Friday, June 29, 2007

Seeded

So, I entered FeverPitch didn't I, and got turned down... boo! So, I'd put it into my head that I haven't learnt anything and am in fact a loser - thoughts which Agent Cox suggested might be detrimental to me actually getting anywhere. "Don't hold yourself back," he said at the beginning of the week.

So it was with shock and amazement - I had to leave my desk and take a toilet sabbatical before returning to the screen - that I received this e-mail from the FeverPitch team:

Hi,

As you are a finalist in the Fever Pitch competition, are you able to send me your most current cv/biog as Julian Friedmann, the pitching expert, would like to see them, if that is ok.

Yours,

K. M******d
Festival Co-ordinator
Screenwriters' Festival 2007

www.screenwritersfestival.com

Holy crackola! Top 10 out of 600! I was certain this was a mistake, so I phoned them... and sure enough I was right - they'd e-mailed me by mistake.

I'm guessing that they wanted to rub it in! With my heart still in my mouth I began to cry, but then the nice man somehow remembered me. What? Out of 600?

He said: "Yours was the one about the guy in the coma wasn't it?"
Me: "SOB. Yes, I've just started NAW this year, and it was a screenplay I'd developed for my screenwriting module."
Him: "Oh, yes I remember that. We sent that with the top 20 for the final selection of 10. I liked the idea and your pitch."
Me: "Say that again?"
Him: "You got into the top 20. We had to send them off for a final assessment before the top 10 were picked. So, chin up. Out of 600 applicants you came within the top 20."
Me: "Oh Christ!"

What the hell does this mean? Crikey, I'm starting to do something right. Now I just have to get my head round the fact that God is trying to tell me something rather than rub my face in it.

Yay for me!

9 comments:

MG said...

Yay for you indeed! You're on the road. That moment for me was when I entered a BBC New Talent sitcom-writing contest to be told that I was in the longlist out of 3000 entries and not that I should continue to develop my writing. And now you've discovered Murakami and HE'S GOT TO YOU, AIN'T HE?...big things may happen to you R1X. Murakami has powerful magic!

MG said...

I meant to write...that I SHOULD continue to develop my writing. D'oh.

R1X said...

:) Thank you.

I've not had a chance to get into The Wind-up Bird yet, because I've been trying a new style (again), but I'm working tomorrow, and as it's a Saturday that means dedicated reading - yippee for public sector.

MG said...

I wouldn't go straight into Wind-Up Bird. Work up to it! I'd go for Sputnik Sweetheart, Norwegian Wood or 'South of the Border, West of the Sun' next. I think you'll appreciate the relationshippy side of Murakami.

R1X said...

Okey-cokey. I'll have a look upstairs (in the library) right this second. Ta.

Lynn Price said...

Well hot damn on an onion bagel, R1X, good for you! Wading to the top of anything is tough, but when it's for something we created from the recesses of our brains, well...it just feels very sweet. Rock on, big guy!

esruel said...

This is great news! A sign, for sure, that you are destined to make it. Keep on doing it!

solv said...

Always was just a matter of time old chum.
Well, that and hard work and effort and studying and open-mindedness and dedication and ...
I think I'll stop there.
Well done ricardo.

R1X said...

Thanks guys, doesn't make it easier to write prose that flose (SIC) but it helps ;)