For many years, kids have asked me on school visits: ‘Will any of your books be made into movies?’ I’ve always laughed and said, ‘I don’t know, it’s not up to me!’ or alternatively, ‘That would be great, do you know any film producers?’
I believed what I was saying: I didn’t know any film or TV people and I didn’t know how to write a screenplay. But during lockdown I thought: well, it’s just another form of storytelling, isn’t it? I’ve written scripts before: three short plays for children with the publisher Barrington Stoke years ago, and a full-length fairytale-type play for the secondary school where I worked 2004-2009. And of course I was an actor for several years after leaving university, so the script format is very familiar to me. Several of my editors over the years have pointed out that I’m brilliant at dialogue but rubbish at description – and what is a script if not mostly dialogue with minimal description?!
The obvious book to try to adapt into a film was A Library of Lemons, my novel for 8-12s published in 2016. It’s the story of Calypso and her father, both grieving for the loss of Calypso’s mother five years previously but never speaking about it at all. Instead, Calypso’s dad has taught Calypso that strength comes from within – something that Calypso has interpreted to mean ‘You don’t need friends to be happy’. Rather than playing with her peers, Calypso reads book after book, losing herself in fiction to avoid real life relationships. And then along comes Mae, and everything changes – not just for Calypso but for her father too.
I researched the formatting style for scriptwriting and started plotting out the script, even getting as far as twenty pages before the demands of homeschooling scuppered my plans. Nearly three years later, I had a gap between books and I thought right, now is the time to finish that script. I had an incredibly useful conversation with a great friend who used to develop children’s drama for the BBC. She gave me some golden tips for the adaptation and some challenging questions to answer. I went back to those twenty pages, rewrote them, and then finished the draft.
Then I wondered what to do with it. I do actually know a film producer, who had made supportive noises – so I sent it to him but his schedule is so packed as it is, I knew it would be ages before he got a chance to read it. I sent it to another friend who works in TV – but again, they’re incredibly busy. So I googled ‘screenwriting competitions’ and by chance there was a competition open right at that moment for screenwriting for children and YA. I wrote in to check that feature films were eligible – they were. So I carefully followed the submission guidelines and sent in the required pages.
And then I got shortlisted.
Oh, did I mention that the competition was run by Rocliffe, the arm of BAFTA that supports the New Writing Initiative?
That BAFTA, yes.
Shortlisted.
WAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!
I was invited to resubmit my material taking into account the jury’s comments, which I did. tl;dr I didn’t win – I wasn’t one of the three finalists. BUT that’s OK. I attended the online showcase for the three final pieces and I can completely see why they stood out. They were given a professional read by actors, which was really exciting to watch and listen to. The finalists are now part of BAFTA’s alumni programme which gives them access to all kinds of useful industry people and courses – but I am allowed to say I was shortlisted for what is in effect my very first attempt at a screenplay.
This has totally gone to my head. I now have DOZENS of ideas for screenplays and am reading three ‘how to’ books at once (you might think I should have done this BEFORE writing my script, but better late than never) as well as downloading screenplays of my favourite films and reading them. I am planning to submit to film agents because unlike publishing, I know nothing of this world and really need a steady hand to guide me.
I don’t know what the future holds, but I’m really excited about screenwriting as a conduit for my new ideas. Watch this space!
The three images above show a screenshot from the drama workshop (rehearsed reading) at the online industry showcase, the descriptions of the three winning finalists’ concepts, and a slide shown at the showcase listing all the shortlisted writers and their pieces.
Jo Cotterill 