After a lot of deliberation, I eventually decided to go for something different and pitch for the Encounters Festival (as opposed to the BFI Gothic season) at last week’s Programming Pitch session – specifically, the Fresh Flix section.  Having been to several creative writing workshops, I understand how important collaboration and sharing ideas is for young people trying to learn more about the creative industries.  Because all the films in the Fresh Flix selection have strong narratives and tell their stories in very different ways, I thought it would be interesting to build a workshop around the generation of ideas and how the initial kernel of an idea can be shaped into a narrative.

In the pipeline as well are Matt’s idea of a comedy writing masterclass, and Luke’s pitch for a filmmaking workshop focused on the creation of ‘self-portraits’, perhaps drawing on the work of Sam Firth.

I’d also like to be involved in Digital Documentation in some way (joining Charlie’s team of one), whether it’s through covering events, getting feedback from audience members, conducting interviews or helping out in any other way I can.

Future Producers Plus

Though I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from the Gold Arts Award, it turns out that the process sounds like fun.  And also work.  But fun work.  The brief is to create a piece of original artwork which promotes the monthly Cinékids screenings, using our primary art form but incorporating other skills we’ll learn as part of the course.

My main art form is writing, but I’d love to learn the basics of filmmaking (essentially shooting and editing, I really know nothing), so I’ve signed up for Luke’s workshop.  I’m also keen to gain some scriptwriting skills, which I’m hoping James will be able to teach me.

At the minute, my ideas are centred on creating a script, perhaps to accompany a short live-action film.  What I learn about filmmaking will help me develop something that will be stylistically suited to the screen.  I’m also thinking about scripting a performance piece (which could potentially be performed by current Cinékids, or just children generally), but no doubt I’ll change my mind multiple times before the final decision is made.