A series of 13 dramatic monologues about life and death. Please listen, enjoy and spread the word!
Hi There,
First off can I say a big thank you to all of you who have got in touch with me about the Tribute podcasts. We’ve had some really nice responses, and I hope that the word of mouth will continue to be good, and that we’ll manage to get these listened to by significant numbers. I’m very hopeful that I’ll be doing a 2nd series – watch this space!
As part of the marketing drive, we’ve decided to feature one of these monologues per week on social media etc for the next 13 weeks. The first one to be featured is Katy Walker’s wonderful VALEDICTION FORBIDDING MOURNING. As one BBC producer expressed it in an email to me this week,
‘Valediction Forbidding Mourning is a terrifying mystery, answered. The release of information and the development of the sense of loss are both beautifully judged. The writing is of a very high standard indeed…. What an original range of writing. It’s odd listening to them so closely together as it’s a really profound meditation on death from tons of perspectives.’
Thank you Steve – I couldn’t have expressed it better myself!
VALEDICTION FORBIDDING MOURNING also features a wonderful performance by FINTY WILLIAMS. Finty was a force of nature when she came into the studio for the recording, and myself, Katy and Will Mount (writer, actor, musician, studio producer!) were all blown away by her performance in the room – and it comes across even better in the recording. Will and I were both embarrassedly dabbing our eyes, hoping neither had noticed, every time we listened to it.
Can I also recommend Robin Bell’s brilliant interview with Katy Walker about the script for her monoloogue.
http://robinbellwriter.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/tribute-interview-with-katy-walker.html?spref=tw
FILMS
I’ve seen a lot of films recently, which have made me think about what works in story. One of my recent favourites was 20TH CENTURY WOMEN. It had a classic US indie sensibility – whimsical and very light on significant plot. But the characterisation was great – it was so eccentrically specific that it felt true. And it reminded me that, if you get the characters right, if you really know your characters, then, to some extent, the story will look after itself. This was about a group of characters at a very particular point in time (1979), the dynamics of their relationships, with a voiceover that told you what happened to the characters later in their lives. There was something poignant, sad and satisfyingly omniscient about this future perspective. A film that makes you look back over your own life, and think about the changes that happen (or don’t).
Another very interesting film – LION. I thought the first (Indian) half of the film was a master-class in clear, simple, affecting story-telling that was all about character action and so little about dialogue. In comparison the 2nd (Australian) half felt to me unconvincing, predictable – and verbose.
CLOSING
Sad to note that FRENCH’S THEATRE BOOKSHOP will be closing down in April, and that the brilliant SOHO CREATE media festival will not be going ahead this year. In these straitened times, we need to keep fighting and making a noise for places and events like this…so many good things disappear for bad, profit-centric reasons, never to reappear. In particular, so many wonderful specialist bookshops have closed down in the last 10 or so years (eg OffStage Theatre bookshop in Chalk Farm, Sportspages in the Charing Cross Rd, etc) I’m reading Alan Bennett’s wonderful KEEPING ON KEEPING ON at the moment, and there’s a furious sub-text (and text) that runs through his diaries about the barbaric closing-down of libraries and other organisations and buildings that have meaning – but aren’t obvious money-spinners, and how wrong this is.
SCRIPT MENTORSHIP
I’ve now got a raft of writers doing my 6 month script mentorships. It’s very exciting working with writers for an extended period, rather than just giving them feedback on a single draft of a script. It’s been particularly gratifying working with writers at the ideas stage, making sure they’re building their stories on solid foundations.
For me, the biggest thing to make sure of at this initial stage is that the idea you’re pursuing as a writer has real emotional meaning for you and isn’t just your attempt to second-guess the industry. Perversely, there’s sometimes something off-putting about a polished, commercial pitch from new writers (certainly this is true if the idea feels too familiar). One of the things I think potential employers want from a calling card script by new writers is something that only that writer could write, that is unique to that writer.
Two of the more exciting projects that have arisen out of discussion with writers recently have been an epic story about an IRA informant for the British army in Belfast in the 1980’s; and a story about a daughter’s relationship with her mother, and how this relationship is changed when the mother is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s.
Both ideas arose out of quite difficult, intense meetings, in which I challenged the writers to go beyond their more familiar, ‘commercial’ ideas – both ideas feel unique to these two writers, and I have high hope for the projects.
THE TROUBLE WITH DAD C4
The best thing I’ve seen on TV in the last few weeks – a wonderful documentary about the relationship between David Baddiel and his father, who suffers from a rare form of dementia – moving, strange, thoughtful and, surprisingly, very funny – this was inspiring from a character / story-telling POV. If you missed it, you can still catch it on All 4
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-trouble-with-dad
I’ve also been listening to Liz Warner’s inspiring BAFTA speech about creativity and the state of TV today –
http://guru.bafta.org/bafta-television-lecture-liz-warner
I found this talk really energising and thought-provoking. It made me think about the different ways in which we can all produce content, the different platforms now available. I recommend you download it and listen at your leisure (along with the tribute podcasts!).
Finally, in the week that non-league Lincoln City made it into the last 8 of the FA Cup, a rather brilliant quote from the late, great Anthony Minghella –
‘Football has high drama, but in the most rigid of forms. In football there is unity of time, place and action, as Aristotle recommended for drama. Very few outcomes are possible – it’s rare for more than four or five goals to be scored in a game – yet moment by moment it is very exciting. That is a real lesson to writers. I wish every film had as exciting a shape as most football matches.’
The next newsletter will be on Friday March 10th
All the best
Phil
PHILIP SHELLEY
@PhilipShelley1
Feb 24th 2017
