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TOP 25 ACCOUNTS ALL UK SCREENWRITERS SHOULD FOLLOW ON TWITTER

11/12/2014

This morning in my TL there was a very helpful post from @screencrafting on the most useful Twitter accounts for screenwriters. I worked my way methodically through it and found I was already following most of them. Twitter is a fantastic tool when it comes to pointing writers to resources that hone their skills to match their passion and ambition, so those accounts that were new to me I immediately followed.

Naturally, ScreenCraft’s list is Hollywood-centric. Don’t get me wrong. I would be as happy as the next emerging screenwriter to work FOR Hollywood – but not necessarily IN Hollywood. I’m a European and I like living in Europe. That got me thinking: what are the accounts all UK Screenwriters should follow? So I cheekily stole ScreenCraft’s headline and inserted the UK into the equation…

Here is my list. Allow me to point out a major caveat before somebody takes umbrage: it’s a highly subjective list. Feel free to contact me with suggestions for deletions/ inclusions. You’ll notice some of the accounts I suggest are European rather than British. It would be fun to get a European list going. Anybody out there up for that challenge?

I. Inspiration & Motivation

1.     Top of my list is @londonswf. I’ve been a London Screenwriters’ Festival (LSF) regular since 2012. It’s no exaggeration to say LSF is the number one factor (aside from hard work and dogged determination) in advancing my writing skills and career, plus it’s now the biggest festival of its kind in the world!

2.     Every great festival needs an enormously talented creative director to lead it and LSF is fortunate to have the awesome, generous, kick-ass @livingspiritpix (Chris Jones) at the helm

3.     Closely associated with LSF, as well as being herself a writer, producer, script-editor and bloggeuse extraordinaire (if you’ll pardon my French) is @Bang2write’s Lucy Hay

4.     @Julie_Gray is another notable screenwriting guru – OK! OK! I know she’s a Hollywood expert now based in Israel, but she is one of the perennial favourite speakers at LSF, so I thought I’d sneak her in… Besides she runs the LSF Writers’ Salon on Facebook, so there!

5.     Last but not least in this section, @TheWritersGuild does a stellar job of defending the interests of UK writers in all fields and organises events/resources that give writers a helping hand

II. People Who Know Stuff

All writers need feedback from people who know about storytelling. If you’re new to writing, I cannot impress upon you enough how important it is to build relationships with screenwriting gurus and script editors to help you see the wood for the trees in your story. I’ve already mentioned Lucy Hay and Julie Gray in the “Inspiration & Motivation” section. Here are a few more of my personal favourites:

6.     @jyintothewoods by John Yorke, CEO of Company Pictures - one of the UK’s most exciting production houses, teaches you (as his book “Into The Woods” promises) all about how stories work and why we tell them

7.     @AronsonLinda is possibly the world’s greatest expert on non-linear and multi-protagonist stories

8.     Writer/producer @StephenFollows has a fascinating sideline in film data, collating and crunching numbers in a way that shines a light on unknown facets of the UK film industry

9.     @Steve_Ince is a leading game designer and interactive narrative consultant, as well as being a writer himself

10. @HayleyMckenzie1 founded Script Angel and generously runs the LSF Script Angel competition, while @PhilipShelley1 organises Channel 4’s annual search for new talent, leads a script lab at LSF and provides a vast array of services to writers, and @Euroscript is a co-sponsor of LSF as well as being the UK’s oldest and leading provider of training and international script development for screenwriters…

Yep! I know I cheated by including several people in a single point… glad you’re still paying attention!

III. Validation

Inevitably you will experience a heap of rejection as a writer. Try a Table Read to help you understand where your script needs work, or just for the thrill of hearing YOUR WORDS spoken by real live actors. Competitions can be fun too. They may be a springboard to getting your script made or just a boost to your confidence when you see YOUR NAME on a list of quarter-finalists, semi-finalists, finalists or even winners.

11. @WatermarkCollec provides a table read service that is accessible to even the most impecunious of starving writers

12. @ShootingPeople is one of the UK’s leading networking sites for film and TV industry professionals (together with LSF-Net of course)

13. Newly merged @stage32online & @TheHappyWriters is American, but this is a global industry after all and IMHO Stage32 is THE best networking site

14. @bbcwritersroom and @Writers_Couch provide amazing opportunities for non-repped writers to enter the business

15. @RedPlanetTV, @screengoldmine and @ShoreScripts are three of the UK’s top screenwriting competitions IMHO

IV. Getting Stuff Made

In the UK it’s not enough to just be a writer; you have to be a bit of a producer too…

16. Follow the largest UK production houses to understand the trends in UK filmmaking, such as @BBCFilms, @Film4 and @Working_Title

17. At the heart of the British film industry, @BFI provides writers with a wealth of resources and also helps filmmakers to finance their films, while for those making micro-budget films, @Film_London and the @FL_Microwave scheme are invaluable resources

18. The name @BAFTA may not be as catchy as “Oscar”, “Goya” or “César”, but the British Academy of Film and Television Arts hands out the most attractive gong IMHO and their new account @BAFTAGuru is a golden resource for writers

19. Creative England invests in and supports creative ideas, talent and businesses, so follow @CEFilm for film & @creativeengland for TV, Games and Digital Media

20. @TheKnowledgeUK is the definitive source of suppliers, crew and companies within UK Film, TV & Commercials

V. Film/TV Markets, Distribution and Exhibition

21. Cannes Film Festival @FdC_officiel – no introduction needed!

22. Venice Film Festival @venicefilmfestival – likewise!!

23. Berlin Film Festival @berlinale – ditto!!!

24. @ArtificialEye is the UK’s leading indie film distributor; this is the market sector most new writers aim to serve, even though it’s awfully crowded, representing only 9% of the total UK box-office (as per a statistic @robthor quoted at LSF)

25. Picturehouse Cinema @picturehouses is the UK’s largest boutique cinema operator

¡BONUS!

Behind every good writer, there’s a cat. To put a smile on your face each morning, follow the feline musings of Tom Cox’s “Why My Cat Is Sad” @MYSADCAT…

Britain too boasts its fair share of parody accounts, my personal favourite being Miss L @proresting whose hilarious tweets about the pitfalls of casting calls have me in stitches, while simultaneously thanking my lucky stars I’m not an actress…

To finish on yet another of my ‘IMHO’s, Spain’s “Días de Cine” is the world’s finest TV programme about movies. You can follow @DiasDeCine, but you’ll need to learn to speak Spanish first…

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10 APHORISMS TO WRITE BY: My #LondonSWF 2014

11/3/2014

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(First posted on London Screenwriters’ Festival Website on 31st October, 2014)

Creative Director Chris Jones and his amazing team did it again. They put on a superlative event that inspired, energised and empowered us to be the writers and filmmakers we want to be. This time it was bigger than ever: 800 enthusiastic delegates and 150 exceptional speakers. I’m surprised with so much creative talent concentrated in one place, we didn’t alter the earth’s magnetic field – it was that AWESOME.

An element of London Screenwriters’ Festival I particularly appreciate is the Scriptchat. This is a roundtable discussion held immediately after a session where the speaker sits and chats with those members of the audience hardy enough to resist the lure of the refreshment tent or the imperative of a nature break.

In his scriptchat, Robert Thorogood, creator of the popular TV series “Death In Paradise”, told us he loves aphorisms. As someone who is rather partial to them myself, his comment inspired me to pick out and share my favourites from this year’s London Screenwriters’ Festival.

ROBERT THOROGOOD
“Here’s the good news: you’re as good a writer now as you’ll ever be.”
Robert recently dug out an old script from his bottom drawer (we’ve all got one) and was surprised by how well-written it was. What’s the difference between then and now? Aside from dogged perseverance and doing at least one thing every day to further his writing career, he’s found his voice. That, he says, is the most important thing, as it’s what sets you apart from every other writer out there.

JULIE GRAY
“Think of your writing as something that allows you to give as well as to get.”
If anybody was in any doubt as to the value of storytelling and storytellers to the human race, Julie will have set them right in her uplifting session on writing with purpose. Julie reminded us to live and write purposefully, on purpose. It shouldn’t ever be just about the dosh. Being a writer is a calling, she says, you are a giver of hope, not a taker of money.

NICK POWELL
“A story becomes your story as soon as you start to tell it.”
Nick entertained and regaled us with stories from the filmmaking trenches in his extraordinary A to Z of Storytelling. He’s on first-name terms with just about every screenwriting god you’d care to mention and mixed up his own insights with gems from the likes of Martin Scorsese, Tom Stoppard, Steven Soderbergh and Quentin Tarantino.

LINDA ARONSON
“Storytelling is about truth and its different versions.”
Linda wowed us with her mastery of every imaginable permutation of non-linear storytelling. The theory was accompanied by lots of practical advice as to how to apply these tricky techniques to our own stories to energise and lift them. It’s crucial all writers realise that young audiences don’t take as long to “get it” as they used to, so we need to tell our stories faster and include more beats per story.

WILLIAM NICHOLSON
“A lot of story has no spoken words at all.”
This from the man who wrote one of cinema’s immortal lines, “what we do in life echoes in eternity.” (I can’t get over how great that line is. If I ever write one half as good, I’ll die happy.) William was of course referring to the old “show don’t tell” adage and extolling the virtue of visual storytelling.

TED TALLY
“Confusing the audience for three minutes is better than boring them for three seconds.”
Screenwriters invest a lot of time and trouble to learn the rules of screenwriting. Here’s more good news: once you know the rules, you can break them – if it serves your story. But there’s one rule you can never, ever break and that’s this one: don’t bore the audience!

JOEL SCHUMACHER
“We are most destructive when we don’t realise filmmaking is a collaboration.”
Besides being the most dapper man at the Festival, Joel Schumacher impressed us all with his wit, charm and generosity. From his script-to-screen session to the review of his career in film, he had us all wrapt and enchanted. It was touching to see him on stage with the real Philomena Lee, who graciously accepted the inaugural British Screenwriters’ Award for Best British Feature Film Writing on behalf of Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope for “Philomena”.

LEE JESSUP
“Never walk into a meeting unprepared. Approach pitching as networking.”
Lee Jessup’s structured, no-nonsense approach to making it in Hollywood had us all wishing we’d met her a year earlier, if not sooner… If you want to make it in Hollywood, no matter where you live, all you’ve got to do is get noticed. Lee then delighted us by giving us some very doable suggestions as to how to go about it.

AMMA ASANTE
“ ‘No’ is followed by a comma, not a full-stop.”
Amma’s story of being robbed of the credit for her words is heart-breaking, yet the way she overcame this set-back is inspiring. What struck me is how she defines herself first and foremost as a writer. (Yay! She’s one of us!) Had she known what would happen, she says, despite the tremendous benefits directing “Belle” has brought her, she would not have gone ahead with the project. Now that’s artistic integrity for you.

CHRIS JONES & JONATHAN NEWMAN
“The only failure is not doing something; everything else is a learning experience.”
“Free your mind,” says Morpheus to Neo in “The Matrix”. The Manifesting Success session was all about recognising that the person running us is our five-year-old self and that our inner voice, which tends to be negative, is not reality. Here again there is good news: we can choose not to listen. The ultimate reality is doing, so say what you are going to do and have the integrity to do what you say. That way success lies – whatever success means to you.

All that remains to be said after this whistle-stop tour of some of the highlights of my #LondonSWF 2014 is a heartfelt THANK YOU to Chris, the team, the volunteers, the speakers and the delegates. Let’s do it all over again next year!

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TOP 25 ACCOUNTS ALL UK SCREENWRITERS SHOULD FOLLOW ON TWITTER

10 APHORISMS TO WRITE BY: My #LondonSWF 2014

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