Blog: Writers' Group

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I usually Work From Home on Wonderful Wednesdays, but this week I headed in to TOWN on Wednesday evening (going the opposite way from usual) to attend a Writers' Group meeting with Mr John Kell. I'd been with him before when we had a reading of part of the film script of Dinosaur Planet, and this time we were there for the same thing for the RADIO script for Moon Horse that I was on about a couple of blogs ago.

We gathered at a Casting Studio in London's Fashionable Soho Area Of London, which was SWANKY to the MAX, and spent a good few hours with people reading out and discussing SCRIPTS. As with last time this was FASCINATING, both for the points raised AND the way people reacted to them. After a 10-15 minute reading there'd be a discussion, during which people put forward criticism and ideas, all of which varied from INCISIVE and THOUGHT PROVOKING to... well, a bit less so. It was SCARY to start with, especially when it was OUR SCRIPT and people DARED to say there were things they didn't like, but it was also INSPIRING. I had to keep thinking to myself "You don't have to make ANY of these changes, it's just THORTS" and with that in mind it was GRATE - once you RELAX and REALISE this the BRANE opens up and actually LETS IN new ideas. For instance, the biggest point I took on board was that our PILOT EPISODE is a bit like a series of SKETCHES - that was the IDEA, but someone suggested there could be more of a THROUGH STORY connecting the whole thing, which is such a simple idea but I'd never considered it.

Other people said things which i TOTALLY disagreed with, but which made me sort of happy to HAVE there. There was an opinion amongst some people that it was like a KIDS show, and needed EDGE to make it more like adults. This is an opinion i DO NOT agree with - I don't see why you can't still have a bit of DELIGHT also MAGIC when you are over 18 - but it's obviously something that OTHER people will think (and may not express it quite as constructively and nicely as the people at the meeting) so needs to have an ANSWER, and if possible one that doesn't involve me CRYING and saying "LET MY BABY BE!"

So yes, it was a brilliant thing to go to - and maybe if I ever tag along again I'll feel brave enough to actually ADD IDEAS when it's someone else's script. I didn't DARE to this time, despite sitting there thinking "MMMM!! You should let the Old Man Walking His Dog be married to Old Lady Later On In The Pub, that'd be BRILL!" for ten minutes without putting my hand up.

And blimey - imagine if they did this sort of thing for SONGS! Would anybody ever emerge UNINJURED?

posted 27/5/2011 by MJ Hibbett

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