelist struggling with chronic pain. A dash of research, but most of this came from my own experience and imagination. The story was based on a what if? The protagonist isn't based on me, but an alternate version of me.

Can He Flick It - comedy about a guy trying to win the subbuteo world cup to save his family toy shop. Not much research or experience in this one. I did grow up playing subbuteo with mostly my brother every Saturday afternoon, and I did do some research into this weird subculture that surrounds the game now. But most of it I just made up, based on my love of films like Dodgeball and Happy Gilmore.

Dough - Again, not much in terms of experience, although the story is set in the Jewish community I am familiar with. However there was plenty of research into the character of Ayyash, the lives of Darfur refugees in this country, and I spent a day in my local kosher bakery watching everything and learning loads. But once again, the bulk of the story came from our imaginations.

So as far as writing what you know goes - the only time experience played the majority part was in The Storyteller - and even then it was mixed with a fair degree of making stuff up. For the most part, my screenplays come from research and imagination. This is true in the next two scripts I'm co-working on, one an animation feature about birds (so zero experience, a little research and plenty of imagination) and rom com about warring matchmakers (also pretty much zero experience, a bit more research and most of it made up.)

So the next time you hear someone talking about writing what you know, or even telling you to do exactly that, smile politely, nod your thanks, and think about what it really means.

2 minute screenplay competition - deadline Monday

Virgin Media Shorts is just around the corner and Trev Walsh at White Tiger Films is running a competition to find an entry.

Details can be found here.

I've done a fair bit of reading work for Trevor and he's a committed filmmaking learning his trade. This is a great chance for an up and coming screenwriter to work with someone as dedicated to making something that will stand out from the crowd, and using that as a springboard for bigger and better things.

It's not like anyone's going to work Friday. Something about a wedding. So plenty of time to get scribbling.

Good luck.

It's funny, because it's true

No I'd rather stand, thank you. Sorry it's late but I wanted to get the girls settled down for the night.

Yes they're sharing Emma's bedroom. Still awake of course, I could hear them chattering away as I slipped out.

Yes I know they shouldn't be left alone in the house that's why I want to get this business settled quickly.

I've brought over the film script you unwisely rejected. The one about the producer whose daughter is kidnapped by a psychopathic screenwriter.

All you do is get it made. You own the company, you're head of production. Just do it. Naomi is a lovely kid. Hear what I'm sayin'? Don't worry, I'll see myself out. Goodnight.

(Roger McGough)

Juliano Mer-Khamis ‎1958 – 2011

I keep politics off this blog. It's not what it's about and therefore I don't think it belongs here. The only exception is when it impacts on writing and the arts. Unfortunately, this is one of those occasions. Last week Juliano Mer-Khamis was assassinated when he was gunned down in his car, sitting next to his 4 year old son, outside the Freedom Theatre he ran in the town of Jenin. By all accounts this professional hit was carried out by gunmen who were supporters of Hamas.

I didn't know Juliano. I never met him. I have read a couple of interviews with him and some of the statements he made. And therefore it's entirely possible that had I met him we would have strongly disagreed on pretty much everything. One declaration that his mother wasn't treated in an Israeli hospital when she was in labour and nearly bled to death because she was married to an Arab I can only assume to be an outright lie. Being somewhat accident prone I have been in Israeli hospitals many times. And not only are Jews who are married to anyone at all treated, Arabs themselves are treated in exactly the same way.

Nevertheless, Juliano ran a theatre dedicated to giving Arab youth something else to do, and presumably keep them away from being indoctrinated by the extremists around them. It caused controversy because it staged 'Western' plays and allowed women and girls not only to attend, but to participate too.

And so he was murdered. In cold blood. By his brethren. This despite the fact the he was vehemently anti-zionist, fully supportive of the Arab cause, uprising, worryingly so quite frankly for someone like me looking on. But this wasn't enough for some of his brothers in arms. He ran a theatre that was based on the arts, and liberal values and culture. And so apparently he deserved to die.

He was killed by fellow Arabs because he ran a theatre. And Israel are supposed to make peace with these people, who hide behind women and children in Gaza, firing their rockets, and killing even their own people when they disagree with them.

But apart from letting the horror of that sink in, one other strange thing struck me. Where is the outcry? Where are the open eds and letters and boycotts from the Ken Loach's, Mike Leigh's and Caryl Churchill's of the world - who are never slow to display hopping mad outrage when Israel inadvertently kills civilians when trying to defend its citizens from Hamas terror attacks - and thereby also displaying their complete ignorance and/or deliberate bias.

But this is one of their own. A director, actor, writer. Slain in cold blood for his artistic beliefs. It certainly wasn't for his political beliefs. And yet the silence is deafening.

I am at a loss to explain this. Is it because it doesn't fit into these people's mantra and agenda? Is it because it would highlight just what sort of people we are talking about here? Is it because it would make attending rallies with people holding placards saying we are all Hamas or Hezbollah now just that bit more repugnant than it already is? Dammit, why did it have to be Arab terrorists who killed him. It would have been so much more convenient had it been some Jews.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I've gone online, searched around, and missed all the open letters and statements of dismay from the artistic elite in this country. Maybe it's a Google conspiracy.

Maybe.

I'll just leave you to decide.

Let the cluster**** to Elstree begin

Applications for the 2011 BBC Drama Writers Academy will be open on 7th April until 5th May 2011. Please see the BBC Jobs website for an online application form. Now in its seventh year, the Writers Academy is a major initiative aimed at discovering and training the next generation of writers for BBC One’s flagship shows: EastEnders, Casualty, Holby City, and Doctors. The scheme works as an apprenticeship for writers.

The first part involves a three-month course taught by John Yorke, Controller of Drama. Writers then complete a broadcast episode of Doctors, and if this is accepted they then complete commissions on Casualty, Holby and EastEnders. Eight writers are selected out of hundreds of applicants to undergo the intensive 15-month programme designed to equip them with all the skills necessary to write successfully for BBC Drama. The course entails classroom training, lectures from the country's best writers, instruction in all aspects of television production, and direct writing experience on the four Continuing Drama shows.

What the Academy enables us to do is to attract writers with interesting and original voices to television. Many of the Academy writers come to us from Radio or Theatre backgrounds. Previous graduates have gone on to become core writers for Casualty, Holby City, or EastEnders, and also to write for other shows for the BBC and elsewhere. Over 80% of course graduates are still in constant work with us.

Entry requirements

You are eligible to apply if you have been paid to write for television, film, radio, or theatre. Along with your online application form, you will need to send in an original sample of your writing plus proof of a professional commission. The online application forms can be completed through the BBC Jobs website - after 11th April 2011.

The course breaks down as follows:

An introduction to writing for continuing drama series 13 weeks training made up of: Classroom lectures accompanied by intensive writing exercises, analysis, and individual tutorials, led by John Yorke. Guest lectures from leading British TV and film writers including Richard Curtis, Tony Jordan, Jimmy McGovern, Peter Bowker, Tony McHale, Sarah Phelps, and Barbara Machin. Workshops in all aspects of television production including directing, scheduling, production management, casting, and more. During this period each writer will also write an episode of Doctors.

Writing for broadcast

At the end of the 13 weeks, if their individual Doctors episode is greenlit for broadcast, each writer will rotate across EastEnders, Casualty, and Holby City, writing a broadcast episode on each show.

At the end of the 15 months, each writer will have written for each of the four shows. The BBC also has an option at this time to guarantee further commissions on the shows.