When I started scriptwriting 10 years ago, the only outlets for scriptwriters were the major TV & film companies, competitions, minor cash-strapped production companies and cumbersome commissioning processes.   With the advent of digital media I took the initiative to produce my own work.  I set up spoken word entertainment website listenupnorth.com as a showcase for my own radio plays performed by local actors and for other writers’ recorded work.

Recently I have added film to the content and I want to share with you the experience of making a pilot episode of my webdrama, Celia, a to-mirror monologue of a middle-aged woman and a mid-life crisis and how I aim to bring it to a more mature audience and fund it.

Writing

If you want to make a film from virtually no resources then you have to factor this at the writing stage.  To strip away a reliance on lots of different scene changes, a cast of thousands and endless props will focus your mind on what the story really is about. For this reason, I chose to set the entire story of Celia in her bedroom, where with each episode we could view a different snapshot of her journey.

If the short film you are making is to be shown via You-tube, you also have to consider length (max 15 mins) per episode.

Collaboration

Writing is a solitary occupation but to achieve your objectives you have to leave your comfort zone, get out there and network. I met Shirley, camera, co-director and editor after gaining a place on a Creative Entrepreneur scheme at a local business school.  Penny, the actor, I met at a local theatre when she was performing one of the monologues written by the theatre writing group of which I was part.

Both Shirley and Penny brought so much to the production that I alone could never have achieved.  Shirley’s idea to use two cameras for Celia’s monologue – one to the side for addressing the audience, the other as if through a mirror for her private thoughts. Penny really developed the character, gave her a dimension beyond the page with mannerisms, subtext and body language.

Both agreed to work for free with the agreement that any profit made after expenses would be shared.  They also signed rights over to me so that effectively I became the producer of the work and would be able to promote and show it. I recommend that all agreements are made in writing at the start of working together to avoid any misunderstanding.

Funding

The pilot was funded with goodwill, my housekeeping money and the hope that it might attract sponsorship.  During the preparation, filming and editing, we kept a record of all expenses and time spent to use as a guide when planning a budget for the remaining episodes. I am now looking for funding by advertisers placing their logo on my film. I am going through a process of identifying potential companies who may be interested, initially for the pilot and then for subsequent episodes.  Potential for product placement will also be explored.

Again, a writer must be prepared to be out of their comfort zone.  There have been a few rejections so far and I am working my way through a list, starting with local businesses who may wish to target my audience.

Publicity

Social media is now used by an older demographic but there is very little online entertainment aimed at this group, which I hope to attract to my webdrama, Celia.  Prior to this I am raising awareness through the release of Celia – The Trailer available to view through listenupnorth.com.

I am also planning a tour of local film clubs operating mostly from village halls, which would help me to reach a wider audience who do not necessarily use social media and also to gauge reaction to the film.  To do this I will need to obtain certification of the film from each local council where the film will appear or a single coverage from the bbfc which may prove costly.

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Journalists

Full-time journalists can expect to earn a living wage, averaging around £24,000 a year. For a discussion of how salaries may increase over your career visit the Graduate Prospects website. Freelance journalists are likely to earn considerably less and £12,000 a year or below is fairly common (although higher earners do exist). However, what you lose in money you gain in time and freedom. For details of what freelance journalists in the UK can earn, please visit the National Union of Journalists website. Be aware however that employers are not compelled to pay these fees and that smaller media companies, where you are likely to get your first paying work, frequently pay less.

Prose writers

For more creative writing  the average annual earnings from writing alone is around £5,000. This includes average royalties from published novels and PLR fees (a small percentage you get when someone takes your book out of the library) and fees for published short stories. Most writers have to supplement their earnings with other jobs. The most common include teaching, lecturing and leading creative writing workshops. But any job will do as long as it is flexible and gives you time to write. A friend of mine has just taken on a job as a dish washer in a cafe’ while he finishes his novel. Another writer I know is a street sweeper. He says the early morning rides on his sweeping machine give him lots of creative thinking time. For a realistic overview of what creative writers can earn, visit the careers advice website. If the thought of earning so little from your writing horrifies you, then perhaps this is not the right career for you. Most creative writers write because they love to and getting paid is simply a bonus.

Scriptwriters

Writing for stage, radio, TV and film can potentially bring in more money than prose writing, but professional commissions are few and far between and it is very hard to get your first break. Earnings start at around £6,000 for a full-length stage play (which could take you quite a few years to write, get commissioned, developed and produced) up to around £40,000 for a full-length feature film script that actually gets produced (you only get the full fee if the film gets finished; many don’t). This fee is for feature films with a total budget of over £2 million. Films with a budget of less than that will pay less to the writer. For further details of agreed rates for scriptwriters, see the Writers’ Guild website. Again, most scriptwriters have to take on additional work to keep them above the bread line.

Poets

I have never tried to earn money from my poetry. The reasons are two-fold: firstly, I don’t write enough poetry to make it a serious career choice and secondly, because I know that it’s the most poorly paid of all writing ‘jobs’. Even more than prose writers, poets do it for the love of words not the love of money. Many poetry presses simply give the poet some books to sell themselves.  For a discussion on poetry and pay visit Empty Mirror Books. Poets can earn a little by giving workshops and entering competitions for cash prizes. But the poetry itself, even if published, earns them next to nothing.

Self-publishing

I can guarantee that as soon as I publish this post I will be inundated with adverts and comments about people earning mega-bucks from self-publishing their own books or co-publishing (splitting the cost of production with the publisher). This is not as wonderful as it sounds and while a few people may make the big time, most people do not. For a fuller discussion of this topic, check out the pros and cons of co-publishing.

For a very interesting discussion around what writers earn that attracted writers from all over the web and a bit of a bun fight visit Can you earn money as a writer?

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140 new films from 18 countries will be competing in 8 categories:  Long Form, International, Newcomer, Short Film, Documentary, Animation, Music Video and Broadcast Design. The Official Competition Screenings will be held at The Institute of Contemporary Arts in central London.  The Awards Ceremony will be held on Thursday 30th July 2009.

Enemy Lines will be screened on Thursday 23 July (6.30pm , Cinema 1; Saturday 25 July (9pm, Cinema 2) and Wednesday 29 July (9pm, Cinema 1). 

Other films to be screened at the festival include Sadie Frost’s Directorial Debut, Danny Boyles End Credit Sequence for Slumdog Millionaire, actors such as Michael Bryne (Gangs of New York), Juliet Stevenson (Bend It Like Beckham), Nick Nolte (Hotel Rwanda, 48 Hours), Connie Fischer (Sound Of Music), Russel Tovey (Being Human), Chris Hehir (Green Street), Danny Cunningham (24 Hour Party People), Jack O’Connell (This is England), comedians such as Adam Buxton Lulu McClatchy and Alexei Sayle, and music videos from McFly to Royskopp, Will Young to Goldfrapp, Coldplay and U2 and many more.

Having grown dramatically every year since its inauguration in 1998, this year’s festival runs over 10 days and offers a wide range of events including the Opening Night Premiere ‘The Calling’, BAFTA Short Filmmakers Market, seminars, panel discussions, guest screening programmes, receptions and exhibitions held in 15 different venues in Soho district.

All events and full booking details can be found on their website:  www.sohoshorts.com.

I’ll be going down for the Wednesday screening and will be meeting up with my director, Michael Steel. Please let me know if you’re going to any of the screenings.

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Phil is a producer and freelance development consultant whose clients include Aardman Animation (Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit) and The Mob (Terry Pratchett’s Hogfather). He is the founder and Course Director of the MA in Screenwriting, at London College of Communication, University of the Arts, London.

About The Art and Science of Screenwriting

The Art and Science of Screenwriting is a fairly dense text and quite ‘academic’ in tone. But don’t let that put you off.  If you’re an absolute beginner, this book might not be for you, but if you’ve penned a screenplay or two and are ready to redraft them, it will be very useful. Although he does discuss short film and documentary, his main focus is the dramatic feature.

Although initially confusing, I found his presentation of what he refers to as the ‘creative matrix’ extremely useful in understanding the interplay of genre, style, form, plot, story and theme.  It has helped me look at my current feature script in a new light, and I’m reworking it accordingly. 

His chapters on ‘from stories to themes’, ‘revealing form and plot’ and ‘explorations of genre and style’  helped me to see what kind of film I was developing and how to identify which areas needed to be strengthened, particularly with regard to characters embodying a theme.

His discussion of rhythm and tempo (within and between scenes) was very useful, as were his tips for troubleshooting problematic structures. This is a book that will help you to see what is working in your screenplay, what isn’t and why. But what it won’t do is the rewrite, that’s still up to you.

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Alex Kinsey is a 28 year old actor and director. Acting work has included short films, TV dramas, commercials and theatre work. He wrote, directed and produced his first short film ‘Smile’ – a strange tale of a sinister meeting in the ‘Get Carter’ car park in Gateshead. Alex directed the short film ‘Maybe One Day’ through the Stingers scheme in 2008. Another recent short film he wrote and directed, ‘The Other Woman’, can be seen on Northern Film and Media’s website.

A director’s experience

I was offered the opportunity to direct a 5-minute short film through the Northern Film & Media (the UK Film Council’s North East screen agency) Stingers film scheme. Craig Rutherford’s script ‘Bus Stop’ had been selected but had no director attached. Having previously directed my own film script with funding from NFM, I was very keen to do more and while the script was not the sort of thing I would write myself, I was pleased to have the chance to direct another professionally produced short.

I was lucky to be working with two young and talented people: my producer, Jack Tarling, and the writer, Craig, who were both enthusiastic about creating a film we could all be pleased with.

Script development

The process started with a number of meetings to discuss all aspects of the production. Craig and I developed the script and made some changes to the order of scenes to create a final version that we would plan to shoot – as Craig himself said, it helped to have a fresh pair of eyes on the script to make sure the story is told effectively.

Once we had a version of the script we were happy with we submitted it to NFM for sign-off and we made some slight changes based on their suggestions. This was where a continuing dialogue with the writer was essential. At this stage my producer and I wracked our brains trying to create a solution to an issue that the Film Council raised about the story. We sent it back to Craig and he wrote in some new developments which we used to tweak the script. By now the film had become a collaboration between the three of us, writer, producer and director – and with the additional input of my editor, Nick Light, I am sure this is one of the reasons why the film was a success.

Period choices

The film is about a widowed old lady who finds a line of poetry grafittied onto her local bus stop. It emerges that the poem is one written by a lover of hers from the past and he has come back to find her, decades later. I had an idea of it being a war-time romance and due to the timings this would mean in the present day the lady would be in her 80s. So I suggested the idea of setting the film in the 1970s. This would mean so many extra complications and effort but the producer and the writer both liked the idea and we set about finding a location (houses, street and a bus stop) that could pass as being in the 70s.

Pre-production

The pre-production went on for about three months, which included finding all crew and cast – which is difficult when the budget is so tiny and there are so many people needed. Making a film can take over your life, but unfortunately it won’t pay for it – so we were all having to fit it around our other jobs. Having my producer on speed dial became essential for the number of phone calls that are needed!

I was introduced to two wonderful artists who helped create the props, costumes and set-dressing – Molly Barrett and Kate Eccles. It was the first time they had worked on a film but their enthusiasm, dedication and artistic talent contributed to the film immeasurably.

A collaborative vision

It was only the second film I’d directed, so I still learned a huge amount and if I was to make the film again there is a lot I would do differently, but the Film Council seemed very happy with the finished film and we received favourable comments from the audience at the screening in Newcastle.

Making a short film is a great experience, but I don’t think I would ever be precious about controlling all aspects myself. I liked working with the writer, the producer and my editor, listening to their suggestions and putting together a piece that was created by a number of people rather than simply one person’s vision.

Recommended reading

To find out more about the art of digital filmmaking, check out Digital Film-making by Mike Figgis.

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TCW: When and where did you get your first professional staging?

JH: My first production was “A Little Crazy”, at the 2002 Orlando International Fringe Festival.

TCW: How long had you been writing plays before this?

JH: This was my first play. In the fall of 2000 I was told by Canadian author Douglas Coupland (“Generation X”) to leave the short fiction field and write plays. It took about a year to write, produce and get this play in front of a paying audience in response to that advice.

TCW: What made this script a success?

JH: At that point I didn’t have any unsuccessful scripts (or any others at all) … in fact I can say that with only two short exceptions every play I’ve written (ten to date, with way too many more in progress) has been produced somewhere. I make my living as a writer, so for me the concept of “unsuccessful” simply means it hasn’t been seen by the right person yet – I never give up.

TCW: When did you first submit work to UK theatres and when and where was your first staging?

JH: “Crazy” had a reading in 2001 by Eyewitness Theatre in Manchester; my first full production was “A God in Aspect” in 2004 from the Charade Drama Group in Bristol.

TCW: Have you ever written anything with a specifically British audience in mind?

JH: No. I did have to amend “God” for some British cultural references at the request of the director.

TCW: In your experience, how do British and American audiences differ?

JH: UK audiences actually get “smart” (not a reference to the dreadful movie out now). They read, they’re willing to come along for the ride, regardless of where you take them; they’re willing to climb two flights of stairs to see a reading of something they’ve never heard of in someone’s flat. American audiences like safe and familiar.

TCW: In your opinion, are American theatres open to British writers and vice versa?

JH: I don’t really have an answer for that. I certainly enjoy British writers …

TCW: What are your three top playwrighting tips?

JH: Only 3?

1. Listen. Go to a park, sit in a diner late at night, ride a bus. Listen to people talking, learn the rhythms of real speech.
2. Listen. Read your script out loud, at every opportunity. Begin the day by starting from Page One and reading it out loud. Make cuts, changes, read it again. Aloud.
3. Listen. Buy a bottle of wine and invite some friends over to read your script, cold. They don’t have to be actors, but that’s nice too. Pay particular attention to mistakes they make, words that get transposed or left out. Odds are, that’s the way it’s supposed to be.
4. (I couldn’t resist) DO IT YOURSELF. Buy another bottle of wine, invite a lot of friends over, and stage a reading. Rent a hall, convince a restaurant it would be a great use of their empty back room, talk to your neighborhood librarian, get a space, invite people, DO IT. You’ll never know if a script works until you hear how an audience reacts.

TCW: Can you recommend any websites, online resources or books for playwrights?

JH: Cough cough, all you’d ever need to know can be found at The Burry Man Writers’ Center, the resource website my partner, Jennifer, and I have run since 1997; freelance jobs, fiction markets, tools for building a website, where to find an agent, what books to read, and submission details for several hundred theaters willing to look at new scripts. Ten thousand people visit us each month, which, considering it is a website solely for writers and we don’t advertise anywhere, is pretty good. Last year we started a social network for creatives (writers, musicians, artists) called Inked-In which just welcomed its 397th member.

TCW: Is there anything else you would like to share with The Crafty Writer?

JH: Between The Burry Man and Inked-In, I get dozens of letters every day from working, would-be, wanna-be and won’t-be writers, and I tell them all the same thing … Do The Work. Nobody is going to knock on your door and ask for a script, you’re not going to be “discovered”. Theaters aren’t going to open their stage to you if you haven’t sent them the best possible piece you can write, and that doesn’t come easy. Do The Work.

TCW: And thanks for Doing The Work here, Joseph!

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Live Theatre is a 160-seat theatre located on the Quayside in Newcastle upon Tyne. Following extensive renovations in 2007 the theatre also boasts a small studio space and extensive writers’ facilities. It specialises in new plays and has produced the work of Lee Hall, Peter Flannery, Alan Plater, Julia Darling, Sean O’Brien, Karen Laws, Peter Straughan and Joe Harbot, among many others. Its New Writing department offers a reading service and various development and writer education initiatives as well as hosting writers’ groups, a bi-annual New Writing Festival and multi-platform projects with partners from other theatres, radio, film and television companies.

TCW: Are theatres in the UK actively seeking new writing?

JH: Yes, because writing is the life blood of a few organisations, Live Theatre included.

TCW: Is it true that regional theatres like Live will only commission ‘regionally themed’ pieces?

JH: No, it is not necessarily true but there usually has to be some local angle: i.e. that the writer is from, or based, in the North East. Generally the play has to have some relevance to the theatre’s constituency but that doesn’t mean it has to be literally set here or thematically tied down.

TCW: What is a commissioning director looking for in a new play?

JH: Originality of voice, technical skill, plausibility and relevance to its audience.

TCW: Are there any themes, genre or styles that a new writer should steer away from?

JH: I would hesitate to put a limitation on any writer’s work. As a small producing theatre we would struggle to find resources to mount a first-time unknown writer’s work if it is too large a scale – i.e. if it needs more than four or five actors. However it would be delightful to have to break that generalisation: to do so the work would have to be of an extremely high standard.

TCW: Would you advise a new writer to work on ’shorts’ or one-acts before attempting a full-length play?

JH: Yes I would. Writing a full length play has so many technical demands that it seems that the best way to ‘graduate’ towards that is by exploring character and theme and dialogue in a more controlled way. You learn by doing it, so the more completed work you produce, the more you can learn. There is a great deal to be said for a high turnover at the early crucial stages in your career.

TCW: What is the current ‘market’ for shorts and one-acts?

JH: I don’t think there is a market in the fiscal sense as such. It is hard enough earning a living from full-length plays. The virtues of short form pieces are what you as a writer can learn from them.

TCW: Let’s say a new writer catches your eye, what process takes place after that?

JH: A meeting/conversation trying to understand what makes them tick, whether this material is a one-off, whether the writer has the art and ambition to create some worthy work and how they and the theatre might benefit from a development process, and what the nature of that development process should be.

TCW: In your experience, are new writers aware of how collaborative the process of taking a script from concept to stage can be?

JH: They become aware in the natural course of events. A lot of new writers have fun learning that the nature of the process is essentially collaborative and after the loneliness of writing the thing in the first place, that is often a great relief.

TCW: Could you explain the role of a dramaturg to Crafty Writer readers?

JH: Not really, as I don’t quite understand it myself. I think Dramaturg is a common role in the European theatre and as I understand it there is a great deal of work done between the dramaturg and the writer before a director gets involved. The British tradition that Live Theatre embodies – and that I first encountered working at The Royal Court – is much more based around a literary manager in the first instance and then a two-way relationship between director and writer. Whenever I have worked with a dramaturg I found that my role with the writer was confused by having another person in the mix. But that was only once and on a brief week-long workshop.

When it comes to ‘dramaturgy’ on any of the productions I’ve worked on I have brokered that relationship with the writer myself and it has involved giving perspective to the writer by trying to reflect back to them what they have actually written as well as offering suggestions as to how to improve the delivery of what I understand to be their vision.

TCW: What is the role of the director in shaping a new script?

JH: It depends from director to director I suppose, but my philosophy is basically outlined by the previous answer. It is important to state however that these roles and relationships are different every time, depending on several factors including the personalities involved and how they mesh, the state that the script is in, the contribution of the producers or the artistic director of the producing theatre. I know that some directors are very authorial, and some are laissez faire; it all depends on the particularities of the project in hand.

But in short: the role is highly significant, and I would encourage all writers to make the choice of their director very carefully. Any good theatre will give you the right of veto over the director – trust your instinct as you will have to work extremely closely with this person.

TCW: How useful might a playwrighting group like Live Writer’s be to a new writer?

JH: It might be very useful if the writer chooses to make it so.

(TCW: As a member of Live Writer’s I can tell you that the benefits of joining a group attached to a New Writing theatre are that you regularly have an opportunity to submit scripts for staged readings with professional actors and directors which, if you’re any good, will get your work noticed. Collaboratively, you and your peers can spur one another on. You can also see shows and discuss them with fellow writers. So contact your nearest New Writing theatre and find out if they run a group).

TCW: Could you recommend some online resources for new writers of theatre?

JH: We are developing an on-line course at Live Theatre. Other resources I’ve found useful are:

• www.royalcourttheatre.com is great for education resources, interviews with writers and podcasts and things.
• www.vcu.edu/arts/playwriting has free Playwriting Seminars, which are an easy way to start thinking about playwriting.
• Writernet is good for opportunities and critiques.

TCW: Is there anything else you would like to share with The Crafty Writer?

JH: The best tip I can give you is to read and see as many plays as you can. Read Chekhov, Ibsen, Williams, Pinter, Churchill. Then, after that, the next most important thing is to simply write. As Hemingway said: “The first draft of everything is shit.” Just concentrate on finishing it and then at least it exists and you have something to make better. It might take you years but keep going: even the most successful and seemingly brilliant writers struggle to stay sane, so if it’s important to you, keep that faith.

TCW: Thanks Jeremy, we appreciate you taking time out to speak with us.

Books on Playwrighting:

Jeremy recommends: Black Snow by Mikhail Bulgakov is an occasionally comic novel about a first time writer working at a thinly fictionalised version of the Moscow Art Theatre. It is a very amusing warning to all would-be playwrights.

The Crafty Writer recommends: The Crafty Art of Playmaking by Alan Ayckbourn, The Art and Craft of Playwriting by Jeffrey Hatcher, The Playwright’s Guidebook by Stuart Spencer and Stage Writing by Val Taylor. The Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook also has some excellent resources for playwrights.

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