My play reading went very smoothly and was well received.

The play sounded much different being read by actors as they added emotions, intonations and gave the audience a feel for the play. The actors and director did an excellent job.

I think the audience enjoyed my play and the other 3 plays. My play was a bit humorous and cheeky in parts. Tim flirting with Thelma on the way to the club room for example. Maybe the play achieves the aims of spicing up the image of chess for those who see the sport as a slow, sedate pastime. It can be just the opposite.

I picked up lot of tips from the actors too, which was great. Not sure if my play will go any further but will wait and see. Seems like a promising and encouraging start to screenplay writing.

The day was simply brilliant and so unforgettable that I couldn’t do anything else for a few days.

Such a high. My play had been selected and read out by actors! Wow. Must try and stay grounded though and not lose the momentum of events.

What an exciting day. I would meet the actors and director at 3pm in the Seminar room 2 hours before the readings. We parked on the Lighthouse car park and encountered a bit of hassle from a man who said he was homeless and asked us for some money for a hot drink. I was in a rush and it didn’t feel right to give money so readily and it was a bit scary. We said no, and got a bit of verbal abuse on the car park.

Anyway, we had to find the Seminar room by 3pm. I assumed the seminar room would be signposted as I went up a floor in the lift. We could not find the seminar room though and didn’t ask for directions at the reception as we though the room would be easy to find. Alas, it wasn’t and as 3pm approached and we hadn’t found the room this frustrated me. Luckily we found the room soon after.

I met the director Kerry Murdock and actors. Tracey Briggs (Thelma in my play) said she really liked my play! Got some good feedback. Tracey’s in the new Vodafone advert and has been in Heartbeat, David Proud (Ben character) appears in the new film “Special people” and has played a part in Secret diary of a call girl series 2 I believe. Nick Dutton (Tim), Checka D’Anna (Constance). All great actors. I answered a few queries, received some great tips. Continue Reading

My play is now complete, and they are looking at casting characters to read it for the Disability film festival.

I was told by the programme director that as 2 male and 2 female actors had to been cast 1 of my characters would become a female. This made me a bit apprehensive but I just had to trust the professionals. I changed a male character from Cedric to Constance and a few alterations were made..

[ED: Our new blogger Playwright_Paul joins us today. Professional Actors will read from his new screenplay on day 3 of The Wolverhampton's Disability Film Festival, in this, his first blog, he tells us how he got there - it started with a course....]

The idea of such a course after such a long absence from serious writing was scary. My confidence was low and I had a lot of fears.
Would I fail miserably, was my idea good enough, did I have any talent in me, would I do well, was I just fooling myself?
I knew deep down that my determination and competitive spirit may just get noticed providing I could write a reasonably good script. Putting good ideas onto paper may strike a chord with the readers and audience. Though I must admit I was impressed upon listening to some of the other outlines but also made my heart sink slightly as in comparison my idea didn’t seem as good. Perhaps this outlook was simply slight paranoia instilled by low confidence. I’d chosen my idea though, no turning back, I must make my idea work! Modify here and there, tweak, WRITE, delve into the minds of the characters to tease and intrigue the audience, captivate. Do all this and I may have  a chance.

At the end of Day 2 the course had covered quite a lot. We were asked to try and write a 10 page draft screen play! Yikes. Well, the challenge had been issued. I set to it, wrote for a few days but only got to 6 pages. I had no more ideas and couldn’t think what else to write. I kept at it and more ideas to progress the play came. By Saturday I had printed out a 12 page Draft screen play. But I still didn’t have a proper title or conclusion. Tutors fundamental words buzzing in my head, “Establish, Develop, Resolve.” Continue Reading

Not content with apparently leading the way in policing their disability parking to make sure it’s not abused, Asda are going one step better – they have announced that they are going to start selling walking sticks and wheelchairs in their supermarkets – it’s nice to see these items demedicalised, and easier to get – it is an irony that items supposed to improve accessibility are not particularly easy to access.

But soon we’ll be able to get carrots, a dvd player, and some handrails for the bathroom – all in one shop.

And we’ll be able to park in the Blue Badge spaces by the door, if we need to.

I relate my recent Black Cab experience from the Beatties taxi rank. The floor of the cab I saw when I opened the door was about three feet up from the road, with no step. I managed to board, doubled up and straining my back. I shouldn’t have done it but we try to do the nigh impossible. I took a cab because recently i tried to board one of the old two-high-steps-to-board double deckers, but the bus stopped well away from the kerb, I managed the bottom one, and the driver got out of the cab and he and a passenger pulled me up the second one – these buses need scraping