Thursday 9 April 2009

I got side tracked

Two months since my last blog -haha, that sounds like confessions of an alcoholic!

Well, Brodie and Sarah have pretty much sorted themselves out. Sarah is back in a beach house with partner Max and Brodie is ... well you're gonna have to wait a few months coz I've promised my agent I won't spill the beans.

Over the last two months I've been working hard on the day job - it pays the bills after all. Between that and my wife, I've had very little time for writing. However, I do have a couple of different irons in the fire and am very excited by the screenwriting I've been doing with a couple of friends. We started off adapting something I wrote some time ago, but moved very quickly away from that to an original piece of work. I now know why authors are rarely involved in adapting their novels for the screen - it's hard to let go of a character you've created and recast them in someone else's vision.

This collaborative stuff is very challenging and rewarding. Creating a character and watching them grow and change in others hands is intriguing. I'd never really thought about the role of the director before or how involved with the characters each of the actors become. Hearing someone say "oh no, Susie would never say that" is surprising and challenging. Afterall, I created Susie, I know how she thinks, what she'd say or do etc. But actors take on the role and become the character; they see it from a different perspective. Also interesting is when the writer says "ok, but if Susie doesn't say or do this now, then scene 42 later on just can't happen". Being part of those interactions is exciting; negotiating the changes and maintaining the integrity of the storyline isn't exactly easy. And then just when you get that sorted the director says, "yeah that's good but I want it to take place in the bedroom instead of the restaurant" and off it goes again.

I love it!