Category: Thoughts on Screenwriting

PLOT AND STORY Distinguishing between story and plot is tricky. ‘Plot’ is the events that enable and dramatize your story. The story is the show.

C4 SCREENWRITING COURSE – NOTES ON READING Hi There, After Karen Featherstone’s excellent feedback last fortnight, here are some of the notes I made while

THAT CHRIS MATTHEWS MOMENT I was reminded of this because England are currently playing a cricket test match vs Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane.

THIS IS A TRUE STORY Except, in the case of The Salt Path it turns out it may not be. I have read and enjoyed

Hi There, On Wednesday afternoon I was lucky enough to go to a matinee preview at the National Theatre of the revival of LONDON ROAD.

DRAMATIC IRONY by Tom Hanham HELP! I don’t have much time. I’m being held hostage and Philip Shelley is forcing me to write a newsletter,

Hi There, This fortnight, some reader feedback from the excellent MATT MCNALLY, who covered 280 of your script entries for the 2025 Channel 4 screenwriting

Hi There, This fortnight, some of the notes I made as I was reading script submissions for the 2025 Channel 4 screenwriting course. None of

  Yes, it’s a cheery one. At the risk of being extremely depressing, I have been thinking, for various reasons, about death quite a lot

Hi There, It’s blindingly obvious that the most important thing for budding screenwriters is your writing – your ability to tell a story compellingly and