Waiting

It’s waiting time: waiting for a call from the script department of one of Britain’s longest-running “soap operas” (I hate that term!); waiting for a production company to offer me a place in a story workshop; waiting for Study Block 2 Advanced to begin; waiting for the new year when an independent production company has asked me to apply to them for work experience.

But I’m not wishing my life away; there’s plenty of stuff this side of Christmas. I’m outlining a play, the inspiration for which came from seeing a professional production a couple of months ago. It wasn’t good – in fact, I would have said it was a waste of ticket-money had it not given me the idea to write one myself. The writer of that one, had he ever heard of Aristotle, probably thought he was the one whose bath water jumped out when he jumped in.

Empty hands

I’ve received a number of comments about my claim that a scriptwriter has nothing tangible to offer his audience except the promise of an experience. One lady said:

I have to say I disagree that scripts make dull reading. I think it's the reverse - they provide the foundation for the imagination to be set free and can be interpreted in so many different ways. My ex OU and ex theatre studies group were all keen script readers and the tutors would have us read a script...

But whilst authors can excite their following with the promise of something to buy, I still maintain that scriptwriters have nothing that their fans can actually get their hands on and fondle, caress, make notes in or even use to prop up the table. The lady quoted above loves scripts, but not many people can be bothered with them, instead preferring to experience the finished production at the cinema or on the haunted fish tank.

So here I am blogging about not having anything to blog about! Suggestions will be appreciated.

Black Hole

One of the purposes of writers’ blogs is to form a link between the writer and readers in the hope that, should the writers be successful in appearing to be normal people, the reader will feel secure in the relationship and buy the books. There’s nothing wrong with this, of course, and I believe this sense of friendship can benefit both parties. However, when it comes to blogging about screenwriting, I see a black hole looming.

There’s no book! There is nothing the reader can go out and buy and actually hold in their hands. With a screenplay they have nothing to keep them busy on the tube whilst feverously avoiding eye contact with other commuters. All the screenwriter has to offer is the experience of the audience seeing the script after it has been produced and broadcast. And, whilst a sample of a forthcoming screenplay could be posted on my website, I need to ask myself who but an industry professional would want – or be willing – to read it? Scripts are, after all, merely blueprints from which drama is produced and as such don’t tend to make enjoyable reading material.

The bible

Study Block 2 is completed – for me, anyway. Working through the summer (thanks to my tutor, Jane Pugh (she's on Imdb)) has meant that I've been able to keep up the momentum and write something every day, even whilst away on holiday. A mobile broadband "dongle" is better than nothing, but in some remote areas of the country is almost as useless as nothing.

Some weeks ago I purchased the full version of Final Draft, the world-renowned script-formatting software. It's not cheap, but the industry likes it and it comes with a few useful extra features that you don't get with the free formatting software that can be downloaded from the Web.

This also means that I get the Final Draft email newsletters and one of them came as something of a shock to me. It was headed by a photograph as a memorial to someone who had died. First I noticed the year of birth and thought, 'Oh, dear.' Then I saw the name. Now, there was something familiar about that – and then it hit me: I had been reading (nay, using almost as a bible) this gentleman's book, Save the Cat! This is a superb book for learning about screenwriting and story structure. I'd like to thank Blake Snyder for his wit, his wisdom and advice. Thanks, Blake.

Writing on Notting Hill

It's the last day of July and I'm preparing next week's assignment for UCF.

So far it has been an interesting ride, despite my having come across much of this stuff when I was a member of the AOL Writers' Club around 10 years ago. Of course, in those days they used to speak in broad - almost mysterious - terms about the structure of screenplays without actually filling in any details for us. I think we were supposed to find out the hard way. Well now, thanks to the 'Writing Structure' part of this MA course, all the blanks can be filled in and I am grateful for that.

Last night my "current wife" and I watched Notting Hill, for the first time in widescreen; we hadn't seen it for around 8 years. Marvellous. Superb. The structure is brilliantly executed and it is so excellently put together. And I like happy endings, so there.

Just as a matter of interest - and speaking of Richard Curtis - last week I was speaking with the actress, Jill Freud. She has a number of claims to fame including her running of a theatre company since 1980. Then there's her famous husband, Sir Clement (who died this year); her great-father-in-law, Sigmund Freud; her daughter, Emma (tv presenter); her son-in-law (who has written the odd script or three including Notting Hill and Four Weddings and a Funeral); her niece the author, Esther Freud; her brother-in-law, the artist Lucien Freud; and the fact that C.S. Lewis based the character of Lucy in the Narnia chronicles on Jill. Phew! She didn't mention any of this, of course; she is far too unassuming, impressed me greatly and is a legend in her own right. Not bad for 82 - in fact, she's marvellous.

Many years ago, Jill (now Lady Freud) also did the voice-over for the very first television programme I can remember watching: it was one of Gerry Anderson's first puppet shows, Torchy the Battery Boy.

Scripting away...

The dedicated scriptwriting course seems to be going well, even though I am now on my own: it's just me and the tutor.

The title of this post sounds like I'm manufacturing scripts for all and sundry like some story conveyer belt; well, I'm not. At the moment (week 3) we are dealing with the basics of story-lining, which I had guessed would be necessary.

I need to be thinking about the area I want to write about; I'm tempted by comedy-drama, which would echo the success I had with my 10-year magazine stint. But whilst doing the Writing Tools and Writing Structure courses at the beginning of this MA, I have had some success with writing serious stuff, so who knows what I'll choose?

Beatboard

When I was looking into how they story-lined episodes of Star Trek at Paramount in the late 1990s I learned they used a wall-full of dry-wipe boards on which they wrote every "beat" for the episode being worked on.

Well, here's my single board. Although it can't be completed with a keyboard and mouse-clicks, it has the advantage of getting you away from the PC and gives some much-needed exercise.

First block done

That’s it – the first study block at UCF is completed and the pace has been relentless: two 4000-word portfolios, two 1500-word critical rationales, the bibliographies – oh, and not forgetting the binding. And the envelope... and the extortionate cost of postage.

So there it is; all done. I suppose four-and-a-half months isn’t too bad for getting 40 credit points (always assuming I have passed) when, studying part-time with the Open University (the acknowledged expert in distance-learning), it takes around nine months to get 60 points. When you put it like that I suppose it has been worth the late nights and all the other stuff that can go wrong.

Now it’s time to decide in which area we will specialise; I have chosen scriptwriting. Why? Partly because book sales are down and the number of new manuscripts waiting to be published is up. With a growing number of satellite and freeview channels there will always be room for new drama on television and if it’s possible to cut a deal for royalty payments for every broadcast then overall it should be a better way of earning a living than writing a book. Once a novel is out of print (and some publishers tend to shove books in for remainder even before the ink has dried) that’s it: finished; a novel can end up with a ridiculously short lifespan and authors tend not to get paid royalties on remaindered copies, whereas a television programme can be regularly aired twenty or more years down the line (e.g. episodes of Shoestring and Bergerac), each time producing a payment for the writer.

All this makes me sound as though I’m writing only for the money, doesn’t it? Well, I’m not. But maybe I should be...

The other 2 covers

Here are the covers for the other Leo Walmsley books.

The original painting for Angler's Moon is oil on canvas, whereas acrylic on 140 lbs paper was used for Foreigners. Both of these were published in 2008

Phantom wanderings

The MA course is still commanding more of my time than is healthy, but now that the end of the first study block is in sight - and there's the promise of specialising from June onwards - the heavy workload facing all 17 of us over the next 7 weeks will seem worth the torment, I'm sure.

In the meantime, the latest Leo Walmsley book has been ordered from the printer, having "signed off" the proofs, as they say. All the work involved in publishing has had to be slotted in with other tasks and the UCF work. It's no wonder the car is dirty!

Set in the late 1920s, the novel Phantom Lobster is the story of one man's dream to make lobster fishing safer and more profitable for the inshore fishermen. Above is the cover using another of my paintings.