Category: Uncategorized

  • Another good reason to join the Writers’ Guild

    The UK Film Council have just re-launched 25 Words Or Less, their initiative to encourage the creation of high-concept commercially-viable British films. To get in, you need the following: A pitch line of 25 words or less outlining the story idea A one page outline of the story idea and narrative structure 10 pages of […]

  • Name and Shame

    There’s a lot of talk in the scribosphere at the moment about posting under your own name, and whether you should or not. (Some thoughts from Danny, Jason, and Phill.) I post here under my real name. That’s because I want people to know who I am. In its own small way, this blog is […]

  • The Table Read

    It’s a really simple concept, and you’d think it would be more widely done. You’ve written your spec. It’s as good as you can make it. You’ve been through a dozen drafts, stripped back the action paragraphs and deflowered the prose. The characters have objectives that they’re working towards, and problems that they need to […]

  • Won’t you be my friend, Martha Jones?

    Apparently my old mate Martha has finally got herself a myspace account. She’s training to be a doctor you know. We were supposed to catch up tonight at seven, but she just called to cancel. Looks like she might be busy.

  • Sanctuary

    noun (pl. sanctuaries) 1 a place of refuge or safety. 2 a nature reserve. 3 a place where injured or unwanted animals are cared for. 4 a holy place. 5 the part of the chancel of a church containing the high altar. ORIGIN originally denoting a church or sacred place in which, by law, a […]

  • Pimpin’ the day job

    The BBC writersroom blog is now live. Join the conversation.

  • Sanctuary

    Ooh, interesting. Up here in the rooftops, one of the things we look out for is new financial models for TV shows. D2DVD for instance. Which is why this caught my attention: Damian Kindler has, among other things, co-exec produced Stargate for several years. He’s now working on a new show of his own. But […]

  • Watch and Learn

    If you’re interested in film and television, you’ve probably watched a commentary track or two. A commentary track’s where someone involved in the film (usually director, writer or star, but can be anyone) comes along into a recording studio and, usually armed with beer and pretzels, commences to talk over the film as it plays […]

  • Andy Barker Online

    There’s a new show out called Andy Barker PI. It’s a comedy about an accountant turned private eye. Pedigree’s good (Jane Espenson, Conan O’Brien, Andy Richter), and the reviews coming in are strong. So they’ve scheduled it against Grey’s Anatomy and CSI. Good: There’s no comedy in that slot on the other channels. So it […]

  • Ha ha. Very funny.

    A rather fine idea to raise money for Comic Relief, involving the creation of a book from vaguely amusing old blog posts in less than a week. It’s like Victor Frankenstein, only with humour. If you’re from or living in the UK, find out how to recycle your old blog posts for charity here. And […]