‘There is no conspiracy to keep good writers out of the industry’. This was a quote from TV exec John Yorke that really resonated with me at the weekend during the Writing TV masterclass we ran with Pilar Alessandra. It’s actually a quote from Poldark screenwriter and LSF speaker this year Debbie Horsfield that John […]
Adrian, a new LSF Team recruit looked at me with concern… ‘When you said we will firewalk I thought you were speaking metaphorically…’ The penny dropped as a LARGE crate of shattered glass spilled onto floor. Before we firewalked, we were going to ‘glasswalk’!!! He looked at me in sheer terror – should he stay […]
I just recorded a terrific podcast with actress turned screenwriter, Cera Rose Pickering, an LSF veteran of three festivals and in for her fourth in October. You can listen to it on the main page of www.LSFConnect.com now. Over the past three festivals, Cera has managed to secure herself an agent (via a post LSF […]
Environment is EVERYTHING. No-one wants to really confront this, but it’s really simple. We become the five people we hang out with. And these five people may well be the biggest five reasons your career is not going where you thought it would be going when you began your journey. Uncomfortable, I know. Don’t get […]
Robert McKee remains one of the most influential voices in storytelling training, and having had lunch with him and his wife numerous times, it’s easy to see why. He knows his shit. Seriously, I usually turn up for lunch, sit down and just listen to a master as he shares his most recent discoveries. After […]
Yesterday I had the great privilege of interviewing the legendary Roger Corman onstage at the Great American Pitchfest. Aside from a few microphone niggles, it was a splendid conversation with a man who for me was a kind of grandfather to my career. I wanted the conversation to be about ‘now and tomorrow’, to offer […]
This session was shot at the London Screenwriters’ Festival which is now become the biggest event of its kind, for writers and filmmakers alike. What are the main outcomes of attending? Meeting loads of new collaborators and like minded folk. Getting a MASSIVE creative shot in the arm by being around creative and dedicated people […]
This year at the London Screenwriters Festival we ran a new initiative called The Actors Table Read. The idea was to take a sequence of three to five pages and workshop it with actors, a director and the writer. We ran nearly 100 sessions and the feedback was actually better than five out of five […]
I am super excited that Olivia Williams has agreed to come and talk at the London Screenwriters’ Festival this year. I thought I would share this interview I did with her, from the Guerilla Filmmakers Handbook ahead of our chat at the festival (below). I just got off the phone with her and she told […]
Find the emotional truth at the heart of your story and hold onto it Ripley protecting Newt in ‘Aliens’, Chief Brody afraid of the water, and by extension, the shark in ‘Jaws’, the King needing to overcome a speech impediment in ‘The Kings Speech’. All of these things ‘we get’ and can connect with on […]
If you meet the ONE person who changes everything, attending the screenwriters’ festival will have been worth it. Every year I consider why it’s so important to come to the London Screenwriters Festival for screenwriters, filmmakers and other creatives. I have written posts on why you should come, what benefits you will see, how much […]
It’s not just about the amazing people at the front of the room, it’s about you and the people you are sat next to. You will see a lot of people smiling at the London Screenwriters’ Festival and it’s not just because of the great sessions… I recently got a Tweet about the London Screenwriters’ […]
A friend recently posted an interesting question, ‘does it really matter if people do not see your work?’ The main thrust being (and I paraphrase) ‘in the act of creating art, is an audience important? Does in fact longing for an audience impact on creative integrity negatively?’ I have never seen myself as an artist. […]
As I followed Hit Girl and The Mother F****r down a corridor at the absurdly opulent Claridges Hotel in London, I had to smile to myself at the surreality of this moment – I had been granted a short audience during a break in their non stop press junket, to chat with Jeff Wadlow, writer […]
https://vimeo.com/31537915 As The World’s End is now playing in cinemas, I though I would share a cracking session we recorded with Edgar at the London Screenwriters Festival last year. It was delivered to a crammed room and the atmosphere was electric! Podcast version (downloadable below) Onwards and upwards! Chris Jones My movies www.LivingSpiritGroup.com My Facebook […]
It’s easy to write off Sylvester Stallone as an action movie star playing one dimensional characters. But that would be a mistake. In his long career he has won BAFTA and Oscar nominations for screenwriting, written and directed a diverse range of movies, and delivered staggering commercial successes. In this interview, he shows that he […]
With Stuart Hazeldine After trawling my archives, I discovered this cracking recording I made with screenwriter Stuart Hazeldine about working in LA, but living in the UK. It was held at Ealing Studios in 2009, just before his first feature film EXAM went into production. He candidly shared his experiences giving detailed roadmaps you can […]
Thank you for this unforgettable time and life-changing experience. It was magical! Valeriya Ordinartseva, Screenwriter (Winner of LSF PitchFest Best Concept Prize 2012) The London Screenwriters’ Festival offers UK screenwriters more opportunities and inspiration over 3 days than BAFTA and BFI do in a year. Sure, it’s exhausting, but in a good way – like […]
Pitching Thursday has now become a ‘thing’ at the festival – an extra day of Pitch training to get our delegates to prep them for the Pitchfest. This year, alongside Charlie Harris, we flew over pitching rock star Pilar Alessandra to kick everyone into high octane, top gear! We asked all our delegates if they […]
It isn’t grit or physical prowess that gives the feminine her heroic stature; it is her courageous ability to descend into the dark, forbidding places that lie within each of us in order to retrieve our essence. Strong stories aren’t masculine or feminine, they are a balance of both and understanding how to engage the […]
News that Aaron Sorkin is back in the saddle (The Newsroom ,this summer – trailer above) did give me a little bit of a heart flutter because for me at least, the best writing in drama is now in TV. I suspect this is largely down to the fact that long form TV drama can […]
In this short three minute clip from his one hour seminar at the London Screenwriters’ Festival, Rowan Joffe succinctly explains the power, value and use of a pitch above and beyond ‘selling your story’. I heard this session when it was being edited and what he says really chimes in with my own experience in […]
‘A good kick in the conventions…!’ Pete Dodd, Director This weekend we ran the 2 day 21st Century Screenwriter Masterclass with Linda Aronson. Nearly 200 screenwriters and filmmakers crammed into Tuke Hall at Regents College to listen in awe at an extraordinarily detailed seminar on contemporary screenwriting. The delegates said it best… ‘What worked 50 […]
https://vimeo.com/31804243 This weekend I am hosting a two day advanced screenwriters masterclass with Linda Aronson, The 21st Century Screenwriter. I am particularly excited about this as Linda was our top speaker at this years festival, and for once, I can actually sit in the audience and get all the good stuff that everyone else is […]
Screenwriters Slogans For The Wall… by Alexander MacKendrick © The Estate of Alexander Mackendrick www.alexandermackendrick.com At the London Screenwriters’ Festival, Paul Cronin delivered a terrific session on Alexander Mackendrick and the preverbal language of cinema. Paul also sent me some scans (above) of the aphorisms Mackendrick had stuck to his wall when he taught […]
