I’m delighted to report that shooting started this week on a feature-film script that I recently wrote.

Last year was a funny one, to say the least. Funny in the ‘So bad it’s funny’ way, not an amusing one. But there were a few positives - for me at least.

One of those was running the Virtual Marathon, (after being postponed from April), which was a huge personal triumph.
The other was that last July I was approached by Proportion Productions to write a screenplay, and now - just a few months later - it’s in the midst of production in Surrey and London.

The intial seed of an idea was that someone was involved in a shark attack, but - rather than go in search of the offending shark and kill it (that’s kinda been done before) - this story was about the trauma and mental scarring following such an event.

After a few discussions with the producers, this became a quite fascinating idea about a young woman not only being tormented by flashbacks of the horrific attack, but about a toxic relationship and gaslighting (very en vogue), and how her recollection of events might not actually be how it really played out.

In a few days I’d written a treatment, thumbs were raised in approval, and I had a month to write the screenplay.

Normally I would never recommend bashing out a script in a month, as I would essentially be sending them my ‘vomit draft’, but

(a) I could see these were filmmakers who Got Shit Done and had a slate of projects in development,
and
(b) it’s a good exercise in writing.

And (c) It was that or nothing.

So I began scribbling ‘Beneath the Surface’, as I named it (clever, huh?), and a month later it was done.

Well, to be honest, I was busy finishing another project, so in actual fact I wrote it in about 10 days.

10 days.

Well: more like 8, then a day off and a day to re-read and edit. So about 10-11 pages a day. Which is quite a lot, yes, but it’s not beyond the realms of human capability.

To be honest, I’ve always been bad with structure.

I think a lot of us are. Screenwriters, that is. We get super-excited about the initial idea, like a dog being taken for a walk, then fade at about page 35 when we realise we’re not sure where we’re going. But the thing about this project was that there were Distributors involved.

Mythical, un-named people who demanded certain things, for certain boxes to be ticked to give this movie the best chance of being released.

From the start, I was told what the Distributors wanted, and those wishes laid the foundations for the ensuing script. I guess because it’s a ‘shark’ film, they demanded a certain amount of requin action, so I was told that every 8-10 pages we needed a flashback of the integral shark attack. This was actually a blessing rather than a restriction. I find it easier if I have restrictions & limitations to work to - it breaks the film up into bite-size chunks (pun entirely intended). In this case, roughly a tenth of the script.

It’s a marker, if you like, of where I need to be. For example: “Okay, in this flashback we’re showing the shark attack as she remembers it … in the next one we’re suggesting it wasn’t an accident… and in the interim I need to establish her everyday life at home and the other main characters.”

I find it much easier to break things down into smaller parts.

I read somewhere that you should try to slice your script into 8 sections of 12-15 pages, and treat each of them as a ‘short film’. I feel that I’m a writer who likes the shorter form, anything up to about 15 minutes, but then I suppose mose of us are. Writing an entire 90page+ feature is daunting.

But now: I’m a little less daunted. I mean, I’ve written features before, but this shark experience has coerced me into look at the bigger picture as a collection of smaller pictures, and break it up into manageable segments.

IT REALLY HELPED.

I would recommend it to any screenwriter.

On the filming side of things, the team have been going flat out and it’ll be done in a week. That’s pretty good going, considering Covid etc, but it shows you what you can do with a bit of planning, a can-do team, and strictly hand-held camera. I anticipate it’ll go through post-production and be completed by early Summer, which would mean a total turnaround of less than a year. Swifter than a Great White attacking a floundering swimmer.

I’m very excited to see the end product, and to see my first feature relseaed and distributed. I learnt a few things from the writing experience, and it’s given me the impetus to write more screenplays.

The question is: Of my drawer-full of titles, ideas and half-sketched-out synopses, which one do I do next?

Shark Script Being Shot!

I’m delighted to report that shooting started this week on a feature-film script that I recently wrote.