Peter Morgan image: Clare Muller

BAFTA and The Script Factory present Serious Screenwriting

15 April 09

Fri 5 & Sat 6 June 2009

BAFTA, 195 Piccadilly, London W1

If you'd like to hear how the world's current Number 1 screenwriter, Simon Beaufoy, worked his magic on Slumdog Millionaire; watch Justine Wright, the UK's hottest editor unravelling her approach to storytelling on the blockbuster State Of Play; hear international stars like Jenny Agutter and David Morrisey explain what makes a script stand out for them; find out what ideas Working Titles's Debra Hayward and some of her fellow top UK execs are looking for; or bag a meeting with super producers David Parfitt or Duncan Kenworthy, then Serious Screenwriting is the place to start.

It works like this: mornings are dedicated to Script Factory training sessions (we assume that all attendees have a working knowledge of screenwriting theory so sessions are focussed on areas that cause difficulties for many of the writers that TSF work with); then, afternoons are devoted to sessions with a fantastic array of established industry guests who will offer lessons learnt from the frontline of filmmaking.

The Programme

Both mornings of Serious Screenwriting are taught by Rob Ritchie, a regular Script Factory tutor who has extensive experience as both a writer and script developer. Click HERE for more information about Rob Ritchie.

Friday 5 June: 10 - 5pm

Walt Disney StudiosWorkshop Session: "You had me at hello!" - Openings
Stories are about anticipation. A good opening has to engage the audience and allow them to anticipate what lies ahead. This means introducing character, situation, conflict and theme with energy and precision. This session looks at the importance of introducing characters at their most typical and the art of creating an opening sequence that declares the ambition of the film.

Workshop Session: "What is this place?" - Locations
Choosing locations for a story isn't just a question of plausible and convincing settings. Whether it’s the domestic interiors of melodrama or the epic landscapes of action-adventure the mise-en-scene is the source of the images and metaphors that give the story its meaning. This session examines how choosing the right locations can both clarify the meaning and liberate the cinematic potential of a story.

Lunchtime Industry Market
The chance to meet representatives from the various film-making bodies, funders and some of the other organisations we think you ought to know. Confirmed guests who will be setting up stall at the Market so far include:
Shooting People; Raindance; Moviescope / Screenwriters Store; Women in Film and Television; BBC Writers Room; National Film and Television School

Guest Session: Selling Ideas
Unfortunately the UK film industry doesn’t have deep pockets to buy ideas in quite the same way as Hollywood allegedly does, but it’s still possible to get interest in your project without slaving for months to polish a fully-drafted screenplay. We ask a panel of industry decision makers led by Working Title's Debra Hayward, to discuss the role of treatments in the film commissioning process, plus ask what makes one idea stand out from the others. We also tackle the tricky question of who owns the idea and what a writer can expect in the journey from idea to draft, through rewrites and hopefully to the screen.

Guest Session: Masterclass with Simon Beaufoy
For our Serious Screenwriting Masterclass subject we were really never going to accept less than the best – so the best is what we have here! Currently riding high as the world's most celebrated screenwriter with an extraordinary full house of awards for his screenplay for Slumdog Millionaire, Simon Beaufoy is surely Britain's finest export. Rewarded with the BAFTA, Oscar, Golden Globe and a myriad of other awards and declared Screenwriter of the Year by the London Critic's Circle, Simon's screenplay nearly didn't see the light of day at all. He'll be explaining the transfer from novel to script; talking about the stories that grab his attention; and exploring the peculiar position of the screenwriter in an industry that can take you from an Oscar nomination for your debut feature (The Full Monty), to a gig as the on-set caterer having written This Is Not A Love Song 5 years later – and then see you back up on the Oscar stage behind one of the greatest British film achievements this year.

Friday Evening
You’ll want to keep this evening free to complete your entry to the Moviescope Screenwriting Challenge …more about this below.

Saturday 6 June: 10 – 5pm

Momentum PicturesWorkshop Session: “Once more with feeling” - Scripting Emotion
Writing is re-writing. In capturing the emotions of a story on the page, however, it’s often a question of what you leave out rather than what you add. Less is usually more. This session explores how to use the language and conventions of screenplay form to allow the reader to ‘see’ the action and feel the emotional impact of the drama.

Workshop Session: “Good night, and good luck” – Endings
'Begin at the end' is the standard advice for designing a story. Once you actually write the script, however, the planned ending can easily seem forced, banal or simply confusing. This session examines common mistakes with endings – from contrived twists to unanswered questions - that prevent a screenplay from reaching an emotionally satisfying conclusion.

Guest Session: Acting Out
You’ve imagined their every gesture, choreographed each emotion and penned their every utterance, so what happens when the actors come in and start to bring your characters to life? A panel of actors led by Jenny Agutter (The Railway Children, Walkabout, Spooks, and currently completing work on Stephen Poliakoff’s 1939, and David Morrissey (The Deal, Basic Instinct 2, Red Riding, currently in UK cinemas co-starring with Michael Caine in John Crowley’s Is Anybody There?) will explore the processes they go through to create a living, breathing character from the words on the page. And, as we all want to make films which boast a stellar cast, we also ask them what can make even a small character an attractive proposition.

Guest Session: Two brains are better than one.
Writing can be desperately lonely, but it doesn’t have to be. We talk to screenwriters who regularly work in co-writing teams to discover how they divvy up the workload, how they manage creative differences and the advantages and disadvantages of working together. As film is such a collaborative medium it seems to make sense to start the collaborating at script stage, so we’ll question how new screenwriters might go about trying to finding a writing partner to punch out a draft with.

Guest Session: The Final Storyteller
No film story is ever fully written until it's edited. Decisions made in the edit suite can transform the screenplay: extraneous subplots can be shed, characters' emotions can be conveyed in an instant rather than a convoluted scene, and moods can turn. Film editors are the masters of economic storytelling – but rather than leave it all to be done by them in the cutting room, we've asked Justine Wright, one of the UK's keenest editors whose creative relationship with Kevin Macdonald has seen her move from extraordinary docs One Day on September and Touching The Void to the brand new Hollywood thriller State Of Play, to explain her techniques so that we, in turn, can learn how to craft sharper screenplays.

Friday Evening 5.30 – 7pm
A well deserved drink where the shortlisted scenes of the _Moviescope Screenwriting Challenge _will be performed and the winner announced.

Last year’s guests included Peter Morgan (Frost / Nixon), Gurinder Chadha (Bend it like Beckham), Bharat Nalluri (Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day) as well as funders and commissioners from The UK Film Council, BBC Films and Warp X. This year, The Script Factory/BAFTA team will bring you unparalleled access to some of the most influential decision makers and most inspiring filmmakers working in the UK today.

And there’s more...

Walt Disney StudiosLunchtime Pitch Clinic & Industry Market
You’ll also be able to book a five-minute pitch slot to run an idea past a member of The Script Factory’s script development team; or there will be the chance to meet representatives from film-making bodies, funders and some of the other organisations we think you ought to know. Please note: – these are booked on a first-come-first-served basis

Moviescope Screenwriting Challenge
Fancy sharing a screenwriting credit with Andrew Stanton, he of Wall-E _and _Toy Story fame? Well, this is your chance! Andrew has very generously created some characters and set a scene that you will be invited to complete overnight.

Three finalists will have their scenes performed by professional actors at a Drinks Reception on the Saturday evening and win an annual subscription to Moviescope magazine.

Serious Screenwriting Development Meetings
Hopefully all the Serious Screenwriting sessions will help you in some way to develop your current film project. However, if you are keen to receive specific input on an idea then there are a limited number of one-hour development meetings available to book through The Script Factory. For more information, click HERE These meetings are only available to Serious Screenwriting participants.

Serious Screenwriting Development Scheme
At the end of the programme all participants will be invited to apply for The Script Factory’s Serious Screenwriting Development Scheme. TSF are looking for two writers who have a great idea, the talent to write and are committed to spending the next twelve months developing their feature film project. Those two writers will be invited to work through two further drafts of their current screenplay or film idea with The Script Factory’s development team. This will mean at least three one-to-one development sessions and free attendance on selected Script Factory training programmes during the development period.

This scheme will only be open to Serious Screenwriting participants.

The Script Factory ran a version of this event in 2008 which included Peter Morgan, Gurinder Chadha and Bharat Nalluri as well as funders and commissioners from The UK Film Council, BBC and Warp X among others.

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