Week Beginning 20/4

Back to the Academy after Easter break, and straight back onto the treadmill.

We presented our ten premises and three outlines to Richard in the morning (having done a three minute script over the holiday). We then went on to look at building a few stories in a glorified game of consequences. Effectively writing by numbers. It highlighted one or two problems or issues which all writers no doubt have. It is much easier to critique someone else's work than your own.

The afternoon was a class with Kim Miller, looking at soaps. She wasn't impressed with our lack of soap interest, but now that we have an assignment on it, I've doubled my total experience of soaps by watching another two episodes of Corrie (even though I only get the picture 50% of the time with their rather rubbish version of iPlayer).

Tuesday was supposed to be a Technical day, but with Gavin being called away, we ended up having a slightly less connected day. I spent the morning annotating my storyboards for Dust (my project for this term: a seven minute short) and doing various production things. The afternoon was a class with Andy, looking at the demise of the Studio system.

Wednesday morning was spent auditioning actors for Dust. We had about 20 actors auditioning, and despite some no-shows, we ended up with a very robust cast. Quite a few second year actors, which is grand. Wednesday afternoon was a screening of The Best Days of our Lives.

Thursday completed the audition timetable, and the afternoon was spent in replying to actors, casting the piece, looking for extras and other details.

Friday lunchtime was a design meeting for Dust, meeting with some of the TPA guys who are involved in that. I never fail to be amazed at TPA's talent, ability, ambition and enthusiasm. They were all up for trying to get permission for laying a new floor in one of the larger rooms. In the end I decided that wasn't the way to go, and I've spent time today redrafting the script to make it easier to film the climactic scene. I think the new version is far better. (Now if only we can get permission to film in that derelict church in Govan!) Friday afternoon was a class on Production Skills with Abigail, where we were disecting a short script and doing a script breakdown. I found the time very tight, but now that we've been given an extension till next week, I feel confident that I have time to do it properly.