Tuesday 23 December 2014

This Is Why You're My Best Friend

Dear Bestie,

We watched "The Vow" the other day and you said, "What if one of us lost our memory and forgot about our friendship?" The thought chilled me to the bone. So I'm writing a list as a reminder of all my favourite things about us, just in case.

1. We fancy the same celebrities: Channing, Ashton, J-Law... these we know we would share. But we also respect that Mila Kunis is yours and Emma Stone is mine, so when we are famous and hanging out on the red carpet, there will be no competitiveness.

2. Whilst our telepathy skills are still a little off, our ability to communicate with just a glance is on point. For example on the tube, where a quick side-eye means "Dayum look at the arms on that!" or at your place, when a slight raise of the eyebrows means "I can't believe he/she said that". I mean NO ONE else would ever understand our eye-language, it's like the Enigma code.

3. That running we joke we have with your boyfriend that we are secretly lesbians. Haha yeah, "running joke" - he's totally in denial...

Wednesday 17 December 2014

What The Black List Says About Us

The Black List was announced last night. For those of you who arent aware of it, the Black List is a US website and online community for the film industry that aims to bring new writing talent and producers together. Writers can upload feature film scripts for feedback and industry execs can search for new projects. Its great for all involved, like a film development gang-bang.

Once a year the producers vote on the screenplays theyve read and their favourites are compiled into the official Black List. Get your script onto that list and you are well on your way to a production deal.

Films that started life on the Black List include Juno, The Kings Speech and Argo. Yeah. Its a big deal.

So I awaited this years Black List eagerly. To be eligible the script cannot be in production during that year, so all titles on this list will not be made until January 2015 at the earliest. This means that most will start to hit cinema screens from 2016.

Its really interesting to see what producers are feeling at the moment and what audiences can expect in a years time. You can begin to identify trends and it paints a clear picture of what ideas attract producers. As a writer or development assistant, being aware of what sells is essential.

Saturday 13 December 2014

Thursday 11 December 2014

The Lobster Hunt: Benchmarks & Not Settling

First of all, let's all take a moment to appreciate the pure genius that is Friends! ....Awwhhh <3

We all know the Lobster Theory. Soon the English Dictionary will have to include "soul-mate" in its definition for the romantic crustacean. It is a little reminder that monogamy does exist within the animal kingdom and that, although mammals are largely sluts for evolutionary advantage, there is some hope to the idea of The One*.

Phoebe's theory also provides its own test: say one day I find my perfect man and I tell him, "You're my lobster" but he doesn't get the reference? My true Lobster, thank you very much, would get the reference. However thanks to Comedy Central's never-ending repeats it's unlikely any male over the age of twenty won't know what I'm on about.

If you and your partner want to be hipsters about it, other animals that mate for life include gibbons, swans and termites (full list here, so you can choose your own adorable/sickening pet names).

ANYWAY the whole point of this blog post was to update you on who finally won between my head and my heart. It was messy.