Blog Awards 2006

Tom Green over at the Writers’ Guild blog has announced his highlights and recommendations for 2006, which was pretty neat, so in a similar vein, here are my awards of the year:

Writers of the Year - Purvis & Wade for giving us the best Bond ever but it’s universally agreed now that the film is 20 minutes too long towards the end.

Best UK Breakthrough - A close call between Ed Blum for Scenes of a Sexual Nature and James Moran for writing Severance but the winner is Paul Williams, writer/director of London to Brighton.

Blogger of the Year - Vicious Imagery by David Bishop. He’s like the UK version of Denis McGrath’s Dead Things on Sticks. David's hard work and dedication is also an inspiration.

Best Event - Cannes, because it was my first time (endless thanks again to Tim & Suki for making it so worthwhile).

Best Screenwriting Event - Screenwriters’ Festival in Cheltenham. Despite the sulks and moans about the New Writers’ Day, the remaining fixtures were excellent. On the down side, it was steep to attend (I could only afford a day), and you could have flown to LA for the Screenwriting Expo for pretty much the same cost.

Also, charging for the podcasts is outrageous when you can get better podcasts on the internet for free (hello Creative Screenwriting and Sam & Jim). But the UK scene definitely needs something like this, and the festival looks to become a regular fixture on the screenwriting calendar.

Best Event I Didn’t Attend - FrightFest. Scheduling clashes abound meant I missed the premiere of Severance and other top films.

Highlight of the Year - Writing an episode for The Amazing Adrenalini Brothers for CiTV. The show recently won a Bafta for Best Children’s Animation.

Disappointing Moment of the Year - Finally hearing from EastEnders only to be told ‘sorry, maybe next year’.

Best Rejection - One of my scripts was taken to Robert Zemeckis by a contact I made in Cannes but "Bob" eventually decided that it wasn't for him. The rejection sends a flutter of excitement through my body as it's like meeting your maker (I didn't actually meet him) only to be told you need another go on Earth before you get the gig.
In my fantasy version of events, "Bob" read the script (not one of his readers, no sir) and "Steve" Spielberg dropped by for a coffee: "Hey Bob, watcha reading?" "Oh, this great script. It's not for me, but let me read you this great line from page 35."

Like, it could have happened...

Reasons to be Cheerful - Awaiting to hear about potential TV commissions and other projects, and healthy interest in my writing in general.

Best Part about Blogging - Meeting new friends and colleagues, knowing that they’re sharing the same highs and lows, whether or not you’re trying to break in, or just trying to get on.