Autumn of artsy adventures begins

Autumn has reached London, and with it, a new university term focussing on idea development has began. During our first lecture last week, I submitted my summer elective, an analysis of the problems and solutions in sustaining a long-running television series, as well as three ideas for an original project, all of which enabled me to take another mandatory step towards acquiring those fabulous, juicy carrots I'm pursuing – a master's degree and a career in screenwriting.

I was also given my term two marks, and I was quite pleased. My overall mark was B-, which is also what I received for my script. We were working with adaptations, so I had to choose a short story (R.L. Stevenson's The Body-Snatcher) and write a 30-minute adaptation from it. I was not entirely happy with the piece when I submitted it, and knew it was only a 'first draft', thus the comments made by my marker were well justified: 'although a very strong piece of work, the script could still benefit from tightening the focus of the action and the dialogue to make it sizzle'. As a result, I have spent some time re-working the outline and the dramatic focus, and playing around with the project. I have dozens of ideas, which can hopefully lead to improvements that will make the script 'sizzle'.

My main focus, however, has been on re-working my first university project, a 10-minute short film script that I named A Matter of Time. Reading it now, I am quite horrified by it, and agree that a lot of further work needs to be done for it. It lacks a clear, cohesive structure, the dialogue is far from perfect, and some events could be scrapped altogether. It definitely takes priority over the adaptation, as it is an original piece of work, and I need to have more original work in my portfolio.

So, overall, I am looking forward to the challenges this autumn will bring along writing and study-wise. I have to say, I am quite excited to be writing and creating again. Let's hope this lasts :-)

Plans for the bank holiday weekend: Mini-getaway and a writing spree

The month of August has whizzed by at a skyrocketing speed. September is knocking and my birthday draws near again. How can time fly by so fast?

For the past few weeks, I have been slowly trying to return to the university mode. Yesterday, I went to the university library and did some research on a summer project we should finish. So, for the next few weeks, I have two academic projects to work on: analysing a television show and conducting an interview with a contemporary UK screenwriter. In addition, I should submit three original script ideas and prepare to pitch an original TV show idea. These are all exciting projects, and I already have a few ideas that I want to pursue, so I am feeling quite energetic and enthusiastic about it all. 

And so, it is a bank holiday weekend, which I will be spending in the Cotswolds countryside with my other half. The aim is to do some work on these above-mentioned university projects and to enjoy a relaxing, quiet weekend getaway from London. It is a really beautiful area, I might post photos later. Toodles! 

Summer's almost gone...

...where will we be, when the summer's gone?

It is mid-August, and I have to say, the summer has just flown by. Not only has the weather been full of warmth and sunshine, my personal life has been so as well. I have found romance and been quite productive in terms of writing, so things are all good.

Although I have played around with a few script ideas, I have not been doing a lot of screenwriting. Instead, I wrote a short theatre play for the Little Pieces of Gold contest, which showcases new writing talent by choosing a handful of plays and showcases them at the Park Theatre in London. I'm not sure if my play, Shelter, was quite what they were looking for, but I am glad I managed to write it all the same. My first theatre play!

To conclude, here's a little song from the Doors to entertain you. It is playing in my head on repeat!

Almost there - Summer holidays are near!

Oh, the bliss! I submitted the first draft of my 30-minute adaptation script last Thursday!

Words cannot express how relieved I felt. The project had stressed me for several weeks, up to a point where I had turned into a paranoid hermit. I lashed out to my close friends and family, sported black bags under my eyes, experienced trouble sleeping and caved in to my little room with tea pots and chocolates. I did not register I was turning into a living dead until I submitted my work, and then it hit me: I felt exhausted. It's like all the stress had been building up inside my body and at that moment, it escaped as one giant lump.

The mere feeling of adding the draft to my folder of 'Writing Projects' (which is basically a folder where I keep all my 'finished' script printouts) was simply amazing - although I doubt I will be graded very highly on the project (grading is really tough on my course), the joy of accomplishing it made me a very happy girl indeed.

It is slightly ironic that despite the exhaustion, I find my fingers lusting after the keyboard in order to start working on new projects. My mind is full of ideas and I am anxious to start working on them. However, I must wait - I still have an essay and some reports to finish before term two finishes. So until that dull work is done, I will have to keep my fingers and mind at bay. Hopefully my inspiration to write will not disappear during the next few weeks... So given this, I assume I am pursuing the right career for me? I should join Work-a-holics Anonymous!