Updates and News

Rowan delivered one of the best Breakfast Club sessions we have ever had the pleasure to run. His knowledge and ability to convey meaningful ‘truths’ is a pleasure to experience.

Television (Bodyguard, Line Of Duty), Books, Comic Books… When you are looking for a triple-threat talent, Jed Mercurio is your man. Great stories flow through his veins. Let this titan of British writing give you the inspiration and keys to greatness that have guided him his whole career.

LSF regular and writer’s agent Jean Kitson joins us for a nuts and bolts session about how to grow and manage an actual, money-making career as a screenwriter.

From Bridget Jones to Borat, BAFTA winner Dan Mazer has forged a successful career writing and directing comedies around the world.

Nicholl Award Winner and inspiring instructor Sean Robert Daniels returns to the LSF to guide you on the dialogue journey.

There are five different models of storytelling, each with its own unique invitation and corresponding story arc. Let’s take a closer look at each of these story arcs.

What are the challenges you face and workarounds you need to sustain a career as a writer?

Nicholson shares his thoughts on the process of deciding whether a story is best suited for a novel or a film, the evolution of his approach to writing, and the collaborative and adaptive nature of filmmaking.

A Full Weekend Of Screenwriting Sessions From The Best In The World… FREE From LondonSWF 2024.

Pitching, Networking, Great Talks, World Class Training and A Massive Dose Of Creative Rocket Fuel Buckle up Buttercup, The London Screenwriters’ Festival is BACK,

In my first London Screenwriters Festival, I have spent time in a virtual café with a Lithuanian sit-com writer, an Australian who lives in British time by writing horror movies at night and a woman who was beaten to a Children’s TV Award by Sooty.

While talks preceding the ‘Robin Hood: Price of Thieves’ Script to Screen with Pen Densham were interesting and informative, this was the moment I realized attending the festival was the right move for me.

Fragile, resilient.  Perceptive, narrow-minded.  Reclusive, convivial.  As writers we are all these things and more.  We are the canaries in the coal mine, the watchers against the dark, the mirrors of society.  But if we are empaths and mirrors, what do we do when society has a really bad day?  Or a really bad week? Or months? Or a year?  If you were fortunate enough to listen to Rebecca Day’s session on “Where’s your head at? Mastering creative uncertainty in 2021,” you would have heard some strategies about new ways of thinking about yourself and your work and about the crucial importance of mental health and wellness during this time of unprecedented stress.  It was a revelation to me.

If you’ve followed the LSF for the last few years, you’re probably familiar with Samantha Horley. Samantha’s sessions are always frank, forensic trials by

Burning question – can you write believable romance if you don’t have romance in your own life?  The answer is a resounding “Yes!” according to Jenna Moreci, author of “The Savior’s Champion” and “The Savior’s Sister”, and speaker at the London Screenwriters’ Festival on February 10th.  A very popular YouTube creator and presenter, Jenna broke down her three rules of creating romance in films, even when the movie is not overtly a romance.  Using examples from The Mummy and bromance movies, Jenna presented a schema for authentic, engaging romantic interactions that further the action of a story, no matter the genre.

One of the things that makes life worthwhile is the opportunity to keep learning something new. The first week of London Screenwriters’ Festival online

All writers get stuck. Some of us manage to work through it; others stop writing altogether. I find going to another writing project often helps, particularly if it’s a different form of writing, such as flash fiction or writing a blog. But sometimes the words don’t come, and staring at a blank page loses its appeal pretty quickly. That’s why Pilar Alessandra’s session ‘Brainstorming through the Block’ was so useful. Here she dived into what might stop us in the first place, and gave us tools to get the pen flowing across the page again. 

If I were to put the word ‘lively’ in bold, capitalize it, underline it, highlight it and circle it in red, it still wouldn’t convey the energy of the discussion at the Female Gaze Panel. What is the female gaze? It’s the female vantage point, whether that be the point of view the story is told from, realistic female characters, or the perspective of the female viewer.

“Touchdown confirmed,” a woman’s voice announced over the public address system. “Perseverance safely on the surface of Mars, ready to begin seeking the sands of past life.” The NASA control room erupted. Staff were on their feet, their arms raised in a victory ‘V’, whooping and hollering. The only difference between this and past scenes of human triumph in space was the surgical masks everyone was wearing. That’s space endeavours in the time of a pandemic for you.

At last year’s festival, Savannah Morgan asked delegates who they should invite to the next festival. I, like many others, eagerly replied: Eric Kripke, showrunner of Supernatural. She responded, I’ll try but he’ll be filming Season 3 of The Boys, and also being one of the most successful genre writers, so it might be difficult. Fast forward to this festival, and he is coming on, a couple of days before filming starts on Tuesday 16th Feb. How did she achieve this feat? She sent him a (The Boys-inspired) sonnet!!

When we heard Gary W. Goldstein, producer of Pretty Women and Under Siege, would be speaking at the London Screenwriters’ Festival, we all knew we were in for great session. What I was not prepared for was just how crammed full of useful— no, vital tips Gary would have for staying afloat in the industry; things I myself have implemented since. Gary is a seasoned industry exec and a great mentor to lots of incredible talent. The level of detail and experience he brought was a rare gift indeed.