Tuesday 22 September 2009

Hoist By My Own Petard

I hadn't really anticipated quite how quickly the whole Script Doctor thing would take off and it's been eating into my writing time, and even more so my blogging time. For a few days now I've been meaning to write about the importance of the 'field trip', after a specially good day of going about the local environs doing a few chores. You've got to treat these errand days as research - slap on the ipod for that Scorcese soundtracking feeling and keep your eyes peeled, the human stories just come flooding in - the image of a man in a kilt on a bike with bagpipes on his back cycling past a heavy-dreaded rastafarian with a guitar in red, gold and green is surely going to appear somewhere in one of my scripts.

The overheard lines, the silent confrontations laden with volume-speaking body language, the facial tics and postures are all your meat and drink; observe them with a keener eye than any anthropologist. It's all free material. Get out there once in a while, but get out there with your senses honed

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