Well, the Scottish Children's Book Award winners have been announced at a wonderful ceremony in Dundee's Caird Hall. It is such a wonderful book award to be involved in and just gets better every year. This year over 32,000 children all over Scotland took part and voted, and on the day almost 1,000 children attended the ceremony. Pupils who had travelled from the furthest corners of Scotland just to be there. The whole thing was also watched live on Glow in schools all over the country. The Scottish Book Trust have to be congratulated for organising such a massive event, and doing it so well.
I had a great time, from the moment my son dropped me off and I popped into the Pancake Place for hot pancakes and coffee. Then I made my way past the wonderful statue of Desperate Dan to the Caird Hall. What a venue! The place was buzzing with excitement from the beginning and myself, Jonathan Meres, James Kilmore, all shortlisted for the 8/11 category were taken into the main hall to go through what was going to happen that day. Pupils from St. Joseph's Primary, Bonnybridge, and St. Mungo's Falkirk were rehearsing the dramatisations they had prepared, with the help of a fantastic drama teacher, Lesley Russell, for each of our books. So, of course, we couldn't resist a sneak preview. " We're doing a musical for yours," I was told. A musical! For a creepy ghost story like Out of the Depths! I hadn't a clue how they were going to manage that. But by goodness, I was amazed at the fabulous song Lesley had written, and the way they had put the whole thing together. ' Tyler, help me' is still running through my head, and Lesley and I have decided that we are going to make, "Tyler, the Musical". They had gone right to the heart of my story, and they sent shivers up many a spine in the audience when they finally performed it that afternoon. I know Jonathan and James were equally impressed with theirs, based on The World of Norm and Soldier's Game...but they didn't have a song!!! The excitement grew as the pupils arrived, filling up the hall, being entertained by the terrific host,Chae Strathie, who even managed to get Elizabeth Laird, Elizabeth Wein, and Barry Hutchison doing a gangnam style dance. Barry Hutchison doesn't surprise me, he's up for anything. ( He even changed his name to Elizabeth on the day so it would be a one name line up!) but Elizabeth Laird and Elizabeth Wein...they did a fabulous job of it, and the pupils loved it. For the Bookbug section, Julia Donaldson and her lovely husband Malcolm performed their song from Jack and the Flum,Flum Tree, Catherine Raynor read her enchanting story about Solomon Crocodile and John Fardell had children create their own story while he illustrated it on stage! What a fabulous day.
In the end, Out of the Depths didn't win. But I signed loads of books, and met lots of fans, and that's what it is all about really.
But to be honest... I wuz robbed!
Saturday, 9 March 2013
Thursday, 3 January 2013
My Day on Set!
I've had to keep so much to myself about Panda Eyes, because of the embargo on any news coming out of the set. But the embargo has been lifted, and now I can tell everyone about the wonderful day I had on the Cardiff set of the film. You know, everyone told me that when your book is picked up for film, you can say goodbye to it. Take the money and run, they said. That's not been my experience. From the very beginning, I was kept in the loop, and I have to say for a long time it seemed it was not going anywhere. Then just three years ago, two producers, Rebekah Gilbertson and Nicole Carmen Davies were given the book and loved it. They passed it on to a fabulous Spanish director, Isobel Coixet, who read the book on her way back to Spain, and she loved it too. They had always wanted to work together and this was to be there project. My book! And since then it has been like a snowball gathering speed.
The cameras started rolling in late November and I was invited down to see the first weekend's filming. The first scene I watched was in the school library, when Fay,played by the beautiful Sophie Turner, walks in and the librarian is puzzled to see her, sure she has only just left. The beginning of Fay's haunting, just the way I had written it in the book. I watched that scene being filmed from one direction after another while Isobel, who not only wrote the screenplay but directs the film as well, carries the camera on a special hook strapped to her back, or is wheeled round on a 'rickshaw'. The actresses repeated their lines over and over and I was amazed that each time seemed as fresh as the last.
Isobel even called the librarian, Mrs. MacPHail, my little Alfred Hitchock moment!
I was really keen to meet Jonathan Rhys Meyers who plays the drama teacher in the film. 'He's very intense' I was told. So I was a bit apprehensive to meet him. The scene they were filming with him was another straight from my book. He is giving out the parts for the school play, MacBeth. The young actors and the extras sat in a circle in the school auditorium waiting for the star to arrive. In he came, and I have got to admit even in real life, he is drop dead gorgeous. But better than that...he's really nice! He stepped into the circle, and shook hands with every young person there. Making them all feel at ease. He did so much adlibbing, and after each take he would ask Isobel if the scene had worked for her. What a star. But among the adlibbing he kept to the script as written, and finally when there was a break, he came across to where I sat. ' I'm Cathy,' I said as he shook my hand. Then as he turned away someone told him that I was the one who wrote the book. He swung back. 'Wow! we'll have to talk later, get a photograph...maybe even a smooch.'
Well, I would have been up for any of them! And he was true to his word, he didn't forget. Near the end of the day's filming, he called across to where I sat. I looked behind me to see who he was waving at, and it was me! ' Come on, get a photo!' He even insisted I get a photo sitting with the cast, holding the clapper board that proclaims. PANDA EYES. TAKE 1
But though Jonathan's fans love hearing about him, it's Gregg Sulkin who impresses the younger ones. He's the werewolf in Wizards of Waverley Place and a gorgeous young man too. I had lunch with him, sitting in a damp cabin eating stew! It was great.
I was amazed that the filming went so smoothly, but I was told that Isobel had insisted, that since there had been so many times they thought the film would not be made at all, then the shoot itself was going to be fun. It was certainly fun for me.
'You've all made me feel as if I am so special,' I told Nicole and Rebekah, and they said the most wonderful thing for a writer to hear.
' If it wasn't for you, none of the actors would be here, the crew, the director, everything stems from you. You are the seed, Cathy. If you hadn't written your wonderful book, none of this would be happening!'
I'm going to dine out on that for years!
I haven't told you half of what happened that day, meeting the wonderful cinematographer, Jean Claude, seeing the rushes from the previous day, watching a creepy moment from my book come alive on the screen. But more blogs will come. I will keep you posted.
Oh, and I did get my kiss too!
The cameras started rolling in late November and I was invited down to see the first weekend's filming. The first scene I watched was in the school library, when Fay,played by the beautiful Sophie Turner, walks in and the librarian is puzzled to see her, sure she has only just left. The beginning of Fay's haunting, just the way I had written it in the book. I watched that scene being filmed from one direction after another while Isobel, who not only wrote the screenplay but directs the film as well, carries the camera on a special hook strapped to her back, or is wheeled round on a 'rickshaw'. The actresses repeated their lines over and over and I was amazed that each time seemed as fresh as the last.
Isobel even called the librarian, Mrs. MacPHail, my little Alfred Hitchock moment!
I was really keen to meet Jonathan Rhys Meyers who plays the drama teacher in the film. 'He's very intense' I was told. So I was a bit apprehensive to meet him. The scene they were filming with him was another straight from my book. He is giving out the parts for the school play, MacBeth. The young actors and the extras sat in a circle in the school auditorium waiting for the star to arrive. In he came, and I have got to admit even in real life, he is drop dead gorgeous. But better than that...he's really nice! He stepped into the circle, and shook hands with every young person there. Making them all feel at ease. He did so much adlibbing, and after each take he would ask Isobel if the scene had worked for her. What a star. But among the adlibbing he kept to the script as written, and finally when there was a break, he came across to where I sat. ' I'm Cathy,' I said as he shook my hand. Then as he turned away someone told him that I was the one who wrote the book. He swung back. 'Wow! we'll have to talk later, get a photograph...maybe even a smooch.'
Well, I would have been up for any of them! And he was true to his word, he didn't forget. Near the end of the day's filming, he called across to where I sat. I looked behind me to see who he was waving at, and it was me! ' Come on, get a photo!' He even insisted I get a photo sitting with the cast, holding the clapper board that proclaims. PANDA EYES. TAKE 1
But though Jonathan's fans love hearing about him, it's Gregg Sulkin who impresses the younger ones. He's the werewolf in Wizards of Waverley Place and a gorgeous young man too. I had lunch with him, sitting in a damp cabin eating stew! It was great.
I was amazed that the filming went so smoothly, but I was told that Isobel had insisted, that since there had been so many times they thought the film would not be made at all, then the shoot itself was going to be fun. It was certainly fun for me.
'You've all made me feel as if I am so special,' I told Nicole and Rebekah, and they said the most wonderful thing for a writer to hear.
' If it wasn't for you, none of the actors would be here, the crew, the director, everything stems from you. You are the seed, Cathy. If you hadn't written your wonderful book, none of this would be happening!'
I'm going to dine out on that for years!
I haven't told you half of what happened that day, meeting the wonderful cinematographer, Jean Claude, seeing the rushes from the previous day, watching a creepy moment from my book come alive on the screen. But more blogs will come. I will keep you posted.
Oh, and I did get my kiss too!
Monday, 19 November 2012
The Next Big Thing
The Next Big Thing
It seems I've been tagged, and quite happy with it! So here I am ready to tell you about my next book, out in May of 2013. Mosi's War.
I got the idea for Mosi's War watching a programme about boy soldiers. Young boys, only children, forced to do the most unspeakable things. I thought of my own children, my grandchildren, my grandson, Robert just 9, the same age as some of the boys dragged off to distant wars they didn't even understand. And the idea began to grow. I suppose that's what inspired me to write the book in the first place. I hate the thought of children having their childhood taken away from them. It's a typical Cathy MacPhail book, I think, a gritty realistic thriller, set in Glasgow. It's about two boys, Mosi and Patrick, who are caught up in an horrific set of events. If I was to describe Mosi's War in one sentence it would be this.
'Real life is a lot scarier than anything you could make up.'
I know there are other books about boy soldiers, wonderful books, but I tried to avoid reading them. It was mostly non fiction books I read, true stories that would make your blood run cold.
And what else in the book might pique my readers' interest? Well, there's a vampire in it too!
Of course I would love Mosi's War to be snapped up as a film, but I can't be greedy. I already have a book being made into a film this very year!Another Me now to be known as Panda Eyes! Don't ask me why. Do I care? no! It's going to be a film! One of my books is going to be a film!
Filming begins on the 25th of this month, November. I am so excited about it. I have wonderful producers, a fantastic director, Isobel Coixet, who have all been responsible for some award winning and prestigious films. There is a stunning cast too. The drop dead gorgeous, Jonathan Rhys Meyers,( he was HenryV111, in the Tudors), Rhys Ifans ( Notting Hill, Spiderman). Sophie Turner, ( Game of Thrones) will be playing Fay, and though I haven't met her yet, just seeing her photo I think she will be a perfect Fay. I've read the script which is seriously spooky, and yet sticks close to my book. My dialogue, my scenes, my story. It is going to be wonderful to see such fine actors speaking my words on the big screen. Panda Eyes will be released I believe sometime in 2013. I'm looking out for the posh frock already!
So I have so much to look forward to. My lovely wee Mosi's War out in May, and the film out next year too.
I am meant to tag other authors, but it seems all the authors I was going to tag have already been included. But what about Helen Fitzgerald? I met her at Bloody Scotland, she's multi talented, and writes in so many different genres. I'd love to hear from her.
Monday, 8 October 2012
On writing a synopsis
Am I the only writer who enjoys writing a synopsis? I have always found it helps my creativity, keeps me motivated and focussed . It's how all of my books begin.
I'll tell you how I began writing them. When I was writing situation comedy for radio, and television I learned a lot. I listened to and I watched other comedies, and I read books about writing for both radio and television. When you have to tell your story in 27 minutes or less, then you can't waste a moment, and have to have a plan before you begin. A synopsis in fact. You work on the story first. Then divide it into scenes. Each scene should move the story along and end on a mini cliffhanger so the listener/viewer will want to stay switched on to find out what happens next. Hook them with a great beginning, and build to the funniest climax/line you can come up with.
So when I was writing my first children's book, Run Zan Run, I simply used the same principle.
You think that sounds too formualaic?
Well, do you think the Pope gave Michael Angelo a set of step ladders and a pot of paint and said. 'Away up there and paint something, son.' And then Michael Angelo goes up with his brush, finishes his painting and realises there's no room for one of the legs? No. He made a plan. He knew the exact size of the area he had to work in. He knew exactly where he had to begin, and how to fit everything in. He made a plan. and he created a masterpiece.
He wasn't the only one. Da Vinci began with a mathematical plan for his masterpieces, so he could get everything in proportion.
And if it was good enough for them, it's good enough for me.
Not that I'm writing masterpieces! But I do want my books to be the best they can be.
So I write my synopsis, and as the great Roald Dahl said,' once you have something written you have something to change.' So as you can imagine, it does change a lot.
I think of my book is like a journey, and for a journey I need a map.My synopsis is the map I know exactly where I am going to start from, and where I would like to finish. Say, London.
But on the way, I may take some interesting detours. I may be held up by roadworks, there may be diversions that set me on a different path. I could meet interesting people I didn't expect. But my map keeps me heading in the right direction, and eventually after this, hopefully, exciting, surprising journey Iwill still end up in London.And Wow! the riots are going on. Something I didn't expect when I started off.
The synopsis keeps me focussed.
So here in a few words, is how this works for me. Won't work for everybody of course, but this is my way.
I write a mini version of my story. My synopsis.Then I divide it into chapters, each chapter must move the story along. Each chapter should end on a cliffhanger. I hook them hopefully with that first chapter, and build my story up to a thrilling climax. Giving readers the ending they want, but not in the way they expect it.
Then I start writing, and the adventure begins.
I'll tell you how I began writing them. When I was writing situation comedy for radio, and television I learned a lot. I listened to and I watched other comedies, and I read books about writing for both radio and television. When you have to tell your story in 27 minutes or less, then you can't waste a moment, and have to have a plan before you begin. A synopsis in fact. You work on the story first. Then divide it into scenes. Each scene should move the story along and end on a mini cliffhanger so the listener/viewer will want to stay switched on to find out what happens next. Hook them with a great beginning, and build to the funniest climax/line you can come up with.
So when I was writing my first children's book, Run Zan Run, I simply used the same principle.
You think that sounds too formualaic?
Well, do you think the Pope gave Michael Angelo a set of step ladders and a pot of paint and said. 'Away up there and paint something, son.' And then Michael Angelo goes up with his brush, finishes his painting and realises there's no room for one of the legs? No. He made a plan. He knew the exact size of the area he had to work in. He knew exactly where he had to begin, and how to fit everything in. He made a plan. and he created a masterpiece.
He wasn't the only one. Da Vinci began with a mathematical plan for his masterpieces, so he could get everything in proportion.
And if it was good enough for them, it's good enough for me.
Not that I'm writing masterpieces! But I do want my books to be the best they can be.
So I write my synopsis, and as the great Roald Dahl said,' once you have something written you have something to change.' So as you can imagine, it does change a lot.
I think of my book is like a journey, and for a journey I need a map.My synopsis is the map I know exactly where I am going to start from, and where I would like to finish. Say, London.
But on the way, I may take some interesting detours. I may be held up by roadworks, there may be diversions that set me on a different path. I could meet interesting people I didn't expect. But my map keeps me heading in the right direction, and eventually after this, hopefully, exciting, surprising journey Iwill still end up in London.And Wow! the riots are going on. Something I didn't expect when I started off.
The synopsis keeps me focussed.
So here in a few words, is how this works for me. Won't work for everybody of course, but this is my way.
I write a mini version of my story. My synopsis.Then I divide it into chapters, each chapter must move the story along. Each chapter should end on a cliffhanger. I hook them hopefully with that first chapter, and build my story up to a thrilling climax. Giving readers the ending they want, but not in the way they expect it.
Then I start writing, and the adventure begins.
Tuesday, 18 September 2012
Bloody Scotland
I think spending time with other writers, being surrounded by books and stories, inspires you to write more stories yourself. I was at the Bloody Scotland Festival at the weekend. At first I felt as if I didn't really belong there, with Val McDermid, Ian Rankin, Christopher Brookmyre, Alex Gray.....and so many others. All great writers of adult murder mysteries. The weekend seemed to have an edge to it, perhaps because it was all about murder. There were talks about historical detectives, about the alter egos writers had created in their characters, about how true crime inspires fiction. One event as interesting as the next. I had been asked to do an event with the title. Once Upon A Crime. ( Great title for a session on children's crime fiction,eh? ) Gillian Phillip was also on the panel. She not only writes great teenage thrillers, but also fantastic fantasy. Wolfsbane is her latest. Helen Fitzgerald was on our panel too, a writer I hadn't met before but who writes for adults and teenagers. Her new book is coming out in the US first. Its title? Deviant. Makes you want to read it already, doesn't it? But it didn't take long for me to realise that even when we are writing for children we are still writing strong, dramatic murder mysteries. Writers of teenage crime fiction take a murder, a mystery, and see how a young person will react to it, or solve it. Our protagonists can't be police detectives, or pathologists or psychological profilers. Our characters have to go to school, ( although I did get round that in the Nemesis series by having my hero a boy on the run!) They have mums and dads to worry about, they have curfews. They can't drive, or follow suspects from one town to another. We encounter real problems when writing crime fiction with these kind of restrictions. Yet we choose to do it. I think it's because we don't see them as problems, but as challenges. How do we get round them? How do we make sure it is the child who solves the mystery, without the help of those mums and dads, those forensic tests, those profilers? Do you remember the film, ' Witness'? An Amish boy sees a murder in a gents' toilet at a train station. The story is about how the handsome detective and the boy's beautiful Amish mother, protect and save him, and bring the murderers to justice. Okay, here's a project. Write a synopsis of that story,( you can forget the Amish bit if you want) with the boy protecting and saving his mother and the detective and the boy bringing justic. How would he do that? More importantly, how would you do that?
The weekend finished with a Sherlock Holmes play, The Red Headed League. Stuart McBride was Sherlock, David Ashton a fabulous Watson, Val McDermid was also in the cast along with a host of other crime writers including Gillian Phillip. ( Honest, you can't keep her out of anything.) I was in it too. One of the red headed league with one line to remember. I was terrific.I'm waiting for the casting call from Steven Moffat as I write.
A big congratulations to the organisers. Next year's Bloody Scotland is already in the planning stages.
A wonderfully inspiring weekend. I can't have been the only one who came home buzzing.
The weekend finished with a Sherlock Holmes play, The Red Headed League. Stuart McBride was Sherlock, David Ashton a fabulous Watson, Val McDermid was also in the cast along with a host of other crime writers including Gillian Phillip. ( Honest, you can't keep her out of anything.) I was in it too. One of the red headed league with one line to remember. I was terrific.I'm waiting for the casting call from Steven Moffat as I write.
A big congratulations to the organisers. Next year's Bloody Scotland is already in the planning stages.
A wonderfully inspiring weekend. I can't have been the only one who came home buzzing.
Monday, 2 July 2012
what a week!
Home again. And what a wonderful time I had last week. On Monday I was in London, I had been invited to the House of Lords,( how, you may ask, did I manage to get invited to the House of Lords? I will never know, but I was delighted anyway! I think my lovely agent might have had something to do with it. Her and I were there together.) It was a reception to celebrate Volunteer Reading, a wonderful inititiative to get trained people into schools to read with young people.I was at the local prison only the week before and saw how many of the inmates have a low level of education and reading skills. It only reinforced my belief that education and reading are the key to raising aspirations and self esteem. There were so many interesting people at that reception, and I stood on the long terrace overlooking the Thames and thought how lucky I was to be included among them. Me, whose widowed mother was a school cleaner who also had another two jobs to support me and my three sisters. She would have been so chuffed! A day to remember.
But have you ever wished you could be in two places at the same time? I did last Monday. Because of that invite to the House of Lords, I had to forego yet another wonderful experience. Monday also saw the launch of the Scottish Children's Book Awards, and I couldn't go! It was all top secret, so I couldn't even tell anyone I had been shortlisted until last Monday when the announcements were made.
I am so delighted to be on the shortlist for this fantastic award, especially with Out of The Depths,the first in the Tyler Lawless series. I so love writing about this character. I'll have to wait till March 7th, 2013, for the final result and that will all be up to the pupils of Scotland and which book they vote for. So, a great believer in enjoying the moment, I am going to make the most of the time until the award ceremony next year. Already in my diary,so even an invite to Buckingham Palace will have to be turned down!( Well, you never know, stranger things have happened!)
And as if that wasn't enough on Tuesday I went to the new Bloomsbury offices to meet up with my editors . We were talking about my next book, out next year. My title for this one, and a blinking good one too, I thought, was, It Walks Among Us, but my editor thought it sounded too much like a horror novel. She's always given me good advice, been my editor since Run Zan Run, so I have gone with her suggestion. Mosi's War. I'm getting used to it now. They are excited about this book, and so am I. I am very proud of it, love the characters. I created two boys, Mosi and Patrick, and they just leapt off the page and began writing the story themselves. I love it when that happens.
Then I was off to meet Hamza, one of my biggest fans, and a boy who has done so much for me. Thanks to him I'm on Twitter, and have a Facebook fanpage and he's always finding reviews and articles about my books and posting them for me. I don't know what I would do without him.
On Thursday I visited Merchant Taylor's school in Liverpool and had a wonderful time with Tony Higginson who has an independent book story and who organised my visit. Sold lots of books and met so many fans. On in the evening to another Liverpool school, St. Edwards College for their Open Evening event. All I had to do there was sit and smile and blether. I've never had any problem doing that!
The icing on the cake was that I got to stay with my family down there. Katie and Danny, and my lovely Daniel and Jessica. What a memorable week!
Katie has this wonderful idea of keeping a gratitude journal, and each night writing down three things to be grateful for. You don't write anything bad, only the good things, however small. I think it's a wonderful idea. I'm going to do it too.
But how do I ever stop at the three?
But have you ever wished you could be in two places at the same time? I did last Monday. Because of that invite to the House of Lords, I had to forego yet another wonderful experience. Monday also saw the launch of the Scottish Children's Book Awards, and I couldn't go! It was all top secret, so I couldn't even tell anyone I had been shortlisted until last Monday when the announcements were made.
I am so delighted to be on the shortlist for this fantastic award, especially with Out of The Depths,the first in the Tyler Lawless series. I so love writing about this character. I'll have to wait till March 7th, 2013, for the final result and that will all be up to the pupils of Scotland and which book they vote for. So, a great believer in enjoying the moment, I am going to make the most of the time until the award ceremony next year. Already in my diary,so even an invite to Buckingham Palace will have to be turned down!( Well, you never know, stranger things have happened!)
And as if that wasn't enough on Tuesday I went to the new Bloomsbury offices to meet up with my editors . We were talking about my next book, out next year. My title for this one, and a blinking good one too, I thought, was, It Walks Among Us, but my editor thought it sounded too much like a horror novel. She's always given me good advice, been my editor since Run Zan Run, so I have gone with her suggestion. Mosi's War. I'm getting used to it now. They are excited about this book, and so am I. I am very proud of it, love the characters. I created two boys, Mosi and Patrick, and they just leapt off the page and began writing the story themselves. I love it when that happens.
Then I was off to meet Hamza, one of my biggest fans, and a boy who has done so much for me. Thanks to him I'm on Twitter, and have a Facebook fanpage and he's always finding reviews and articles about my books and posting them for me. I don't know what I would do without him.
On Thursday I visited Merchant Taylor's school in Liverpool and had a wonderful time with Tony Higginson who has an independent book story and who organised my visit. Sold lots of books and met so many fans. On in the evening to another Liverpool school, St. Edwards College for their Open Evening event. All I had to do there was sit and smile and blether. I've never had any problem doing that!
The icing on the cake was that I got to stay with my family down there. Katie and Danny, and my lovely Daniel and Jessica. What a memorable week!
Katie has this wonderful idea of keeping a gratitude journal, and each night writing down three things to be grateful for. You don't write anything bad, only the good things, however small. I think it's a wonderful idea. I'm going to do it too.
But how do I ever stop at the three?
Sunday, 20 May 2012
Almost There
Do you know how often my work has almost made it to the screen! Too many times to mention , so here I am, mentioning them. I had two comedy series on Radio 2. Yeah, did you know I once thought I was going to be a comedy writer? My Mammy and Me had begun as a short story on radio and then just grew. I was so excited when it was commissioned for television. They talked about the cost of each episode, the sets, the cast. I had a script editor and everything, and then.....nothing. Never quite rejected, just put on a back burner. Never mind, I already had another commission for yet another comedy series. I had worked in a woollen mill when I came out of school, and used the experiences to write about two mill girls in the '60's, who thought they deserved a better life. We Gotta Get Outta This Place( I even had a ready made theme tune!) I sent it off to the producer of my favourite comedies at the time. Susan Belbin, who was producing Only Fools and Horse, One Foot in the Grave among others. She came up to Glasgow to meet me, loved it. She commissioned me for five episodes. I was up and down to London for casting auditions. Me! I was swanning around Television House along with Steven Moffat, before he became The Moff. I sat in as actresses came in and read for the parts. Kelly McDonald was our favourtie, told me her mum just loved the script too. Susan, a producer with a lot of clout down at the BBC, refused to have a read through,( that's when the actors get together and read through the script. That had to be explained to me, in case you think I am being patronising.) or even for a pilot to be made. ' You are getting a series,' she told me. ' BBC 2 for the first series, then it will move to BBC 1' Can you blame me for thinking, nothing could go wrong now?
So, what went wrong, I hear you ask.
Susan Belbin became ill, and had to leave the BBC!
The baton was picked up by her assistant, also a producer. Just as keen as Susan Belbin but with none of her clout. She too refused to have a read through of the script. What she did get was a stage pilot. The episode was to be acted out on stage, and filmed in front of an audience. She did a fantastic job too.
What could go wrong this time?
Well, it was a very Scottish working class comedy set in the '60's. And it was filmed in front of a London audience, mostly BBC types. I didn't get the series.
And then there was Granny Nothing. Before it became a book, I sent it off to the BBC as an idea for a children's series. They loved it. I was commissioned for 18 storylines, for two series. So, what happened to this one? Well, the controller of children's television was replaced and his successor had his own ideas of what would make a good series. I began writing Granny Nothing as a book, which then became four books.
Then, to my delight, Granny Nothing was picked up once more by the BBC. Once more I was commissioned. Surely, nothing could go wrong this time? They were talking about a scriptwriting team which I would head, how long each episode would last, at what time it would be aired., even who they were considering to play Granny Nothing.
Fate vomited on my contract once again.
Another new controller appeared. This one thought Granny Nothing was too much like Madame Doubtfire.
I almost phoned him up screaming. ' It's nothing like Madame xxxxx Doubtfire.' But what would have been the point?
But you know, and this is especially for any aspiring writers out there, I got all of this without an agent. I looked in the Radio Times for the names of the producers whose work I admired and then I simply sent off scripts or programme ideas to them. (It was Susan Belbin who suggested I get an agent, seeing as how I was going to be so famous and all that with We Gotta Get Outta This Place!)
And now.... I am almost there again. This time it is the big screen. The film rights for my book, Another Me, ( another one which began as a short story on radio) were bought a long time ago. Last year however, everything began to snowball. I met the people in charge of production, Rebekah and Nicole, and was invited down to London to meet the woman who is going to direct and write the screen play for the film. Isobel Coixet. A Spanish director with a wonderful track record and reputation. They are all delightful, and so enthusiastic.
Isobel told me she is so looking forward to bringing my story to the screen. They have found the perfect location, (Cardiff) and Isobel is planning to make it a terrifying psychological thriller. Fox International will distribute it. It is going to be called Panda Eyes. ( No, I dont' know why either) It is going into production this year......in the Spring...er, no, it has now been rescheduled for September.
So, here's the cliffhanger.... it isn't September yet.....I'm holding my breath.....
So, what went wrong, I hear you ask.
Susan Belbin became ill, and had to leave the BBC!
The baton was picked up by her assistant, also a producer. Just as keen as Susan Belbin but with none of her clout. She too refused to have a read through of the script. What she did get was a stage pilot. The episode was to be acted out on stage, and filmed in front of an audience. She did a fantastic job too.
What could go wrong this time?
Well, it was a very Scottish working class comedy set in the '60's. And it was filmed in front of a London audience, mostly BBC types. I didn't get the series.
And then there was Granny Nothing. Before it became a book, I sent it off to the BBC as an idea for a children's series. They loved it. I was commissioned for 18 storylines, for two series. So, what happened to this one? Well, the controller of children's television was replaced and his successor had his own ideas of what would make a good series. I began writing Granny Nothing as a book, which then became four books.
Then, to my delight, Granny Nothing was picked up once more by the BBC. Once more I was commissioned. Surely, nothing could go wrong this time? They were talking about a scriptwriting team which I would head, how long each episode would last, at what time it would be aired., even who they were considering to play Granny Nothing.
Fate vomited on my contract once again.
Another new controller appeared. This one thought Granny Nothing was too much like Madame Doubtfire.
I almost phoned him up screaming. ' It's nothing like Madame xxxxx Doubtfire.' But what would have been the point?
But you know, and this is especially for any aspiring writers out there, I got all of this without an agent. I looked in the Radio Times for the names of the producers whose work I admired and then I simply sent off scripts or programme ideas to them. (It was Susan Belbin who suggested I get an agent, seeing as how I was going to be so famous and all that with We Gotta Get Outta This Place!)
And now.... I am almost there again. This time it is the big screen. The film rights for my book, Another Me, ( another one which began as a short story on radio) were bought a long time ago. Last year however, everything began to snowball. I met the people in charge of production, Rebekah and Nicole, and was invited down to London to meet the woman who is going to direct and write the screen play for the film. Isobel Coixet. A Spanish director with a wonderful track record and reputation. They are all delightful, and so enthusiastic.
Isobel told me she is so looking forward to bringing my story to the screen. They have found the perfect location, (Cardiff) and Isobel is planning to make it a terrifying psychological thriller. Fox International will distribute it. It is going to be called Panda Eyes. ( No, I dont' know why either) It is going into production this year......in the Spring...er, no, it has now been rescheduled for September.
So, here's the cliffhanger.... it isn't September yet.....I'm holding my breath.....
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