tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141932112011-11-28T01:32:18.646ZA blog for Richard Cosgrove - UK-based sub-editor trying to make the break into writing fiction for money.Richard Cosgrovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00843305491000273746noreply@blogger.comBlogger281100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14193211.post-43266177068434374942010-12-16T00:22:00.003Z2010-12-16T13:22:19.407Z

Hello reader. Thanks for stopping by. This blog is now hosted by Wordpress at http://newwritersdrift.wordpress.com, so I can keep all my blogs in the same place. New posts won't be appearing here, although the blog will remain active. In the next few days my http://blog.richardcosgrove.co.uk will take you to the shiny new Wordpress version. As soon as I figure out how to make that happen. In

Richard Cosgrovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00843305491000273746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14193211.post-49938805135924347592010-12-13T15:54:00.000Z2010-12-13T15:54:14.820Z

This morning I received the following email from a website I'd never heard of called Hint.io. Hi there,Hint wanted to let you know that your email address and password that you used to signup for Gawker (or one of its sites) was hacked. Forbes' coverage is hereIn situations like this, time is of the essence, which is why we were surprised & shocked to find that Gawker Media hadn't taken the

Richard Cosgrovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00843305491000273746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14193211.post-49417867762428263602010-12-09T14:05:00.001Z2010-12-09T14:40:48.598Z

*MINOR SPOILER AHEAD* I saw this movie at a preview screening last week. It was extremely disappointing. The 3D - what there was of it - was stunning. Jeff Bridges very entertaining in both of his parts, and Olivia Wilde gave a good comic turn. And the action scenes were passable (although reliant on slow-motion at times.) However, the script was a mess: badly structured (overlong lead up

Richard Cosgrovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00843305491000273746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14193211.post-81846671622817655612010-12-05T23:54:00.001Z2010-12-06T13:35:57.580Z

#Scriptchat is a Twitter session where scriptwriters get together to talk. Tonight I took part for the first time. Tonight’s #scriptchat was a Q&A with Writer’s Avenue - a London-based theatre company that focuses on developing new writers. During the chat this comment appeared from Paul Bassett Davies (Twitter moniker @thewritertype). Davies is a Liverpool-based screenwriter and script

Richard Cosgrovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00843305491000273746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14193211.post-79119965908606066732010-06-09T14:02:00.002+01:002010-06-09T14:02:37.257+01:00

Well, I utterly failed to keep posting here at least once a week. As I was once told by Kathryn Corrick - a social media consultant - maintaining a blog requires a huge amount of discipline. Boy, she wasn't kidding. Since my last post I've made a short film - Goodbye - which is running in the Virgin Media Shorts competition. And completely forgotten to maintain its blog - something I'm going to

Richard Cosgrovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00843305491000273746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14193211.post-54463710124217735252010-03-16T18:52:00.000Z2010-03-16T18:52:22.133Z

This is not good news, at all. (From an email sent out to NPA members.) The New Producers Alliance has closed for business. It is with great regret that the Executive Committee and Trustees announce that the New Producers Alliance ceased trading on the 8th March 2010. The recession and increased competition for training have contributed to a loss of membership income which, having taken

Richard Cosgrovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00843305491000273746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14193211.post-31585070274867937582010-03-14T18:54:00.001Z2010-03-14T18:56:47.270Z

However much I admire what Raindance does for the UK's independent filmmakers, and enjoy their newsletter, there are times when it has me spitting venom. This is the latest bit of their newsletter that really grates:  "Those of you who know me, will know that for years I have dabbled at home - drawings, painting and a bit of writing."Christmas time this year, I realised that to move ahead with

Richard Cosgrovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00843305491000273746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14193211.post-4015838896940971752010-02-23T22:51:00.002Z2010-02-23T22:54:26.303Z

Let's face it: our world is far more jacked in than the one William Gibson created in his Neuromancer trilogy. But even his peers didn't foresee the majority of the population owning handheld devices that could instantly access the net. This means that people can discover a huge amount of information about you through that contemporary god of knowledge, Google. (As a recent would-be iPhone thief

Richard Cosgrovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00843305491000273746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14193211.post-16498681789956630202010-02-19T12:23:00.002Z2010-03-09T22:56:20.681Z

Found this in retweet Twitter feed from Dr Dark - one of my magazine's readers. If you want to know why people pirate DVDs, it's not just because they're free: it's because you can end up with a better product than if you buy a DVD. UPDATE: The webcomic The Brads has made the same point, except with ebooks.

Richard Cosgrovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00843305491000273746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14193211.post-62913260857973783832010-02-03T12:56:00.011Z2010-02-03T22:36:02.479Z

Copyright is not evil It seems that all over the web, there's a growing number of people who think that copyright is a bad thing. A few years back this was limited to the copyleft movement and filesharers (or pirates if you prefer), but lately it seems that more people in the creative industries and artists seem to view copyright as a bad thing - mainly that it allows large corporations to

Richard Cosgrovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00843305491000273746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14193211.post-4957296148992681962010-01-22T13:50:00.003Z2010-01-22T13:52:21.401Z

Since I've been learning the craft of writing screenplays, I've lost track of the number of courses I've been on. Some have been useful (Euroscript's genre workshops), some excellent (the evening classes provided by Raindance), but I've learnt more about screenwriting from attending Script Tank. I written about Script Tank before, but in a nutshell it's a fortnightly reading of scripts, carried

Richard Cosgrovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00843305491000273746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14193211.post-37245841401878789822010-01-16T23:58:00.002Z2010-01-17T00:09:00.238Z

After reading about the European Screenwriters Manifesto in the filmmaking magazine MovieScope, I decided to add my name to it. The manifesto, created by the Federation of Scriptwriters in Europe (Fédération des Scénaristes d’Europe) asks European governments to support screenwriters' rights to be credited and paid for our work. It's just a pity that this sort of petition is required. The

Richard Cosgrovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00843305491000273746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14193211.post-60047382644652858782010-01-15T02:30:00.003Z2010-01-15T02:35:43.232Z

I saw this job advert earlier today. Well, I say "job"… Mizz, Unpaid Feature Writers Date posted: Tuesday, 12th January 2010 Date ending: Thursday, 11th February 2010 Mizz are currently looking for unpaid contributors to write features for the magazine – if you are looking for features or a byline please contact lsaxton@panini.co.uk That a magazine is asking freelancer journalist to work for

Richard Cosgrovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00843305491000273746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14193211.post-38464006421696306942010-01-09T20:32:00.000Z2010-01-09T18:16:59.288Z

The other job I was able to get on with over the past month was finding locations for the outdoor scenes in Goodbye. My requirements are simple: a green field, cheap parking, and close proximity to the second location (my flat). Usefully there are two communal gardens within five minutes walk of my home. One offers everything Goodbye needs: With the added bonuses of continual traffic noise and

Richard Cosgrovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00843305491000273746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14193211.post-90613751557912242042010-01-06T21:09:00.003Z2010-01-06T22:15:43.492Z

This is another test run of the (theoretically) very useful Scrippets. This CSS plug-in formats text in blogs into a screenplay format. EXT. PARK - DAYClose-up of a the face of a pretty woman, early-20s. The picture is a freeze-frame from a camcorder.The picture starts. WOMAN is smiling. She retreats from the camera, slowly. Her eyes never leave the lens.MAN (V.O.)Why didn’t you tell me?The

Richard Cosgrovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00843305491000273746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14193211.post-38758997651104115852010-01-06T20:29:00.002Z2010-01-06T22:16:19.383Z

Danny Stack – co-founder of the Red Planet Prize TV writing competition - has written an excellent need-to-know on making short films. It's not a long read, but it's packed with practical advice for new filmmakers. Scriptwriting in the UK: Make A Short Film?

Richard Cosgrovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00843305491000273746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14193211.post-87167349712316069062010-01-05T19:54:00.004Z2010-01-05T20:04:14.132Z

The reason this blog has been been quiet was down to December being a bit of a busy month. I work full time on a monthly magazine. My team and have four weeks to get an issue out. But due to the Christmas holidays, we began work on our last issue on 7 December and had to finish it on Christmas Eve. That meant late evenings and weekends stuck in the office. And after that a lack of internet access

Richard Cosgrovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00843305491000273746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14193211.post-12011425048044713972009-12-09T00:13:00.006Z2010-01-06T22:15:08.909Z

Today I read a post on John August's blog blog about ScriptShadow - one of a growing number of blogs when spec scripts, and those in development, are reviewed. Amongst John's criticisms of the site, he mentioned Scrippets - a plug-in for blogs that creates screenplay formatting. It sounded damn useful, so I thought I'd try it out. The problem is using Scrippets for Blogger means editing the blog

Richard Cosgrovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00843305491000273746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14193211.post-74287748421313396252009-12-07T13:33:00.004Z2010-01-06T22:15:24.158Z

Script Tank script reading For the past year I've been a regular at a writers' group called Script Tank. I'll post about Script Tank at a later date. All you have to know is that this group differs from other writers' circles in that its members are all experienced, professional screenwriters, playwrights and script editors. And many also act, produce and direct. I have gone to many writers'

Richard Cosgrovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00843305491000273746noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14193211.post-54761290684432617562009-11-30T23:39:00.003Z2010-01-06T20:40:18.235Z

Recently the UK's broadcasting union BECTU announced the results of an employment tribunal that confirmed 'expenses only' jobs are illegal. The reason is they fall foul of the UK's National Minimum Wage law. This states that every worker who's on a company payroll should be paid between £3.57 (16-18 years old), £4.83 (18-21s) or £5.80 (for over 22s). And that a worker cannot opt out of being

Richard Cosgrovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00843305491000273746noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14193211.post-51134106615931133902009-11-30T22:46:00.003Z2009-11-30T22:47:41.556Z

I haven't posted in this blog for a long time. Mainly because I haven't had anything of note to write about. But now I'm determined to change that. For the past few years I've been writing comics and screenplays, and failed to get any made. Mainly down to not having any money to self-finance any of the projects, and not knowing how to convince other people to give me the money. Now over this

Richard Cosgrovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00843305491000273746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14193211.post-56835277290952299832009-11-30T22:43:00.008Z2010-01-06T20:54:20.694Z

Useful filmmaking stuff This is a occasionally updated list of books, courses, websites and magazines that are useful for any filmmakers. If you have more to add, please leave a comment. BOOKS Screenwriting Story by Robert McKee Doesn't just cover screenwriting, but how to construct stories in general. You may not agree with everything McKee says, but this book makes you think about how

Richard Cosgrovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00843305491000273746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14193211.post-55451015274168727442009-11-08T18:14:00.001Z2009-11-08T18:14:45.041Z

So it's been a while since I've done a post here, but I will be doing more and soon. If I don't, feel free to give me a prod by tweeting me at @rcosgrove. - Richard

Richard Cosgrovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00843305491000273746noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14193211.post-92212165607942150272007-09-28T14:00:00.000+01:002007-09-28T14:07:18.738+01:00

There's an online petition supporting the protests in Burma, which is being led by Buddhist monks.To add you name to the petition visit this link.Regular people and Buddhist monks are being killed, just for wanting to live in a peaceful democracy.Please show your support for them, and sign the petition.

Richard Cosgrovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00843305491000273746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14193211.post-23242571478604019052007-09-27T23:21:00.000+01:002007-09-27T23:31:09.844+01:00

In case you were wondering what would happen if David Lynch was asked to make an anti-litter film, this is what happened when David Lynch was asked to make an anti-litter film:OK. It's scary.But not as scary as this short - Dark and Lonely Water - which was meant to warn kids from swimming in ponds.So they get Donald Pleasance to voice the hooded spectre of Death incarnate, and then make a 90sec

Richard Cosgrovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00843305491000273746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14193211.post-6621427589558302562007-03-02T22:59:00.000Z2007-03-02T22:59:08.658Z

Conservapedia - "A conservative encyclopedia you can trust."I must be missing something here, but shouldn't an encyclopaedia not have any political stance? If it does, all it becomes is a form of propaganda.Incidentally, not everything contained is accurate. For instance, under Evolution it says "Evolutionists have no real evidence that macroevolution occurs and there is no consensus on how it

Richard Cosgrovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00843305491000273746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14193211.post-44723055928452236242007-03-01T20:40:00.000Z2007-03-01T20:40:41.051Z

Newspaper editors unite over freedom of information rule changes - MediaGuardian.co.ukHere's one for conspiracy nuts.The UK government is planning on restricting the number of claims that can be made under the Freedom of Information Act, to save money.The suggestion is to "reject requests that will cost £600 for government departments to process or £450 for other organisations."That isn't the

Richard Cosgrovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00843305491000273746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14193211.post-1127399258502596772005-09-22T15:27:00.000+01:002005-09-22T15:27:38.523+01:00

Reporters Without Borders has released a handbook containing advice for bloggers n repressive regimes on avoiding censorship and being discovered. It can be downloaded from the Reporters Without Borders website as a PDF file) and will be in bookstores from today. It's available in English, French, Chinese, Arabic and Persian. Please spread the word about this handbook to other bloggers.

Richard Cosgrovehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00843305491000273746noreply@blogger.com0