Monday 25 April 2011

The Dust Settles and New Work Beckons...

The script was finished on time and submitted. There is always room to grow and improve but I'm happy with it and have had some good preliminary feedback from my tutor - just awaiting the proper marks now. The show is called The Bright Lights and is a half hour drama pilot about an underground music scene. I've started firing it off to producers and agents and will do so some more once I get a few clear days.

The last week also saw me submit my final academic essay for the MA, which was enjoyable but hard going. It's been a massive relief to reach the end of the taught part of the course. It's been a great experience but two years of working 6 day weeks by studying alongside a full time job has taken it's toll and it'll be nice to live at a better pace for a while.

The course isn't done yet - just the classes section. I now have just over 3 months to write my final project: episode one of a two part 90 minute TV story. I'll also have to write a treatment for episode two. I've got 70% of the story worked out but have a lot of work in front of me and need to get cracking. I don't want to get into the specifics of the plot just yet but it's a tale I'm looking forward to telling. My last two projects were very domestic in scope and this is a lot more high-concept so it'll make a nice change and give me a chance to show off my range.

Before that however, I've had some interest from a producer about another TV idea so am taking the next two weeks to do some development work on that. It's an notion that's been ticking away at the back of my head for a few years now and in starting to write stuff down I'm realising I know my story better than I thought - which is exciting.

So as we move from Spring towards the Summer I'm facing a solid block of just writing away on my own, sorting ideas out and getting scripts done - which feels like bliss. I'll still be working my day job full time but I won't have the pressure of uni hand-ins. Trying to break into screenwriting is hard work and you have to really love it in order to maintain the amount of energy and enthusiasm needed. It's tough going but there really isn't anything I'd rather be doing :)