Updates and News
Why we run the London Screenwriters’ Festival…
I hate marketing emails. You are a writer, you should try writing one. They are hard and so often it feels totally disingenuous.
I have been writing these emails about the London Screenwriters’ Festival for the best part of a decade, sharing how ‘amazing this is’, how ‘fabulous that is’, and ‘how this thing will make the difference in your craft, art and career’. All those messages are true of course. But sheesh. I just don’t have the words even though the festival is 16 days away.
How The Actors Table Read at LondonSWF Led To Me Putting On A Successful Show
I just got an email from Screenwriter Grant Atkins about his recent success…
The ‘Actors Table Read’ enabled me to hear and see my writing in a way which took my script to the next level.
Watch LSF Live! TV for Screenwriters, first broadcast August 9th
Our very first show was SO crammed with screenwriting tips, tricks and insights, from so many amazing speakers over ran by a full hour!
Robocop… An almost perfectly symmetrical screenplay
For sci-fi and action fans, ROBOCOP appears on any list of The Best Of All Time. But screenwriters and structure aficionados have found a sneaky Easter egg hidden by writer Ed Neumeier. ROBOCOP is a chiasmus. By definition, a chiasmus is a symmetrical structure where plot devices or moments reoccur in reverse order. In a nutshell, Neumeier has crafted a structural palindrome, where the story beats read the same frontwards and backwards.
How I ‘Won’ at the The Pitch Factor Game at LondonSWF and what it led to… by Robin Bailes
My first year at LSF, Pitch Factor was my favourite event, marred only by me not winning it, so I came back the following year with a game plan; I wrote a pitch that followed all the rules, that did everything a pitch was supposed to do.
Why Talent Campus convinced me to return to The London Screenwriters Festival
Last year was my first year attending the London Screenwriters Festival. I remember looking at the existence of it online and thinking – maybe the networking side of screenwriting happens at an event like that? I should go!
Awards Recognise Writer and Filmmaker Simon Fitzmaurice in New Award
The Fucking Awesome Award at the British Screenwriters’ Awards at the London Screenwriters’ Festival was launched in 2016 to recognise a talent, an achievement or personal contribution to our creative community that might fall outside a traditional ‘lifetime achievement award’. The award is reserved for someone who did something, well fucking awesome!
How My Sex Trafficking Play Became So Much More at LondonSWF… and you can watch it now
I’ve got a play on for the next couple of weeks at a new venue in South London and Chris Jones kindly offered to spread the word if I wanted to write a short blog about it.
And I realised that, actually, this play is only in existence because of LSF.
See what Talent Campus is all about… The delegates speak
If you are considering attending Talent Campus next year, you can get a flavour of what it’s all about by watching the video here…
Attention Good Will Hunting Fans: Small Changes From Script to Screen That Made a Big Difference
A troubled Matt Damon, a British love interest, a warm-hearted Robin Williams, and a poignant storyline of love, friendship, and redemption.
These are just a few of the reasons why the film Good Will Hunting is so adored by critics and audiences alike. Its script has been praised and awarded many times over, but few are aware of just how many changes took place to create the version we know and love. We looked into the lines added and omitted from the original script in the iconic park bench scene between a troubled, apologetic Will and his kind-hearted therapist Sean.
How LondonSWF in my first year as a screenwriter led to films, TV options and a new friendship group
As the festival is coming closer and I am really looking forward to coming for the second time, I wanted to share some more
Talent Campus 4.0 WARNING! Expect Intense Ignition
I write this post from quite a raw place, just only hours after the “Ignition phase” has happened. In some ways this might be for the best.
‘I came to the Talent Campus a fearful, nervous Screenwriter and came out a fearless warrior!’
Last week and weekend we ran the first leg of Talent Campus 4.0, our creative intensive workshop that creates fearless story warriors ready to pitch, punch way above their weight, support each other and change the industry through their work. Here’s what they said about THEIR pressure cooker experience that is Talent Campus.
Going to LondonSWF in 2011 was the BEST decision of my life! By Rita Wheeler
In 2011 I took advantage of buying a ticket to the London Screenwriters’ Festival using the Early Bird opportunity and also paying in 10 monthly installments. I knew this was the only way I could afford to come as if I left it to the last minute and had to face paying full price for a ticket, I would not be able to justify the expense.
What has LondonSWF done for me? By Amy Culwick
From the festival I’ve learned how to nail pitching, which definitely got better by the second year, which in turn has lead to forming relationships, and companies are now reading my scripts.
Frank Spotnitz on The Writers Room and Ten Pieces Of Supernatural Advice by Natasha Mostert
Twenty-Five year television veteran Frank Spotnitz is a big believer in luck. He was lucky that his parents never supervised their son’s voracious
Stay onsite at LondonSWF with the new accommodation offering from the festival
The London Screenwriters’ Festival is delighted to announce that we are now able to offer cut price AND on-campus student accommodation courtesy of Regent’s
LondonSWF review by Eva Adams… F****** awesome!
I’ve got home after the last day of the London Screenwriters’ Festival absolutely buzzing and high as a kite (no drugs involved!).
Robert McKee on writing dialogue
What makes some dialogue sparkle and jump off the page and into an actor’s mouth, where other dialogue is leaden, perhaps even true or authentic, but also dull?
Dialogue that jumps off the page is dialogue that calls attention to itself as dialogue. Dialogue that “sparkles” is sort of like “The Terminator” and the line “I’ll be back” or in “Sudden Impact” when Dirty Harry says “Go ahead. Make my day.” Bits of dialogue that stick in the mind and become repeatable outside of the context of the story. I don’t think that’s a good idea. Dialogue should not “jump off the page.” On the other hand, it should get into the actor’s mouth in the most natural character-specific way.
Frank Spotnitz… Ten truths ARE out there… and other Screenwriting Truth Bombs
The crowd arrived quietly. It felt like the middle of the night. Some of us had the absent look of the almost asleep… Well
8 Unforgettable Series Writing Tips from X Files luminary Frank Spotnitz
Frank Spotnitz has navigated his 25-year career as a Screenwriter, Producer, and Showrunner by following three rules.
As part of the London Screenwriters’ Festival Breakfast Club, Frank shared these rules (and a lot more advice) to screenwriters in a Q&A event more than worth the price of admission.
Why I fly from Australia to come to LondonSWF by Sally Pitts
In 2013 I’d just arrived to live in London for 2 years (from Australia) and I met my writing buddy Stu Foreman at my first LondonSWF. We are good friends today and every week we provide honest constructive feedback for each other’s work. And our hard work is starting to pay off! Most recently I made it to the long list for the Funny Women UK writing awards.
My journey as a writer began at almost the same time as LondonSWF’s began nine years ago… By Hansa Dasgupta
I attended the very first London Screenwriters Festival in 2010 and was instantly hooked. A few months later, I found an agent and signed
Lisa McMullin on her LondonSWF journey, all the way to writing for Doctors and Eastenders…
LondonSWF 2018. Nine years old now? Wowza. I think I’ve been to half of them, then. I may be repeating myself a bit so
LondonSWF and Talent Campus Delegate Rebecca Muddiman has Great News To Share…
This week I signed a deal with the amazing Bloodhound Books for my first standalone thriller, No Place Like Home. And though it will
One screenwriter asked on Facebook about the London Screenwriters’ Festival… Here is what happened…
A few weeks ago, screenwriter Helen Black asked ‘Has anyone been to the London Screenwriters Festival?’ on the Band2write group (run by Lucy V
The Magic of Film Sets… My time on the LondonSWF produced film ‘Never Too Old’ by Eva Adams
I’ve often wondered what it must be like to be an extra in a film. Extras, or supporting/background artistes to use the technical
The Big Lebowski is 20 Today… Samantha Horley recalls when worked in sales and read the script
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cd-go0oBF4Y This weekend we are running our masterclass on how to make your script more sellable and produceable, with Samantha Horley, sales agent turned
Want to know how to get your script produced?
Then ask an international sales agent turned screenwriter. Sam Horley had worked in film sales for over a decade, then chose a career gear
Courage, Guts and Networking
Things I have learned at the London Screenwriters’ Festival, besides screenwriting! By Dorothee Kuepers When I went to the LSF for the first time
How my short film ended up being shot after attending the London Screenwriters’ Festival
By LondonSWF delegate Danielle Wager
Last week I spent some time doing something that was just a bit out of the ordinary for me. Standing on a film set watching actors saying my lines in front of a camera for the very first time. A short script of mine ‘Memory Man’ coming to life in front of me.
What started out originally as a short story written for Create 50, had expanded over time into a script which was then chosen for Jim Uhls’s LSF script lab a couple of years ago. After a live performance of which a couple of directors came up to me and expressed a possible interest in making the thing. Before promptly disappearing and completely losing interest.
“That’s that then” I thought to myself with a sigh.
Scott Myers, highest rated LondonSWf’17 speaker, returns in 2018
We are delighted to announced that Scott Myers, whose LondonSWF’17 sessions were standing room only, will return for the festival in 2018.
He will also be running a one day in Festival Week on Narrative Imperative in YOUR Screenplay. More HERE.
Five things I learned from making my own short film after taking advice at LondonSWF
by Phil Lowe Have you ever sat in the audience of a panel session at LSF and heard the moderator ask a panellist what
How I Launched My Screenwriting Channel on Youtube for Screenwriters by Lucy V
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=10&v=PlimfEUZ_aY Subscribe to the channel HERE. Know Your Remit So, you probably know me … I’m Lucy V, a writer, script editor and blogger
Can you help an LondonSWF delegate get her book published?
As it is with film, in the book industry, getting your work seen and read by the right people can be incredibly difficult. We
