CHANNEL 4 SCREENWRITING COURSE 2nd WEEKEND – SOME REFLECTIONS
Hi There, CHANNEL 4 SCREENWRITING COURSE 2ND WEEKEND We’ve completed the Channel 4 screenwriting course for another year (apart from the industry drinks evening coming up in a few weeks at which we introduce the year’s 12 writers to potential employers and agents from the industry) and I wanted to reflect a little on the […]
CREATIVE STEALING – YOUR RESPONSES
Hi There, I hope your writing is going very well. This fortnight, your responses to my last newsletter, ‘CREATIVE STEALING’. ‘Hi Philip, Inspiring newsletter, thank you. I like STEALING. I tend to do this with dead authors, using their literary works as inspiration. For example, I’m currently adapting Hamlet to a monastic setting in 12th […]
CREATIVE STEALING
Hi There, STORY PROMPTS / STEALING CREATIVELY One of the things I often find myself talking to writers about is the importance of having a fund of great ideas that you’re interested in writing about – and the need to be constantly replenishing this supply of killer ideas. This is particularly the case once your […]
INTERVIEWS & CVs
Hi There, INTERVIEWS & CVs INTERVIEWS I’ve been in the lucky position over the last few years of being the one who does the interviewing rather than being the one interviewed so I thought it might be helpful to share some observations about job / course interviews and CV’s. This is particularly fresh in my […]
THREE NEW COURSES + RECOMMENDED SCREENWRITING
Hi There, This fortnight, I want to tell you about three courses I will be running in the next few weeks / months – CREATIVITY FOR SCRIPTWRITERS Sunday June 18th in central London. A one day course. This will be the first time I’ve held this course since 2019 and I’m delighted to be running […]
DEBUT ON TWO – A BLAST FROM THE PAST
In a neglected bookshelf at home, I found this book that I had first read a long time ago and hadn’t looked at for the last decade or two. I bought this book when I was still a struggling actor with plummeting self-esteem and little idea about what I wanted to do next with my […]
Arvon Foundation – Reflections on a TV Drama residential writing week
Hi There, In the last week of February, for the first time, I tutored on an Arvon Foundation residential week at the beautiful Lumb Bank, Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath’s old house on a steep Yorkshire hillside in Happy Valley land (Becky Cawood’s – and Sylvia Plath’s – graveyard is a 10 minute walk away […]
Roxy Cook: Reflections on reading 281 scripts
Hi There, This fortnight, I’m really grateful to ROXY COOK for sharing her thoughts and responses to the script reading experience for the 2023 Channel 4 screenwriting course. Roxy is one of this year’s shadow script editors on the Channel 4 course and has also just been announced as the winner of the Theatre 503 […]
SCREENWRITING & SOCIAL MEDIA
Hi There, SCREENWRITING & SOCIAL MEDIA This topic – the connections between screenwriting & social media – is on my mind right now for a few reasons. Last Monday I ran one of my regular SCRIPT READING & DEVELOPMENT Q&A’s on zoom for 8 people interested in this area of the industry. One of […]
Happy Valley + GREENLIGHT SCREENWRITING LAB
Hi There, It was a sad moment on Sunday evening when HAPPY VALLEY finally came to an end after 3 series – this has quite simply been one of the best TV dramas of the past 20 or years (and not just in the UK). On courses I have run, I have done a page-to-screen […]
