Small steps but I’m back to writing

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I joined a new writers’ group, Mirago Writers and we get homework. Deadlines, short ones particularly, have always galvanised me into action, and I keep saying I shall blog again. So here we are.

CHILDHOOD MEMORIES

“Look at the state of you!” Mum, hands on hips, pursed lips but her eyes twinkled.

“What?!” I didn’t see anything wrong. Yes, my hair was matted and wet, its ribbon filthy and knotted. Yes, my trousers and sandals were covered in dirt and embedded with weeds, and fine, yes, my hands looked like they were wearing gloves made of mud. I still don’t see the problem.

I picked up the bucket I’d placed down while I faced mum with my hands on my hips and trudged to the balcony door. The balcony overlooked the square – we lived above the sweetshop. It had been my maternal grandad’s and my dad took it over when Bobby retired. We all called him Bobby, even my mum. Everyone did, which is quite funny because his name was actually Edward …

It was a typical east end square: GP in one corner, dentist in another, the community centre, the church, the caretaker. My friend’s aunt lived at one end of the block, her uncle at the other and her nan round the back in the flats that crouched under the two-storied maisonettes at the front. Everyone knew each other but there were no murders, shouting or melodrama. It was a laugh. (Although, I was only 5, so there might’ve been).

My big brother was already outside and piling lego bricks under the railing, in a vain attempt to fill the gap between that and the tarmac.

“Come on!” He urged, excited. “They’re biggies, it’ll be a good’un.”

We dipped our hands into the bucket and fished around, capturing a live, wriggly creature each.

The Newt Derby was on!

Image by Ann-marie from Pixabay

The newts were found in the stream in the mudchute, the waste ground where all the soil and rubble was thrown when they dug out the docks, just down the road. It was my favourite place. Fishing for tiddlers, in between sliding down the hills on my bum, swinging on ropes slung over branches, climbing trees and building dens, and now, racing newts. 

I know, I know, not very David Attenborough levels of nature conservation. It certainly wasn’t for the newts, since they legged it straight towards the lego bricks and disappeared between them, straight over the balcony edge. 

The shop canopy was out so we hoped they were okay; we never did find them – or their remains. I hope David isn’t reading this.

March is Medway Women’s History Month and I’ve organised some stuff. You’re welcome :)

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Saturdays in March 2025 are going to be busy, so block out your diaries now. Under the guise of the Rochester Literature Festival (resurrected!) I, together with a new steering group for MWHM, am working in partnership Medway Adult Education, Salvation Army, Strood and the Net Community Hub to celebrate Medway Women’s History Month.

Here’s our programme for the month:

March 1st: Launch Event at Rochester Adult Education Centre, Room 11.

A chance to meet the team behind the Medway Women’s History Month and get the low down, a Keynote Speech from former Medway Mayor, Nina Gurung, and empowerment courtesy of Adelle Martin and Fiona Shoults, co-founders of Stronger Together Through Cancer.

We end with a performance from the Brompton and Invicta Military Wives Choir.

Find out more here.

March 8th: Challenging Stereotypes, at Rochester Adult Education Centre, Room 11.

10.30am: A ‘Jobs for the Girls’ panel will feature women who work in traditionally male environments in the morning, including boat builder Poppy Lavers, Sapper Izzy Crooks and Rochester Bridge Trust Civil Engineer Helen Rowe, hosted by former detective (and RLF Patron) Lisa Cutts.

1.30pm: ‘A Sporting Chance’ in the afternoon will feature Tracy Bullock, first female chair of Medway Rugby Club and female players from Chatham Town FC, hosted by Steph Brivio OBE, Chair of Medway Netball.

There will be market places in both panels for girls to ask questions.

Find out more here.

March 15th: Author Talks at The Salvation Army Hall, Strood

We have two amazing female authors for you to enjoy on Saturday 15th March, at the Salvation Army Hall in Strood, hosted by author and publisher, Julia Williams.

2pm: In Conversation with Victoria Smith

The author of ‘Hags: The demonization of middle-aged women’, and new book, (Un)Kind, this will be a thoughtful and insightful conversation around the issues that affect so many women in their day to day lives.

4pm: In Conversation with SJ Bennett – a Mini Murderous Medway

SJ Bennett is the author of the bestselling mystery series featuring Queen Elizabeth II as a secret sleuth, Her Majesty The Queen Investigates. She has written fifteen novels for children and adults, winning the Romantic Novel of the Year award for Love Song and the Times/Chicken House prize for Threads.

Find out more and book tickets here.

March 22nd at The Net Community Hub, Walderslade

11am: From Suffragettes to the Political Now

Hosted by Jennifer Godfrey, the author of many awesome books about the first women to break through the glass ceiling, in conversation with former Chatham MP, Tracey Crouch and current Gillingham MP, Naushabah Khan.

Find out more here.

1pm: Overcoming the Obstacles – Medway’s female community doers

Going into the afternoon, we’re delighted to host three awesome women, who, in spite of their disabilities, make a massive difference to their local communities: Kate Belmonte (Mutual Aid Road Reps) Sue Bulpin (Brainstormz!) and Sam Rapp, the Dyslexic Poet.

Find out more here.

March 29th: Finale Day at The Net Community Hub

An eclectic mix to wrap up our celebration.

12 Noon: Creative Medway Women – Dr. Carol Stewart, Chair of Creative Medway, talks to Lynne Parker, founder of Funny Women CIC, and Sue Davis, a freelance web content trainer.

At 2pm, the Medway Women’s History Month team, led by Georgia Read-Cutting will host an interactive session to celebrate incredible women that no-one has heard of.

4pm – it’s the finale of the finale!

With music from talented Medway songstress, Didi Bergman, poetry from the lovely Tender Eye, among others, with comedy* and much more.

Find out more here.

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*There’s even a rumour I might make my comedy debut, but don’t hold me to it *eek*

Mini-Wins!

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Two to share. First up, I was a quarterfinalist in the SWN Goldman Awards with my comedy feature, Snitch.

They sent me a laurel, which was lovely of them. I’m particularly pleased, as the judges in this include Ed Solomon, screenwriter of the Men in Black, Bill and Ted and the Now You See Me franchises (there’s a third one of NYSM being developed now), and Fleur Costello, former BBC comedy producer with over 20 years in the industry.

Next up – and this only happened this week – the BBC called out for submissions to their Upload Festival (May Day weekend) and I thought I’d give it a go (bear in mind I’m a writer not a performer) so dug out an old poem (a short old poem) with a twist ending. Off it went, and made it onto Radio Kent, so yay me!

You can listen to it here, from 27.23 in to the broadcast.

Finally – not so much a mini-win for me personally (but fundraising for my charity) – I’m taking part in my third Firewalk next Friday. As you know, I manage a small community space and we’re looking to begin opening up again in the next two months – slowly at first, as our people are elderly and/or vulnerable and the priority is to keep them all safe.

But we’ve almost all had our second jabs now, so confidence is growing that we can get back to some semblance of normality. If you’d like to help us get our programme underway again, this is the link to share (or you can sponsor me, that’d be fab!) Thank you!

Strictly for the ambitious

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The last time my youngest came with us on holiday (16/17 years old, I think. Isn’t that  terrible that I can’t remember? What kind of a mother am I?) everybody we met asked him the same question: What do you want to do when you leave college?

He got very bored, very quickly, as he’d gained an apprenticeship and knew exactly where he was going (mechanical engineering).

I know it was a long time ago, but I honestly can’t remember being asked that question. With feminism relatively new at that time, I suspect it was because a) no-one cared and b) they assumed I’d eventually marry and have kids and that was the ultimate ambition for a woman back then, apparently *eyeroll*. I personally had no interest in that though (hence my earlier failure). 

My dad’s ambition for me was to go to university (he never had the opportunity) and my careers adviser’s ambition for me was to be a policewoman (on account of being tall).

But when I was a teenager, I had just two ambitions: To go skiing, and go to the Caister Soul Weekender.

Skiing was fine, apart from that time my nice hire skis got stolen and replaced by a pair of planks, which caused a triple somersault with added twists and resulted in a broken skis. Just the skis, thankfully.

Caister was completely mis-sold to me.I was told everyone wore pyjamas for a whole week, no-one goes to bed, and there’s sex and drugs on tap. Erm, nope. It was still brilliant though.

It never occurred to me to have any other ambitions.

Then a fellow writer asked on Facebook: What’s your non-writing ambition? (It goes without saying that we, as writers, all want to win awards and earn lots of money, doesn’t it?) But fame and fortune is an ambition I’ve personally never really had. I mean, a simple BAFTA would do.

Having thought about it, I realised my ambition was to be just famous enough to appear on Strictly Come Dancing. Not too famous, not Eastenders cast member famous, more Stacey Dooley levels of “Who is that woman? Where do I know her from? She seems familiar but I just can’t place her” type famous.

Yes, I’m rubbish at photoshop-type stuff

If I can earn a living as a writer without having to appear on telly (except for House of Games and Pointless, I’ll do those, and not because I fancy Richard Osman. Really, I don’t) then that would suit me very well.

I’ve got it all planned out. I’d have to be with Giovani, Aljaz or Johannes because, tall, remember? Preferably Giovanni but that’s for purely selfish cougar-like reasons. Hubby hates Strictly so I can work on invoking the Strictly curse.

 I would need to find out in advance if I can choose my music though, since I’m extremely fussy. The thought of having to dance to some piece of pop pap makes me shudder, quite frankly. It could even be a deal-breaker.

Should we make it through to Movie Week, I’d beg for a Paso Doble to the ‘Help Arrives’ score from Avengers Infinity War, done up like a female Captain America. Seriously, it’s a bloody fantastic epic piece of music, perfect for a Paso. And yes, in case you don’t know me well, I’m extremely sad when it comes to both Strictly and Captain America. I’d even be prepared to jump off the gantry into a superhero landing, though I do have vertigo and would probably break a leg, as well as throw up. 

It’s a no-brainer to do it though, isn’t it? Even if I had a major memory block, an embarrassing wardrobe malfunction and went out first, I’d still get at least three weeks full time dance training with Giovanni, and two weekends of being BUBARred (blinged up beyond all recognition). What’s not to love?

The Hero’s Journey – MCU Captain America

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Well, didn’t we get all excited? Well, I did, obviously.

This is the news that hit Thursday:

Yay, screamed I. Then awwwww as Chris Evans tweeted this:

(Bonus Jamie Lee Curtis content though)

So, possibly not then. I know some people think it would cheapen the beautiful ending of Endgame, but I think there are two more standalone stories to tell with Evans as Steve Rogers (with him having handed the shield onto Sam to be Captain America), neither of which impact on his hero’s journey, as broken down below.

Firstly, we left Agent Carter with unfinished business, so either series 3, with Steve backing up Peggy as she solves the mystery and then goes on to found S.H.I.E.L.D. (or a feature film version). Think of all the internal conflict Steve will have, unable to change the future, unable to stop Hydra growing inside S.H.I.E.L.D. How much could he, should he, tell her? Delicious.

Secondly, a prequel (as they’ve done with Black Widow) on what he and Sam (and hopefully Nat – maybe a quick visit to Bucky, too?) got up to in between Civil War and Infinity War, with Steve as Nomad. Rough, dirty, long haired, bearded Cap … where was I? 

Wishful thinking on my part, I suspect, until I saw this:

… and got all excited again! Keep everything crossed, I beg you.

Now, as you can see from the title of this post, this was going to be about my favourite screenwriting structure, The Hero’s Journey, and how it completely fits the arc of Steve Rogers in the MCU. So that news breaking at this time seems a bit spooky, doesn’t it?

I don’t do graphs or charts as I was rubbish at maths and they remind me of maths. It’s words all the way for me. Lists I get. And the Hero’s Journey Structure is just that. (You can make it into a pretty circle if you want.)

Here we go:

An Ordinary World: The world is at war, and Steve wants to do his bit, alongside BFF Bucky. He shows his determination and courage.

The Call To Adventure: Steve applies to the army. A lot.

The Refusal of the Call: The army rejects him due to his obvious deficiencies (the refusal doesn’t always have to be the MC refusing a quest e.g. Luke, Frodo.)

Meeting the Mentor(s): Dr. Erskine earwigs on Steve and Bucky and knows he’s found his good guy. I would also include Peggy as a Mentor figure, she was so much more than a love interest, as proven with her appearances throughout the franchise in her own right.

Crossing the Threshold: Puny Steve is transformed into Captain America.

Tests, Allies and Enemies: The First Avenger; The Avengers; Winter Soldier; Age of Ultron.

Approaching the Innermost Cave: Civil War and the Sokovia Accords. 

Ordeal: The fight with Tony.

Reward: Bucky is saved.

The Road Back: Infinity War brings him home to the Avengers. 

Resurrection: Endgame – apart from The Avengers literally resurrecting everyone, Cap is back in the fold, and will lead the Avengers once more – until …

Return with the Elixir: Steve gets to go home. Home being Peggy; his compass points the way, and his compass is a picture of Peggy. Anyone who thinks Steve’s arc should or could have been different doesn’t understand story. Stucky fans will point to the “I’m with you to the end of the line” quote without understanding that Endgame was the end of the line for them. Steve saved Bucky three times, he deserved to go home.

I don’t know if Marvel planned this, or whether it only came about when they knew they were introducing time travel, but since Markus and McFeely were the showrunners of Agent Carter, as well as writing all the Cap films, Infinity War and Endgame, I’d like to think they did.

You have to find a way of telling your stories that suit you, and this structure just makes sense to me. It even works with a short documentary I’m working on, an eye opener that came out of a seminar with Dr. Steve Evanson, co-creator of the BBC’s Coast. Remember the snakes v iguana on Planet Earth? Yep, it’s a hero’s journey structure. And no, the name Steve Evanson is not lost on me *ghost emoji*

The New Year Update

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Here we are again! A year on and my portfolio is out of control. OK, it isn’t, because I’m organised, it just looks that way.

You see, once I create a world and characters I love, I make them work, so they could go from a feature to sitcom, to audio drama to short sketches, depending on what opportunities arise. Hence, there are now four screenshots, compared to last year’s one:

SNITCH has been rewritten and is being submitted to opportunities and competitions. It got off to a good start as semi-finalist in the London International Screenwriting Competition. I’m also adapting it into a TV series. It’s also now deliberately funny, following feedback that I should embrace my comedy voice!

CROWNING DAVID was previously known as MARROWFAT 241, a sci-fi feature (still there for reference and its first 10 pages made quarter finalist in the London International Screenwriting Competition), but is now being adapted into a comedy-drama series.

AUNT COOKIE’S I’m looking to adapt as a radio comedy-drama, as well as revisit the pilot.

THE OTHER GIRL is a new sitcom.

THE DONATION was a short sketch that came out of a sitcom course and has been adapted for various opportunities.

HUB SKETCH – I run a community hub, and this plus The Donation, will form sketches for BREWING UP, a series based in the hub (I’ve got the keys, see, so location location location!).

MAKING A SCENE was various different scenes from some of my projects for an opportunity.

SPLIT was formerly GOODBYE GIRL.

EVOLUTION was ALIEN: EVOLUTION, now rewritten and being submitted to various opps and competitions.

UMBILICAL is my psychological thriller that has really earned its keep this year, as did …

SERENA, which was upgraded to semi-finalist in the Table Read My Screenplay Awards.

BRAVE FACE and NO EXCEPTIONS are in a holding pattern, as is ELERI EVANS, bless her, she’s being ever so patient (but her time might come this year, as I need a 10 page treatment for an opportunity and I’ve tons of info I’ve gathered for her story).

MAUD is an historical drama feature or series, or possibly a radio sitcom, based on real life events. Like I say, I like to make them work for their place. It’s the middle ages with lots of battles, so I’m thinking radio might be the best bet, and having seen the first episode of The Great, I might well embrace the comedy side of it (there is one, believe it or not).

DESPATCHED was my scene as part of a collaborative sitcom episode from the sitcom course and was huge fun, and challenging, as my character was on her own with just a sarcastic computer programme to talk to.

THE ANCESTOR is the supernatural horror that came out of the opportunity I blogged about before.

And finally, the LONELINESS film, is a docu-drama story about the importance of volunteering and dealing with the shit that life throws at you, featuring one of my lovely volunteers at the hub. That’s just a basic outline at present, notes are elsewhere.

I hate the thought of writers block, so I find that having a few projects on the go, and shaping them for different opportunities that crop up, means that if I get stuck on one, I can switch to another. I also re-typed SNITCH completely, word for word, and it was amazing how much better it became, so that’s the next task with my other complete projects.

Today will be tough for so many, since we’re back in full lockdown. Stay safe, accept every offer of help – if you’re in Medway, give me a shout, I can point you to various organisations – or just join me on Twitter @ScattyJan if you want to chat (and swear at the stupid z-list celebs who think they know better than doctors. Grrrrr.)

Take care, everyone xx

Five months later …

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.. and I did manage to get my hair cut – in August, so nothing’s changed there, really.

But brilliant news on the hub front, as I secured the funding to get the new kitchen installed – here it is:

Not only that, I helped our befriending group, Walderslade Together (WALT), secure emergency funding to carry on their valuable work right through to April, a total in the end of over £64,000 (including income loss funding for the hub, too). So I’m feeling pretty darn chuffed with my contribution during lockdown.

I nominated them for the Cooperative Charity of the Year for 2021, and just found out we were accepted, so yay! The hub ended up with over £6k in 2019, so fingers crossed WALT will get close to that too. If you’re a member, please choose them as your charity – thank you 🙂

I’ve also some small successes on the script front. No big wins or options or anything, but Umbilical was a second rounder at Austin, making the top 20% out of over 13,000 entries. They sent me a laurel!

It’s also still under consideration with three producers so y’know, there’s still hope.

My short, Serena, has done well for me – Top 25 in the Table Read My Screenplay competition, and a semi-finalist in the Filmmatic Short Screenplay comp.

Lots more to do though, with comedy currently keeping me busy. My feature with the NFTS graduate is being dissected, rewritten, and new ideas filtered in, and I’ve various scenes and sketches being written for new opportunities. It’s all very exciting and also a bit panicky because, deadlines *eek*.

Next post due … ha ha, no, don’t hold your breath!

Making the most of the lockdown

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Additional success since my last blog post!

It’s a shame the rest of 2020 has turned to shit, but there you go. This is actual footage of my hair at the moment:

straw-1674951_1280

Photo: Gerhard Gillinger

Following placing in the top 15 of Clive’s opportunity, I made the shortlist (Top 8) for the 26th Euroscript Screen Story Competition 2020, so yay me! Happy with that for two reasons A) the obvious but b) Umbilical (then known as The Bond) was the first script I ever wrote.

It was at my first London Screenwriters’ Festival (2017 – there’s an online version at the moment, check it out) that I had a script surgery with Euroscript’s Ian Long. He loved the logline and tagline – all I had at that moment – and so, encouraged, I went away and wrote it within one month.  Rewriting followed and it’s also now under consideration with three producers.

I’m still learning though – particularly thanks to seminars at the latest festival – so I’m going to rewrite again and elevate it further.

For another WIP – my comedy-thriller called ‘Snitch’ – I’ve been chosen as one of the scriptwriters to work with an NFTS script development student, as part of their coursework.  It’s so important to get fresh eyes on your work and this is a whole other level since it involves six months of feedback and discussion with the same person – I’m a big fan of consistency.

I’ve also submitted Snitch to another opportunity from the wonderful WFTV, who run writers table reads, with six writers for a six week stint (via Zoom, of course). The three writers we’ve read so far seem very happy, so I can’t wait for my turn.

I completed the Raindance courses – with the final three sessions taking place online because of you-know-what. But the Net Community Hub, for which the courses were being undertaken in order to produce a short film, has had to close its doors for the foreseeable future.  With our clientele being elderly and vulnerable, we’ll be the last place to open up again 😦

hub

Having said that, I’ve the time to research and write the film , plus look for funding – for the film, for the loss of income, for the match funding for next year but also – always looking on the bright side – to get a new kitchen fitted. It’s something we’d never be able to do without closing for a week so that’s my priority for the moment, work wise. There’s a link to the hub above – if you want to donate towards our kitchen and reopening, please do and I’ll love you forever 🙂

That was a lot of news in one go. I shall try to cultivate some consistency with regard to my blogging.

Stay safe and well x

Another new idea, goddamit

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Supernatural horror

Because I don’t have enough to work on already!

I do love an opportunity and the generosity of screenwriter, script consultant and producer, Clive Frayne, provided just that.

Clive put out a call for his 2020 Script Development programme and I was one of over a hundred screenwriters who responded (considering what was on offer it should have been more).

Tasked with providing Clive with an idea (not a logline) I was able to use what was literally a one line scrawl in a notebook while on holiday last year, which was: ‘Great location for a murder’.

That’s because it would be an ‘impossible’ murder, as I was on a tiny ferry with three crew and twelve passengers, all strapped into their own, individual seats that no-one could have left without being seen.

This idea grew and I was delighted to make it into Clive’s shortlist of 15 writers. From there, he gave us additional assignments, one of which was to make a Pinterest board with images that gave a sense of the story and characters (that’s a snapshot above). And what an inspiration that turned out to be – I’m doing one for all my stories now!

I’ve now gone from that one line idea to an almost fully-fleshed out supernatural horror story that explores the psychological and emotional cost of family betrayal, and I’m really excited by it.

My involvement in Clive’s scheme ended there, as Clive had the tough task of whittling down to just two writers. So I’m breaking my rule of buying no more how-to books to apply more of Clive’s process to my scripts. You can find it here.

What a difference a year makes!

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Yes, it’s time for my annual “I’m going to start blogging again” post.

Ok, I’m probably not, because my priority is to write scripts, and by and large, throughout 2019, that’s what I’ve been doing.

I wanted to keep myself accountable, so to that end, I took a screenshot of my projects on 5/1/19, and just remembered to do it again today to compare and check my progress.

And I’m pretty pleased with what I’ve done. On 5/1/19, I had six projects on the go: Eleri Evans  (YA feature opening two pages – I have an outline elsewhere); Aunt Cookie’s (tv pilot) The Deal (feature) The Bond (feature) Alien: Evolution (competition short) and Sally (feature).

 

January5th2019

It looks more than six due to needing excerpts for submissions, or where I was debating which way to take the script (e.g. The Deal has two different endings).

To say I’m pleased with how re-writing has gone is an understatement. This is today’s screenshot.

9JAN20

  • Goodbye Girl is a short, rewritten from a script I did from my Uni of Kent Writing for Stage and Screen course.
  • Serena – previously Sally – is now a long short which I hope to shoot myself.
  • Aunt Cookie’s was rewritten and has been submitted to various competitions and gigs.
  • Alien: Evolution is a short written for a competition, and is now being rewritten.
  • Snitch – previously The Deal – is now a first draft feature with a definitive ending.
  • Umbilical – previously The Bond – was rewritten and has been submitted to various competitions and gigs.
  • No Exceptions and Brave Face are shorts that came out of Talent Campus, and received Special Commendations from the Four Minute Screenplay Competition. Brave Face is another I’m hoping to shoot myself (along with Goodbye Girl).
  • Marrowfat 241 is a speed draft sci-fi feature adapted from a short story  I wrote years ago, and is awaiting rewrites.
  • And Eleri Evans is still hanging in there, awaiting her turn!

It’s already gearing up to be a busy opening couple of months, as I was lucky enough to be awarded a bursary from the Oppenheim-Downes Foundation, which is paying for two courses with Raindance.

Across ten weeks from the end of January to the end of March, I’ll be taking a Filmmaker’s Foundation Course and a Producer’s Foundation Course, which I hope will equip me with the skills to make a short film for my charity, The Net Community Hub.

Our aims are to reduce social isolation and put an end to loneliness, and the short film will hopefully raise awareness of these issues, as well as publicise the good work the hub is doing, supported by its volunteering partners, Walderslade Together.

The bonus is that these will also equip me with the skills to make my own films. So I’m raising a glass to 2020 – of gin and tonic, probably (seriously, I was given sooooo much gin for Christmas) – and making this year the big one.