Hi There,
This fortnight – a teaser and more recommendations.
TEASER!
I’ve been reading a LOT of these (teasers) in the scripts submitted for the 2025 Channel 4 screenwriting course and here is one of my own.
I’ve been working on a particular, personal project for the last couple of years which is finally about to come to fruition with an announcement next Thursday December 5th. I will be sending out an extra newsletter on this day to tell you what this is all about – so watch this space! I hope that’s tantalising enough for you.
*This next December 5th newsletter will also be my last newsletter this year. The newsletters will resume in their normal fortnightly fashion from Friday January 10th 2025.
RECOMMENDATIONS
As ever, it’s so hard to keep up with the constant flow of new TV fiction – but I’ve watched some cracking shows recently.
Late in the day I caught up with series 2 of SHOWTRIAL (BBC). I thought it was excellent so went back to watch the equally excellent series one.
I think I had been put off watching it by the subconscious idea that this was a case about showbiz – but it’s not. Not sure it’s the most helpful title
Both series are 5 x 1 hour BBC episodes, each series looking at a particular (fictional) crime and the subsequent court case, focusing on the accused, the victims, police and legal teams on both sides of the argument. In many ways this is a thoroughly traditional investigative format with multiple twists and turns in the plotting.
What, for me, raises it above the norm is the strength and colour in the characterisations. In each series the relationship between the accused and the solicitor representing them is at the heart of the story – and all four of these characterisations are vivid, compelling and memorable.
This is a brilliant feat of writing by Ben Richards – ten hours of textured, morally complex and very entertaining screen drama. It’s the colour and detail of the characterisations that, for me, really raises the level of this show – combined with compelling investigative stories. The casting is also excellent – the performances in series one from Tracy Ifeachor and Celine Buckens; and in series two from Adeel Akhtar and Michael Socha are outstanding – but they’re able to be outstanding because the character writing is so strong.
SLOW HORSES
Again, I’ve come rather late to this – and have so far only watched the first series. The sort of series that in the past might have been an ITV or BBC staple, this is in fact on Apple+ TV and is now going strong on its 4th series. Like SHOWTRIAL, there’s nothing formally or narratively ground-breaking about this – but it’s classy, highly entertaining, confident TV storytelling with a clear story premise – with some great characters and casting (particularly Gary Oldman, Kristin Scott Thomas and Saskia Reeves – but also the younger cast like Jack Lowden, Olivia Cooke, Christopher Chung and others).
THE DAY OF THE JACKAL is also something of a stylistic throwback but again the storytelling in the masterful hands of Ronan Bennett is really engaging. Ronan has come to speak on the Channel 4 screenwriting course in the past and is always incredibly insightful when talking about the creation of stories for the screen. He created and wrote TOP BOY. THE DAY OF THE JACKAL is unpretentiously entertaining and really well crafted.
Finally on TV, another show that I missed when it originally went out is MALPRACTICE (ITV) written by 4screenwriting alumna and ex-doctor Grace Ofori-Attah. Another piece of excellent, propulsive, compelling storytelling for the screen with a standout central performance from Niamh Algar. Once I started watching this, I couldn’t stop – and raced my way through the 5 excellent episodes. I am now very much looking forward to series 2.
In contrast, I have recently rewatched and hugely enjoyed two old films –
The Last Picture Show – this was a special one-off screening at my excellent local Aldeburgh cinema. I had seen this a very long time ago but had forgotten just how good it is – a reflective, elegiac examination of US smalltown life over the decades with some memorable characters, co-written by Larry McMurtry (from his own novel) and the film’s director, the late, great Peter Bogdanovich. A wonderfully evocative, touching film with so many brilliant performances from some of the best US actors of the 1970’s.
Dog Day Afternoon – I rewatched this on TV and it absolutely stands up to a repeat viewing. It’s one of the great films from one of the great decades of cinema (the 1970’s) written by Frank Pierson, based loosely on a true story and directed by Sidney Lumet, who made so many excellent films (and his book MAKING MOVIES is one of the very best filmmaking books). The film has so many brilliant performances – but especially the central relationship between the Al Pacino and John Cazale characters.
(I watched a short documentary about John Cazale recently. Before his tragically young death, he only acted in 5 films – all of which were Oscar-nominated! The Godfather, The Conversation, The Godfather Part II, Dog Day Afternoon, and The Deer Hunter)
Script Reading & Development Q&A Dec 10th
This session is now fully booked. If you are interested in doing one of these sessions in 2025, please get in touch and I will organise another one.
Channel 4 screenwriting course 2025
We have now organised the shortlist for interview and I have emailed everyone else. Many apologies if, for some reason, you applied and haven’t heard back. If you submitted a script, thank you very much indeed – it’s been a brilliant experience reading so many enjoyable, impressive scripts and I’m sorry we can only take 12 people on the course. I will be sharing feedback about the reading experience with feedback on both the process and the scripts from myself and some of the readers in the early newsletters of 2025.
As above, my next newsletter will be a short, one-off NEXT THURSDAY December 5th and then I will be taking a Christmas break from the newsletter until Friday January 10th 2025,
Best wishes
Phil
PHILIP SHELLEY
Twitter: @PhilipShelley1
And now on BLUESKY: @philipshelley1.bluesky.social
Friday November 29th 2024
