Contest Update

It’s one week since Jane Eden’s Script was declared winner of the Screenwriting Goldmine contest.

I emailed her and asked her to comment on what had been going on since then.

This is what she said.

I looked at the screen and I saw my name and the name of my film – and I just went quiet. And in that silence, it felt like everything was changing. What other people thought of my writing. What I thought of my writing. What could happen next.

Next day, I felt like I was entering a new world. And I was. One where the door was open. Throughout the day, Phil sent me introductions to industry people who wanted to get a meeting in the diary with me – agents and production companies. I couldn’t keep up with his e-mails. It didn’t feel real. Still doesn’t. Not quite yet. To have been read by all these industry people is just an incredible thing to happen. It’s hard to get read at all. To get read by so many people all at once, well, I’m not sure that happens anywhere else? Put it this way, if this was a writer’s version of Monopoly, then I’ve just been handed a golden chance card: advance to the possibility of really doing this…

One week on and I’ve met three agents – great meetings with great people. All really warm and positive. And I’ve just met with my first production company – well, an actual person – as a result of the competition. It was a brilliant meeting. I’ve found someone I’d really like to work with. Emphasis on “with.” I can see how collaborative developing original ideas is, and it feels exciting to have that possibility ahead of me.

The unexpected. My confidence has gone up. I’ve gone from that questioning state of ‘could I ever really do this?’ to ‘here’s my chance, bloody go for it!!’ A light’s gone on in my brain. My imagination is suddenly buzzing with ideas and characters and fragments of stories. It’s up to me now to work hard and make something happen. And I’m feeling focused and energized enough to do that.

I’ll keep you posted. I really want to share with other writers what happens next, because I’m amazed at the possibilities that have opened up in just one week. I entered the competition to get a Script Report, to see if my writer’s radar was working – Si Spencer wrote it and it gave me exactly what I needed. That alone was worth entering for. But for all this to happen, it’s simply extraordinary. Thank you!

Thanks Jane. I’m absolutely delighted this is happening for you!

Read more about the five finalist scripts, and the contest in general.

If you’re interested in having your own Si Spencer script report, go here.

Writers Guild Awards 2013

You might remember that I’m currently deep in pre-production as I script-edit series 3 of the CBBC show The Dumping Ground.

I want to send congratulations to Ellie Brewer for last night’s Writers Guild Award for her script “What Would Gus Want” for “The Dumping Ground”…

And congratulations to Emma Reeves for her nomination for the same award for, you guessed it, another “Dumping Ground” script called “The Truth Is Out There”.

So. Two out of the three Childrens’ TV nominations from the Writers Guild this year go to “The Dumping Ground”, and it also has two separate nominations in the Childrens’ BAFTA Awards. Nothing to do with me, as this is for their work on Series 1, but it just goes to show the show clearly gets something right. (And sets the bar pretty high too!) Well done all involved!