To be a Script Reader

Welcome to Jon McGuffin's very first post. I am a would-be screenwriter and script reader in the UK.

I have been circling the idea of becoming a screenwriter, like a rather timid great white, for some time now. But the time has come, I've come out of the closet, I've sat my family down and said 'Mum, Dad, I think I want to be a writer' (That's a metaphor, I haven't spoken to my Dad in years!). And do you know what, that was bloody hard! I hadn't realised that, for me, the first step to becoming a writer was not, as everyone will tell you, to start writing (that's the second step), but to admit to myself that that's what I wanted to be, and that it was ok to want to be it. Hailing from a family of carpenters, brick layers and plumbers, I first had to admit that it's ok, it's perfectly allowable, it is a job.

But guess what? As far as being a job goes, you need to do all the work up front, and get paid (maybe) later. Like so many other would-be writers, I need to eat in the meantime, plus I'm already in debt from gaining a rather useless Film Studies degree. On top of that - I've always been of the opinion that most people only have a certain amount of 'rubbish job years', and I'm well past my quota. It's different for everyone, but each person only has a finite amount of time they can do menial, soul destroying, dead end jobs before they start to cry themselves to sleep or seriously consider buying an ice cream van and moving to Clacton. And when that happens, just my opinion, but I reckon it's time to look for a new job. One you might actually want to do.

So, here I am. Part time job that I hate just as much as when I was full time. Not much writing done (I claim that I'm still in training). No money coming in. I needed work that was in my chosen field, might be an opportunity to learn, and that I could do at home in my own time. Script reading beckoned.

I took a course at the Script Factory in Soho. It was very good, I highly recommend it, but it cost me my last £300. I thought it would be ok as I'd be making money back from it. Lets hope so. Next step, I got the Filmmakers' Year book from Amazon.co.uk (like the Writers' and Artists' Yearbook, but for Filmmakers, duh!). I went through it and parsed out the email addresses of anyone and everyone I thought might need a reader. Agents, production companies, distributors, you name it. How did I get on? I'll tell you another time!

I intend to start a regular blog on the whole process, because there's not much out there on the subject. I am hoping to pool some resources together and share them with you, any help from other readers welcome, any encouragement from anyone welcome, and who knows, this might be the start of a beautiful friendship (or online resource for people wanting to be script readers, if you prefer).

If you'd like more info try:

http://www.scriptfactory.co.uk/
Danny Stack's excellent blog http://www.dannystack.blogspot.com/