International Screenwriters Festival 2008

Holy cow, here comes the The Third International Screenwriters' Festival.

Tuesday 1st to Thursday 3rd July 2008, Manor by the Lake, Cheltenham.

SWF'08 will be shorter than previous years at only three days. Feedback from delegates suggested that more people could participate if the length of the festival was three days which would also save them money on hotels. The festival is going to have a different feel to it this year with more of a relaxed atmosphere. Plenty of sessions are planned but with even more time set aside for the all important networking. We are planning to have at least two networking events per day giving the delegates much more time to mingle and create the opportunities to sell themselves. A lot of delegates, who went to SWF'06, were a bit perplexed by the term "networking", but for the majority that returned in SWF'07, and there were a lot, they came packing to take full advantage of the festival and promoted themselves and their work. Our aim this year is to give delegates increased chances to introduce themselves to the kind of people they really should meet and for intimate discussions.

As we are now a three day event, we felt that we should only have one ticket type, the three day pass, which will become available to buy around February 2008. The prices of which will be published at the beginning of next year.

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And here I only mentioned it the other day. Tickets on sale in February and a whole eight months to prepare a portfolio of work to cart about with you while you quaff wine and schmooze with the boldest and best of the industry players.

And there's a session on writing for comics, not to mention the launch of Red Planet 2008 (presumably)! Awesome.

I'm so motivated by that one little email.

Not known at this address...

The relocation fiasco continues apace. The Postie delivered the contract for the new house in Worcester on Friday - great news. Just a few hours later we were informed that the whole thing was off as the current tenant's aren't inclined to move out just yet. They're in the process of buying a house and there has been a delay.

As a result despite the landlady wanting us in, us wanting to move in and the contract being in front of me right fricking now we are unable to proceed. It's been a bit of a nightmare finding a house to move into in Worcester and now this one has fallen through.

This is bone.

Regardless of this bad news my wife and I are spending the bank holiday weekend packing up all of our belongings ready for a brief stay with the in-laws. Emma has now finished her work and will at least be free to house hunt from Sedgley.

Perhaps it will turn out for the best. Parking would have a nightmare and my Mum says everything happens for a reason.

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Two weeks into the new job and it's going well. I'm in Solihull now where the office is based and though we've yet to 'go live' I feel very good about the change of career. Everyone in the office is very friendly and there are certainly worse places than Solihull to work (yes, I am looking at you Cwmbran).

I think I experienced my first ever 'Friday feeling' driving back to Cardiff the other night.

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Not as many blog entries as I might have hoped recently but internet access hasn't always been readily available and dealing with moving house and changing career has tied me up quite a lot. Writing wise I've not found a lot of time to work but am confident that my Red Planet entry will go in on time. I wish I'd been able to concentrate on it more as I believe it's a brilliant competition and a fantastic opportunity but at least I'll have a ready made excuse for not being the winner (if indeed I am not)!

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Some months ago I sent Rik's Records, my sitcom pilot, to the Scottish company The Comedy Unit (responsible for Still Game, Rab C Nesbitt & Chewin' The Fat amongst many other successful shows). I had encouraging feedback from the BBC about the script last year and sent it out again to garner further opinions as much as anything else.

Whilst I was in London I had word back from the nice folk in Scotland and was pleased to see that it pretty much chimed with what Writersroom had said. They thought the script 'started extremely well' but in the final analysis it wasn't really for them. Fair enough and still one to put on the Encouraging Feedback pile! At least no one has told me I have to stop writing RIGHT NOW, yet.

Although it's been a disappointing year on the writing front, having completed only one draft script in the year since I heard back from Writersroom, so much work has been done in changing my lifestyle and work patterns that I hope for greater success when we are settled in our new home.

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Whilst in London I was lucky enough to have the opportunity for a quick pint with a selection of writers thanks to a certain Mr Anopp. Although I only made it for the last twenty minutes or so due to my hopeless orienteering skills it was really motivating to talk to writers about writing and has encouraged me to make more use of future opportunities.

It may not surprise those who know me to hear that meeting a group of writers and presenting myself as a writer left me feeling like I might be exposed as 'not proper' at any moment. Instead I had a very good chat about Red Planet, John Wyndham and, strangely, tills and left feeling buoyed by the experience. I also got to meet the slightly terrifying Piers Beckley, whose blog is a wealth of tips and info for writers. Thanks again Jason, next time it's my round.

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I would love to witter on all night but I've got to go and wrap an awful lot of five-inch Doctor Who figures in newspaper (after sealing their little sonic screwdrivers and so on into an envelope, of course) so it's good night from me.