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FAR AS THE CROW FLIES – Big Break Quarter Finalist
Read more: FAR AS THE CROW FLIES – Big Break Quarter FinalistI’m delighted to have made it through to the quarter-finals of the Big Break Competition with my Australian survival thriller / horror FAR AS THE CROW FLIES – available for read requests at artofcharts.com/screenplays Keeping fingers crossed for semi-finals in a month or so… The competition notes for this one were really useful – especially the revision suggestions. Must admit – when they called it ‘outstanding’, I was definitely hoping that’d translate into making the first cut! Some useful competition notes! I entered my latest thriller spec, FAR AS THE CROW FLIES in the Big Break competition – and because…
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The China Syndrome and unresolved tension
Read more: The China Syndrome and unresolved tensionReleased in 1979, THE CHINA SYNDROME is a slow burn of a thriller that follows Kimberly Wells (Jane Fonda as a T.V. news reporter eager to break out from the ‘feel-good’ stories that she’s been assigned and her roguishly charismatic loose-cannon of a cameraman (Michael Douglas) – as they and nuclear-plant shift-supervisor Jack Godell (Jack Lemmon) realise that something has gone very wrong at the Ventana nuclear power plant. The script’s written by Mike Grey and T.S. Cook – and a second draft (used here) is available at the excellent Script Hive (https://www.scripthive.com) Regulatory failure, cosy relationships between business and…
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Some useful competition notes!
Read more: Some useful competition notes!I entered my latest thriller spec, FAR AS THE CROW FLIES in the Big Break competition – and because I haven’t had it in many competitions yet, I paid for feedback. Competition feedback can be a mixed bag – but these ones had some gold in. What I look for in competition notes is primarily to get an understanding of the impression a reader got from a fairly quick, potentially harried and interrupted read at the end of a long day. I suspect that’s pretty close to what a script read by an overworked intern often gets (except, presumably, they…
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Out of the woods
Read more: Out of the woodsFinishing the first draft is disconcerting. For a hundred or so pages, you’ve been picking your way through the woods. Dropping breadcrumbs, fleeing bears, getting lost and retracing your steps. Realising that every side of the tree is mossy, and none of them are a reliable guide to North. Trying to find another way across the damn river. Staring down the precipitous bluff of the page 60s across to where you think page 75 or thereabouts should be, convinced that there’s no way there from here. For some writers, it helps to bring a map (this time I did, usually…
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Structure and Surprise
Read more: Structure and SurpriseI always had real trouble with music produced by Stock Aitken Waterman. You’ve probably heard their work. Hugely successful through the ’80s, they produced Kylie Minogue’s early tracks (the ‘I Should Be So Lucky’ era), Mel and Kim. And if you’ve ever been Rick-rolled… (You know where it goes) I was almost allergic to them. Not just an ‘Oh that again – change the station’, but a more visceral ‘Get that out of my ears NOW’ – as though someone were scraping fingernails down a blackboard. And I could hear them coming – if I heard a Stock Aitken Waterman…
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And the category is… Structure
Read more: And the category is… StructureIn screenwriting, we hear a lot about three act structure. There are different breakdowns – some writers talk about sequences – some writers have more acts – some writers have specific moments they try to hit at certain points in the screenplay. All is lost. The call is refused. Cats are saved. Use it if it’s useful to you. Don’t if it’s not. Though working out what’s useful and what’s not is easier said than done. But there are other places to find structure (aka a framework) for your story. And a lot of the time, the story’s subject will…
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Wilted Lilies Adaptation
Read more: Wilted Lilies AdaptationDelighted to announce that I’ve been commissioned by Tim Gordon (dir. BLOOD AND CIRCUMSTANCE) to adapt Kelli Owen’s novella Wilted Lilies into a psychological thriller feature. I’m really enjoying digging into the characters and working out how to bring them to the screen! Tim contacted me after reading my woman-in-peril/survival thriller DUST ON DIRT (available for production or as a sample – head over to my screenplays to request a read of that or one of my other scripts). I am available to work on original screenplays, adaptations and rewrites – so do get in contact!
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Spot the Pro
Read more: Spot the ProDelighted to have a page featured in an upcoming episode of Spot the Pro, Nathan Graham Davis’s series in which amateur screenwriters are pitted against professional screenwriters, with a panel of regulars and guests having to guess which page is which! Here’s the most recent episode: The series offers a wealth of screenwriting advice from seasoned pros about how to connect with readers and get them absorbed in your story world so they keep turning those pages.