This season, some meetings take place in the Cooper’s Loft, others in the Macready Room, as detailed below. Ask at the bar on the first floor for directions. Everyone attending pays £1.
Tuesday, 24 October at 7.30pm in the Cooper’s Loft: Open Workshop
Tuesday, 31 October at 7.30pm in the Macready Room: Don’t Get Involved by Raymond Wade
A reading of Raymond Wade’s TV drama about a private eye who operates in South London.
Tuesday, 7 November at 7.30pm in the Cooper’s Loft: Open Workshop
Tuesday, 14 November at 7.30pm in the Cooper’s Loft: Writing for Animation
A talk by Anna Farthing on writing half-hour animation specials. Anna is currently co-writing Hamilton Mattress with John Webster (the man behind ‘The White Stuff’ milk advertising). The show was commissioned by BBC1 and is scheduled for broadcast around Christmas 2001. Anna is also running a development project for the BBC Animation Unit.
Tuesday, 21 November at 7.30pm in the Macready Room: Open Workshop
Tuesday, 28 November at 7.30pm in the Macready Room: Rural Capers by Ray Evans
A reading of the first two episodes of Ray Evans’ TV comedy series about country people and a country pub.
NB Tonight is also the closing date for our competition.
Tuesday, 5 December at *8.00pm* in Renato’s: Christmas Drinks
Join us in Renato’s for Christmas drinks from 8.00pm onwards.
Entering our 2000-2001 competition
Our annual competition closes on Tuesday, 28 November. Please hand in your script for TV, stage, screen or radio to John Colborn (who’s administering the competition and not entering it) at any Southwest Scriptwriters meeting on or before that date. Here’s a reminder of how to submit your entry: Do not put your own name anywhere on the script or large envelope that contains it — just the title. Do put your name as well as the script’s title inside a separate, smaller sealed envelope which John will open only after all the readers’ reports have been returned. This is to ensure that our independent readers judge your play anonymously. The results will be announced in February.
Tune-in to Cold Feet
Firedog options Ola! Rochdale
Congratulations to Michael Balfour whose screenplay Ola! Rochdale (about passion, flamenco and mushy peas) has been optioned by Firedog Productions and is scheduled to go into production early in the New Year. An earlier draft of the script was read in the group around two years ago and Michael says many of the comments made at the time influenced the final version. Ola! Rochdale was originally shortlisted for the Pathé Orange prize. We hope to show it in the group sometime during 2001.
Support Forward to Victory! and Splendour
Please support Crumbling Walls’ production of group member Sue Jones’ play Forward to Victory! at the Hope Centre in Bristol on 10, 11 and 12 November, and Paines Plough’s production of Abi Morgan’s play Splendour in Bath’s Ustinov Studio in two weeks.
Eileen discusses shorts at the Watershed
Eileen Elsey is leading three discussions on short film at the Watershed on 25 October and 1 and 8 November, prior to the Brief Encounters Short Film Festival. The sessions will deal with early experiments with film, telling a story in shorts and watching a short.