As ever, lots of things potentially bubbling away. I’m rapidly learning that in the world of film/TV/theatre you’ve got to have as many irons in the fire as you can possibly manage. You never know which one is going to heat up first, and until I score that elusive first credit and establish something of a track record, it is very much a numbers game. I’m also very aware that I haven’t blogged since that post-wedding road trip in August when I left the Midlands, should have headed back east to Suffolk but instead went in the opposite direction and spent most of the day rediscovering the Peak District. Very lucky I did, one village I hadn’t seen since a pony trek when I was about 11 has inspired an idea for a feature film. Also aware that every time I mention something that might be happening on the blog something comes along to scotch it. So I thought I’d throw caution to the wind and tell you what I can about them, the theory being I can’t jinx them all.
First up my lovely agent at Independent, Sarah Williams, has been setting me up with meetings all over town. I’ve been wined and dined in Shoreditch, had coffee with the company behind Harry Potter and Gravity, seen the inside of the BBC in all it’s glory (and yes it’s exactly how they showed it in W1A) to meet execs at BBC Wales (Sherlock, Dr Who, Being Human, Life on Mars, Torchwood, Merlin, all fab) and a seriously switched on script editor at BBC Drama who was happy to talk 21st century geopolitics and socio-economic undercurrents in Britain, the idea being that it should be possible to make great period drama that can still resonate with a modern audience. ITV’s The Great Fire mirroring the London Riots, for example.
These meetings are known in the States as generals. Essentially they are first dates, both sides tentatively putting feelers out to see if there could be a potential working relationship in the offing. They talk about their ideas, I talk about mine and all things being well the door is left open for opportunities down the road. That’s largely what’s happened with the contacts my agent in the US helped me set up after I signed with him a year ago. My emails don’t go straight into Trash now. With one company based at Warner Bros I’m working on a film idea that they bounced off me, and with another company I’m working on a potential TV series which I pitched to them. You can’t be precious about material. The joy of the work is enough.
That being said, you have to make your own opportunities. To any young writers or general thespians I can heartily recommend Kenneth Branagh’s autobiography, Beginning, written when he was 28. By then he was starring in and directing Henry V, his first film, acted in many plays, written some and produced more, and still found time to eat, sleep and occasionally be merry. Greatly inspired, I did something I never thought I would do and wrote a one-man, one-act play for an actor friend, the dream being to put in on somewhere in London when his filming commitments allow. I had no idea how huge the task was of writing a play that could entertain an audience for nearly an hour using just the one actor. But, in much the same way that writing and directing a silent short film was pretty insane for a first attempt, anything else by comparison is a lot easier to write. Awaiting feedback from actor and producer…no rush guys!
And with said producer, this week we went to the town of my birth to talk the the son of an author. Coincidentally one of the author’s novels was turned into a film starring a certain Kenneth Branagh. Another novel was adapted into a play, the first play I was ever in, aged 7. We love this story and we desperately want to turn it into a film so we pitched heart and soul to the son and his wife in the hope that they will give us what they call an option on the rights, i.e. a spell to give us time to write a screenplay and then to find funding. Hopefully we should hear back in the next few days.
So being proactive and always generating new ideas, all the while trying to stay sane as the job hunt for the inevitable return to London continues, that’s the advice I’d give to any fellow scribblers out there hoping for their first big break. Some smart alec, and after a quick Google said smart alec turns out to be Seneca of all people, said: “he is lucky who understands that luck is the point where preparation meets opportunity”. You have to be ready to step up when those chances come along, often at the most unlikely times. Wish me luck!
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