Hi There,
20 SCREENWRITERS IN 1 ROOM FOR 2 DAYS
This past weekend I ran my 2 day screenwriting course – for the first time for 3 years. I really enjoyed it and this newsletter has a few thoughts / observations that came out of the weekend.
One of the things we discuss is what constitutes a good story idea. We do a couple of creative exercises and I ask all the delegates to bring along a recent newspaper story that they think could form the basis of a great film or TV show. Each person presents their idea to the room. On the second day they each do a slightly more refined / prepared pitch (having given each other feedback) – sometimes a version of the idea they pitched on the first morning, more often a completely different idea.
By the close of these two pitching sessions, I felt that the collected story ideas would grace the development slate of any production company. I was blown away by the quality, range and scale of these ideas.
I always find this ability to come up with so many great ideas from artificial ideas a bit baffling (in a brilliant way) – when so many of the ideas that are made and so many of the pitches that I hear in my working life are…a little dull.
It’s amazing what artificial exercises and parameters and the pressure of an imminent deadline can compel you to come up with.
It also reminds me that the best stories don’t have to be slaved over in front of your computer – they’re all out there already in the big wide world, just waiting for you to take and use.
Knowing that I’d set the writers this exercise, I thought a little myself about stories in the press that had fired my imagination. These are three I came up with –
The story of the sole survivor of the horrific Air India pane crash.
Connected to this – the woman who got stuck in traffic and missed that flight.
What could be the ripples from these massive life events / twists of fate for these two people? (Perhaps you could combine these two people and create a fictional story from the idea of bringing them together?)
Thirdly – the recent report on the case of Harry Dunn, the 16 year old boy killed on his motorbike by the wife of an American diplomat, who was driving on the wrong side of the road. The report criticised the Northamptonshire police for not arresting the driver of the car at the time of the incident – she fled to the US soon afterwards.
At the time, this was a story that generated anger and an emotional outpouring – not least because of the lack of justice – a feeling reawakened and exacerbated by this report.
A (good, sensitive) factual drama about this story would be incredibly compelling (and I’d be surprised if one isn’t being developed somewhere in the UK).
Even if the ideas you develop as a writer are never based on real stories, I think it’s still a really helpful exercise to judge them against these sorts of real-world stories.
If the stories you are creating aren’t as compelling as these stories, then why not use real stories at least as inspiration?
One of the things we discussed was how, if you take a single story like any of the above and fictionalise it, then every single writer is going to come up with their own individual, unique take / interpretation.
Stories like this can be used as prompts and provocations rather than forcing you to use every fact and detail of the stories. Just tap into what it is about a particular real-world story that excites you. Don’t necessarily feel obliged to do a factual drama version (although IMO there is absolutely nothing wrong with factual drama – it is a genre of dramatic storytelling of which there are many brilliant examples – from the show I wrote about a fortnight ago, London Road, to another excellent show I watched recently – Suspect – The Shooting Of Jean Charles De Menezes – a 4 part series on Disney+, written by Jeff Pope who has made a whole career from his skill in dramatizing factual stories.
For one of the exercises, here are some of the titles the writers on the course came up with –
In Praise Of Folly
The Genesis Pill
What If Money
Donna’s Kebabs (a dark comedy about an East London kebab shop, money laundering and cannibalism, with echoes of Sweeney Todd – that came to life through a single image – a human thigh cooking on the shop’s ‘kebab cone’!) That image for the poster can be so key to landing an idea.
The Stranger I Loved.
A good, intriguing title can be an important prompt for further development of an idea.
The course is also about making the most of this (temporary) community of writers. I encourage all 20 delegates to pair up and help each other, give each other feedback – so that by the time they pitch there is a very helpful bond of shared responsibility for each idea.
Talking about an idea will so often teach you so much more than just sitting with it on your screen.
Other thoughts that came out of the day and that have stayed with me –
One of our writer guest speakers spoke about a ‘vibes folder’ on their email – a collection of positive, affirming messages and feedback about their work to refer to when things are a little shaky! I love this idea. Writing confidence is a fragile thing; and we all need an occasional reminder that we’re good at what we do, something to help boost our self-belief.
Connected to which, another of our guest speakers was asked whether they ever paused to celebrate their successes. In the same vein, this also seemed like a great question. When something goes well, we need to find the time to mark and enjoy it. We can all get lost in the burden and detail of our work – and it gives the work more meaning if we can at certain times stand back, take a pause and celebrate the wins.
Similarly at one point there was a discussion of how a change of scene can do wonders for your creative output. I was reminded of a writer from last year’s 4screenwriting who went away for a week’s holiday and came back with a brand new and completely different idea that they wanted to write – which they turned into an outstanding script. Sometimes when you consciously stop working, things have a way of falling into place.
The course emphasised for me the importance for writers of having a community of your peers – other writers that you talk to on a regular basis so that you can both support each other and hold each other to account. The 20 writers on the weekend course have set up their own whatsapp group so they are able to do this – to talk to each other about their writing, to test ideas on each other and to swap work for mutual feedback.
One of the common refrains over the weekend was the sheer difficulty of committing to writing and then of finishing scripts before moving onto new ideas. I think this whatsapp community will help these writers with that desire to stick at it, to see the creation of a story though to its finish.
But it’s also about the energy and inspiration we all get from hearing other people’s ideas, reading other people’s work and hearing about the things they find hard about writing.
There was discussion about the qualities screenwriters need to build and sustain a career. Another guest speaker talked about how writers don’t just need to be able to write in the isolation of their company, they also need to be ‘charismatic’. In discussion afterwards, we discussed whether that was quite the right word – it’s more about engaging, being positive, enjoying the company of your collaborators, using their help and suggestions to enhance your writing. More ‘engaged’ than ‘charismatic’ – although charisma definitely helps!
Thank you to all twenty who came on the course and shared their aims and stories with each other – it was an enriching experience.
NB My September 2 day course is fully booked but I hope to be running another one before the end of the year – watch this space.
The next newsletter will be out on Friday July 11th,
Best wishes
Phil
PHILIP SHELLEY
Friday June 27th 2025
