'I have a friend who’s an Italian filmmaker of great artistic sensibility. After years of struggling to get his films made, he sent an anguished letter to his hero, the brilliant (and perhaps half-insane) German filmmaker Werner Herzog. My friend complained about how difficult it is these days to be an independent filmmaker, how hard it is to find government arts grants, how the audiences have all been ruined by Hollywood and how the world has lost its taste…etc, etc. Herzog wrote back a personal letter to my friend that essentially ran along these lines: “Quit your complaining. It’s not the world’s fault that you wanted to be an artist. It’s not the world’s job to enjoy the films you make, and it’s certainly not the world’s obligation to pay for your dreams. Nobody wants to hear it. Steal a camera if you have to, but stop whining and get back to work.” I repeat those words back to myself whenever I start to feel resentful, entitled, competitive or unappreciated with regard to my writing: “It’s not the world’s fault that you want to be an artist…now get back to work.” Always, at the end of the day, the important thing is only and always that: Get back to work. This is a path for the courageous and the faithful. You must find another reason to work, other than the desire for success or recognition. It must come from another place. '

Elizabeth Gilbert

Follow the making of an animated pop promo

at The Deadly Deaths.

The Script Factory

They are just launching their 9 month Practical Screenwriting Programme.

Which looks interesting but most of the programme will be taught in London.

Raindance Film Festival

submissions open until 1st June - submission form available here.

Making short docs

Mostly been discussing fictions shorts but found this interesting article I think of Dutch origin on the short documentary.

Syd Field: “Screenwriting is finding places where silence works better than words.”

Interesting article on Syd Field 'teaching' screenwriting at Netribution.

YA TUBE!

HAVE YOU GOT A MINUTE?
At The Leith Agency we’re always on the look-out for the freshest writing and film-making talent in Scotland. We’ve come up with the idea of YaTube to flush that talent out.YaTube is a short film competition we’re sponsoring as part of The Leith Festival.No more, no less.You can shoot it on anything you like, from a Bolex to a mobile phone.As an ad agency, we work in short time-lengths and we like ideas you can describe in a single sentence.So here’s one final short sentence from us:You’ve got sixty seconds to live.For further details about the competition go to www.leith.co.uk or call The Leith Agency, 0131 561 8600