A Screenwriting kind of way. #writers #festivals #competitions

Some of you might know I received a commendation for Best Unproduced Screenplay at the British Independent Film Festival last month. You can find the logline under awards on the BIFF website here

Yes, a fantastic achievement both as a writer and as a female writer. But this is where the work begins if the story is ever to be produced. But before I go on, let’s back up and start at the beginning when I didn’t know anything about writing a script. This recognition did not come overnight nor did it arrive without some serious learning and some hard work.

The first course I ever attended was the “Introduction to Screenwriting for Short Films” online and facilitated by James Franco. This course taught me about writing short films. From the beginning we learnt about the process of writing to the considerations of budget and production costs, but what I liked about this course was each writer could be critiqued by their class members and you could (if motivated and committed enough to stick with it) leave with a finished piece of work. We were given a choice of several source material on which we were to base our writing. This was the first time I had ever created something from the source material and I planned to create a modern-day adaption of a piece of writing by John Steinbeck.

Throughout the course, we were given steps to consider and explain. I’d also never formatted a script before so it was all done manually. Today I use a program called Final Draft. We were also writing to a time schedule so the work had to be done in time for critique.

STEP 1: SELECTING THE TEXT

I selected “The Pasters of Heaven V” for several reasons. This piece I immediately received mental visuals of as a possible screen adaption. Also because my mother was caring for my father with early onset dementia, so a carer’s perspective was clearly understood. Finally, because the support worker/counsellor in me understood this subject matter having psychological, physical and emotional stresses involved.

Excerpt from the source text: The Pastures of Heaven V – At this point, we selected a piece of the source text that we found the most powerful. You can find that on the project site here.

STEP 2: DRAFTING THE SCREENPLAY – Here we did a series of drafts. Producing each one and posting the work for our class to critique. We chatted online about possible idea changes from the observations of others who read the script. Some of my answers to feedback ideas and comments are below:

First draft – Third draft

I’ve stayed fairly loyal to the source text itself but modernised the material. The reason behind my decision to stay loyal to the text is because the source material has real relevance still today. I hope I’ve demonstrated the physical and emotional stresses and the physical and the emotional changes in the characters. I also wanted the beginning of the film to mirror the end, like two bookends supporting the story.

At present, it’s a page too long. I’ll refine wording in the second draft. Any suggestions for shortening the script will be most appreciated.

I’m trying to consider production costs which currently will have to be refined in the second draft.

This is as compressed as I can develop the script for a short film. I’ve tried to be mindful of production costs while keeping the electricity of the source text alive. I also wanted to remain loyal to the writer of the source.

Final Draft can be found by scrolling down the project page here.

This was the very best I could do for such a confronting but important topic from a source text that was first published in 1932. In my opinion that says something about the quality of the man, John Steinbeck.

STEP 3: WRITING YOUR LOGLINE

Logline. : In the Mirror of Herself.

Helen Van Deventer, a woman tainted by misfortune is resolved to care for her disabled and mentally ill daughter with tragic consequences.

After I completed that course I continued on to enrol in lots of different courses. I had a limited budget so I chose carefully, but each course taught me a little bit more about the craft. Then, I entered my first short film script into an international film contest.

2016 -Short film script titled “Foiled” was a finalist in The Good Dog! International Film Festival. #screenplay

Won 2016 Best Short Screenplay “Foiled” by @VacenTaylor Family-friendly comedy short film. Honoured to be part of The #GoodDogInternationalFilmFestival

Logline: Samson, a fawn great dane and Bella, a sleek black cat foil the plans of robbers on Halloween.

Between then and now there have been many scripts and many hours of learning the craft. I’m still learning! The latest of my work Grandfathers has just received the commendation from BIFF. If you were to ask me how many redrafts? I’d say over 10 under 20. The script is now entered in yet another competition to build on the work’s appeal and find a place for Grandfathers in the world of film.

I enjoy writing screenplays and comedy in particular. With a collaborative work written with my good friend Candice Lemon-Scott, we hope to introduce another Australian comedy to the festival scene. GO! A Country Life.

A little bit of advice if you are submitting to festivals around the world. Register your script with the WGAW just to be safe.