Screenwriters' Festival BAFTA Launch 2008
Click HERE to see the Video Blogg of the Launch...
We Have Lift Off!
On the evening of Tuesday 6th May the third international Screenwriters' Festival was officially launched. Quaffing glasses of fine wine courtesy of Chateau de Sours an increasingly loquacious contingent of Writers, Agents, Producers, and Sponsors (and impressionist Rory Bremner!) gathered in the David Lean suite at the BAFTA headquarters in Piccadilly for an entertaining evening of drinks and presentations headed by acclaimed screenwriters Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park, Young Victoria) and William Nicholson (Gladiator, Elizabeth - The Golden Age, Shadowlands).
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| Guest Speakers Julian Fellowes and William Nicholson with SWF Director David Pearson and his co-Producer at Arturi Films Elizabeth Morgan Hemlock |
The evening commenced with an an introduction by Simon Relph CBE. Julian Fellowes then took to the lectern setting the tone for the evening with a presentation on the tricky business of 'Producer's Notes' the scourge of many a screenwriting career. In his engagingly rumbustious style Julian teased out the knotty issues surrounding the relationship between Writer, Producer and Script.
"At the beginning of a Screenwriters' career there is a disparity between how the Screenwriter and Producer see the role of 'writing the script'. When you're beginning you see yourself as a mother and the script is your child. The Producer sees you as a midwife who is delivering their child."
Following Julian's presentation the audience were given a taste of the kind of opportunities that the Screenwriters' Festival offers to those who attend and in particular to those lucky enough to take part in the Live Pitching session. A panel of six winners and finalists from previous years (comprising: Kulvinder Gill, Ricky Kane, Tom Williams, Darrin Grimwood, Anna Symon and Yugesh Walia) described their experiences of the Festival and the directions that their careers have taken since.
To read more about the Pitch Finalists panel click here.
William Nicholson closed the evening with an entertaining and incisive discourse on what it is to be a Screenwriter, a profession that occassionally offers a tremendous sense of achievement on those rare occassions when, despite the odds, a project yields something of which one can rightly be proud, but which all too often involves challenges and frustrations that can be relentless and dispiriting.
"It actually is quite difficult to take your genius and put it through this pipe and out comes a screenplay at the other end... To become a Screenwriter requires an extraordinary personality type. Gradually you see this precious thing turn into something else. Inevitably it fails, it doesn't work. It gets worse and worse and then you're sacked, then somebody else takes it over and then eventually it's shelved. That is a normal progression. That's the experience you have. Everybody is having that experience and if that's what's happening to you, how on earth do you stop yourself becoming a bitter old hack? How are you going to survive? The answer is you have to develop a very, very Zen personality!"
The evening was a resounding success and now, with a mere six weeks to go, anticipation of this year's Festival is gathering momentum as never before. If you haven't yet bought your ticket and you like the idea of spending three days in the grounds of the picturesque 'Manor by the Lake' in Cheltenham - in the middle of a quaint English summer, drinking fine wines (perhaps "the finest available to humanity!") listening to witty and experienced industry personnel describing the quirks of the business, and networking with like-minded writers, producers and executives all offering advice, support and encouragement (as well as contacts) - then book your ticket online now! When they're gone... they're gone.
See you in July!
Click HERE to see the Video Blogg of the Launch...
