A Writer's Life For Me
Having flirted with the idea of creating a blog for some time now, I've come to the conclusion that the only way this will be interesting both to write and to read is if there's a theme. Random posting, "Today I ordered a pizza and scratched my arse for a bit" simply won't cut it so here's the deal folks...
For as long as I can remember I've loved films. I've never been into sport, I play the guitar and enjoy music as much as the next man. I enjoy travelling but never really have the means to do a huge amount and I've never had that desire, it seems is a prerequisite of being a member of my generation, to take a year out and backpack around South America or India or fill in the country. I am interested in politics but am happy to switch off from it. Computers/technology/gadgetry leave me a bit cold. I used to read voraciously but these days I go through phases, (currently I'm in a "not reading" phase). But films... Tron is the first film I ever saw at the cinema. There may have been more in between but the next one I remember is Return of the Jedi. To this day my single biggest regret came the day my eldest brother Martin said to me, "So Gar, would you like to go see Indianna Jones and the Temple of Doom..." (surely there's no adaquate way of balancing that equation? Surely that's not even a choice? What 8 year old doesn't want to watch Indianna Jones swing through a group of bad guys into a mine cart?) ..."Or Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs?"
A little aside here, I'm gay. While I only realised it (relatively) late on, I wonder if the signs were there at an early age? Even that explanation makes little sense however. Harrison Ford was undeniably handsome and charasmatic in his youth...And boy could he swing into a minecart. Still, I chose that stupid cow and her seven singing dwarves. Hi-ho my arse.
Films are my passion and at the age of 21 they became my pursuit.
A brief history of Garreth - At the age of 21 I moved to England (I'm originally from Dublin) to go to film school in Farnham, Surrey. I graduated at the age of 24, ready to make film, and was handed my BA in Film and Video Production. This is like someone being ready to handle radioactive waste and being handed oven gloves. I moved to Surbiton where I lived for a year. This was a difficult year spent figuring out what the hell to do with my life now that the bubble of college had burst, and coming out to family, friends. (Panic attacks, counselling, anti depressants... the stuff of another post!) I then moved to West London and after a few months temping began work at the BBC. In my eternal optimism and enduring naivety I thought, this will give me my break. 5 years later, on the verge of taking voluntary redundancy, it might as well have been KFC.
In all that time I've been writing scripts. Some good, many bad, some seen through multiple drafts, some barely a scene old. All written with the fervent belief that, "this will be the one." A few minor successes along the way, finalist at a Hollywood writing competition in 2004, more than a couple London production companies requesting more of my work on the basis of a script sent in, and last year BBC Films had a script of mine under consideration for development. They eventually turned it down. But nothing tangible. The simple truth is the reason I haven't made it yet is because I haven't been good enough.
And so now here I am. Staring down the barrel of 30, no closer to achieving my dream on the outside, but with a change of heart on the inside. A renewed vigour that can only be created by the reminder of mortality the dawn of a new decade brings! But this is not a bad thing. Things are about to change. I can feel it. And I thought, why not share the journey? If you're interested at all in becoming a writer of any kind then I hope maybe even some of my ideas, thoughts and experiences will be useful to you. Some posts will hopefully be interesting to many, some only to a few, many perhaps only to me.
All this of course assumes there's anyone out there at all reading this. Fitting, given my pursuit...
For as long as I can remember I've loved films. I've never been into sport, I play the guitar and enjoy music as much as the next man. I enjoy travelling but never really have the means to do a huge amount and I've never had that desire, it seems is a prerequisite of being a member of my generation, to take a year out and backpack around South America or India or fill in the country. I am interested in politics but am happy to switch off from it. Computers/technology/gadgetry leave me a bit cold. I used to read voraciously but these days I go through phases, (currently I'm in a "not reading" phase). But films... Tron is the first film I ever saw at the cinema. There may have been more in between but the next one I remember is Return of the Jedi. To this day my single biggest regret came the day my eldest brother Martin said to me, "So Gar, would you like to go see Indianna Jones and the Temple of Doom..." (surely there's no adaquate way of balancing that equation? Surely that's not even a choice? What 8 year old doesn't want to watch Indianna Jones swing through a group of bad guys into a mine cart?) ..."Or Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs?"
A little aside here, I'm gay. While I only realised it (relatively) late on, I wonder if the signs were there at an early age? Even that explanation makes little sense however. Harrison Ford was undeniably handsome and charasmatic in his youth...And boy could he swing into a minecart. Still, I chose that stupid cow and her seven singing dwarves. Hi-ho my arse.
Films are my passion and at the age of 21 they became my pursuit.
A brief history of Garreth - At the age of 21 I moved to England (I'm originally from Dublin) to go to film school in Farnham, Surrey. I graduated at the age of 24, ready to make film, and was handed my BA in Film and Video Production. This is like someone being ready to handle radioactive waste and being handed oven gloves. I moved to Surbiton where I lived for a year. This was a difficult year spent figuring out what the hell to do with my life now that the bubble of college had burst, and coming out to family, friends. (Panic attacks, counselling, anti depressants... the stuff of another post!) I then moved to West London and after a few months temping began work at the BBC. In my eternal optimism and enduring naivety I thought, this will give me my break. 5 years later, on the verge of taking voluntary redundancy, it might as well have been KFC.
In all that time I've been writing scripts. Some good, many bad, some seen through multiple drafts, some barely a scene old. All written with the fervent belief that, "this will be the one." A few minor successes along the way, finalist at a Hollywood writing competition in 2004, more than a couple London production companies requesting more of my work on the basis of a script sent in, and last year BBC Films had a script of mine under consideration for development. They eventually turned it down. But nothing tangible. The simple truth is the reason I haven't made it yet is because I haven't been good enough.
And so now here I am. Staring down the barrel of 30, no closer to achieving my dream on the outside, but with a change of heart on the inside. A renewed vigour that can only be created by the reminder of mortality the dawn of a new decade brings! But this is not a bad thing. Things are about to change. I can feel it. And I thought, why not share the journey? If you're interested at all in becoming a writer of any kind then I hope maybe even some of my ideas, thoughts and experiences will be useful to you. Some posts will hopefully be interesting to many, some only to a few, many perhaps only to me.
All this of course assumes there's anyone out there at all reading this. Fitting, given my pursuit...
posted by Garreth at 9:19 am
1 Comments:
I'm reading it!!!
And Sleeping Beauty didn't have any dwarves.
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