Because I don’t have enough to work on already!

I do love an opportunity and the generosity of screenwriter, script consultant and producer, Clive Frayne, provided just that.

Clive put out a call for his 2020 Script Development programme and I was one of over a hundred screenwriters who responded (considering what was on offer it should have been more).

Tasked with providing Clive with an idea (not a logline) I was able to use what was literally a one line scrawl in a notebook while on holiday last year, which was: ‘Great location for a murder’.

That’s because it would be an ‘impossible’ murder, as I was on a tiny ferry with three crew and twelve passengers, all strapped into their own, individual seats that no-one could have left without being seen.

This idea grew and I was delighted to make it into Clive’s shortlist of 15 writers. From there, he gave us additional assignments, one of which was to make a Pinterest board with images that gave a sense of the story and characters (that’s a snapshot above). And what an inspiration that turned out to be – I’m doing one for all my stories now!

I’ve now gone from that one line idea to an almost fully-fleshed out supernatural horror story that explores the psychological and emotional cost of family betrayal, and I’m really excited by it.

My involvement in Clive’s scheme ended there, as Clive had the tough task of whittling down to just two writers. So I’m breaking my rule of buying no more how-to books to apply more of Clive’s process to my scripts. You can find it here.