I have a blog?

Well, of course. But it's been a while with a lot of time taken up with teaching and writing. And there is more teaching to come, which is exciting. Being paid to talk to others about a subject you love and are frankly obsessed by is amazing and does wonders for the old self confidence. The folks at Screen Education Edinburgh are a fine bunch.

Lots to do afterwards as well. More short ideas to be hammered into draft form, that 8 sequence approach to Wanted I said I'd attempt (it's coming, Nick, I promise!) and loads more. Life is getting fuller these days, which can only be a good thing, especially with two new nieces to dote on.

So, this is just a quick note to say I'm still here (to the few of you who read me) and the proper blogging will resume soon. In the meantime, I've got a deadline in a week so I'm shutting myself away in my office and will emerge unshaven and shaky in seven days time.

Sci Fi, Puppets and Other Stuff.

Well, been a bit busy with things.

Had a good time at this year's Edinburgh International Film Festival, pitched a project to a panel in front of an audience of about 50 people (not a pleasant experience), drank too much and saw some good films. Pictures to come. Bring on next year.

I'm in the process of starting notes for the next draft of my current feature project, editing two videos (one actually a paid job!) and have also begun the early stages of a new short, a pretty damn ambitious science fiction project that may involved the use of puppets playing main characters (alongside one or two humans). My inner Henson is trying to break through.

Also beginning to work on that new 8 sequence approach look at Wanted. Will be watching that film quite a few times (my knowledge of my previous subject, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, is borne mainly from 20 plus years of verging obsession and watching it a whole lot more than most people might) and reading the script as well. That may take a bit of time.

And it looks like I may be starting some freelance teaching in a month or so, teaching schoolkids how to write and make films. I wish we'd had that when I was a kid. Or maybe I don't. We pretty much taught ourselves, learning from our own mistakes. This new task looks quite interesting as we're merely guiding the students and not explicitly telling them what to do. Should be interesting. And it's always good to have some teaching on the old CV.

All that and my looming 40th birthday in under two weeks. Planning a bit of a do with my oldest mate who's one day older than me.

Now, how do I earn some money?

Another Eight Sequences - coming soon

Well, I'll surprised again that someone reads this blog. Not only that, but they chose to get in touch.

Last November I decided to take the Eight Sequence approach, developed by Frank Daniel and championed by Paul Gulino, and see if I could apply to a film I know and love well. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade popped out immediately as I feel it follows this structure well, even breaking it down into the locations that appear in the film, and it would make a good jumping off point in examining how useful this approach.

A reader (who I'll not name right now for the sake of courtesy) liked what I had written, it seems, and got in touch, asking me if I could try the same approach in an examination of Wanted, which said reader had been trying to break down, with little success. I've not watched Wanted yet but I'll certainly give it a go.

Sincerely flattered that someone read my blogs and got in touch.

What I find intriguing is that this might not work. Not every sits comfortably within any supposed structure. The danger is we get into a theory and try to apply it to everything, falling into that trap of mistaking screenwriting theories for story formulas, which is a fatal error.

I'll get into this after the Edinburgh International Film Festival as I'm swamped right now, but I find exercises like this always help the process and make me re-examine what I've written. Handy when I've got a second draft of a feature to be getting on with very soon. Mental exercises for screenwriters. Don't stick with one approach. Figure out as much as you can yourself. There are always patterns in stories but mixing them up and screwing with structure can really push drama and conflict.

Let's see what happens.