Ciao for now

Well, we have moved flat (almost completely!) and this will be my last day with internet access at home for the next wee while. We did book a cable installation appointment with Virgin for Monday, but they appear to have ignored our application so I doubt that will happen. Anyway, no blogging for a little while.

Should force me to procrastinate less, and concentrate on my feature. I've been dreading it slightly, at the same time as really looking forward to getting started. Weird, I know.


I am going to try my best to post a 25 word pitch and 150 word premise for Lucy's alternative 25 words or less competition if I can gather my thoughts enough. Fingers crossed...

Commiserations to those of you who did not make it to the BBC Screen Academy: they obviously do not know a good thing when they see it. However, I admire you all for actually going in for it in the first place: I did not even do that. So well done anyway, and if you're going to try again next year then good luck.

Be back soon, and happy blogging and writing to you :)

I can has cheezeburger?

I am going to sound like an emo kid or some sort of net geek (which I am, a bit) but I wanted to do a post about Lolcats

Oh, how it makes me (and my boyfriend) laugh. I have subscribed to the feed on netvibes, and it cheers up my day, so it does. I've tried to explain it to people, and they normally just look at me like I'm mad. Photos of cats, bunnies, hamsters, etc, with weird newspeak style captions on them. Once you get into it, it's hilarious.

BBC Archive Trial - update

I found out about this at the weekend and completely forgot to blog about it.

I got through to be a participant of the BBC Archive Trial that I blogged about a couple of months ago.

It's quite cool so far. I've looked through all the programmes (radio and TV) they have on offer, and have made a page of my favourites. Hopefully next week when we have moved flat I will have a chance to sit down and watch them! I'm not sure how much I'm supposed to "reveal" about the trial, but I will say this: there are some gems on there. I'm looking forward to getting some retro TV viewing in!

BBC - New Talent - New Film Makers Awards

BBC - New Talent - New Film Makers: "BBC Three and New Talent are looking for scintillating, silly, side-splitting film shorts to inspire and entertain the BBC Three audience."

Could be interesting, if you are a writer/director!

EIFF Opening FIlm

EIFF Opening Film Announced - Hallam Foe

Nice to see a film set in Edinburgh opening the festival this year. I haven't seen it yet, but I might try to get tickets for the opening night.

The Edinburgh International Film Festival site launches on the 14th July: I'm looking forward to seeing what else will be on this year. Will hopefully be able to get a delegate pass for it...

Catch up

I had one of those blessed "good day" things yesterday.

The day started off well, with a much needed lie in. I went into town after and we started the process of getting a lease agreement for a lovely flat we want to rent. Uni beckoned after that, so I headed in for our afternoon workshop.

We had been told that our dreaded dossiers were waiting in the office for us to collect, and as regular readers will know I was NOT looking forward to getting the results of mine. However, I managed to do a lot better than I'd hoped, and achieved a D1 - distinction - on the thesis. Woo! There was no chance of me getting big headed about this, though, as David managed to get the highest mark that has been awarded in the Screen Academy so far for his. So well done, David. (shakes fist.)

After we'd stopped kowtowing at David's feet we picked ourselves up and began a workshop, of sorts. It was more of a chinwag and catch up, really, as most of us didn't have much ready to talk about. However it was nice to be back at uni and seeing people, and hopefully in a couple of weeks at the next meeting we will all be a bit more prepared.

I checked my results for the term today, and I'm quite happy with my progress so far. I didn't do quite as well in one of the modules as I'd hoped, but that's okay, I still did well enough. If this was an undergraduate course I'd be looking at a First, which is amazingly different from my first degree. It shows what a difference it can make when you actually enjoy what you're studying. Take note kids: don't do a degree you don't think you'll be interested in!

Anyway, I have a beer in front of me and I'm off to make some deeeeeeeeelicious vegan sushi for dinner. Yum yum yum.

Drama Prairie Dog

This is possibly the best thing on youtube.

Edinburgh International Book Festival

Booking is now open for the 2007 Edinburgh Book Festival.

As is the case each year, their server has been bombarded with requests and has gone down, but when it is back up and running here is the URL: http://www.edbookfest.co.uk/

I'm going to try and be sensible this year and save my money for the Film Festival, which is going to have a focus on writers this year and there is talk of some writerly events. However, there are some noteworthy events on at the Book Festival, as ever, which are pulling me in.

The charming Mr Ian Rankin seems to be doing several talks, and is himself interviewing Ruth Rendall. Margaret Atwood, Andrew Marr, Iain Banks, Alexander McCall Smith and Alan Bennett are all appearing in some form or another. I saw Margaret Atwood a couple of years ago and she was just fantastic, and I love Andrew Marr's current History of Modern Britain programme, so I'm tempted to get a ticket to see him too.

The usual "The Writing Business" and "Writing Workshop" events will be held most days, and there are some gems in there. A few that I'm interested in are really tempting me to go, such as "Marketing yourself as a writer", "How to manage your time as a writer", "writing and contracts", "fantasy writing", and "writing children's characters." I've been to loads of these events in the last few years now, and generally I've found them to be really motivating and useful. Personally the Writer's Workshop events seem more the kind of thing I'm looking for now, as they are more intimate and professional feeling than the Writer's Business, which are more talks with brief Q&A sessions at the end.

MJ has just posted details of the 2007 Interactive Festival, which I think I might attend as well. I'm interested in getting more interactive work, and it looks like there are some good events on there too.

Label Cloud for Blogger

I was going to write this in a comment but might as well do a whole post as I keep forgetting where I got this code from, and this will be a good way to remind myself and also to thank the people who actually made the code in the first place (ta).

I originally saw the label cloud code that Lianne used. I was going to try this but found another, simplified, version, on
http://widget-based.blogspot.com/2006/11/blogger-label-cloud.html

Works for me! Just two steps to the code, which makes for there being less chance of me erasing something in the CSS by mistake. Follow the instructions, then all you have to do is change the colours and font to whatever you want them to be. Wikipedia has a list of the RBG colours you need to set the min and max colours to.

Word to the wise: copy your template to notepad or something first in case you make a mistake. Also, if you're not sure about the colours just keep previewing the template and changing them until they look right.

I love Label Clouds! It's a shame it's not just standard on blogger. Wonder if it will be included after beta?

Surviving Film and Television

I went to the "Surviving Film and Television" workshop at the Traverse Theatre that I'd blogged about a wee while ago, which was run by Rona Munro.

It was a quick couple of hours, and a lot to take in, but Rona was a very engaging speaker and clearly knew her stuff. She is a multi-discipline writer, and so had lots of experience writing for the different mediums. Here are a few of the main points and advice she gave that I wanted to pass on:

• Make two lists. On the first list, write down the things you are absolutely passionate about. This could be personal experience - family, career, health - or interests - chocolate, birdwatching etc. On the second list, write down the films and television programmes that you really adore. See where the lists overlap - that's what you should be writing.
  
• Give your work status. Make sure that you set aside a place and time to work, make it special.
• If you can work cross discipline you are far more likely to make a living as a writer. Writing for radio, theatre, film and television can be done without diluting your voice.
  
• Similarly, a project is never dead unless you give up on it! If a project falls on its face in one medium, make it fly in another.
  
• Keep an eye on the courses which appear on the Raindance site. Rona says she has been to several, and has found them useful.
• Be responsible for your own vision, characters, story and passion for the script.

A sizeable chunk of the talk was given to the subject of Script Editors, and the writer's relationship with them. I found this quite interesting as at the moment my involvement with script editors has been both limited but also "nurturing" and positive, so probably not very realistic for the real world.

Rona talked about the difference in writing film or television, and she said a couple of things which are, when you think about it, really obvious, but which I rarely do think about.

• Television must be constantly engaging on an almost conversational level.
• Film should have less events, but the events should be bigger. Small movements can be massive on screen, as big images have a big impact.

Hope that's of interest. I will be trying the lists idea, for sure. It was well worth the entrance fee, and you know what - I think I might look into writing for the stage. I used to like it, back in my youth, and perhaps this is a good time to rekindle that...

Light by M. John Harrison

I'm having a wee holiday from university work just now - much needed - and have managed to fit in a bit of reading in my spare time. I just finished Light, the 2002 book by Michael John Harrison.

I've not read much Science Fiction of late, save a great book of Scottish Speculative Fiction called Nova Scotia late last year. Light was therefore a very different book to the others I've read recently, and although it was hard to get in to (I felt like calling the whole thing off after the first 30 pages or so) it was definitely worth reading.

The book charts the happenings of three separate characters, whose fates are all interwoven in some way. There's Michael Kearney, the 1999 scientist and serial killer, running from a strange creature that has haunted him for most of his life. 500 years later is the story of the girl Seria Mau, who is in a symbiotic relationship with her k-ship spacecraft and cutoff from her former humanity. Then there's Ed Chianese, former daredevil pilot and junkie for VR style tanks, on the run.

As hard as it was to get into this book, I found it just as hard to put down. It's addictive. The prose within is quite something, and once you get into it can be really beautiful.

On the downside, the characters have no redeeming features, which can make it hard to identify with any of them. To be honest, they were almost interchangeable too, which could have been intended or not. Background characters weren't very well fleshed out, and many of the (plentiful) sex scenes in the book were just unnecessary and badly done. However, this could also have been intended - it's hard to see how a writer of such amazing prose could write anything without some deliberation. There are a couple of descriptions in the book which have lingered with me - particularly the gruesome process Seria Mau had to go through to become one with her ship.

I read the Amazon reviews of this, and the polarised opinions on the book are amazing! There are loads of reviews, and they seem weirdly balanced for people saying this was either the worst or best book they've ever read. I really enjoyed it, but not enough for it to be one of my best books ever. I will be buying the semi-sequel, Nova Swing, as soon as I have some free money, though.

What I find interesting about a book like this is trying to figure out how it could be adapted for the screen. Something with 3 strands, so carefully woven together on the page, would be difficult to write in script form. I'd probably cut out the Kearney strand altogether, and just focus on the 2 I found most interesting: those set in the future. I'd love to try adapting something as challenging as this one day.

Adrian Mead - Top Tips

I'm not going to do a massive post about the Long Distance Screenwriter workshop, as Lucy has already done that on her blog and it would be sheer folly to repeat most of that information here. However, I took down loads of random bullet point style tips that I thought I would put here. I like tips.

Here you go:

• Never say “I’m a new writer”. If you feel compelled to tell people, then say you are a writer first, then that you are seeking your first screen credit.
• Most people will not fail due to lack of talent, but because they are not trying hard enough or committing to it fully.
• NEVER copyright your work. Never make people sign a non-disclosure agreement. This reeks of amateurism, and will put people off. If you do well, your script will be read by dozens to hundreds of people - you have to trust that they will not steal it, and you can't make that many people sign something. (I'm going to add here that this is in direct contradiction to the advice given to the producers in my MA, but I'm gonna go with Adrian and co on this from now on)
  
• Being a professional writer is not going to happen if it’s just a hobby to you!
• Use Goal setting – if you set goals you will definitely achieve more than if you don’t… (this is why I made mine the other day)
  
• Put as many short films in for competitions you can – see Lianne’s blog.
• Be reliable, never miss deadlines. If you can, then treat writing for television as a normal job, work normal hours and use an overtime system on weeknights.
• Have a brilliant logline and a perfect one page pitch for everything you write.
• Buy the radio times every week to see what’s popular – and watch every single new drama on television.
  
• Make sure you are always ready with your next project

Best Keyword ever?

I'm not one to make idle claims to greatness, but I do believe that this blog has attracted a visitor with the longest (and possibly best) keyword string I've ever seen.
Are you ready for it?

"set in edinburgh scottish director guy dead but doesnt know it and is visited by a ghost"

I know what they were looking for: if you're not afraid of spoilers then click here to see.

I love looking at my stats. I use Google Analytics, and appear to have developed a near perverse interest in seeing how people find me. Google is the main referrer, although you other lovely bloggers do pass people my way very often - especially David.

I particularly like looking at the keywords people use - although I'm finding that my most popular keyword at the moment is for the Wedding Belles Soundtrack. I have to say, this has prompted me to do some searching online, and a soundtrack album has not been released. I can't even find a list of the songs on it: if I do, I will post it here, though.

Does anyone else check their stats like this? I hope I am not alone...

Goals

I've set myself some goals for the next three months, as per the advice given by Adrian Mead. I think they are all perfectly reasonable, and I WILL be doing them.

It's strange though, breaking down the year and assigning tasks to each quarter. I know where I want to be, so I just need a plan to get there.

I've grown into a person who enjoys setting New Year resolutions (never used to like them so I'm not sure where this came from!) but splitting my vague but firm "be a professional writer" wish into sections seems far more logical.

My goals for the next three months include:

• write several 1,5 and 10 minute scripts
• write single page proposals for the scripts in my portfolio
• practice pitching
• practice writing loglines

See? They all seem reasonable. I've left out the things I will be doing whether in my goal list or not, such as "write a feature film" - something I will be doing for university anyway.

I've not had my PC on for the last few days at home, so I have much to catch up on just now. I got my assignment results back for our Writing for Interactive class - my first D3. Very happy with that, as we were told at the start of the year that it's the highest result they give out (despite the grading system going up to D5). Seems like many people in the class did well, so we can all give ourselves big pats on the back! Still not had the result back for my 30 minute script, which is now the one I'm really keen on getting. I am a bit scared of getting the result for my dossier. (It feels as scary as if I'm waiting for the results of my high school exams for this one.)

I am going to work on Uni things this afternoon - as well as trying to find an attractive 1 or 2 bedroom flat in Edinburgh for the end of the month. I must also type up notes from Adrian Mead, which I didn't get a chance to do at the weekend.

Blink

I must stop posting my random opinions on this series, but we just watched Blink - last night's episode of Doctor Who, which was written by Steven Moffat and directed to great effect by Hettie Macdonald.

Oh, my. This really scared me. I found myself trying not to blink, trying to keep one eye open at a time, and trying to hold my eyes open with my fingers. Asking myself strange questions like I would if I were a child. How long can I go without blinking? If you wink, does it count? Etc.

A wonderful episode. I don't even know what to say about it, except that everyone should watch it. If I had been 11 I would have been TERRIFIED, to say the least. The ending would have given me nightmares for weeks.

(It probably still will.)

The BBC site has the short story that this episode was based on.

It's episodes like the last few that keep me a fan of Doctor Who. Such terrific writing, great actors, spot on directing, coherent producing and, let's not forget the rest of the crew. I was watching it and applauding the design and execution of the Angels. How did they make the statues? How many were there? What were they made of? They were amazing.

I was expecting a sort of "filler" episode after the great stories of the last couple of weeks, so this was really a nice surprise. Both my brother and dad recommended it to me today, so I know I'm not alone.

Adrian Mead: The Long Distance Screenwriter

I went to Adrian Mead's workshop in Edinburgh yesterday - it was fantastic.

Got to meet the lovely Lucy, who I lost in the pub, as well as a number of other nice writers. It's funny that every person I talked to knew someone else that I knew. I guess i've been to enough classes and met enough people for that to start happening, but it's actually lovely to feel part of some sort of community!

I will definitely be any more of these classes that are held. It was really inspiring: I am desperate to start writing today. I'm off to see my lovely grandparents for a little while this afternoon, but when I get back I am going to set myself some GOALS.

I have yet to type up the extensive notes that I took, but I wanted to pass on the main piece of advice I took from the end of the day:

If you want to make this work then work hard - harder than you've ever had to work before. Write down every idea that you have and don't give in!

Contemplating the summer

I'm feeling odd at the moment. I think it's because the final stretch of the MA lies in front of me, rather enticing but scary nonetheless. I have 3 months to conceive of and write my feature, which would be plenty of time if I wasn't working too. I haven't come up with a synopsis of any kind yet, although I'm clear on the characters, genre, setting and basic plot elements, so it should be alright when I actually force myself to write it.

We went to see Mahabharata at the Edinburgh Festival Theatre on Tuesday, which was really good and quite unlike anything I'd seen at the theatre before. It was a musical and (Kathak) dance interpretation of the epic poem of ancient India, and was quite a visual treat. Stunning colours, really interesting choreography and a fascinating blend of languages on stage. I found the style of it quite different, as there was a lot of talking to the audience and static positions being held on stage. Some people were in poses for up to 10 minutes without moving, while movement went on around them. Worth seeing, if you get the chance.

I can't believe I left Doctor Who from my list yesterday. How very strange. But you know, I don't think I'd take anything off to put that on. Maybe Red Dwarf, but then when I was a teenager RD was my favourite programme, so maybe not. I think its because it was off the television for most of my life, so it wasn't something I was seeing on television and getting excited about for a long time. I would rate it as one of my favourite things on television now, but to be honest I haven't seen any episode that was "before my time", as it were, and I haven't seen repeats of any of the Doctor's I really remember. Sylvester McCoy was "my" Doctor. I remember thinking Ace was so cool with all her badges...

Anyway, I must start thinking about the summer project. I must.

Biff's Question Song

My Science Fiction post reminded me of this fantastic song.

Whether you've heard it before or not, enjoy!

Science Fiction film and television

The debate over on Lucy's Blog about the phrasing of Sci-Fi vs SF got me thinking about my favourite Science Fiction films and television programmes. I have many.

My dad is a big Science Fiction and Fantasy fan, and when I grew up I basically devoured the same books as he did. I watched the same films as he did, and enjoyed the same television (you get where this is going). Anyway, my love of the genre in general has never diminished, and I just wanted to post something about each of the Science Fiction screenworks which has been a favourite of mine.

I am finding it hard to put this in order of preference so I'm going alphabetically. It's a mix of TV and Films, and I'm being devilish by including film series in there too. I hope it's not too much of a ramble. I've just re-read and it seems more like an anecdotal list than anything, but there we go. I've been writing it for ages: I'm not changing it now!


Alien Films
Love the Alien films. I particularly like Alien and Aliens, and have done since my early teens. I remember watching Aliens when I was about 10 with a friend who was so scared that she kept screaming and hiding under the covers. I love that each of the Alien films is so different from the others, that they are all quite different subgenres within Science Fiction, and that the characters vary so nicely from one to the next. As a fan of the gothic I obviously like the imagery within as well. Plus Michael Biehn is in Aliens, and he's a hottie.

Back to the Future Trilogy
No list would be complete without this magnificent trilogy! Love them to bits. My favourite is the first in the trilogy, but I remember seeing the second and third in the cinema so they're quite special to me as well. I've always loved the films, and I never tire of watching them. The comedy is pitched perfectly, the drama is used to good effect, and the Science Fiction elements are nicely rooted in the technology of the times. I love Biff: I think Tom Wilson is a very funny man.

Battlestar Galactica
The new, uber version, about to start its fourth and final series. I love this programme so much. The quality of writing is just fantastic, and it's one of the best things that's been on television in ages. Love it. I know several people who are not "fans" of Science Fiction, but who enjoy this programme. Watch it while it's still fresh and unfinished.

I did have a thing for Dirk Benedict when I was young, so the original series still has some value :)

E.T.
You know, I didn't see this when I was a youngling, and all around me were in love with it. I watched it for the first time on Red Nose Day 1990, aged 12, in English class. I choked back the tears while dressed as a giant red nose, stuffing dairy milk in my mouth to stop myself from making any noise (I'd won a fancy dress competition = prize of chocolate). I still love it. Henry Thomas (Elliott) was just the most amazing child actor I've ever seen.

Firefly/Serenity
Woo! Firefly. Can't talk about modern Science Fiction without talking about this baby. I'm a huge Buffy fan, and I was so glad when Firefly turned out to be as amazing as it was. I loved Serenity in the cinema, but would rather another season of the show than another film. (I say this like it might happen!) It's another programme with exceptionally good writing on it: the characters are diverse and compelling to get to know, the universe is well defined, and the stories within are just fantastic. Love it, love it. If you like it, then have a look at Nathan Fillion's myspace page.

The Matrix
I'm going against my "sequels are included" rule for this one, as the Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions are amongst the worst films I've ever seen at the cinema (they got me very angry). The first film was a revelation on the big screen as an adult, and I still love watching it. It just seemed perfect for the time it came out, and really different to other stuff I was watching then. I'm less convinced of it's greatness after the sequels, but that caution is always dispelled when I watch it. Great stuff, always exciting.

Red Dwarf
I loved the first 5 or 6 series of Red Dwarf, so much. I remember my Mum (not a science fiction fan!) watching it when it first started on television, and she loved it too. I even had the "Let's get out there and tw*t it" t-shirt, although the naughty word and bad things written on the back of it were meaningless to my innocent self. I haven't actually seen Red Dwarf in ages, but I think it might be worth investing in at some point. I stopped watching with the release of the unfunny 7th series, but I still laugh when I think about some of the earlier episodes.

Star Trek: The Next Generation
Yep, I'm a Star Trek fan. I've singled out TNG because it's my personal favourite, although I love TOS and DS9 as well, and watched the other series too. I particularly like TNG from series 3 onwards, my favourite storylines typically involving the Borg. Favourite Star Trek film is First Contact - what can rival a Gothic Queen?? I will watch anything starring Patrick Stewart, anyway, he's just one of my favourite actors ever. I want to shake that man's hand and then luvvie kiss his shiny head. I sometimes read Wil Wheaton's blog now too.

Star Wars: Original Trilogy
Yeah! As mentioned before, I am a fan of these films. I don't know if anyone saw the Sky Movies list recently, but they did a poll and the Star Wars Trilogy came out as the top film amongst men and second top for women (behind Dirty Dancing!). It was nice watching the untainted version the other night for the first time in years. Did I ever mention that I worked in the Star Wars exhibition when it was in Edinburgh? It was great fun. I'd been working as an accountant before it started, but an advert in the List magazine which featured a large C3P0 asking for staff called to me... It seemed the perfect way to force myself to have a fun job for 6 months, so I went for it. Great fun, walking past Chief Chirpa and Yoda all the time. Back to topic: yes Star Wars is great. As a child Star Wars was my favourite, as an adult it's the fabulous Empire Strikes Back. Not keen on the new trilogy, although I obviously have them on DVD, so this mention is for the original trilogy alone.

Terminator
We inexplicably had to study Terminator for English Higher, and since then I've just adored the first film. It was the first time that I'd concentrated on the meaning of the visuals, tone, style etc in a film, and so it's always interesting to watch - as well as being just plain awesome. Plus we get to watch Michael Biehn again. I love Terminator 2 as well, but it's so different from the first. It was a really fun film to watch when it came out, and the "John Conner" character was about the same age as me so it was nice in that respect too. I'm interested to see the upcoming "Sarah Connor Chronicles" - I wonder what they will be like?



My favourites of those which have been missed out for lack of space/time/motivation

Invasion of the Body Snatchers - 1956 version, of course. 1978 one scares me too much.
Starship Troopers - "You see a bug hole, NUKE IT!"
Silent Running - I love the look and the atmosphere of this. Saw it first when I was tiny.
Logan's Run - the SEXIEST movie ever made!

Lashings and lashings of ginger beer

Well, that's the research dossier all done and dusted - finally. I feel like I can relax a bit, and don't have this guilty weight hanging over me.

it's been a crazy old week. I must have slept about 6 hours total from Sunday to Friday, as I just lay awake worrying about things. I am SO relieved to be finished - and thankfully have slept a lot this weekend!

Yesterday I treated myself to a day of no computer, work or stress. We went for a walk into town, I bought myself a couple of cheap albums (Aerial and a Northern Soul compilation), a book (Dracula) and the Star Wars trilogy. I've been putting off buying Star Wars because I already have them and to buy them on DVD again just because they include the original trilogy (free of GC nonsense) seemed a bit decadent. They were on sale though, so I just went for broke and bought them. We watched Star Wars last night - along with Doctor Who, Andrew Marr's History of Great Britain (I am LOVING this) and QI. We know how to rock a Saturday evening.

Mustn't get too relaxed, however, for I still have lots of work to do. Tasks for today include:

• Reading the docs Adrian Mead just sent for his class next Sat
• Fleshing out a premise from my research for The Big Project
  
• Catching up on emails, blogs etc
• Arranging uni notes into files (I'm really bad at this)
  
• Watching the Empire Strikes Back (maybe)
• Avoid playing on Facebook (I'm obsessed with it: why?)

There we go.

I don't really know why I named this post the way I did. Perhaps I feel I deserve some sort of jolly good treat.

Paul Cornell Made Me Cry

It's true, he did.

He didn't poke me in the eye with a stick or anything, rather he wrote another rather fabulous episode of Doctor Who last night - The Family of Blood.

From the point in the Cartwright's house, when Smith had to choose between his two possible lives onwards, I was on the verge of tears. However, when we got to see little Tim as an old man - well, that was it. I properly sobbed. Dearie me.

Amazing performances from the cast, notably David Tennant. The way he switched from being Smith to the Doctor was utterly convincing, and the scenes towards the end with he and Jessica Hynes were just wonderful.

A good job by everyone involved, methinks.