contemplate my next project

Time will tell if I’m any good at it, but screenwriting it is. I’ll be working with my former business partner on this, which is pretty cool on its own, but even more so that we’re doing something like this.

Ha! I managed to get into the Introduction to Screenwriting class.

It was pretty fun, and we had to break into groups of three (or in my case, two, since there wasn’t quite enough people) and devise a 15 minute short in just 30 minutes, then pitch it to everyone else in the room. It was fun trying to devise a story to tell – though I got the feeling some of the other people already had a specific idea beforehand, because it was just too polished when they did their pitch.

Anyway, we came up with a story of two comedians competing to win a prize of their own show at the Edinburgh Fringe. They have different styles, but backstage they overhear each other rehearsing the same punchline. They take an instant dislike to each other, and hilarity ensues (we were a bit vague on this bit!). At the end, they hear the audience cheering wildly, and it turns out they ended up on stage and have won the contest as a double act.

Turns out that the “backstage sabotage” device has been used in a fairly successful play called Noises Off, but I hadn’t heard of it until afterwards.

Anyway, good fun, and I’m glad I managed to get in. Next thing to blag: free entry (via a press pass) to the Edinburgh International TV Festival. :-)

I’m going to try and get a ticket for this tomorrow.

I asked Genisoy if I could be their UK distributor, but it turns out they already have one (though the products won’t appear in store until next year).

A UK version of this business books site, perhaps? I’d have to ask them how they compete against Amazon, though.

I saw this mentioned in The Economist:

The International Finance Corporation of the World Bank Group (IFC) and the Financial Times (FT) are pleased to jointly announce their second annual Essay Competition. This year’s theme is “Private Sector Development: Creating Markets, Transforming Lives.”

The Competition is soliciting action-oriented essays that:

* Provide insight into current Private Sector Development (PSD) research

* Develop and support the implementation of leading-edge PSD initiatives

* Strike a balance between conceptual and practical considerations for private-sector involvement in developing countries, and the effect of that involvement on development

* Reflect innovative, data-supported research resulting from the author’s own professional or academic work

* Target economic & financial policymakers, the international financial community and/or international domestic investors

I’m not sure about this one. I like the idea behind it, and it’s a topic I’m interested in, but I’ve never written an academic paper before. Might be an interesting challenge if I can find a suitable topic.

A job I’ve often thought would be pretty cool is being the person who selects music for TV shows/movies/commercials (“music supervisor”, I think), although I’ve got no idea how to get into that. However, I do know some people, so maybe I’ll ask around.

Anyway, I’ve toyed with the idea of going to the Edinburgh International Television Festival for a few years now without ever getting around to it. Perhaps I’ll go this year – last year the agenda was pretty diverse, covering games and technology too. I’ll see what this years agenda looks like on Tuesday.

A 30 or 60 second podcast with, you guessed it, the strangest thing I saw (or perhaps overheard) today.

A Masters in Journalism?

Why do I feel the constant need to have something new on the go?