Phil Gladwin, pro screenwriter/editor offers new Screenplay Coverage service.

continue reading.....

A quick explanation of what makes a great line of dialogue.

continue reading.....

Phil Gladwin, pro screenwriter, has a new Competition at the Screenwriting Goldmine Forum - prize being free screenplay coverage.

continue reading.....

It’s strange to imagine that having too many ideas can be a problem for a screenwriter. But it can actually be a real problem. Here’s what I said to a writer who has that situation - to an almost crippling extent…

continue reading.....

If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!The BBC Writers Academy 2008 has opened its doors for applications.
Simply put, this is THE current way into the BBC for screenwriters.
Those who are selected will be given extensive tuition, and when they’ve finished their training, most of them [...]

continue reading.....

You’ve finished your first draft, and you’ve left it alone for a couple of weeks so that you can get some perspective on it.
I know it’s burning a hole through your desk and you are desperate to hear what people think, but the worst thing you could possibly do at this point is give it [...]

continue reading.....

This is a controversial one. It’s a pragmatic piece of advice, that doesn’t feel very pure to me because it’s based on my personal taste rather than any rules of drama (if there are such things) - and it also flies in the face of the success of one of the biggest movie successes in [...]

continue reading.....

A lot of people write and ask me what are the chances of them getting their first script made.
My reply is always the same: “Negligible. It takes contacts, experience, years of banging your head on the door, a shed load of contacts, and and a hide thicker than a rhino.”
But ‘Juno’ proves that, sometimes, just [...]

continue reading.....

I’m delighted to announce that one of the regular contributors to this blog, Benjamin Ray, has taken first prize in the Thriller section of the 2007 Pacific Northwest Screenwriters Contest, with his script ‘Marcus and Faith’.  (You may remember he posted sections of the script for workshopping on here a while back.)
Apart for the tremendous [...]

continue reading.....

I’m putting together a couple of science fiction pitches at the moment, and so I’ve been going back over some very old notes of mine. I started off writing science fiction short stories and submitting them to small press magazines like Interzone and Back Brain Recluse, so I have thousands of words of some very [...]

continue reading.....

It’s past midnight on Sunday here in the UK, and I’ve just been counting the votes, and re-reading the quite exceptional comments that have been pouring in on this blog over the last month.
There has been so much fine conversation going on that it simply has to continue. I’ve set up a forum at http://www.screenwritinggoldmine.com/forum [...]

continue reading.....

Script writing is unusually politicised at the moment. I’ve just been reading two fascinating articles on the Writers Guild of America script writers strike.
Two points stand out:
From http://artfulwriter.com/archives/2007/11/where_i_stand.html
“If we strike… in many ways, it’s akin to a prison riot. We’ll kill a guard or two, light some mattresses on fire, a few snitches will get [...]

continue reading.....

This thread is for you to post your logline and for people to comment, suggest, even help you rewrite, until you have a logline that will dazzle any onlooker.
Usual rules apply…

continue reading.....

I’ve been getting excited about a new service I could offer here on the site.
What about you uploading your script, and a week or so later getting back an MP3 with the thing brought to life? Either read by a single actor like on the Screenwriting Goldmine audio book, or, at slightly more premium rate, [...]

continue reading.....

Click on the Great Final Draft Giveaway tab above to find out how you can get hold of a copy of the Final Draft screenwriting software package for free…

continue reading.....

The first episode of my Sarah Jane Adventures two parter (”Warriors of Kudlak”) went out last night as a preview on the children’s channel CBBC before it hits BBC1 next Monday evening.
As ever, watching one’s own script writing made real was a fascinating experience. The cast and crew did a fantastic job, and it’s been [...]

continue reading.....

Hi,
Just a quick one. I wanted to share what I believe is the best answer I ever heard to the recurring question ‘What is Drama’

Drama =  Character in Conflict

I’m serious - that’s all there is to it. Powerful words, and well worth putting over your desk.
Without either Character or Conflict, at best you will get [...]

continue reading.....

And here’s something completely different.
This is scarily accurate.
(Thanks Kath for sending it.)

continue reading.....

I strongly recommend you set up your story so the Hero beats the Villain in the end:

Audiences prefer happy endings. And why not? Who doesn’t like the sun? Who, honestly, doesn’t instinctively gravitate towards light, and warmth, and positive energy?
Why would you want to spend three months of your life on creating more negativity for [...]

continue reading.....

There’s a heck of a lot of local tv and radio attention being paid to these radio plays. They are being performed and recorded this week in three different regional theatres, and some of the press is no doubt just the usual work to get an audience - but I feel there’s another angle to [...]

continue reading.....

Back! Finally finally sorted out the problem that took the blog offline. A nice support person at my hosting company tells me it was all to do with memory allocations and PHP files being in the wrong directories. Sounds plausible enough. Anyway, sorted.
Now, where was I?
So as far as I am concerned, the radio shows [...]

continue reading.....

The length of time it takes to load pages on here has been driving me mad for weeks now. I’ve been in all the forums looking for answers, and tried a whole set of different things to no avail - this blog takes ages to load each page.
I wanted to ask you - how much [...]

continue reading.....

I’ve noticed some very interesting differences between writing for the two forms. Currently I’m about halfway through the first draft of these radio plays. I can’t helping some differences between writing for the screen, which I’ve done a fair bit of, and writing for the radio, which I’ve never done before.
Actually, there is one further [...]

continue reading.....

A lot of people have written to me over the last month asking whether I would look over their script for a fee.
To be asked like that is enormously complimentary, and for those that did I thank you sincerely for your faith and that confidence. But each time I’ve said no, and I mostly [...]

continue reading.....

I know I keep changing the look for the blog, but I do quite like this one so I think I’ll keep it for now. Feels fresh, and spacious.
Do you agree?
Let me know if you hate it and you’d rather have the old one back…

continue reading.....

I saw the Harry Potter movie last night, and, as usual with a Harry Potter movie, I came away puzzled. It looked great, it was intriguingly dark in places, it made all the right moves, yet, once again by half way through I was looking at my watch and wondering why the cinema seats were [...]

continue reading.....

Some of you may remember my blog a month or so back about visiting a Young Offenders Detention centre. It was a research trip for a new project, and I had a certain amount of concern about the morality of our visit, in that the producer and I just dipped in and sucked up as [...]

continue reading.....

Apparently peacefully, at home, at the age of 89.
From the last interview I saw with him he was happy and calm, and ready for his life and his work to end, so that’s not so bad. 
Obviously I’m sad - I don’t have any heroes any more, but he was up there in the next rank, [...]

continue reading.....

Announcing my Campaign for Real Movies. By which I mean movies for adults. No, not dodgy films with nude people, but movies made for a grown up sensibility. The amount of press Sideways got for being in any way concerned with real emotional issues was staggering. If you didn’t know any better you might think [...]

continue reading.....

There’s a major fuss going on in the UK with the BBC at the moment – they’ve had a couple of situations that have ended in a very damaging attack on their integrity.
The latest is a documentary made by a company called RDF Media. As far as I understand this from my distant perspective, in [...]

continue reading.....