On the evening of Tuesday 13th January 2009 Channel 4’s HQ in London was filled with a buzzing crowd of high profile Film and TV figures, who are all involved with screen storytelling and eager to hear the keynote speakers executive producer David Thompson, Revolutionary Road, and screenwriter Olivia Hetreed, Girl with a Pearl Earring.  Guests included Oscar winner Julian Fellowes, Gosford Park, actor Nigel Planer, The Hogfather and Oscar nominee David Hare, The Reader.  

  

The launch was for the 2009 Screenwriters' Festival to be held at The Cheltenham Ladies College over four days from Monday 26th to Thursday 29th October 2009.

Over 230 writers, producers, directors, agents, distributors and others attended the lively evening to find out about SWF 2009 including: UK Film Commissioner Colin Brown; Menhaj Huda, director of Kidulthood and Kevin Loader the new Chair of the Festival, and producer of Brideshead Revisited and The History Boys.

David Pearson the Festival's Director explained the benefits to attending SWF for anyone involved in the process of screen storytelling for film, television, as well as digital media and gaming. The Festival is sponsored by Cheltenham Council, South West Screen, BBC, UK Film Council, Sky One, Skillset, Channel 4, Wiggin and Arturi Films etc.

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Oscar nominated screenwriter and playwright David Hare with Joanna Bratten, The Cheltenham Ladies College, and David Pearson, Festival Director.

 

Executive producer David Thompson - who oversaw a slate of films at the BBC including Mrs Brown, Billy Elliot, The History Boys, Starter for 10 and Miss Potter before leaving to launch Origin Pictures, whose projects include Freefall - offered his insights at the launch into successfully getting scripts made. "Film thrives when people take risks, and don't follow fashion. Timing is of the essence - capturing the country's mood. In film, you have to be on the edge. Whereas the centre, and the familiar, works well for television." David has recently heard of occasions in Hollywood where producers specifically requested a British writer to work on a film. He encouraged writers to create unforgettable characters; to be flexible and to be passionate about holding onto the central message in their story.

 

In an entertaining address entitled 'Uneasy Bedfellows: Writers and Directors Working Together' Olivia Hetreed, screenwriter of Girl with a Pearl Earring, explored some areas of tension that can arise between writers and directors. Successful partnerships between writers and directors are the keystone to good films and TV dramas, but while Olivia acknowledged that "most of my best friends are directors" and that her favourite writing time was usually the director's draft, because the director focusses intently on making the film work, it was not always the case.

Ownership was one tricky area. A writer creates the story but the director also needs to "own it" and, in this reshaping, can seem oblivious to the thought and effort that has already gone into it. The widespread perception is that films are authored by the director, although everyone at the Launch knew that most films are the result of multiple collaborations. Olivia asked the audience if they knew who Joseph Stefano or John Michael Hayes were? Stefano wrote Psycho and Hayes a slew of Hitchcock's most famous films, but while Hitchcock appreciated the skills of his writers, we remember the films as Hitchcock's alone.

Olivia identified money as always a problem in film-making: at once too much and not enough, so that everyone secretly suspects that the others are getting rich while they suffer. The writer is often the only one who gets paid up front, while the director and producer get nothing until (and if) shooting starts, however much work they put in at script stage. When the film happens and the writer realises that they are getting paid much less than the director and getting less recognition, that can rankle.

FInally the sheer difficulty of making a script work could create tensions: "the sparks of creative friction can push a writer to a higher level, but the participants may get a little burned in the process". Olivia finished by welcoming the recent common cause made between the WGGB and Directors UK and promised that, in spite of any problems, she would "continue to go to bed with directors, metaphorically speaking, in the hope of making beautiful film babies".

SWF 2009 will include a session to look at the working of writer-director relationships in detail.

Emerging screenwriter Simon Sayce, who works in advertising, told the audience how winning the festival’s Pitch in Time session last year, sponsored by 4Talent, had, “changed my life” and that he had just signed a deal for his script Without President to be developed and made by Red Planet, the production company run by Tony Jordan of Life on Mars fame. Elena Fuller, a fellow finalist in a Pitch in Time (which gives shortlisted writers a chance to pitch their story to a high profile panel of agents, producers and writers), said that following her pitch she had got an agent for her writing and her scripts were being read by major production companies.

The penultimate session was the handing over of the Festival Chairmanship from Simon Relph to Kevin Loader.

Finally the Free Ticket Draw took place by David Pearson and Festival Manager Kenny MacDonald.  The winner was Barry Grossman, who by conicidence was also one of the pitchers from last year, meaning that he has had two years at the Festival for FREE!  Lucky bugger...

Some more Photographs from the launch..

Ian Hutchinson from the Bank of Ireland with Guy Shepherd from Wiggin LLP.	Writers Janice Day and Anthony Keetch being met by the Festival runners.
Script Editor Jo Tracey with Kidulthood and SW10 director Menhaj Huda.	London Holloway Senior lecturer Susan Rogers and Producer Elizabeth Morgan Hemlock with speakers David Thompson and Olivia Hetreed.
Guests including screenwriter David Lemon and Producer Tontxi Vazquez mingled and networked.	The Festival runners for the evening were; Claire Carpenter, Effie Woods, Sam Bick and Jamie Whear.
Screenwriter Brian Ward.	Festival Board Member Jon Morgan with speaker David Thompson.
Launch Prize draw winner, and last years' pitching finalist, Barry Grossman toasts his prize.	Oscar winner Julian Fellowes with Festival Board member Simon Relph and Oscar nominated David Hare.
SWF Pitcher 2009 David McCrea and Simon's partner Kenna Dacre with SWF Pitchers' 2008 Simon Sayce and Elena Fuller.	UK Film Council's Colin Brown.
Ailsa Ferrier from film distributers Artificial Eye.	Executive Producer David Marlowe, Director Richard Parry and Producer Michael Wearing.

All photographs by Francesco Cillini

“The festival has shown that there is a need and an appetite for a welcoming, open forum for screen storytelling for those in the industry, those who want to enter the industry and everyone who likes a good screen story.” David Pearson – Festival Director