Scriptchat: Should you respect all critics?

#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 reader.

thewritertype: #scriptchat You don't have to like or respect the person giving you feedback. Their value is that they are not you.

I think this statement is nearly all correct, except on one point.

TRUE: Liking a critic isn’t necessary

Receiving criticism from someone is a unpleasant, if it’s negative. But the more crushingly negative feedback is, the better. So long as it is constructive feedback.

So if you find someone criticizing your work who you detest on a personal level, you may disregard what they say. But that is your weakness, not them.

Just because you don’t like a person does not make their criticisms invalid. You should judge their comments as any you would anyone else’s.

Being a professional screenwriter will require you to collaborate with people you dislike. If you’re not prepared to deal with this situation, give up now.

TRUE: A critic’s value is that they are not you

Getting someone to read your work is vital, because they are not you.

When your script is ready for reading, you should know your script, story, plot and characters forwards, backwards, sideways and inside out. This is also a weakness, because it can blind you to problems.

Your brain will fill in the blanks in the story, because you know information no reader or viewer will know.

A new reader will come to your work ignorant and naïve. They will be able to spot where your story falls down, or a character doesn’t make sense, because they do not know what the next line holds or what you “meant to say”.

If a scene doesn’t make sense to a new reader, or a character isn’t believable, it isn’t because the reader didn’t understand what you meant. It’s because you’re writing’s failed in it’s task.

FALSE: Respecting a critic isn’t necessary

Here’s the point I strongly disagree with.

You should only request feedback from those people whose work you respect.

Whether they are song writers, playwrights, screenwriters, or a novelist, the people whose work you respect are the ones you should turn to for advice.

Respect also means that you trust them. You need to trust these people to not spread your work around, or bad mouth it behind your back. But also that they will give you honest feedback - even if it’s stuff you don’t want to listen to or hear from.

This is independent from liking the person. If you find a particular screenwriter personally loathsome, but they produce excellent screenplays, listen to what they’re telling you.

This only applies to when you ask someone for an opinion. You will get plenty of notes from people you neither respect or like, but will have listen to them, and act on their notes.

At a minimum people you don’t respect or like are still your audience. And that means their input is valid.

New Producers Alliance shuts for business

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 professional advice, has left the directors of the two companies with no option but to close. The NPA has been a valued and respected resource for independent filmmakers since its inception in November 1992 and has provided help, advice and assistance to over 10,000 producers, directors and writers over the years. The NPA has attracted a membership of many energetic people, passionate about their projects, embodying the independent spirit. Some of these were members on their way to achieving great things. But there have been countless other great moments, such as learning a trick or two at a training event, meeting a new collaborator at NPA networking event or button-holing someone you admire at one of our panels or a business breakfast. The Executive committee and Trustees applaud all our members, past and present: long may our filmmakers thrive. We would also like to thank the many companies, organisations and individuals who have supported the NPA in the past. Special thanks too to all the hard-working staff and volunteers who have made unique contributions. If you have any comments or memories that you wish to send us, we have set up an email address: newproducersalliance@googlemail.com

Are you professional? The test

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 these creative projects, I needed to spend more than just 2/3 hours a week.

"My New Year's Resolution was to spend at least 10 hours a week pursuing these pastimes. 

"But what does that make me?  

"Here's my theory:

• 2 hours or less per week - hobbyist
• 10 hours per week - talented amateur 
• 20 hours per week - semi pro 
• 40 or more hours per week - professional" 

This view - you're a professional if you spend X amount of hours doing something - gets in my nerves, no matter who says it.

I've met plenty of writers who spend a great deal of time justifying why they are a professional writer: they write a certain amount of words a day; they writer for a certain length of time a day; they're respectful to other people; they meet deadlines; they take pride in their work; they’re always open to criticism for every quarter; they read every book, magazine and blog on writing they can find; or their spelling and grammar are impeccable.

While behaving in those ways are laudable, and will help you become a professional writer, they won’t turn you into a professional by themselves.

This is how to tell - with absolute certainty - if you are a professional writer.

Answer yes or no to the following question: Do you get paid for your work?

If you answer “yes”, you’re a professional.

If you answer “no”, you’re an amateur.

Professionals get paid for their work. Amateurs don't.

As the catchphrase goes: Simples.

Why the pirates win

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.

Copyright is not evil

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 exploit individuals.

Worse, some take the view that acknowledging the rights of other creative professionals is optional.

This is disturbing because copyright exists to protect artists and creatives from being exploited. These aren't a set of perfect laws, and they're open to abuse, but they enable workers in media to earn a living.

Take this scene, set in a world without copyright laws:

Now, the same scene in the real(ish) world.

People who work in creative professions have the right to be paid, and the right to be credited as being the creator of their work, because of copyright laws.

Businesses also have the right to stop people copying products they've developed. This enables creatives in any field to earn a living, as well as enabling companies earn the money to employ staff and invest in new works.

Abuse and manipulation of copyright laws by businesses and individuals should be stopped. But destroying, or just plain ignoring, copyright laws isn't the way to do it.

European Screenwriters Manifesto

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 text of the manifesto is below. You can find more information about it, and add your name to it, here.

THE EUROPEAN SCREENWRITERS MANIFESTO

Stories are at the heart of humanity and are the repository of our diverse cultural heritage. They are told, retold and reinterpreted for new times by storytellers. Screenwriters are the storytellers of our time.

European writing talent should be trusted, encouraged and supported. The European film industries need to find ways to attract and keep its screenwriters in the cinema and in their craft.

We assert that:

• The screenwriter is an author of the film, a primary creator of the audiovisual work.

• The indiscriminate use of the possessory credit is unacceptable.

• The moral rights of the screenwriter, especially the right to maintain the integrity of a work and to protect it from any distortion or misuse should be inalienable and should be fully honored in practice.

• The screenwriter should receive fair payment for every form of exploitation of his work.

• As author the screenwriter should be entitled to an involvement in the production process as well as in the promotion of the film and to be compensated for such work. As author he or she should be named in any publication accordingly, including festival catalogues, TV listing magazines and reviews.

We call on:

• National governments and funding agencies to support screenwriters by focusing more energy and resources, whether in form of subsidy, tax breaks or investment schemes, on the development stage of film and television production and by funding writers directly.

• Scholars and film critics to acknowledge the role of screenwriters , and universities, academies and training programmes to educate the next generations in accordance to the collaborative art of the medium and with respect towards the art and craft of screenwriting.

• Festivals, film museums and other institutions to name the screenwriters in their programs and plan and screen film tributes to screenwriters just as they do to directors, actors and countries.

• National and European law should acknowledge that the writer is an author of the film.

• National and European law should ensure that screenwriters can organise, negotiate and contract collectively, in order to encourage and maintain the distinct cultural identities of each country and to seek means to facilitate the free movement of writers in and between all nations.

We will:

• Distribute this manifesto to industry members and the press in our respective countries.

• Campaign for the implementation of the agenda defined by this manifesto.

• Seek the transition into national and European law of the legal changes demanded by this manifesto.

Goodbye: Location Scouting

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 trains running past one end every 10 minutes.

This meant travelling out of Camden and into Islington. This is where I found the perfect location in a large park.

Caledonian Park, Islington

This could be the best location for Goodbye. Pity about the cost.

The field was very large, parking was available outside the entrance, it was near to my home, there was little traffic noise, and there were long paths - useful in case of rain on the day, as Goodbye's actress could run along them instead of the path.

The downside is that the land is Council property, and so I'd need to get a permit to film there.

Like many areas in London, Islington is covered by the film liason company The FiLM Office. The Office proved extremely helpful, offering a permit for a four-hour shoot for £250. But a complete unwillingness to negotiate, and the requirement for taking our £5 million worth of insurance for the shoot.

As a backup I checked with Camden Council's film office (Camden - one of the largest boroughs in London - isn't covered by The FiLM Office). Their representatives wouldn't give me a firm figure, however that office's website said filming would cost is "From £125 per hour". Plus an administration fee. And insurance.

As you can tell, making a no-budget film can be somewhat expensive.

Thankfully, there may be a cheaper option - a local church, which has a picturesque garden. If you can crop out the building works. The downside is the land is part-owned by the council.

Church grounds

If you ignore the graves and the cheap fence, it's really rather lovely here.

If the church grounds are unobtainable, shooting Goodbye will cost means either finding someone who can loan me a very large garden, doing it guerilla style, or running lots of rehearsals before shooting begins. I'm leaning towards the final option.

And that means finding somewhere I can rehearse with the actors and DoP, that's not going to wipe out my meagre budget.

Scriptwriting in the UK: Make A Short Film?

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?

Goodbye: Storyboarding and sound

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 over the Christmas holiday itself meant blogging was a bit difficult.

Despite that work continued on my short, Goodbye, as I storyboarded it.

Given the short's format - three minutes long, and simple shots - storyboarding it isn't vital. But sketching out the shots helped definitely helped to develop my visualisation of the film. But, somewhat bizarrely, aurally.

As I drew (well as you can see below, "scrawled" would be a better description) the shots, I began paying close attention to what sounds would be needed.

Goodbye storyboar

On the left are sketches of shots, with notes to the right. In the left are details of the audio needed for each shot. The diagrams in the middle are camera plans.

As a viewer I focus my attention on dialogue, rather than a film's music or sound effects has caused me to pay little thought to sound in my scripts, handing control over to the director. This time I am the director, so ignoring sound effects would be dangerous.

So alongside series of shots on my storyboards, I added notes about what background noises would be required. And what microphones would be needed. If I hadn't have begun sketching out the shots, I'm not sure when I would have thought about the audio side of this film. Perhaps when filming was just about to start and someone asked me where the microphones were.

Storyboarding also made me realise there are two films I have to shoot: Goodbye and the home movie a character watches during it. Fortunately the home movie won't require much work. Relatively speaking.

Goodbye: Script Tank script reading

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' circles. Each time I found myself surrounded by amateur writers. Occasionally one was supportive and well-meaning and helpful, but often they came across as bitter, aggressive, critical, and jealous. (Especially when they found that I'm a journalist. Encountering someone who writes for a living seem to pour acid in the seeping wounds that were their egos.)

In short, rather than pushing other writers to higher level, the people in these groups did the best to pull people down.

Script Tank does the opposite. I have learnt more attending these meetings than I have from reading countless books, blog posts, and articles on screenwriting.

A few weeks ago I wrote a short film, and was lucky enough to have it read out at Script Tank.

The piece was three minutes long, and was written so it could be made for a no-budget production (roughly, under £500). It used two locations, three actors, and maybe four lines of dialogue.

It got a round of applause. A long one. And a series of wonderful comments - both praising and critiquing the work.

Having my script be that well-received by experience professional writers, was a sorely needed confidence booster.

Afterwards I felt secure that the script was good enough to rehearse at an acting workshop that weekend. And that I was right when I'd decided to make the film myself.

So now I'm starting on putting the film together. First stop is to figure out how much this'll all cost. And that means getting a location sorted out, and putting a team together to make it.


EDIT
7 Dec 09: Corrected title, Script Tank link and formatting.
6 Jan 10: Added labels. Corrected formatting.

National Minimum Wage and the UK film industry

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 paid.

These days many people break into the UK's film and TVs industry by taking on unpaid work - either as interns or work placements - or crewing films under an 'expenses only' basis (food and travel costs are covered, and little else).

This report has been debated at length at the blog of actor Mickey Bee and through Shooting People's newsletter. Some are saying this is could be the death knell of the British film industry, because less films will get made because producers won't be able to secure enough funds to make their films. Others say it's just going to push producers to be more professional and actually pay their crews. And some claim the ruling is another example of class warfare, a reason why business should be run along Marxist lines, and/or interference from the UK's facist government.

What is concerning people is that crews in every film made in the UK should be paid the National Minimum Wage - it doesn't matter if you're hired to make a showreel or a feature films.

Now I think this ruling will be good for the industry. If HM Revenue & Customs enforce these rules using common sense.

If a producer is making any kind of commercial product - whether a feature film, a TV show, or a web serial - then they should raise the money to pay their crew before work begins. That's something any legitimate and professional producer has to accept and deal with.

However, there seems to be little point investigating and prosecuting a filmmaker who's making a short destined for the short film festival circuit and show reels, and won't see any direct income from it. Especially when their crew is aware they won't see any income from this, beyond travel expenses.

And I really can't see HMRC taking the time to do that. They've got bigger fish to fry. Of course, I have been wrong before.

The only bit of relief in sight is that freelancers aren't covered by these regulations. They can choose to work for effectively nothing, as they are the company they work for. But there is an question over who in a film crew can be classed as a freelancer.

The panic that this news created should calm down soon. But when it
does, hopefully more people will be more aware of what their
responsibilities and their rights are.

Useful filmmaking stuff

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 stories work.

Screenplay by Syd Field
Outlining basic screenwriting structure and techniques.

The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell
An academic work on comparative mythology. Fascinating, but requires study.

The Writer's Journey by Christopher Volger
A simplified version of Campbells monomyth, adapted for Hollywood screenwriters

Filmmaking
In the Blink of an Eye (2nd edition) by Walter Murch
Two excellent essays: the first on Murch's theory of editing, the second on the advantages and disadvantages of digital editing over traditional cut-and-paste.

Film Directing - Shot by Shot by Steven D. Katz
A first-rate book on how to visualise and compose shots. Good for new and experienced directors.


HEALTH
The College Practice
Osteopathic treatments in North London

Hands-On
Shiatsu massage in North London

Both are useful, because spending hours hunched over a laptop cripples your back, if you're not careful.


MAGAZINES
Moviescope
A subscription gets you a discount to membership of Shooting People and the New Producer's Alliance

Creative Screenwriting
Excellent US magazine aimed at screenwriters


ORGANISATIONS
Shooting People
Community of (mostly) UK-based independent filmmakers.

New Producers Alliance
Provides training and support for producers who are starting out.

Writers Guild of Great Britain
The union for writers who work in film, TV, radio and videogames.

Raindance
Organisers of the British Independent Film Awards and the associated festival (imagine Sundance, only much, much smaller). Also provider good quality, low-cost training for filmmakers.


LINKS
Write Here, Write Now: Required Reading
A comprehensive list of links related to screenwriting.

Scripped
Free online screenwriting software.

Zhura
Another piece of free online screenwriting software.

CeltX
A free pre-production suite of software. It's website says it has tools to "write scripts, storyboard scenes and sequences, sketch setups, develop characters, breakdown & tag elements, schedule productions, and prepare and circulate informative reports for cast and crew."

Scenechronize
A suite of tools similar to CeltX, but aimed at professional filmmakers and hosted online.

EDITS:
7 Dec 09 - More links added. Layout changed and style corrections made.
12 Jan 09 - More links added.