Everything is rewriting

There’s an old adage that all writing is rewriting, and I firmly believe that to be true. Through the process of directing my first short film, Little Brown Bird I’ve come to realise that everything is rewriting.

The obvious rewriting is the twenty or so versions of the script itself, which began life as something with far less substance than where we ended up. Taking on notes from writing mentors, my producer, and other writers I trust was the first part of the process. Much of that involved strengthening the central relationships and removing unnecessary dialogue and superfluous exposition. Each round of amends kickstarted new thought processes, and ways to strengthen things and make the story even better.

Then things shifted to the logistical, as the shoot became closer to reality, the casting, the location, the funding, and the amount of time we had to shoot, all these things lead to changes to the script. Some changes were very purposeful surgeon-like tweaks and others were very much happy accidents when I was backed into a corner with nowhere to turn. Some of my favourite aspects of the script, and in turn the film, were caused by restrictions and things I realised weren’t possible - necessity is the mother of invention.

Once we arrived at the location, me and our DoP Mark Nutkins had half a day to get used to the farm we were shooting at. We started to think about how to use the space, and what we wanted to do with the camera along with some initial staging and blocking conversations based on our shotlist. These conversations lead to rewrites and it was extremely cathartic to do those on set, looking around the real space rather than the version of it in my head (as our only location recce had been a virtual one). Seeing the farm encouraged me to trim back dialogue and lose some lines that we didn’t need thanks to how well the location worked for our film.

On the second day, and our first day of principal photography finally got to work with our lead actors in person at the location. A morning of staging and blocking conversations, discussions about intent and emotions and some all-important rehearsals helped shape the script even more. Once I saw the relationship between Dad (John Rhy-Davies) and Kate (Eliza Butterworth) played out before me, I knew that there would be looks, gestures, and touches between them that did far more than what was on the page. That led to more rewrites, honing some dialogue, making other lines work better for the three-dimensional characters I was seeing before me, and most importantly removing lines that weren’t 100% needed. This process carried on throughout our three-day shoot. Overnight I’d be rereading the next day’s pages in bed and deciding what could go and on-set I’d be giving notes that included changes to the dialogue as we moved between takes and scenes. As I became more confident about what we were making, more and more of the dialogue got stripped back.

The next round of rewrites happened in the edit, working with our editor Luke Andrews. His initial assembly cut had removed some lines of dialogue, to get out of scenes quicker or to allow the actors’ performances more room to breathe. As we went through new versions, and I gave my notes, we ended up cutting more lines, including some that had been my favourites during the writing process itself. Ultimately the script purely serves to inform the finished work and is not gospel, and in contrast some lines that felt throwaway on paper have become extremely important due to the shape of the edit and the power of the central performances from Eliza and John. Making this film has taught me a lot about directing, as it was my directorial debut, but it has taught me just as much about writing. The message I’ve taken away from this whole experience is that less is more, throw it all out there and then keep removing things until you have fulfilled your intention. Don’t be beholden to your own words, embrace change, enjoy collaboration and rejoice in something far greater than the sum of its parts.

We have locked the edit on Little Brown Bird and are partway through our colour grade and sound mix. Our score from composer Robert Reed was signed off on Friday, that also had a similar process to the script, paring things back, removing things, and honing the overall piece so that the intention and emotions were just how they needed to be.

Our film is being submitted to festivals in the coming weeks and there will also be a cast and crew screening, to include many of the people who backed our Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign. I’m very proud of Little Brown Bird and every rewrite has been part of that process, I can’t wait to share it with the world.

The Fierce and the Dead chat

I was lucky enough to be interviewed by guitarist Matt Stevens, from the band The Fierce and the Dead for their YouTube channel. It premiered yesterday.

We discuss comics, screenwriting, and music and you also get an exclusive reveal of what my next comics project is. It’s a childhood dream come true! Give it a watch and make sure you listen to The Fierce and the Dead and Matt’s solo work, they are great and have been the backdrop to many a writing session.

Do you have to show the Ordinary World?

As I work on my current screenplay I’ve been thinking a lot about the role of the ordinary world in film story structure. The old maxim that I’ve read in countless books and articles, and been told on various courses, is to use the first ten pages to present the protagonist’s ordinary world. 

This could be Kansas, Tatooine or The Shire presented in stark contrast to where the main characters have to go on their hero’s journey. That does feel important in mythical stories that revolve around a quest, as per Christopher Vogler’s Writer’s Journey and its inspiration Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a thousand faces. It can also be used as a way to show the calm before the storm, be that Amity Island or Kingston Falls prior to the status quo changing due to a killer shark or some post-transformation mogwai.

The story I’m working on relies on a character’s arrival with no precursor, which made me wonder if that’s something I can pull off. Two movies I watched recently made me think differently about the need for the ordinary world section of a script.  I rewatched In Bruges for the umpteenth time, it’s a masterwork and one of my all-time favourite movies. Writer/Director Martin McDonagh never shows us the ordinary world of our two hitmen. We start…well In Bruges.  And the film is all the more powerful as a result.

I also saw Hell or High Water for the first time recently and Taylor Sheridan’s Neo Western script doesn’t give us a glimpse of life prior to when the two brothers start to rob banks together. We sare thrown headlong into their first robbery at the start of the movie. In a way both these films treat their protagonists like forces of nature, they themselves are the catalyst for chaotic change.  Perhaps this is where the distinction lies. 

This week’s episode of the screenwriting podcast Scriptnotes talked about another well-trodden piece of advice - enter late, exit early. They mentioned how important this advice is to a screenwriter approaching scenes when they are starting out, but that with more experience you know when to ignore this for dramatic effect. I think the same case can be made regarding the need for an explicit ordinary world being shown on screen too.

It’s interesting to consider that in a story where the hero returns home at the end or where the outside force is removed from a place we never left, you need that reassuring opening to bookend the ending. The opening image and closing image of Blake Synder’s flawed, but interesting Save the Cat® approach.

In Bruges, Hell or High Water and the script I’m currently working on the lead character is more of an anti-hero and their ordinary world needs to be more oblique. Their journey isn’t aligned to the mythical approach to storytelling in the same way, so doesn’t need to rely on the same tropes. Perhaps with that in mind ignoring the instinct to show the ordinary world is the right thing to do after all. Time will tell.

Halfway through the month

January is usually a long month, but the fifteenth of this month crept up on me when I wasn’t looking. Here’s an update on how things have gone with my two challenges to kick off the year.

My plan to write 90 screenplay pages in 30 days hit a bump in the road a few days ago. By the 11th I was well on course, having written the 33 pages I needed to by that stage. Then I hit a bit of a wall, as I was working from a loose beat sheet I didn’t have anywhere to go when I was struggling. I was merely pushing the pieces around the board at that point, overwriting scenes and focussing far too much on the dialogue which was becoming increasingly verbose. So I gave myself a few days off, thinking that the deadline I’d given myself might not be realistic. Stepping away from the written word was actually very productive, while on a run this morning a key plot point fell into place. And by the final few kilometres, I was reworking existing scenes while the main characters spoke to one another in my head. This weekend, along with some rewrites to my short film script, I’ll be working on these changes but with less focus on the word count for now.

On the running front as of today, I’ve raised £810 for Mind, the mental health charity, and covered 35.4 miles of my 50-mile target. So after 50% of the days, I’ve done 70% of the running I need to do. I have a feeling now that running has become a form of writing that I might go a little over my intended target. So far so good, I’m looking forward to more running and writing in the next fifteen days.

2020 - the most unusual of years

Back at the start of the year when Covid-19 was first mentioned we had no idea how surreal the rest of 2020 would be. Outside of the trials and tribulations of a global pandemic, it was a good chance to take stock, prioritise, and reflect. I grew a beard, got to know my neighbours, took some virtual singing lessons, and got fitter with the help of a personal trainer! It’s also been an important year on the writing front, as I used the time to write more and to focus on my overall goals. Here’s a little round-up of a very productive twelve months.

The Screen

I’ve taken some huge leaps forward in 2020, largely thanks to the two mentors I was assigned this year. Through BAFTA Cymru’s Share Scheme I’ve been working with BAFTA-nominated TV writer Robert Evans and via ScreenSkills Mentoring Program I’ve been coached by script development consultant Mar Vila Barcelo. They’ve both given excellent notes on the various projects I’m working on and helped me to rebuild my confidence as a writer along the way.

Mentors Robert Evans and Mar Vila Barcelo

Short film - Shortest Day

As always I like to keep myself busy and I do my best work when I’m spinning multiple plates. Short film Shortest Day, an idea from just before lockdown started, has come on leaps and bounds since working with both mentors. I’ve also made the decision to direct it myself and I’m currently working with a producer to help make that a reality. More on this project early in 2021 as things start to take more shape.

In tandem with this, I’ve worked up a TV pilot and after completing a number of versions it almost feels ready to take out into the world.

I’ve also been working on a Feature Film script with my longtime collaborator Steve Aryan and we’ve reached around the halfway point of our first draft. I’ll be working on the next few scenes in the coming weeks before handing it back to Steve.

Comics

The companion comic to Robert Reed’s Cursus 123 430 album that I worked on with Matt Rooke was completed this year and came out recently to a very positive reaction.

Dave Clifford and I have continued working on our supernatural Western series Seven Shades through this difficult year. Issue 1 of our second season is complete and Dave is currently painting Issue 2, our seventh issue overall. If you’d like to catch up before the second season is launched you can get our first four issues here and our over-sized season bridging story Hell’s Belles here.

Flux, which I co-write with Steve Aryan hit a bump in the road this year. We completed Issue 2 and were set to launch our Kickstarter in March, just as the pandemic struck. With so much uncertainty around things, including how to post out issues, we’ve had to put things on hold. We should regroup in 2021 to come up with a new plan, hopefully.

In better news, I am currently working on a project for a Licensed Property that sits squarely on my bucket list. I can’t say much yet, but my plot has been approved by the editor and one of my favourite artists is collaborating with me on the strip. I’ll be scripting it fully over the festive period and there will be more to follow on this early in 2021.

In amongst all the negativity, uncertainty, and sadness that this year has brought into our lives, I’m pleased to have been able to get so much done. With a bit of luck and a prevailing wind, there should be lots of exciting things happening in the coming year.

Writing and not writing

I try to adhere to the ‘write something every day’ school of writing. Sometimes that’s driven by pure inspiration, sometimes by specific deadlines and on others by a ‘place your bum in the seat and get something done’ mentality. The last one has been a big part of my approach in 2020, for a variety of reasons including reading THE SUBTLE ART OF NOT GIVING A F*** book by Mark Mason. I’m glad I read that just before all this kicked off, that’s for sure.

Before CV-19 had such a big influence on our lives, I’d actually been very productive. Too productive in fact to actually remember to keep things updated here. Revisiting a few comics projects paid dividends and I have three mini-series pitches in with one publisher and one in with another. Some of these are co-written by my longtime collaborator Stephen Aryan and I’m hoping to hear about them all soon. I also finally took my horror screenplay idea and worked it up from the initial one page synopsis into a full twenty page treatment and sent that off to a producer to look at. One week into March I was on a writing roll with lots more planned for the coming months too, and then things changed.

There’s nothing like a global pandemic to knock your muse off course and to make you unable to get your head into the right place to get things moving. Things became overwhelming very quickly and the bit of my brain that comes up with ideas went into shutdown almost overnight. It wasn’t just due to mental space, physical space played a part too. My home office, where I do most of my writing, has become my weekday 9-6 actual office which has made me less inclined to stay there in the evenings or to get in there before my working day starts. So my usual write every day writing routine ground to an abrupt halt.

Thankfully things loosened up for me last weekend and not beating myself up for not writing actually helped with that. Making use of housebound weekends now seems like a far better plan than trying to force something out Monday to Friday. Last Saturday I wrote the dialogue for the first half of the next issue of Seven Shades, that book is done Marvel style so having Dave Clifford’s pages in front of me was a gentle way to ease myself back into creative thinking. The second thing that I managed to do last weekend was a short script for the BBC Writer’s Room’s InterConnected opportunity.

““*New Opportunity* We want original scripts, 5-10 minutes in length whose 2-4 characters now find themselves in isolation, but connecting via video conferencing. 4 will be produced with professional actors & released on BBC platforms.” ”

I spent about a week thinking of ideas for a script, all of which just didn’t quite feel right and seemed either contrived, too obvious, or not really workable with the constraints of what was needed. In the end not thinking about it allowed my subconscious to work it’s magic and then forcing myself to sit and write it meant that I got it done before the pending deadline.

With over 6800 scripts submitted my chance of having mine produced is extremely slim, but I’m pleased with what I came up with and it was a cathartic process from a writing perspective and also as a personal way to say something about the crisis too. Re-energised I have a couple of other potential new things on the horizon, it’s very early days on both projects and they might come to nothing, but it’s good to have things to focus on during these uncertain times. It’s also ok, I keep telling myself, to not write today and maybe even this weekend at all, as it’s just as important to switch off occasionally as it is to try and keep getting things done.

This year I have mostly been working on...

Most of my writing time at the moment has been screenplay related, as I’m working on a feature length script currently. It’s been good to dive into something completely fresh as all of the comics I am working on currently have been around for a while in some shape or form. 

For this film script idea, I did the initial synopsis last year and I’ve been working up a 16 block outline and full character bios this week before I move onto working up the full outline next week.

I’d forgotten how much the character bio stage really helps in the earliest stages of a new project, by working out how characters are perceived and what their relationships are with each other I’ve found new ways to build up the conflict and tension, above and beyond the main A plot.  I’m still using the same simple questionnaire I’ve used in all writing mediums for about twenty years, which I thought was from taken from the Teach yourself Screenwriting book by Raymond Frensham, but I’m actually not sure where I got it from. It’s pretty basic, but it really helps me get an understanding of each of the key cast members and their voices start to arrive during this stage too. 

Name: 

Gender: 

Age: 

Physical Appearance: 

Childhood/Earlier Life: 

Main character traits:  

How are they perceived? 

Do they control? 

Morals & beliefs: 

What do they want from life? 

Relationship with other characters: 

What is their goal? 

Who is preventing them from reaching this goal?  

Work very much in progress

As September has crept around I thought it was a good time to take stock on some of the things that I’ve been working on in 2019. As ever the times when you have the least to share tend to be your busiest periods of writing, so there is quite a bit to update you on.  The folder in this photo contains artwork from comic pitches my co-writer Steve Aryan and I have worked on over the past few years, so we’ve definitely been keeping ourselves and our artist collaborators busy.

And there are plenty of things going on outside of what’s in that folder too. Much of this year has been spent on developing completely new projects.  Steve and I are in the early stages of development on a fantasy comic mini series idea and are also starting work on a TV series proposal for another concept.  (Check out Steve’s award winning fantasy novels here) 

Steve and I are a bit further along with a horror adventure comics mini-series, that’s all plotted out and we have an artist working on the initial pitch pages. I can’t say much more about that at the moment, but if you follow me on instagram you may be able to see a sneak peek as I occasionally post some work in progress there.

I’ve also been pitching quite a bit of non comics work that I’ve written solo. I’ve worked up a series treatment for a sci-fi audio drama series/narrative podcast and written the first two episodes, written a standalone straight up/non genre audio drama and also worked up a proposal for a horror screenplay too. I’m not sure where any of those ideas will go at the moment, but I’ll post here if they do go into development anywhere. Alongside this I’ve also been pitching comic series to some new contacts at a couple of publishers, including reworking some ideas that were already a little way along.

As well as all of these newer things, some of my longer established writing projects Seven Shades, Flux and Chalk are starting to gain traction and you’ll be hearing more about them in the coming months.

There is an over-sized one shot coming for supernatural western series Seven Shades, following on from the first four issues that series creator/artist Dave Clifford and I put out last year. Hell’s Belles is currently being lettered and a release date will be available soon from Deadstar Publishing (hopefully at Thought Bubble in November). And we are working on our next four issues for release in 2020 too. 

Flux is a sci-fi book that I’ve co-written with Steve, with art by Maysam Barza, lettering by Sean Rinehart and logo design by Paul Nicholas. We have all four issues written and the art is currently taking shape on Issue 3. We’ll have more information on what we have planned for this series in the next few weeks and keep an eye out for the #FluxFriday hashtag on social media where we’ll be sharing things each week too.

Chalk is an urban fantasy series, which I’ve been working on with artist Diego Simone set in the city of Winchester in England, ten pages are fully completed with letters by Sean Rinehart. If you liked my work on The Interactives and how that book blended real world locations in Monmouth, Bristol and London with fantasy elements then I think you will really enjoy it. Comparisons to Rivers of London have already been made by one editor and I’m currently reworking the overall proposal and doing script rewrites. I’m hoping that in some shape of form you’ll be able to read it next year.

Not bad for the first eight months of the year as a part-time writer with a busy day job and there is more to come on the horizon too. I’ll try to update things here more frequently alongside social media as things progress.

Packaged on BBC Two tonight

A quick reminder that short film Packaged, based on my script and directed by Lemarl Freckleton, is on BBC Two Wales tonight at 23.15. 

If you're outside Wales you can watch it on Sky or Freesat on channel 971. The film will also be available on the BBC iPlayer after it airs. 

Phillip John, who plays Jack in Packaged, deservedly won the Best Actor award at the It's my Shout premiere last weekend, so this is your chance to see his portrayal for yourself.  Packaged is the penultimate It's my Shout film to be shown on the BBC this year. They are all well worth watching and all seven English language films will be on the iPlayer for the next month or so. 

Packaged on the big and small screen

Last night this year's It's my Shout Premiere and Awards Evening took place at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff Bay. Packaged, the short film based on my script (originally entitled The Package), was one of the nine films shown at the event. It was immensely satisfying to get to watch the film on the big screen and to experience the audience's reaction to it first hand.  

The awards ceremony that followed the screenings was as uplifting and entertaining as the films had been (the standard this year was very high across the board).  From beginning to end I was reminded just how many people from across Wales get to take their first steps into the film industry through the work that It's my Shout does. Every single award winning trainee seemed to be more humbled and grateful than the one before. The awards part of the evening was rounded off in style with a suitably rousing speech from Inspiration Award winner Russell T Davies. 

The after party that followed gave me the opportunity to catch up with, amongst others, the film's director Lemarl Freckleton and lead actor Phillip Jones, who deservedly picked up the Best Actor award earlier in the evening for his portrayal of Jack.  It was also great to catch up with many of the other writers who I met at the BBC Writer's Room as part of the selection process too. 

You can see Packaged on BBC Two Wales on Monday 18th September at 23.15 (Channel 2 or 102 in Wales and in the rest of the UK on Channel 971 on Sky and Freesat). It will also be available on the iPlayer for 30 days after it airs and I believe all the films will be on YouTube eventually too. It was a really enjoyable experience to be part of It's my Shout this year and it's made me keen to get more shorts made in the near future. 

On set for The Package

I spent the day on location yesterday,  the second day of a three day shoot for short film "The Package". Written by yours truly and directed by Lemarl Freckleton, The Package is the eighth film produced for this year's It's My Shout scheme. 

It was truly humbling to see so many people, a mix of industry professionals and IMS trainees, working together and braving the elements to bring my script to life. It gave me the same warm and fuzzy feeling I got when I first received comic pages back from an artist many years ago.  It was an honour to be there to see some of the filming and I can't wait to see footage from the other two days, editing starts next week. 

The film premieres on the big screen at the Wales Millennium Centre on September 10th (tickets are available here), before being shown on BBC Wales later in the year.  

The Package selected for It's my Shout

I found out a few days ago that my short film script, currently titled 'The Package' has been selected as part of this year's It's my Shout scheme. Things have been moving very quickly since I got the nod and it's only now that I've had the breathing space to be able to share the news properly. 

I had a lunchtime meeting today with my director, Lemarl Freckleton, to discuss his vision for the film.  It was a refreshing change to be discussing something I'd written in a meeting, rather than someone else's project that I was involved with the visual effects or titles for.

As hoped it was very productive, we both come at the project from a similar thought process visually and narratively and he's already brought some interesting extra elements into play just from this one initial meeting. My next job will be to work on rewrites to get the shooting script into shape, which will be happening in tandem with the pre-production phase, including casting. The ten-minute film is due to be shot in August and will air later this year on BBC Wales and at the It's my Shout event at the Wales Millennium Centre in October. An exciting few months ahead. 

Talking about other people's scripts at Cross Channel Film Lab 2016

It's My Shout/BBC Writers Room Wales

It's been a whirlwind few weeks on the screenwriting front. As I posted previously, I found out last month that my short film script 'The Package' was shortlisted for this year's It's my Shout. Since then I had some even better news, when I was notified that I had made it through to the even shorter list of projects that were being considered for production.

As a result of reaching this stage I was invited to the BBC Writers Room residential, two intensive days at Roath Lock, here in Cardiff, the BBC's state of the art centre of excellence for drama and home to Casualty, Pobol y Cwm and Doctor Who.  The workshop was overseen by BBC Writers Room Development Producer Rachel Williams and run by experienced producer Henry R Swindell. The first day was an overall look at story and writing for the screen. We discussed and watched lots of film and TV, all of which really helped cement the points that were being made, including relating the theory to our own favourite mainstream movie, in my case Predator. 

The second day centred around specific feedback on our scripts and pointers on what to focus on for the next round of rewrites. I was one of the first to get notes, so I spent much of the second day tucked away in a corner with my headphones on, listening to instrumental tracks while working away on the next version of the script. 

The notes I received gave me a lot to think about and really pushed me to take the bull by the horns and start to try some new things out. I spent all of last weekend and a good few hours last Monday working on revisions, until I had a version of the script I was happy to submit. The next stage includes not only the team from It's my Shout and the BBC Writers Room evaluating the revised drafts, but also the Directors who have also been selected, who get to decide which of those shortlisted they are most interested in bringing to the screen. Decisions should be made very soon, so I'll have more to say when I hear if I've been successful. Either way, this has all been really valuable and has given me lots of diagnostic tools for not only my screenwriting work, but also my comics projects as well.