Down-time to Downton

I’ve been in the wilderness for a while. Unable to write, because my powers of concentration were reduced to that which would fill a thimble. I have also been unable to read for the same reasons. So, for the last two months, I have been introduced to and reduced to, the empty and barren world of daytime television. And sitting still... No exercise at all, since a walk upstairs rendered me breathless and panting. An acute bout of pneumonia will do that to a girl.

So, if you need any advice on Homes Under The Hammer, The Matthew Wright show, The Jeremy Kyle show (bless me Father for I have sinned...) Judge Judy, The Real Housewives of various USA Counties, To Build Or Not To Build - call me. Having a dodgy lung has reduced me to a panting vegetable. The hubster, trying to inject a little humour into my very un-funny situation suggested I set up a sex phone line. Panting could earn some money, he said. The fact that I thought about it, albeit briefly, shows how bad things had become.

Two months on, I’m still clock watching to take the next pain relief, however, I do feel better. I feel my brain is once again demanding more; I can walk up the stairs without sounding like an audition for a porn movie; I can read a newspaper without falling asleep (although...) When I close my eyes and imagine my brain, I now see it as a functioning, pulsing organ with lobes and a stem, rather than an empty, threaded bit of floating tumble weed. Once again, I’m reading a book without wanting to put it down after two pages and here I am, at last, writing.

Everything happens for a reason and in between all the crap television programmes, there was an odd gem - tightly written or suspenseful, or plain old brilliantly crafted characters in a drama like Downton Abbey. I watched the whole of series one on DVD just in time to see series two start last Sunday. It made me want to write a screen play, something I’ve never thought of doing before. How different can it be to writing a lot of dialogue? It’s a lot of dialogue with stage order thingys isn’t it? Or is it? Something tells me my recovering brain may be oversimplifying this somewhat. I’m no Julian Fellowes, but I still think I want to give the scriptwriting thing a go.

Has anyone out there done any courses? Any books (now that I can read again) to recommend? Advice on the different crafts of script writing versus novel writing? I need to get my teeth into something new and challenging, remind myself that my brain like the rest of my muscles that have been semi retired for the last two months, now need flexing and exercising. Wish me luck...

Guest Blog by Adrian Reynolds - Have you thought about writing for screen?

There’s more to writing than prose, and I wonder if you’ve ever considered writing for screen? I found my feet as a writer with some classes in scriptwriting conducted by a lovely guy called Jon Wood, whose career has been all about creating plays for children. It turns out that I was one of them, way back when, and now he was my mentor as an adult.

Jon’s classes were an opportunity to test out concepts and scenes with an audience of other writers, and even by reading out scenes ourselves we got to learn a lot about pace, dialogue, and character. Sometimes we had the luxury of acting students performing what we’d done, script in hand, and that moved the whole process up a notch.

For some reason, I was the only writer who spotted the natural simpatico between student writers and student actors, and made the most of the connection by creating playlets that were put on in showcase performances at Nottingham’s Sandfield Centre.

My first, Probably A Robbery, was inspired by the world of dole, dope and DJs I was part of at the time, set in a 24 hour garage with a pirate radio station attached. I wrote it for the friends I had who never set foot in a theatre: I’m passionate about art being able to connect with audiences who don’t spend their lives immersed in review sections.

So, I’d written a short play, what next? Well, there was a competition in The Times for screenwriters to submit a feature film treatment. I didn’t think of myself as a screenwriter, had no idea what a treatment was, but figured Probably A Robbery would make a good film. The Times agreed, and the competition win led to me meeting Four Weddings producer Tim Bevan, who compared my work to that of Hanif Kureishi – they’d worked together on My Beautiful Laundrette – and said I seemed to be doing the right things where writing was concerned.

All of which makes this sound like a success story, and if things had progressed at that speed subsequently I’d be writing this in my Icelandic retreat, receiving a shoulder massage from one of my personal assistants and polishing my Oscar. But as we all know, progress happens incrementally: mastering screenwriting is an ongoing journey, and the form is very different from writing prose, something I could write about in the future if there’s demand.

So, what have I accomplished? Well, I’ve scripted episodes of Doctors for the BBC, the entry level show for new writers. I’ve got excellent feedback about a series of my own, The Sharp End, set in the world of drugs work. And I’m making headway in developing some feature film projects.

What I can say from all this is that I relish the lean and purposeful writing of a screenplay, and that even if you’re not set on making a living at it, you can learn a lot from studying scriptwriting.

Screenwriter and script doctor Adrian Reynolds writes about creativity, writing, and things he's seen and read over at www.youdothatvoodoo.com, where you'll also find samples of his work.