'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

PSST!

New kind of short film collaboration. See the films here.

"The mission of PSST is to produce original short films through the collaboration of different teams of designers, directors, and animators. Each film is comprised of three sections produced by three different teams. This process is the whole idea behind PSST! – a technique derived from the Dadaist game of Exquisite Corpse and the children’s game Telephone and applied to the arts of motion graphics, animation and film-making."

Trailblazers

A new initative at the Ediburgh International Film Festival announced at Cannes.

"Approximately 20 individuals will be selected for inclusion in the Trailblazers talent showcase. Half will be graduating students from the UK's Skillset Screen Academies, selected from their graduation work by McGill and the EIFF programming staff. Their work will also be shown as part of the EIFF 2007 programme.

The other half will be selected by McGill and the EIFF programming staff from new British films in the EIFF 2007 programme. Trailblazers will be drawn from all areas of filmmaking. The talent's eligibility will not be affected by age nor by previous exposure, but they will be new discoveries in terms of major festival or press attention."


More info at the EIFF website.

Finding screenwriters

Accidentally I found myself at a performance writers event in Edinburgh last night. I met up with a friend with half an eye for developing screenplays for him to direct. He had already spoken to one of the writers who wrote in a very action orientated non interior style about getting him to adapt it into a short screenplay script.

It really is worthwhile attending writers events locally to where you live to see if there is any untapped writing talent who may not have thought of writing for the screen and you are trying to find material. I found out about this event by word of mouth but worth looking out on the web, local libraries, arts venues, theatres to see if there is a writers group holding an event. It could be dire or it could be untold treasure.

Actor?

If you want to get experience of acting in front of a camera - its the season for students to be casting their final films before graduation. I was in our local FE college and the noticeboards were plastered with pleas for actors wanted. Find out which ones offer media studies courses with a practical component and start making contact. Off the top of my head I know of at least 4 in Edinburgh.

Machinima

Interesting interview with Hugh Hancock one of the pioneers of this technique. Caballing gaming programmes to produce films. My friend Stuart Brown made a documentary about Machinima which can be found here.

Screenwriting Express Course at end of May - delivered by The Script Factory and The Long Distance Screenwriter will be taught by Adrian Mead on the 9th of June in Edinburgh.

Composer's career path

Interview with Alex Heffes (composer on The Last King of Scotland) over at the BBC Film Network.