1. Submission of work
Find at least 2 UK-based screenwriting competitions that
young writers can enter scripts into. Add details about the rules / guidelines
and also the prizes.
UK film London festival.
You can submit three types of scripts to this competition.
You can submit a three-minute script where the rules are, they only want the
script. You can also submit a ten-minute script with only the script. You can also submit a full feature film
script. For this they want the script only however you can submit other things
within the email. They would be looking for a 1-page synopsis, a
treatment/outline of the script up to five pages.
One of the awards for this competition is not to give out
money as a reward but they will get the winning scripts into production.
This is a free competition in which writers can submit their
work. The genre can be anything, but they encourage positive settings for the
story. they are mainly looking for unique ideas and spins on current genres.
The requirements are 6 episodes with the length of 25
minutes to 60. They want the first episode to be submitted with a 3-page
outline of the rest of the episodes.
Find a UK-based commissioning body that will accept
unsolicited scripts and add details about the rules / entry guidelines.
BBC Writer’s Room
Writing opportunities and events from across the industry.
Open to UK residents only. It’s worth checking regularly for the latest
competitions in screenwriting and theatre. You can also submit scripts to the
BBC from The Script Room which opens for submissions in two windows: either
drama or comedy scripts. Next opening for Drama scripts later in 2019 TBC.
Entry Fee: Free
Deadlines: Drama Scripts TBC
2. Background material (for concept / ideas generation)
Some ideas I have used to give a shape to my narrative are
to look at a range of media around my key themes. I have used Ed Sheeran’s song
A team as this has the music video showing someone struggling with homeless and
she has to sell her body to them to survive being homeless. It shows her
sadness and emotions. The money she gets from stealing her body is used on
drugs while these aren’t part of my idea, they ca influence on how the struggle
can be shown and how much suffering people experience when they become
homeless. I used the big issue magazine
to help with some of the inspiration as this talks about with the homelessness
within the young people. My personal experience has shown me what some of these
key themes are like. I know what goes on within those situations and emotions
and thought process. I know these situations can cause bad mental issues such
as depression and anxiety. I also watched a short film based around terminal
illness and this a key theme within my play. I used this to help with character
development.
b. Identify a variety of sources from which you could seek
inspiration for a story if you were a writer preparing to produce a screenplay
/ script. You should explore at least 4 different sources / avenues for
information and find a specific example for each, e.g., an actual news story /
event (factual information) was referenced in order to produce a script for the
film Titanic (Cameron, 1997) - but you need more detail than that.
There are four ways of many you can get inspiration from.
There are personal experience, events, other movies and books.
Personal experience is an excellent way to write ideas as
you know the idea personally and will be able to write the story better and
come up with a good narrative as you know the emotions within that situation,
how people acted and what happened before and after. This is a way you can
adapt your real-life experiences into a good tory which you can relate to and
because its personal experiences, you know that the primary target audience is
people your age.
Events that have happened can be adapted into movies as you
know the event and can change it to show what you think happened within that
situation. You can use the real actions and emotions that happened after or
during it to shape your narrative and characters. Then you can find out what
people experienced in that situation and this can help shape your characters
and their personalities and dramatic motivation.
Movies are a good way to adapt and create ideas as you can
sue the idea of one movie, adapt it and change it to the way you want to show
it. You would have to change the narrative and way it is told to avoid
copyright. The script would have to be changed as well as the script and
narrative would change with the adaption and therefore would no longer make
sense.
Books are a good way to create stories as these have ideas
of a narrative within them and you can adapt this from a book to a moving image
form of story. You can use the descriptions of the scenes and settings to help
shape the mise en scene within your narrative. You can change the characters or
change the narrative to help create a unique story.
3. Research (for an idea, once conceived)
a. Primary sources - identify at least 3 primary sources
that could be used to gather specific information for a script.
Three primary sources I can use to help get information for
my script is focus groups, surveys and interviews.
The focus groups are a good way of getting group feedback
from a lot of people and you can see the positives and negatives within the idea.
then you can see what changes you can make to the script or narrative to make
it more appealing.
The surveys have a wider reach as these can be done online
and that means a wider audience can be reached and the answers can be checked
instantly when received. This is easier to analyses data and get more answers
giving the improvements more weight as you’d have more people saying the
positives and negatives.
One to one interviews can get more detailed responses as you
can pitch the idea to them individually
and they can give a detailed response on what works for them and what
doesn’t. This is more time consuming to get a multitude of responses.
b. Primary sources for own screenplay idea - what primary
sources did you / will you use when generating your own screenplay idea?
I did the focus group within the class and pitched the idea
to them explaining the key themes, narrative, style and genre. I explained the
characters and their motives throughout the narrative. I received some feedback
which I have taken into consideration when it comes to my script. I have been
told that the piece is good and has good elements of realism in. They believe
people can relate to it, but they also said that it was too sad. That is
something I can’t change from the narrative as the message is within the
narrative and all elements makes the narrative good. This piece is supposed to
send the viewer on a roller coaster of emotions such as sadness and happiness.
It is a book ended narrative in terms of emotion as we start with sadness and
then end with sadness.
I have done one to one interviews and told people my idea.
This had similar results to the focus group, but some people believed the
sadness added to the realism of the piece as they believed the realism is
accurate to the key themes as the themes other than the family aspect as is
happy, the rest is sad and can’t have any happier emotions within it as it
would take away from the piece.
4. Prepare material (for your own idea, once conceived)
a. What are the advantages and disadvantages of primary and
secondary sources?
Primary
Advantages
Some advantages of primary sources is that you have received
these results and data first-hand. It is a reliable source as the results you
receive won’t be biased as you haven’t tried influencing the people answering
it. They would have their own opinions about the product.
Disadvantages
If you get answers that aren’t serious then the results will
have been impacted and you’d have less feedback to work from. You don’t get as
much information as you are only limited to local area with most viable primary
sources that don’t take up too much time.
The locals wouldn’t be your full target audience, so you would have to
use the results of a few to determine would be best for the product for the
target audience.
Secondary
Advantages
You can check multiple sources to check if the data you have
looked at is matching up with other sources. You can also check to see if any
results you have received has matched up with other findings. You can check a
wider range of data as you have books which could have facts you can use and
the internet. The internet can gather information from all over the world which
you couldn’t get from some primary sources.
Disadvantages
There can be biased answers as companies can pay people to
say good things about the product they are talking about. They can also be
influenced with a free copy of the product to review. This would influence them
to say nicer things as they have received the product for free. People can
change things on websites which means these results might be unreliable and
can’t be trusted 100 percent as you don’t know if they are authentic.
b. What material / information has been the most useful for
you and your script idea?
the best material I have used to determine and help my idea
progress more is the personal experience I have had with my key themes. I have
experienced these, so I know the emotion within each scene and know how to
portray it across within the narrative and characters.
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