TV pilot & short films

I've been doing a lot of writing recently, having finished my degree and having not yet found a job. I believe the technical term is "unemployed", but let's call it "free living" yeah?

With the Red Planet Prize looming, I've written the first draft of my TV show pilot. It is, without a doubt, the most fun I've ever had writing. After about a year of research and planning, throwing myself into the mythology and characters, I finally got to write "FADE IN:"

And what fun! I've had half these scenes mapped out in my mind for several months, so it flowed naturally. Making a change from my usual writing style, I spent about 4 days writing one scene per night. But, as things started to get going, I was eager to finish, so I ordered 2 pizzas, grabbed a few beers, and spent a long night getting it done.

Then came the dreaded rewrite. The biggest problem was that Act II lasted 7 pages and Act III was 20 pages. But after some headache-inducing juggling around, I managed to fix the problem. The script is now in the hands of several shiny friends who will offer their merciless critiques in the next few weeks. The number of people I now owe pints to is ridiculous!

In other news, I've been brainstorming a few short film ideas in readiness to collaborate with a fellow writer/director/producer. We both want to do something different to what we've done before, me limiting the action, and her steering away from the martial arts.

Anyway, I've never forced myself to think of story ideas before. Everything I've done has come naturally (at least the very basics of the story), so actually telling myself to think of something from scratch was a first. And I liked it!

In the process, I came up with an idea that I think goes beyond a short film, so naturally I'm sticking that on the shelf - it can develop there for a while until I'm ready to put pen to paper. But I have come up with a few decent short ideas, so hopefully we'll be writing together in the next couple of months.

Finally, on Wednesday, I received the shiniest of gifts. Y'all know about Three, yes? Well, the awesome Darren S Cook went and got the cast and crew to sign a humongous film poster and then threw it in the post to me. It made my day week month year, I tell thee! And it now takes pride of place on my wall, alongside various movie, TV and writing posters.

So a huge thanks to those craft buggers who kept their sinister scheme very quiet! An amazing way to remember my first ever writing credit!

Anyway, that's me done - hope everyone's writing is going well. And good luck to everyone else entering the Red Planet Prize - if you want me to read and critique your script for it, let me know. Never hurts to check out the competition, right?

Stay shiny!

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