January Drinks: Slate Development (and Raising Finance!)

One of the joys of meeting up every month is that our ‘new faces’ quickly become ‘old regulars’. It is great to have the opportunity to meet and get to know the many talented people working in our field of expertise.

This month again, it was a case of so many people to catch up with (or introduce ourselves to), so little time! With possibly our largest turnout yet, we’re starting to overspill our corner of the Soho Theatre bar, and the very real buzz at our first get-together of the year was in no small part down to the welcoming friendliness of our two special guests, producer Sascha Hecks and screenwriter Simon Bates (and interest in this hot topic!). Both Sascha and Simon were quickly surrounded with eager ears, and we are incredibly appreciative to them both for the time they took in talking to us all.

Sascha and Simon first met at a London Screenwriters’ Festival party, which is a great reminder for writers - and the rest of us - that ‘getting out there’ and meeting people you click with is crucial in this industry. We know that work connections have already formed through In Development, and we are very much looking forward to seeing more of these develop, as well as the fruits of these relationships. We pride ourselves on the relaxed, informal nature of our meet-ups, and aim to be the antithesis of the stereotypical ‘networking’ event (with all the negative connotations those can bring to mind!), so we’re pleased that many of our guests have commented that we’re going about things the right way. Thanks to all who have given us feedback so far – we welcome all of your thoughts!

It was lovely to see two old friends of In Development: upcoming screenwriter/filmmaker (and Tisch Asia graduate) Ashish Ghadiali, who has several exciting international projects on the go, and the multi-talented Melody Bridges, whose play, Occupy: The Silent Scream, has just had a reading at the Occupy London Stock Exchange site, outside St Paul’s. It was great too to hear Sascha and Formosa Films’ Neil Thompson, discussing their experiences of producing, working with writers, and the nitty gritty of raising finance. Formosa Films have just completed the Paul Abbott and Jimmy Dowdall-scripted feature film, Twenty8K - so make sure you look out for that.

Thank you to everybody who came along, including development assistant at Parallel Films, Vicki Kisner; director, and National Film and Television School alumnus, Chamoun Issa; assistant at the Blake Friedmann agency, Daniel Nixon; agent, Simon Williamson and script reader/writer, Blaise Hesselgren.

With Jeremiah away in Italy, it was down to us to take the ‘official’ photos of the night – and we just don’t have the lenses… We look forward to his return in February!

Next up: Lucy Scher, co-director of The Script Factory, who helped us launch In Development last March, will be joining us to talk all things development, the Script Factory and her invaluable brand new book. Invites are on the way…

2012 - the year of kicking ass!

Happy New Year! Any resolutions on the cards? To get that commission, or produce that film? Bag a new job, launch a new business or write that screenplay? Now is the time to set some goals and christen 2012 the year of kicking ass and taking names!

At the close of The Screenwriters’ Festival 2011, Chris Jones got us all to tell the person next to us what we were going to achieve over the coming year and to make sure it was something big. Scary perhaps, to set ourselves a big challenge, but how else do big things get done? In the spirit of building a real network, we look forward to sharing our goals, hearing yours and getting on with making things happen.

As for In Development, we resolve to bring you more fantastic industry guests in 2012, discussing all aspects of developing screen fiction, and more great member discounts on courses/events of relevance to you. The group may evolve over the year and if you have ideas for this, or want to be part of it, then please let us know.

Our first meet-up of 2012 is on the subject of raising slate finance and managing a film development slate, with film producer Sascha Hecks. Screenwriter Simon Bates will also join us to give a case study focus on the process of developing his feature project with Sascha and her company Lex Filmed Entertainment. You can read more about both guests on our profiles page.

We closed out 2011 with sessions featuring Industrial Scripts and The Red Planet Prize. In November, we shared a drink with Industrial Scripts founder Evan Leighton-Davis and one of his team of consultants; script doctor, Aaron Anderson. Former Creative Editor for the UK Film Council, Aaron currently re/writes for hire through Industrial as well as pursuing his own projects independently, including a feature in the current Microwave scheme.

With Evan, we chatted about going it alone as a freelancer in an industry where development jobs are few and far between and almost never advertised. Though only established a couple of years ago, Industrial Scripts is now firmly on the map, and keeping busy with its range of report services and training. Evan has also recently established a production arm to Industrial, Takedown Pictures, with a new feature project to be adapted from the sports book The Grudge. We look forward to watching the progress of the project, and getting Evan back in as a guest again to chat about the production!  

In December our guest was TV screenwriter, Robert Thorogood – hot from his success as creator of the BBC’s Death in Paradise. The show was produced through Red Planet Pictures, and Robert’s relationship with the company was born through the Red Planet Prize. As a finalist of the competition, he became part of the Red Planet family, able to pitch ideas to Tony Jordan and his team and this is where the project took off.

Despite a long career as a screenwriter, developing numerous projects, this prime time commission is actually Robert’s first TV screenwriting credit! He chatted with us about the realities of the business and lessons learned along the way, and offered some reassuring insight.

Getting a commission is ridiculously difficult, and as seemingly unlikely for anyone. You have to understand what people want to watch, have that great idea that chimes with a commissioner at the right time and the evidence that you’re the right person to deliver it. Once you’re in of course, if you want to stay, you just have to keep having those great ideas! We’re pleased to say that Robert will be staying, as a second series of Death in Paradise has been confirmed. We wish him best of luck with shaping the second series - and hope to welcome him as our guest again to discuss that second adventure!

Thanks again to all our guests in 2011. We look forward to sharing more great evenings with you in 2012; celebrating successes, making connections, sharing experiences, building our networks and getting some great projects in development and ultimately to the screen. See you out there.

Sarah and Hannah x

Reading Screenplays - Lucy Scher’s Brand New Book

Exciting news from The Script Factory…

Back in 1999, Lucy Scher pioneered the first training course for script readers. Since then, The Script Factory has built a worldwide reputation for teaching workshops on how to effectively analyse screenplays.

The teaching has been constantly updated and evolved in line with industry practice over the last ten years and we are delighted to announce that all the research and thinking that Lucy and the rest of the Script Factory's training team have done has now culminated in a book.

Reading Screenplays, published by Kamera Books, offers a practical approach to evaluating scripts and assessing their potential as movie ideas.

With chapters on Storytelling and the Principles of Genre, Script Report Writing, Writing and Assessing Treatments and building a Career in Script Development, the book contains sample synopses and a script report, a useful list of resources and helpful ‘good reader’ tips from producers. It’s a great read and an invaluable companion for anyone involved in the script development process; equally useful as a guide for those who are new to script reading, and as a refresher for more seasoned developers.

Not only did Lucy conceive the UK’s first script reader training course, but she also developed the Script Factory and National Film and Television School’s Diploma in Script Development - the only comprehensive vocational programme in script development in the UK – out of which our group, In Development, was born. Lucy was also instrumental in helping us to launch this year, so we’re thrilled that she will be joining us as a special guest in early 2012. More details coming soon!

You can read more about the book from Lucy, here - and it’s available at a special offer price of £10, here.

Linda Aronson Screenwriting Masterclass Offer!

Thanks to our friends at the London Screenwriters' Festival for another great In Development discount. The course happens this weekend, so snap up your places quickly! Hope to see you there.

Anyone who has heard Linda Aronson speak about screenwriting knows that the insight that she can offer YOU, about YOUR screenplay, is extraordinary. This 2 Day Workshop on advanced screenwriting technique and Parallel Narrative will show you how you can become a 21st Century Storyteller.

Linda Aronson is the world's leading expert in new story techniques and tools such as Flashback, Time Jumps, Tandem Narrative, Multiple Protagonists, Double Journeys, Consecutive Stories and Fractured Tandem (used in films like Pulp Fiction, Inception, Atonement and 21 Grams)... She has created robust and powerful frameworks from which you can build those stories you want to tell, stories that feel limited or underdeveloped in a linear three act structure.

'Linda Aronson is one of the great and important voices on screenwriting' Linda Seger Making A Good Script Great

You can get a full break down of the workshop and buy your tickets here… 
http://www.21stcenturyscreenwriter.com/

The workshop takes place over the weekend of Nov. 12th and 13th at Regents College. It costs £119 but you can get it for £65, nearly half price, as a In Development member – use the code INDEV to get your discount

October Drinks with Charlie Hanson

Last month we headed to the Soho Theatre bar, for a fun night of drinks and chat with acclaimed producer of comedy and drama, television and film, Charlie Hanson.

Charlie has over twenty years of experience in the industry, producing televison series including Birds of a Feather (BBC), Desmonds (Channel 4), Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace (Channel 4), Whites (BBC), Snuff Box (BBC – and just out on DVD in the USA!) and the Golden Globe winning Extras (HBO/BBC) – as well as the BAFTA-winning feature film A Way of Life and Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s Cemetery Junction (read his full profile here).

He has just produced Life’s Too Short, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s new HBO/BBC comedy series, starring Warwick Davies, which starts Thursday, 10^th November, on BBC2 - and he is currently working on a top secret comedy project!

We got to hear all about Charlie’s work as a freelance producer and managing director of his own company, Tantrum Films – and the making of Life’s Too Short. If you missed the night, don’t worry, you can find out more about the show tonight (5th November) at 10.15pm on BBC2 (or catch up on the iPlayer)!

Members who came along included actor, Ronan Vibert, recently seen in Sky Atlantic’s The Borgias, and currently filming Hatfields & McCoys for the History Channel (and who worked with Charlie on Birds of a Feather); script reader and production coordinator, Laura Park, who has just finished work on the brand new episodes of Absolutely Fabulous; writers' agents, Simon Williamson and Janice Day; development producers May Gibson, Adam Polonsky and Avon Harpley; script editor Lauren Cushman; screenwriter and script consultant, Ellin Stein; comedy writer and performer, Nathaniel Tapley; writer and creator of BBC One drama Land Girls, Roland Moore (don't miss the third series, showing this week!) and writer/broadcaster (and former Karl Pilkington stand-in on Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s show, during her XFM days), Claire Sturgess. Thanks to Claire for whipping out her phone and taking photos on the night, as Jeremiah was unable to make it.

A huge thank you to everybody who came along, Soho Theatre for looking after us so well, and to Charlie, for being incredibly generous with his time, during a particularly busy period, and answering all of our questions!

Invites for this month's drinks - and our Christmas party! - will be in your inbox soon. If you're not on our mailing list and would like to join us, please get in touch.

Best wishes,

Hannah and Sarah x

Projects of Passion: September Event - 'The Strange Death of Harry Stanley' Premiere

By Sarah Olley

If there’s one thing I’ve been discussing a lot recently then its passion projects. For some there are stories that just have to be told because they mean so much. Whether it’s a campaigning film, a world you want to reveal, a moment in time you’re driven to recreate, or a book that’s stayed with you that you must get to the screen - I’ve been very lucky recently to be working and meeting with people about their feature film projects of passion.

In this blisteringly competitive business, where most stories never see the light of day, passion is, of course, a vital commodity. You’re going to be slaving for a very long time to get your project to the screen, so you’d better really love it. People can see it in your eyes, it’s infectious and a driving passion can be the power that turns one project into a living breathing reality while another one languishes and dies. For emerging writers it’s all about finding the stories they’re most passionate to tell and the same should be true for us developers and producers.

Often this type of film is driven by a need to bring to light something that has been forgotten or passed over, something that people need and want to know about. The Strange Death of Harry Stanley is one such short film and its premiere was the subject of our drinks in September. We headed to The Roxy cinema on Borough High Street to see the film by writer/director Jeremiah Quinn – longstanding In Development member.

On 22nd September 1999, Harry Stanley, 46, walked into a Hackney pub with a table leg he'd taken to his brother’s house to repair. The people in the pub thought the table leg was a sawn-off shotgun. They rang the police who came and shot Harry in the back. The two policemen were acquitted and claimed that Harry had turned and raised the table leg as if to take aim at them.

This story stuck with Jeremiah, enough for him to seek out Irene Stanley, (Harry’s widow), years later and gain her approval of the project. It may have stuck with you too, simply with the question; how the hell did this happen? Jeremiah’s film is not a reconstruction, but an imagining of Harry’s last day, his thoughts and feelings at a time when he was recovering from a serious illness and particularly savouring life. Its intention is to play with the idea of how the truth can be twisted and confused.

After the screening there was a panel discussion featuring Irene Stanley, Jeremiah and Helen Shaw (director of Inquest). They answered audience questions on the events after Harry’s death and the progress of the campaign to bring the truth to light. Harry was an ordinary man, he wasn’t acting in a threatening or disturbed manner, his accent was Scottish, not Irish, as was reported by the person calling the police. There are still plenty of justifiably angry people who would, at the very least, like an apology for this awful, life shattering mistake. They would also like to see changes in the system which still allows police officers to pool their recollections before reporting their actions. These campaigners include Terry Stewart from Justice for Harry Stanley who added his input on the mic.

That evening we retired to the Kings Head for post screening drinks and the next morning Jeremiah and Irene Stanley appeared on the Sky morning news to talk about the film and try to throw some more of the public spotlight on Harry Stanley’s unresolved story. It was because Harry's story had disappeared in the news that Jeremiah was first driven to bring it to the screen. There are hopes that this short film can do something to support the Harry Stanley campaign, so we watch this space. For now you can read more about the campaign here and view the film trailer here.

London Screenwriters' Festival - In Development Discount!

Are you free on the weekend 28th-30th October? Fancy a super-size dose of networking, talks and workshops all around our passion topic - screenwriting?

We've been chatting to those lovely people at The London Screenwriters' Festival and can now happily offer all In Development members the best discount in town to this year's festival. We've been awarded group status, so just email groupsales@londonswf.com with In Development in the subject line and you'll get a discount code to get an automatic:

£66.00 OFF the normal ticket price of £300! Bringing your ticket price down to £234!

Its a fantasitc line up as ever this year, with loads of opportunities to network with writers, producers, agents and make great new contacts for the year/s ahead!

Look forward to seeing you there!