Category Archives: BLOG

Round Up Of 2020

Happy New Year to you all!

I actually started a blog on confidence & what happens to it when it goes. Like seriously, where DOES it go???
But I honestly lost confidence in it. Which sounds silly but is actually true. I feel like I lost a bit of confidence as 2020 started winding down. Its a mix of reasons really. But rather than concentrate on that I thought I’d focus on a different track.

I’ve been very fortunate (I don’t use the word luck) to have 2 successful arts council applications be successful this year, with one I’m just about to embark on.
But in terms of writing for this year, I’ve done a number of (mostly writing) courses, including –

Feature writing – Jan
TV writing – March
Incubator course – July
Limited series July / sept
1 month private mentorship on limited series Sept / Oct
Ultimate Writers toolkit – April
Voice lessons – for memoir reading – May
Manager class – May
UK TV writing – May
Pitch prep – Aug
Marketing intensive for writers – October
Authors on ramp – November
Start something new Nov / Dec
Consult wedding comedy Feb
Consult 1st 15 Connected Dec
Rewrite class – Oct
Sitcom writing – Oct / Nov
Free playwriting class (Danc) – Nov

Bloody hell! That’s a lot of writing, or you’d think. Most but not all the courses were through Roadmap Writers, based in LA, and obviously the one thing I had deal with was the time difference from the US to the UK. I wrote two screenplays up until end of July, both original spec TV pilots. After that, I kind of ran out of steam a little. Call it lockdown syndrome, call it whatever, I’m not sure why. But I’ve tried since then to keep on track. I’m rewriting the outline for my feature script, but also I shouldn’t forget what else I’ve done this year. My focus switched, somewhat unexpectedly, after I did the Ultimate Writers toolkit course, where I learnt how to market myself and my script to industry, including managers and agents.

In August I did Pitch Prep, again with Roadmap, and I learnt how to write and develop pitches for my screenplays, and I actually pitched to a couple of US based managers as part of the training.

I took a month of in September (sort of) because the time difference was catching up with me. But then in October I signed up to the Marketing Intensive, which is where I took everything I learned in Pitch Prep and writers toolkit. I researched managers and agents, and as part of the training, I pitched to 5 industry execs of my choice. I had pretty good feedback, with one of the execs requesting the script at the end of November.

It’s been really good, and I’ve gone from simply reading the screen, which is all I could do, and with lots of practice, recording myself pitching as if I was on zoom talking to someone, the outcomes have been very good. I don’t want to lose momentum with this, but it does get expensive. The other side of that is that it is really good value with Roadmap.

Now I need to make sure the new scripts for this year are industry ready before I move on. I really want to develop the other pitches for the rest of the scripts I have. And continue to build on that momentum.

A guy surrounded by paper

Playreading group – Script Tank

Last month I went to hear my new play read aloud in a play reading group I’ve just joined, called ScriptTank, who meet in Holborn. Whilst they’re  primarily a play reading group, they read a variety of different script formats.

I joined in a meeting at the beginning of autumn, where at the start of every term anyone can ask for their short script or an excerpt to be read, and generally they choose 3 or four shorts a night. Each person there gives feedback, and the writer is not allowed to respond until all the feedback has been given.

Hearing your script is vital for writers, whether or not you plan on making something yourself. It allows you to hear it as it would be performed, and you can hear first hand whether your dialogue is working or not.

I always record a script read, and the feedback, so that I can listen to it at a later date, when I’m ready to rewrite. But I also make brief notes when I’m listening. One of the good points about hearing your script is that it allows you to hear actually how long your scenes are. One note I wrote was ‘lots of explanation’. As I was thinking plays are dialogue driven, which they are, you can also be visual, although I’ve been confused with this type of feedback for plays recently.

I think ultimately, as one of the writers who gave feedback said, it’s about putting the action ON STAGE, rather than having the characters talk about it. They can still be dynamic when characters talk about things, but it helps if there’s ACTION involved.

The type of feedback I got varied, but it was pretty positive as I came away with a lot to work on. The over all subject of the play was discussed, as well as the characters and their own arcs, or journeys. The group was also concerned that stories with characters having mental health issues should be portrayed in a positive light. Whilst this is true, it’s also true that they do end up doing bad things in life, and making wrong choices, like everyone else. So I’m not too worried about this as long as it makes sense story wise.

Another interesting comment was that people were visualising 6 different plays. This is partly because this draft covered a lot of issues, but also  because even when we see plays in the theatre, it’s such an individual thing and we watch with our own interpretation of the world going on in the back of our minds, based on our own experiences. I think that’s why writing can be so subjective.

The most practical advice I got, which I think can be applied to all writing, is delete every other line of dialogue in long conversations. Now obviously it has to make sense, but you really can say things with less words.

The play reading came in at just over an hour, which was a bit of a surprise for a 45 page script, but it shouldn’t have been based on my other play writing experience. So I’ll put this play away now for a couple of weeks, and then get back onto the rewrites.

Funding update

Gary finally completed his latest arts council application.

This his first application for new writing, ‘Performance from writing 1.’

Gary’s last two applications to the arts council to make The Dog & The Palace were successful with thanks to Christine Wilkinson and Producer Karen Gilchrist. Let’s hope 2013 is a good year for writing!

The Wrong Date – casting news

The Wrong Date

‘The Wrong Date’ is a new short film by writer / director Gary Thomas.

Steve (The Groom) – Martin Laurence

Sharon (The Bride) – Andrea Vasiliou

Andrea has appeared as ‘Young Catwoman’ in The Dark Knight Rises, as well as numerous short films.

Marin Laurence recently appeared in ‘Art House Massacre’, as well as producing.

The horror feature won 2 awards at The British Horror Festival, for best music and best film.

Here we go…

My brain is all mushy right now and I don’t think I could be any more tired unless I was actually giving birth.
I’m not, so that’s fine.
Anyway, I’m this way because rather than JUST doing loads of prep for the film shoot on Wednesday & Thursday I also went to a comedy writing festival on Saturday and a producers talk on Sunday in London. I stayed overnight in a hotel in Finchley (of all places!) and I got to practice pitch my feature film script to two of the biggest names in indie film producing. Whilst I shall be thinking about the enormity of what happened over the weekend with the pitching thing (and the amount of information gained) for a while to come, I learnt loads, and realised it’s a lot about being prepared for opportunities.
And so I now have to put that aside for a moment while I get my mushy head around making a film for the next two days with a 9 year old actor. In Winchester.

All of this, as I’ve written about previously (I think!) has happened pretty fast, and because I’m on twitter (@2weddings, now 600+ followers, I thank you) I was able to get in touch with a casting agent (Leoni Kibbey) who did a great job (in about two weeks) of getting eight 9-12 year olds into audition for my film. Leoni did all the work so I sat there behind the desk with the producer and thought about whether any of them sound like the voices in my head. Thankfully one of them did, and he was unexpectedly very funny, so we cast him.
So I shall be on the 6.35(pm thank god!)  train heading to Winchester with friend who’s coming along to help.
I had a meeting yesterday and we went through the outline, which has made me feel much more calmer about what I’m doing, but ultimately I won’t know how it’ll be till I get there on the day.
I shall have people asking me all sorts of questions and trying to answer them as quickly as possible so we can get things done. I shall then be working with the actors and getting a really good performance out of them. One of whom I’ve worked with before, and one is a friend, so it actually shouldn’t be that bad. But I’m still panicking, and I will do until I get there.
Once I’m there though, It’ll be a timely reminder of why I do what I do, and why I’m always looking for opportunities to do it. It’ll happen again when I see the footage, and it’ll happen again when I get the money to finish the film. Nothing like listening to two independent film producers to convince you that you can do anything.

Pulling it all together…

Go Team Gary!
I didn’t write that, a friend put it at the end of an email & it does seem rather apt at the moment. You see, things are moving way faster than I could have imagined, and that’s what needs to happen right now because time is indeed of the essence.
How did this happen? I hear you cry. Even if you didn’t I’ll tell you anyway.
I asked a friend I’ve known for a relatively short time (Christine Wilkinson) if she would write an application to ACE for R&D funding. She said yes, and suggested a couple of other people I should work with, so got in touch with Jon Potter from Company Paradiso & the other one, Karen Gilchrist, I already knew.
And they both know others. Especially Karen, who’s pulling a lot of things together. So as we were successful in getting the R&D funding, suddenly we’re filming on 13 & 14th April.
I know a casting director from twitter, I got in touch with her & now she’s finding lord knows how many child actors to audition this Thursday in London (this is the one task I thought impossible!).
I know an actress to play the mother who I worked with in my last short film, I asked her to read the treatment & now she’s on board. I visited FilmLondon on Friday to chat to a friend who I haven’t seen in ages, & that was really useful & they’re going to send me location ideas & a list of venues that we need to think about to show the film.
So, its all coming together. Not slowly this time, but in the time we need to do it. Hooray!

Embracing ‘Interference’.

In 1 episode of Friends, when talking about plans, the girls talk about things being 'unfloopy' and Phoebe says she doesn't 'even have a 'pl'

I’ve recently subscribed to Chris Brogan’s blog posts email, useful information and suggestions for what to write about. The recent email is all about confidence, and suggests writing a post on where I’m headed, so here it is.

Er…. Who knows?

Really, I mean I think about where I’m heading a lot, and as much as I like having plans, things conspire to interfere. Now, sometimes what happens when ‘things’ interfere with plans is WAY more interesting than the original plan. And that’s what interests me the most.

There are some things that have happened that I could never really have planned. I think you just need to be prepared for those moments.

A good example is my recent success with Arts Council. I applied for Research and development funding for The Queen and My Little Doggy, and was successful. (Yay!)

So over the next few weeks, along with everything else I want to do, there will be a period of very intense work on my split screen installation film, which will form the basis of a major piece of work that will be completed by very early next year.

Will anything happen to interfere with that work? Of course it will.
Already two people who I want to work with are unavailable, so that means working with others, but thats just given me time to remember the others. So I have lots of choices to make, and need to find people who I want to collaborate with based on who they are and what they can do.

So with that in mind, the next month or so will be really interesting, I’ll be doing things that I’ve never done before (again) and working with some new people too. All very exciting, really.