Susan Rogers speaks about British screenwriting

http://www.screenwritersfestival.com/video-blog.php?id=17

The 2007 Screenwriters' Festival has already happened, and it looked like very good event ( in Cheltenham ), mixing experienced and novice screenwriters together. I spotted my former screen-writing lecturer Susan Rogers talking a bit about what she has been up to and advice.

Who writes British films ?

Who does write British films?
It would be with fair to say (perhaps with a hint of envy) that Richard Curtis is really the only well-known, successful and award-winning British screenwriter of the last 15 years. I find it a struggle to come up with any other screenwriters, I can only think of Tom Stoppard and Simon Pegg (an elite few anyway). So I was really pleased to see that the Film Council has commissioned a report into who actually gets hired to write British Films. The report was conducted by no other than my former Screenwriting lecturer at Royal Holloway - Susan Rogers. What did it have to say ? Well I missed the event on the 6th July, but the findings can be read on the below link. Its a one pager so not too long. In brief; of the 63 people that wrote films between 2004 and 2005, mostly were white, male and had previous / personal relationships with the commissioners of scripts. Hmmmm . . . I see the FC are hot on promoting women in screenwriting, perhaps it is time for Madame de Pompadour to put quill to parchment and write her own rom-com.

http://www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk/information/news/p=D424399A1123f2CEC1SxY1561482&skip=

NFT Special: Behind the myth of Laurence and Vivien

Starmaking: 'Larry and Viv' event at NFT
Each generation has several super-famous couples, and it is interesting to think of the previous Kings and Queens of the moving image. I really think this will be an interesting event at the NFT, a chance to analyse the myth behind one 'star-couple'. For a long time it was reported that Vivien was a very difficult woman, (it is now known she was coping with undiagnosed bi-polar), and extremely sexually promiscuous. Laurence Olivier always seemed to me as mysterious as Max de Winter in Rebecca. The NFT writes;

Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh were the most glamorous showbiz couple of their day. For more than 20 years audiences across Britain thought of Larry and Viv as the perfect couple, knowing nothing of the emotional turbulence behind the scenes. To celebrate Olivier's centenary, Janet Moat (Head of BFI Special Collections) takes a look at their star image, together and apart, with the help of some film clips and the BFI's unrivalled collection of publicity materials.

http://www.bfi.org.uk/whatson/southbank/film/7757

Anyone Got a Spare Room for Britain's Film Archive ?

NFT's Glam Makeover, but What is this About the Film archive?

I visited recently the madeover Moving Images Museum (abandoned for around ten years) and it is now a huge space at the back of the NFT, sectioned into eating/working/browsing/mingling areas. Menu was bit quite pricey considering the film-maker/students vibe but it does feel quite glam and fun.

BUT I was shocked to hear that the National Film Archive is under threat of homelessness, due to lack of goverment funds. I know money has to be squeezed for the Olympic logo from somewhere, by why from here?

'The film world is at loggerheads over plans to sell off the British Film Institute's London headquarters - as the organisation struggles to cope with a financial crisis insiders believe is a result of the arts budget being raided to help fund the 2012 Olympics. A legion of critics and academics say the plans, said to have the full support of the BFI's chairman, Anthony Minghella, Oscar-winning director of The English Patient, could herald the break up of the BFI's world-renowned collections.' Read about the full story in the Independent here.