short film script

It's such a good feeling when you get on a bit of a roll. I sat down today and wrote the first draft of a ten minute short film, straight off. I'd been jotting down notes for a few days after getting the idea last week, and now I've sent off a whole draft to a few trusted people for comments and feedback (which helps me to put it aside for a while so I can see it better myself). When I say 'a few trusted people' maybe I should point out that I'm in a writers' group that meets regularly for feedback and discussion of whatever work we are doing - so I've sent it to them. (I was going to say 'a small writers' group, but that conjures up quite the wrong impression.)
I know I'll regret sending it out as such a rough first draft when I see all the inconsistencies and jarring, clumsy over-written stuff. But if I didn't send it today it would be too late for the next group and I'd have tinkered with it so much I might have abandoned it by then. All this is irrelevant to me at the moment because I'm just so pleased to have got in the zone again. There were a million other things I should have done today but instead, once I got writing I just couldn't stop (heaves deep sigh of contentment).
Not only that but, thanks to the delights of frolicking in my private blog and the happy coincidence of talking to a director/actress /friend who wants to do a one-woman show, I have also had a great idea, complete with title, for a one-woman show, all full of light and dark and all that, and I've been writing daily snippets towards that with suspicious ease.
Long may it continue.

new online screenwriting course

I recently found an anonymous Google video version of 'Feis' (a 10 minute film I wrote) that's totally out of synch, sound-wise, and pre-dates the final grading. No big deal, but it's prompted me to get a better copy out there. If you're interested you can view it via this link on my sidebar.
Feis is also to be included, amongst several other short films, in 'The 'Craft of Screenwriting' online course to be run by New Writing South, tutored by Julie Everton and accredited by University of Sussex. The course, that provides support for writing a short film script, is in two modules and starts this October. I went on the 'live' version of this course some time ago at Lighthouse and this is where 'Feis' was first developed with the lovely, helpful Julie as tutor.
There's lots of useful material in the online course, including different drafts of the scripts and original ideas, to compare with finished products. I found it really interesting to look back at my own early versions - very different from where it ended up.