Raindance TV Writers Summit 26/01/2013

So... Today was interesting I after felling let down by the Raindance festival last year I made a point of not attending anything that the organization ran again but after seeing the opportunity to go to this TV Writers Summit at Birkbeck College I couldn't turn it down and gave the organization one last chance!

After being pried from my bed earlier in the morning than I have been for a long time I made the journey for the 0830 start and made it just in time to hear the first speaker Chad Gervich who I was excited to hear speak. The student who registered me was welcoming and had time to chat which was the best welcome that I've ever had at a Raindance event and I really hope that he's on the desk again tomorrow as I heard him say that he was studying the screenwriting course that they run so it'd be good to get a low down on what they do.

So Chad started off bleak - he gave us a low down on the industry in America and you could see people around the room sigh realizing the mountain that we had to climb to get our stuff on American TV, though with the mention of the money that was possible with $indercation everyone got a little boost that they needed to get right back on writing! Chad was engaging and dynamic on the stage pacing about the place and dropping in some relevant quotes and anecdotes and it really didn't feel like he had been talking for nearly four hours with only a quick smoke break in the middle (for me not Chad!)

After a quick lunch we were back in the room for the afternoon session with Ellen Sandler who hit us hard off the bat with a few exercises to really get us to think about what we wanted out our scripts and how we needed to put a little of ourselves into the narrative. We then went through some great openings of shows including The Good Wife that I now think that I'm going to have to watch (and get my mom on it - I think that she'd love it!)

In the evening we got a chance to pitch and I decided to give Baked a spin and it got an OK response from the judges and the guys who'd stayed behind to listen. I managed to fluff it at one point but think that I regained enough composure to get past it! Ellen suggested that I stop telling jokes in the pitches that I make and that I shouldn't be giving any insight into the target audience (for Baked I said that it was aimed at stoners staying up past 11 - almost half of the audience at that time!!) she said that was the execs job to decide that. Fair cop but I was just trying to be funny with it! I was a little bit peeved with Chad as he made a criticism that I didn't tell the panel my name when I clearly stood up and said it at the start - ah well!

All in all a good day to be honest and looking forward to tomorrow. The only real problem that I had was that no one really wanted to network (not that I was much in the mood by the end of the day being a little tired and hungover) but writers being insular beings tend to keep themselves to themselves and keep tapping away at their keyboards. I suppose that it's for the best - your characters give you unconditional love no matter what you put them through!

IN OTHER NEWS - I got an email from In Living Colour the production company that I sent PreCog to for the call for short scripts! They are keen and have put it through to the shortlist so hopefully I might have a short film in production in April!! All the are suggesting is a possible name change that I am totally on board with. I would be amazing to see PreCog (or whatever I/we decide to call it now!) on the big screen!

Write Life... Future Corp... FuCorp... Back to the drawing board