Screenscribbler

Wednesday 6 April 2011

A Grand Day Out

Twelve miles west of Central London lies the beautiful leafy suburb of Sunbury-on-Thames, home to the Riverside Arts Centre the venue for  Jan Etherington's Comedy Writing Course - Spring Workshop (click on the link for details).
Jan, a successful comedy screenwriter who has penned many sit-coms for ITV and BBC, and her associates Frankie and Heather ensured everybody had a warm welcome and was made completely at ease in what was an intentionally small group.
Small is beautiful and because each one of us were able to get personal attention from Jan and her invited guests,  television actor John Bowler and Comedy Screenwriting agent Dominic Lord.
Jan gave us a useful talk on the ingredients necessary to construct a successful situation comedy.
I had submitted part of my script Ushabti prior to the course and this was superbly brought to life by a reading from members of the group. I can't describe how it felt to see my main characters brought to life for the first time, an experience I will never forget. This was followed up by a critique from members of the group and from the people who know, Jan and Dominic.
I found the day inspiring motivational and most of all enlightening for me in how to pitch and who to pitch to.
A grand day out and I most certainly will return. The next spring workshop is on May 15th for anyone who is interested.

2 comments:

  1. Wow! it must have been wonderful to see your characters brought to life like that John! I was once given the opportunity to write a TV script for a children's cartoon programme and to get feedback for it from the producer but there my script writing ventures end.(They were complimentary but didn't use the script.The producer said he'd keep it for future use but that was some years ago and I've not heard anything so assume that it was binned,)
    Script writing is not really my forte! The writing course sounds really good and what a lovely venue! I confess I am considering going back to one of my first loves - writing for children. Could it be the birth of my grandsons that is the cause? :-)

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  2. Yes don't be put off Debbie. It doesn't necessarily mean your script was not good enough. Its a lottery really unless you can read minds and know what the broadcaster is looking for before you write and submit a script. What I have learned is you can study market trends even in children's programmes but often a broadcaster has made up his mind what genre of script he wants even before he sees anybody's work.
    Do pitch producers and try and match the producer to your screenplay.
    Better still would be to secure a good agent, easier said than done but don't give up.
    Beautiful pictures of your grandchildren :-)

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