Two of my scripts - PIA and PIGPEN just got into Round Two of the Page 2011 Awards! There were nearly 4,500 scripts entered so it's fantastic news .
Also just back from teh Galway Film Fleadh and Fair where I had an hour's consultation on PIGPEN with Gill Dennis (veteran screenwriter of Walk The Line, the Johnny Cash movie; worked on Apocalypse Now etc) at the Galway Film Fleadh.
His first comment : "You've led a baaaaad life!"
It's a pretty violent script in parts! Be more worrying if the comment was about a fluffy flick!
Anyway, it was a great hour going through the script; good tangible comments that are easy to implement and I'm looking forward to the rewrite. In terms of my habit of packing action into paragraphs, he referenced Coppola on Apocalypse Now. Apparently, Coppola had kept the script short so it would look less expensive to make. Therefore you had:-
Bombs fall
The temple collapses.
How many weeks, he asked Coppola, do you think that will take to shoot?!
His screenwriting masterclass was great too. He has 12 questions he asks, primarily of himself and then of characters, which can not only provide the energy to give emotional power to a story but will provide you with your character arc for every project, be it a series or a feature script...
Full blog on those questions once I've followed up on all my meetings at the Fair but it was a good week - starting when one producer said they could give me 2 million !!
