Cannes 2005: French-speaking scriptwriters take the bull by the horns

Under the unlikely working title of Vache Violette, a selection of French-speaking scriptwriters are coming together to present their pitches to the Cannes film community. Coming from France, Belgium and Canada, the writers will print a selection and put them under the noses of producers and agents in a way that has never been tried before. Other writers are welcome. Working knowledge of French is advisable. For details, sign up (for free) on Scenaristes en herbe.

"Adventure in Shorts" follows the jump from indie shorts to features

Two years ago, London-based Ashvin Kumar posted a notice asking for a crew to join him in a non-paid gig on the Indian-Pakistani border. The ensuing film, "Road to Ladakh", won dozens of awards and is now being re-made by Richard Dreyfuss' production company. But before arriving on the screen, it suffered countless setbacks including drunken drivers, torrential rain and the lead actor breaking his arm. Kumar's ensuing film, "Little Terrorist", was another trial of endurance that was again highly praised.

These shorts and their tales have been packaged as a DVD that will interest guerilla film-makers, and provide a cautionary tale. They are completemented by a documentary on Kumar's subsequent visit to Cannes.

For more information, visit the official site. To buy the DVD, click here.

Russian cinema about to explode

Russia has always had a unique and powerful cinema, starting with one of the early masters, Eisenstein. Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, the country went through a long curve of importing largely American TV and movies. But last year, Russia produced some 120 features - half the number in France, for example, but still a significant number. Consistent investment over the past 10 years has led to the creation of new studios and facilities. Unlike the rest of Europe, Russian cinema has started to focus very quickly on popular cinema. The most recent example is "Night Watch", which has broken all previous box office records and is Russia's candidate for a Best Foreign Language Oscar. The rights have been bought by Fox Searchlight, with talks of an English-language version.

Speaking to Screen International, producer Konstantin Ernst is upbeat about the future: "I see the Russian market developing along the lines of the Japanese market, rather than the European model. Like Japan, 30-40% of the market will be locally-produced. The Russian economy is growing and it is going to continue to grow. Russian audiences want to see big budget Russian films and this is the kind of film we are going to see produced. For five years Russian audiences wanted to see American TV programmes but after seven years we began to produce our own. Now we are going to see the same with films."

"Zelary" playing in the US

Fellow movie bloggers "DougandHannah" have pointed out that Ondrej Trojan's gripping "Zelary" is still playing in a few places in the US. The film was the Czech Republic's candidate for a Best Foreign-Language Film for the Oscars last year. The tale is set in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia during World War II. Two people from different backgrounds are thrown violently together. Moving but not afraid to pull punches, "Zelary" is a harrowing tale of love during war. The story is taken from a famous novel written by an 80 year-old, Kveta Legatova, who also wrote the script. For more details, read this interesting article from Radio Prague. Read DougandHannah's review here and check US times here.

Oscar nominee "Alzheimer" ripe for re-make

Belgium's hit thriller "De Zaak Alzheimer/the Alzheimer Case" is being prepared for a re-make in the US prior to the film's release there. Written by Erik Van Looy and Carl Joos (on a novel by Jef Geeraerts), the Flemish-language film tells the tale of two Antwerp cops on the trail of a killer with memory problems. The film has been seen by 750,000 people since October and won 4 times at Belgium's annual movie awards.

It is Belgium's nomination for a foreign-language Oscar. This means it is up against movies such as "Les choristes/The Chorus", "Kontroll", "Downfall" and "The Sea Inside".

"Basic Instinct" writer looks at Hungarian water polo!

According to a report in Screen International, Joe Eszterhas, the Hungarian-born writer of "Basic Instinct", "Flashdance" and "Showgirls" is looking at dramatising the 1956 water polo match between Hungary and the Soviet Union. Against a backdrop of the Hungarian Revolution, the two teams met at the Olympic semi-finals in Melbourne. The ensuing match is considered to be one of the most violent sports events ever, leaving the pool red with blood.

Eszterhas is also the author of the aptly-named "Hollywood Animal", a tale of greed in movieland. Since contracting throat cancer, it was not felt he would return to writing. The as yet unnamed film is slated for a 2006 release, in time for the 50th anniversary of the match.

"Hollywood Animal" on Amazon US
"Hollywood Animal: A Memoir" on Amazon UK

European Film Awards salute Germany and Spain

Germany and Spain came out as the big winners in this year's European Film Awards, held in Barcelona this weekend. Over a 2-hour ceremony, Germany's Fatih Akin (photo) was first on the podium to pick up the People’s Choice Award for best European director with "Head On/Gegen Die Wand", a drama about an impossible mixed-race love affair that is playing across Europe. He was also the last when "Head On" was later crowned as the best European film of 2004. Agnes Jaoui and Jean-Pierre Bacri won yet another award when their "Look At Me/Comme Une Image" was judged best screenplay. Other significant awards included actors Imelda Staunton for "Vera Drake", Penelope Cruz for "Non ti muovere/Don't Move" and Daniel Bruehl for "Love In Thoughts/Was Nutzt Die Liebe In Gedanken".

Globally, the awards rightly recognised the strength and diversity of current film-making in Germany and Spain. For the full list of winners, visit EFA.

Scenario mag offers extracts from recent films in French

Scenario-Mag.com, one of several French sites devoted to scriptwriting, recently decided to throw even more focus on actual scripts. The site currently features 12 pages from "Narco", the tale of a narcoleptic starring Benoit Poelvoorde in an unlikely pairing with Jean-Claude Van Damme. Gilles Lellouche wrote the screenplay from the original story by Alain Attal and Philippe Lefebvre.

Although they are widely available in English, it is hard to find screenplays in French. So Scenario-mag's initiative is invaluable for writers and movie buffs. Other extracts available on the site include "Swimming Pool" and "Un long dimanche de fiançailles/A Very Long Engagement".

To find out more, visit Scenario-Mag.com.

Scriptunities lists UK opportunities and competitions

Scriptunities, a UK site with extensive lists of competitions and learning possibilities, has just been updated for Christmas with 7 pages of competitions opportunities and contacts mostly with a UK/Europe connection. The list is available as a PDF download or browse online.

Go to Scriptunities

"Banlieue 13" banned from Brussels major complex

In the sort of publicity that many films would dearly pay for, the latest Luc Besson production "Banlieue 13" (Suburb 13) has been banned from Brussels largest cinema complex Kinepolis. The stylish, acrobatic gang movie written by Bibi Naceri ("La mentale/The Code") and Besson and directed by Pierre Morel fell foul of the complex which has had problems with young gangs and preferred not to create further tension. "Banlieue 13" is showing at other complexes that belong to the same group in other towns, and has caused no incidents in France where 500,000 people have already seen it in two weeks.

Visit the official site and message board (in French) here.

"Banlieue 13" on Amazon FR
Luc Besson On Amazon UK

German movies open LA's AFI fest and pick up award

Made In Germany, the 5th Festival of German films, took place during the recent AFI Fest in Los Angeles. Writer/director Fatih Akin was on hand to enjoy the applause first hand when "Gegen Die Wand" opened the festival. "Made in Germany" subsequently featured "Lautlos" (soundless) by Mennan Yapo, and the children's film "Wer Uesst Schon Einen Leguan?" (Secondhand Child) by Karola Hattop was presented by screenwriter Michael Demuth. Amongst the other films, documentaries and shorts, the Audience Award for short film went to "Meine Eltern" (My Parents) by Neele Leana Vollmar.

"Gegen Die Wand" is currently playing in several European countries and will be available on DVD in January 2005. Read more about "Gegen". The next festival of German film will be held in Australia in April 2005.

Stockholm and Mannheim-Heidelberg festival news

The Belgo-French production “Innocence” by French writer/director Lucile Hadzihalilovic won the award for best film at the 15th edition of the Stockholm International Film Festival. French partners Jean-Pierre Bacri and Agnès Jaoui received the award for best script for the sharp and funny “Comme une image/Look at Me”.

Norwegian filmmaker Mona J. Hoel's comedy “Chlorox, Ammonia and Coffee (Salto, Salmiakk Og Kaffe!)” won the main award at this year's International Film Festival Mannheim-Heidelberg (18-27 November). The International Jury gave its Special Award to: David Lanzmann's “Doo Wop”, Annette Sjursen's “My Jealous Barber (Min Misunnelige Frisor)” and Nathaniel Geary's “On The Corner”.

RIP: Arthur Hopcraft

Little known outside the UK, Arthur Hopcraft epitomised the old-school writer. He left school at age 15 to first cover football for English newspapers, later travelling the world for a number of stories and writing books along the way. A meeting in a pub led to his writing the play "Cyril and the Sex Kittens", followed by highly-rated original plays, screenplays and adaptations. His version of John Le Carre's "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" was the author's favourite.

Hopcraft won the Bafta Writers Award in 1985, and died at age 71 on November 22, 2004.

Football, spies and hard times: Arthur Hopcraft on Amazon UK

First RISE award goes to Spanish writing team

The first edition of RISE, the international screenwriter's festival, came to a close on November 21 in Strasbourg. As well as screenings, premieres, a script market and debates, members of screenwriting organisations chaired by Luc Jabon voted for this year's best European screenplay. The Grand Prix du Scénario went to Spaniards Alicia Luna and director Iciar Bollain for the highly-rated "Te doy mis ojos/Ne Dis rien/Take my Eyes".

RISE also paid special tribute to Tonino Guerra, the Italian screenwriter behind some 90 movies for some of Europe's most distinguished directors including Fellini (Amarcord), Taviani, Antonioni and Angelopoulos. Guerra was also awarded the keys of the city of Strasbourg.

Plans are already being prepared for next year's edition. For more details about Rise, see our previous post.

Jean-Pierre Jeunet on trenches, Amelie and being French (or not)

"Un long dimanche de fiançailles/A Very Long Engagement" is probably THE hot ticket of the season. Jean-Pierre Jeunet's luscious First World War drama manages to be a superb movie experience, an excellent role for its Bambi-eyed star and topical (as the debate about sending soldiers to war is very much back on the agenda). Jeunet himself is letting the movie do most of the talking. But Screenplay Europe picked up two interviews of interest. For the French trade magazine Le film français, Jeunet and his producer talk about why Warner and not UGC released the film, and their byzantine struggle to get it recognised as being French (the union of French independent producers does not want majors such as Warner gobbling up local aid). Read the full piece in French right here.

On Indiewire, Jeunet talks about more practical matters, such as the difficulty of finding somewhere they could turn into a battlefield. "All of France is either farmland or built on," he explained. "We were looking at army land until another option came up." What about the anecdotes and details? "All true, even the horse in the tree," he says. Read the full interview here.


Jean-Pierre Jeunet on Amazon UK
Jean-Pierre Jeunet in Amazon US
Jean-Pierre Jeunet on Amazon France

East of Eden: Deadline for East European filmmakers

The East of Eden training programme is run by North by Northwest specifically for film professionals from the new EU Member States and Bulgaria, and offers professional training to screenwriter / director / producer teams. Working with international tutors with proven industry track records, East of Eden participants develop their projects in their creative teams, and with their colleauges in screenwriter / director / producer groups.

The programme consists of 3 residential workshops over a 7-month period. The working language of the workshops is English, although scripts may be written in any of the official languages of the eligible countries. Deadline for applications is December 1. For more details, visit North by Northwest.

STOP PRESS: Masterclass with Roger Smith, story editor Wed 24, London

The hardworking Hoxton Screenwriters' Group is hosting a free seminar and workshop with Roger Smith, who has worked extensively with the BBC and Ken Loach on Wednesday, November 24. The seminar will be followed by a workshopping session on writers' projects. Please bring your ideas, synopsis or treatments (up to 3 standard format pages) and scripts (up to 10 standard format pages) for discussion and feedback at the group.

7.15 - 9.30pm Wednesday 24th November, Gainsborough Studios, Poole St, off New North Road, London, N1. Nearest tube Old St.

Hoxton Screenwriters' Group is organised by the London Script Consultancy.

Dutch director questions sequel following Van Gogh murder

In a sad sequel to the murder of Theo Van Gogh in the Netherlands, Albert ter Heerdt the producer/director/writer of charming hit comedy “Shouf Shouf Habib” is considering postponing the follow-up, according to Screen International. During a debate on self-censorship in Amsterdam organised by film magazine De Filmkrant and film theatre Het Ketelhuis, he said he had been advised against it by Muslim friends claiming it was “dangerous”. “Shouf” follows the tribulations of a Moroccan family trying to integrate into Amsterdam. Its release caused some commotion, despite the feelgood nature of the work. Given the current tense situation in the Netherlands, Ter Heert feels a sequel “might be interpreted the wrong way”. He also said he feared the potential consequences.

Shouf Shouf Habib on IMDB

EDIT: Nov 29. Screenplay Europe has just read that Van Gogh's video diaries will be put online by provider Tiscali. For details, see here.

German cinema to be showcased in London

Probably the most impressive results in European cinema are coming from Germany, where a new wave of writers and directors are bringing audiences back to German movies at home. Following the success of Run Lola Run and Goodbye Lenin! around the world, The Goethe-Institut will be premiering a raft of German films between Nov. 26 and Dec. 2 at the Curzon in Soho. Titles include "En Garde", "Between Night and Day", "Kroko" and "Northern Star". They will be preceeded by recent shorts. Many of the filmmakers will be in town. Further details can be found on the Goethe-Institut site.

"Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason" opens with a bang

The UK's Working Title have another hit on their hands, with "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason" breaking its previous record in the UK and US. In all, the film took about $26.7 million in 6 countries, according to Screen International. Writers credited for the sequel are Andrew Davies, author Helen Fielding, Richard Curtis and Adam Brooks.

Bridget Jones on Amazon US
Bridget Jones's Diary [2001] UK

"Vera Drake" and "Bad Education" up for European awards

The nominees for the European Film Awards run like a "who's who" of the European arthouse scene. Top films are: Lukas Moodysson's "Ett Hal I Mitt Hjärta (A Hole In My Heart)", Sweden/Denmark; Fatih Akin's "Gegen Die Wand (Head-On)", Germany; Almodovar's controversial "La Mala Educacion (Bad Education)", Spain; Christophe Barratier's runaway success "Les Choristes (The Chorus)", France/Switzerland; Alejandro Amenábar's "Mar Adentro (The Sea Inside)", Spain/France/Italy; and Mike Leigh's "Vera Drake", UK/France. Almodovar and Akin are also nominated as best directors. With the exception of "Les Choristes", the films each deal with pretty harsh society problems.

Screenwriter nominees (that again include Almodovar and Akin) are as follows:

Fatih Akin for "Gegen Dir Wand (Head-On)"
Pedro Almodovar for "La Mala Educacion (Bad Education)"
Alejandro Amenabar & Mateo Gil for "Mar Adentro (The Sea Inside)"
Jean-Luc Godard for "Notre Musique"
Agnès Jaoui & Jean-Pierre Bacri for "Comme une image (Look At Me)"
Paul Laverty for "Ae Fond Kiss".

The European Film Awards will be held in Barcelona on December 11, 2004 and broadcast on some 20 stations around Europe including the UK's ITV. For details, click here.

Relevant links: Almodovar on Amazon US
Almodovar on Amazon France
Jean-Luc Godard on Amazon US

"A Way of Life" wins UK Talent Award

Amma Asante, the young first time director of "A Way of Life", has been awarded the prestigious £15,000 UK Film Talent Award sponsored by Alfred Dunhill, the British luxury brand, in partnership with the UK Film Council. After acting, Asante turned to screenwriting in her early twenties, writing ‘New Year Jamdown’, a Channel 4 special shot in Jamaica. She went on to write two series of the urban drama, ‘Brothers And Sisters’, which she also produced for her company Hanson Television and BBC2, becoming at the age of 28, the first black woman in the UK to both write and produce her own drama series. ‘Brothers And Sisters’ ran for 18 episodes.

"A Way of Life", a look at racism and poverty in Wales, is released in the UK on November 12.

"Shaun of the Dead" among BIFA nominations

Created in 1998, The British Independent Film Awards celebrate "merit and achievement in independently funded British filmmaking", honours new talent and promotes British films and filmmaking to a wider public. This year's awards include five screenwriting nominations.

Best Screenplay
Sponsored by BBC Films
1. Shane Meadows & Paddy Considine – Dead Man’s Shoes
2. Simon Pegg & Edgar Wright – Shaun Of The Dead
3. Paul Laverty – Ae Fond Kiss…
4. Mike Leigh – Vera Drake
5. Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely – The Life & Death Of Peter Sellers.

BIFA 2004 will take place on Tuesday, November 30th in London.

Cottbus awards East-European movies

Germany's FilmFestival Cottbus, dedicated to East-European movies, just wrapped. Main prize for the Best Film in the Feature Film Competition went to "Schizo (Schiza)" by Gulshad (Guka) Omarowa, a Russian-Kazakh-French-German co-production. Sulev Keedus was awarded the Special Prize for Best Direction for the Estonian-Finnish co-production "Somnabul". The Special Prize for an outstanding artistic individual achievement went to the Croatian film "A Wonderful Night in Split (Ta Divna Splitska Noc)" by Arsen Anton Ostojic. A Special Mention was given to the Polish film "The Wedding (Wesele) by Wojtek Smarzowski. See FilmFestival Cottbus for full details in German and English.

Germany's "7 Dwarves" tops European chart

For the first time since it started an exclusive international box office chart in April this year, Screen International magazine saw the n°1 spot go to a film that was not US-produced: the loony German comedy "7 Zwerge/7 Dwarves". Significantly, the n° 2 position is also going to a non-English-speaking film: Jeunet's "Un long dimanche de fiançaille/A Very Long Engagement". "7 Zwerge" is not yet listed in our chart on the right as it is showing in 3 countries currently (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) on a total of 911 screens. Writing credits go to Bernd Eilert, Otto Waalkes and director Sven Unterwaldt, Jr. Another German film, "The Downfall" is currently n° 20. The success of "Goodbye Lenin" plus the more recent "Gegen die Wand" and "Edukator" give an idea of the growing popularity and wide range of German cinema.

Script masterclass with Steve Montal in Brussels Nov 7

As part of the Int'l Festival of Independent Cinema, Steve Montal will be hosting a masterclass on November 7 next in Brussels. "The goal of this roundtable will present the fundamental elements of great filmmaking -- characterization and story," according to the website. His presentation will be followed by a selection of American short movies.

The festival features work from around the world, including "Beautiful Boxer" by Ekachai Uekrongtham and a focus on Germany.

For more details about Montal and the festival, check Centre Multimedia.

First European screenwriters fest organised by screenwriters to kick off in Strasbourg

Between November 18 and 21, Strasbourg will host RISE (les Rencontres Internationales des Scénaristes Européens). 18 writer organisations from 14 EU countries have nominated scripts for an award. Debates and masterclasses are being organised, a script market is being run with producers and the event will also feature many screenings. These include "Gegen die Wand/Head On" (Germany), "Le Tango des Rashevski" (Belgium), "Dear Frankie" (UK) and "Shouf Shouf Habibi" (the Netherlands). All have been chosen by their respective countries for the quality of the script. Fellini scriptwriter Tonino Guerra will receive a special homage, as well as a selection of outstanding Polish films.

All details can be found in French and English at les Rencontres Internationales des Scénaristes Européens. Strasbourg is in Alsace, France, on the border with Germany. It can be reached by train and via Strasbourg airport.

Traffic for your movie-related site

If you run or are involved with a movie-related site, you should check out FilmJumper. It's a free traffic exchange exclusively reserved for film/movie resources. The principle is very simple. Every time you open your browser you are brought to a site that could be of interest to you. Plus, the traffic you receive is from the worldwide film community. To find out more, click over to FilmJumper now. It will open in a new window.

UK comedy writing workshop

Comedyworks is run by a number of professional TV writers with credits on BBC, Channel 4 and Channel 5. One-day intensive workshops are held in Highgate, London N8. There are currently places available on a number of courses including Comedy Writing for Television, Writing Television Sitcom and Writing & Performing Stand-Up Comedy.

To view full details of all the workshops, visit Comedyworks.

BAFTA Scotland includes screenwriters in nominations

European cinema is basically a collection of regional cinemas. So to continue throwing light on local talent, Bafta Scotland has just announced its nominees for the New Talent Award at a press conference attended by "Lord of the Rings" star Billy Boyd (photo). "Following our last Awards in 2002, these nominations reflect the emergence of some particularly strong and important work across all of the genres over the past two years in Scotland," according to their website. Talent in the running include Ewan McGregor, the film "American Cousins" and its director Don Coutts. Nominated for Best New Screenplay are "Wise Guys" by Simon Stephenson and "The Tree Officer" by Neil Jack.

The event will be hosted at the Radisson SAS Hotel in Glasgow on November 14. For full details, check the Bafta Scotland site.

Box office correction: Italy!

OK, I can take a correction. As was pointed out to me, my vision of the box office being totally dominated by US studios across Europe was too pessimistic. The Italian box office has a healthy selection of home-grown movies. Check out the latest Italian box office here. The Top 10 has two Italian movies ("Ovunque Sei" and "Se devo essere sincera"), as well as Spain's "Mala Educacion". Germany's "Gegen Die Wand", which is doing very well across Europe, creeps in at n° 11.

Cleopatra lives again!

Just following on a previous post about last year's hits, "Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra" showed on French TV recently. Audience: 12.4 million viewers for a film that ran up 14 million upon release. Not bad. The screenwriters listed are René Goscinny (author of the original comic strip character) and French comedian/actor/producer Alain Chabat. Cleopatra on Amazon France.

Irish screenwriters nominated at home

It's been a very good year for Irish cinema. From "Cowboys & Angels" to "Adam and Paul", "Man About Dog" (number one at the Irish box-office when it opened!) to "Freeze Frame" and "Inside I’m Dancing", there is "a noticeable bounce in the step of an industry on a roll" acording to the Irish Film Board's website.

To add a little glamour, Bord Scannán na hÉireann / the Irish Film board and the Northern Ireland Film and Television Commission have just announced the Best New Talent award at The Irish Film and Television Awards 2004.

The nominees include:

* John Simpson, (writer/director) "Freeze Frame"
* Pearse Elliot, (writer) "Man About Dog"

This sponsorship reflects both bodies' commitment to new Irish talent, in a year that has seen the release of an unprecedented number of films from young Irish creative teams.

Richard Williams, CEO of the Northern Ireland Film and Television Commission gave a nice quote: “All our futures in this industry depend on emerging talent so it is very pleasing to see that talent is really beginning to blossom in Northern Ireland."

Check the Irish Film Board here.

What's showing in Europe?

I've just added a sidebar with the Top 20 films currently showing. However, it's a bit of a misnomer. It's actually the Belgian Top 20. I chose that one as it is pretty indicative of what is happening across the continent (that includes the UK, by the way). Looking at the figures, you have over 80% of the material coming from US major studios. Add some indies, about 13% French films and the other occasional foreign hit and there you have it. Local production accounts for under 1%.

Figures were up in Belgium last year, and if you must know, the top three movies were "Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets" with euros 7.8m, "Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers" euros 6.3m, and the latest instalment of French hit franchise "Asterix & Obelisk, Mission Cleopatre" with euros 4.3m. So if you're really intent on making some money with your script, you should perhaps be thinking family entertainment rather than Dogma.

Exceptions? Yes, there are a few. Both Denmark and Sweden have local hits in their top five, which is encouraging.

CinEuropa: Great when it's running

One of the biggest hurdles to making a script sales is finding out who is who. This is particularly true in Europe, which does not have a centralised movie industry. If you're checking likely candidates for a pitch and they happen to be in Germany or Italy, how do you find them? For once, Google is only of limited help as many producers are still not very web-friendly. CinEuropa was started a few years ago as a European film database. Although it is not currently being updated, it is still a pretty good resource for finding addresses and telephone numbers. Unfortunately, it seems to be running on shaky servers as it has been down a few times in the past two weeks. But I do recommend trying it out.

To find addresses, click on "Industry".

Incidentally, CinEuropa also has a forum which could be really interesting given the range of people that visit it. But again, it's kinda quiet.

Anyway, give it a shot: CinEuropa.

Man acquitted of film-inspired rape charges

What can I say? According to a report in Reuters, an Italian man has been awarded a whopping €75,000 after spending 18 months in jail. The court ruled that the charges brought by his daughter were inspired by the script of "Disclosure", starring Demi Moore (script by Paul Attanasio from the Michael Crichton novel).

What is the spookiest part of this? That someone could wallow in jail for 18 months, or that the charges came from his daughter?

New French collection to publish scripts

According to my friends in France, there is a shortage of printed scripts available. So the new collection from Hors Ecran sounds interesting. Over the coming months, they will be publishing scripts from a series of movies. What's interesting is that these are the pre-shoot and pre-edit scripts. So in theory, this is what got the production company and/or director interested.

The series kicks off with Julie Bertucelli's 2003 award-winning "Depuis qu'Otar est parti" (Since Otar Left). I haven't read the copy, but apparently there is also an interview with the director. Hors Ecran is also going to publish some un-filmed scripts.

There's an item (in French) on the Hors Commerce website. To buy a copy on Amazon France, click here.

Script Factory events during London fest

London's Script factory has an interesting line-up of events to coincide with the The Times London BFI festival. Screenings, meetings with directors and writers, master-classes; the programme is probably one of the best for the season. Names include Mike Leigh, Joshua Marston, Zach Braff and Annette K. Olseon. It's all happening in Soho between Oct. 27-31.

Check the details here.

Go away, the Internet is full

No, hang on. Don't go yet. You've just turned up a little early. I'll be running this thing at walking pace for a few days (if you'll excuse the pun). When it does actually pick up speed I'll be providing links to bits and pieces to do with script- and screenwriting.

And wronging.

So bookmark me, and drop by in a day or two.