Hi There,
Earlier this month I spent 6 days at the beautiful Arvon Foundation house in Totleigh Barton, deepest Devon, with co-tutor Thara Popoola and 14 screenwriters on a writing retreat.
These weeks are always fascinating, intense and creatively fulfilling. Arvon courses are long established and as a consequence the week is really well thought out and structured.
The thing that makes these weeks special for me is hearing personal stories, talking to these writers both in the formal one-to-one sessions but also outside of the formal parts of the course – at mealtimes, causal conversations around the house and garden and the Thursday evening trip to the pub.
Suddenly someone gives a huge insight into their life – and it’s fascinating seeing the social dynamics between all of us thrown together for 6 days. So many amazing personal stories spill out alongside the fictional stories these writers are creating – stories of personal tragedy and sacrifice, of incredibly impressive scientific research (for instance).
Coming together into a community for a week with people telling their stories who you may never see again reminds you of the richness and variety of human life; of the fact that everyone’s life contains multiple stories and issues. The guy, for instance, whose story was autobiographical and in describing his boarding school experience was also describing mine (we even shared the same science teacher, an extraordinary character in his own right whose signature line of discipline to his pupils was the bizarre ‘Damn your eyesight, boy!’ and whose main tool of science teaching was throwing sodium pellets into puddles of water so that we could experience them exploding.)
The writers on the retreat are always an excitingly varied bunch – often a mix of younger writers starting out, investing their time in creating and writing new work in this week away; and older writers whose stories are sometimes more personal, ideas that have stuck with them and that they feel a deep need to get out of their heads and onto the page.
So, we had, for instance, three younger writers –
One who stayed up late most evenings to complete her script about dating apps in contemporary London, awful men – and all told with a very clever vampiric twist.
Another who used his professional background to craft a potentially epic film about late capitalism and eco-terrorism – the catalyst for which was the (impressively specific) exploitative mining for lithium in the Chilean salt-flats – and which used this element – lithium – in different, ingenious ways to dramatize the story of the main character.
And another who was working on a series idea about mental health in an ensemble of young characters in contemporary, urban London, centred around a spoken word group.
All of these above ideas in their different ways were very exciting.
And then amongst the (I hope they won’t mind me referring to them as this!) older writers were some stories that felt harder-won, stories that had great personal meaning and took courage to air among the group – and to write.
There was one epic biographical story – (that evoked parallels with Edward St Aubyn’s Patrick Melrose) about bleak boarding school experiences, sexual abuse, scientific achievement and mental breakdown. The story of a long life – and the challenges of transforming so many extraordinary incidents across decades into a compelling biopic.
Another writer gave us the beginnings of a dialogue-heavy (even if very well-written) love story set on an isolated but idyllic farm – which by the end of the week he had transformed into a brilliantly structured three-part feature film outline, defined not by its dialogue but by a series of arresting, cinematic images that articulated the themes of the story more effectively than any dialogue could have done.
The week and the writers sparked so many thoughts and ideas about story and how it works. For instance –
The issue of writing autobiographical stories – how sometimes the cold, hard truth isn’t believable. And how sticking doggedly to it isn’t always the best way to tell a story. How, at a certain point, you need to stand back from the real detail of your story and think about it not as your personal experience but as a story you’re telling for an audience.
The importance of subtext in dialogue. I was able to use an example taken from the previous evening’s dinner conversation to illustrate the power of subtext in dialogue!
Two of excellent guest speaker Chris Hurford’s storytelling tips – don’t over-complicate – clarify and simplify. And also, build your career by building credits – very simple but I’d never heard it expressed that simply.
But most of all the privilege of hearing people’s stories, getting an insight into what fascinates them, the huge variety of stories and outlooks but also seeing how these people who have never met before connect and get on with each other living in the same house, cooking and eating meals together and sharing their stories – and how this experience may inform our lives and storytelling afterwards.
The week ends with an evening of readings of the writers’ work. Every single one of the 14 writers was brave enough to read or have their work read / performed by the group. The evening acts as a celebration of what the writers have worked on and achieved over the course of the week and it was deeply gratifying to hear all of these stories being shared among the whole group – and to witness both the range and quality of the writing.
It felt like the writers were baring their collective souls – it was brave and inspiring. Writing as therapy? Not quite but it’s an affirmation. Hopefully it’s the start of a journey to finish these particular stories and get them out into the industry marketplace. So many great images that we can visualise, imagine, interpret. Windows into their worlds. The bravery to go so deep and to put themselves up for judgement in front of people they only met 6 days previously.
Find your writing peers, those who can support you and whom you can support.
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ONE DAY SCREENWRITING COURSE LONDON Saturday November 14th
A one day course with BAFTA-winning, 4screenwriting alumni guest speaker screenwriters CAT MOULTON (Code Of Silence) and ARCHIE MADDOCKS (Crongton).
A packed day that will give you an insight into the craft and career of screenwriting from three practitioners who have worked inside the industry for a long time. Followed by a relaxed networking evening in a nearby pub for myself and the course delegates.
https://script-consultant.co.uk/one-day-screenwriting-course/
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The next newsletter will be with you on Friday November 6th,
Best wishes
Phil
PHILIP SHELLEY
Friday October 23rd 2026