SWF2009 Part 4: Screenwriter as Diplomat

 

Simon Beaufoy, the screenwriter of The Full Monty (1997) and Slumdog Millionaire (2008) and Peter Bloore – an academic, consultant, screenwriter and director – talked about the relationship between the screenwriter and “the others” (director, producer, financiers, etc.) during the development of a screenplay.

Going to a script meeting?

In the earlier stages of his career, Beaufoy often lost control over his screenplay, which went on to go through smaller and bigger changes in the hands of whoever and often with dire consequences. Such as Blow Dry (2001) with Alan Rickman – a film reported to be terrible – that Beaufoy has never seen. Beaufoy found himself constantly being defensive, “protecting” his work, so that it wouldn’t get “ruined” by the others, it was like always wearing a helmet to a meeting, but he started becoming more flexible over time and learned to get over the anger.

SWF2009 Part 3: Iannucci and Loader

This is part 3 of the Cheltenham Screenwriters’ Festival series.

Writer-director Armando Iannucci and producer/Festival Chairman Kevin Loader talk about the script development and filming process of In the Loop.

In the Loop is written by:
Armando Iannucci
Jesse Armstrong
Simon Blackwell
Tony Roche
Ian Martin (the swearing consultant)

“Well, his briefing notes were written in alphabetti spaghetti. When I left, I nearly tripped up over his fucking umbilical cord.”  (Malcolm Tucker)

The story was born out of the real-life dysfunction that haunts politicians and government offices on both sides of the pond. The middle-management type of life behind the scenes where everything is done in silence and without questions, the serious flaws in internal communication, or the incident with Jack Straw who said in an interview that the invasion of Iran is “inconceivable”, or how politicians return from a big international meeting to deal with something trivial (like a wall). Iannucci spent time in Washington and in the White House, where he sneaked in with a random ID card pretending to attend a meeting. He met politicians and journalists, asking “boring” questions like what

FSE: The European Screenwriters Manifesto

Support the campaign by attaching your name here!

——————————————————————————————————————————–

THE EUROPEAN SCREENWRITERS MANIFESTO

Stories are at the heart of humanity and are the repository of our diverse cultural heritage. They are told, retold and reinterpreted for new times by storytellers. Screenwriters are the storytellers of our time.

European writing talent should be trusted, encouraged and supported. The European film industries need to find ways to attract and keep its screenwriters in the cinema and in their craft.

We assert that:

•  The screenwriter is an author of the film, a primary creator of the audiovisual work.

•  The indiscriminate use of the possessory credit is unacceptable.

•  The moral rights of the screenwriter, especially the right to maintain the integrity of a work and to protect it from any distortion or misuse should be inalienable and should be fully honored in practice.

•  The screenwriter should receive fair payment for every form of exploitation of his work.

•  As author the screenwriter should be entitled to an involvement in the production process as well as in the promotion of the film and to be compensated for such work. As author he or she should be named in any publication accordingly, including festival catalogues, TV listing magazines and reviews.

Cheltenham SWF 2009 Part 2

Notes from the Cheltenham Screenwriters’ Festival 2009.

In this post:
Janice Day – Making a Living as a Writer
Janice Day and Caroline Ferguson – Networking
Rob Kraitt and Kate Leys – How To Be Better

——————————————————————————————————————————–

MAKING A LIVING AS A WRITER

Janice Day

with Janice Day

What stops you from becoming a successful writer? You don’t have an Agent? Your lack self-discipline? Talent? Writer’s block? Fear of failure? Janice Day says it could be fear of success. For example, you might be afraid of stalkers or people recognising you in the street… Whatever it is, you need to get over your negative thinking.

The Class: Life After wins main prize at Cinema Tous Ecrans

The 7-part TV drama The Class: Life After has won the main prize Reflet d’Or for the best series at the Cinema Tous Ecrans festival in Switzerland.

It’s the first time an Estonian TV series has been accepted into an international competition. It competed with 15 other shows from Finland, France, UK, Canada, Denmark, Brazil and US.

The first two episodes of the series were screened at the festival. Due to the economic climate and despite cutting the 12-part series down to 7, the production had to halt early last spring after filming had been completed on only four episodes. At the moment the production has resumed and filming will start early next year. The 5th episode was written in spring and it’s now in pre-production while I’m writing the last two episodes. The series will air on Estonian TV in autumn 2010.

The Class: Life After is a follow-up to the feature film The Class (not the French one) and deals with the aftermath of a school shooting. Each one-hour episode focuses on a different character who survived or witnessed the tragic event. There are kids from the class, their parents, the class teacher, a boy who survived the shooting, and finally, one of the culprits in the very last episode.

The series is produced by Gerda Kordemets (Estonian Public Broadcasting and European Broadcasting Union) and directed by Ilmar Raag, Gerda Kordemets, Liina Paakspuu, Priit Valkna and Marek Miil.

More:

EBU on the award:
“The jury for the International Series, Collections & Long Dramas was particularly impressed by the series and wanted to reward it, along with more than 10 others, “for its structure and its extremely ambitious subject matter, together with the incredibly realistic script and acting.”
Eurovision Fiction congratulates ERR, Gerda Kordemets and Ilmar Raag and thanks them for providing the world of European fiction with ambitious programmes of such high quality.”

Chris Jones @SWF2009

The Writer’s Journey.

Chris Jones inverviewed by SWF2009 resident vlogger Tom Williams.

I’m not sure but I think it’s me dangling in the background at the beginning of the clip…  That would be my first sneaky appearance on youtube. :)