Today I have with me multi-talened Film Director and Author of Rough Cut, Owen Carey Jones! All I have to say by way of introduction is, WOW! Take it away, Owen!
One of my
external tutors at film school was David Nobbs of The Rise and Fall of Reginald
Perrin fame. Remember him? In 2000, at the ripe old age of 50 and after two
years of having my screenplays generally rubbished by the staff (OK, I admit
they weren’t perfect! The screenplays, that is, not the staff!), I was coming
to the end of my course and as my last piece, I had decided to write the first
episode of a three part TV drama.
At outline stage, I had a meeting with David
and he told me that he thought it was good (what! You cannot be serious, I
thought!). Not only that, he went on to say that he thought it had the
potential to be made into a powerful and moving drama! Wowee!!
A few
months later, the screenplay was finished and I sent it to my other external
tutor, a chap called Rod Graham who had previously been Head of Drama at BBC
Scotland for 10 years. Needless to say, despite David’s kind comments, I was
expecting Rod to go through a long list of what was wrong with the screenplay I
had written. I went into the room and sat down. I saw my script on the table
next to him and grimaced inside. After the pleasantries were over, he said, and
I quote: “I’ve got nothing to say about this script.” Oh dear, thought I, that
bad, is it? He continued, “If I were still with the BBC, this would now be in
the Production Department awaiting a budget.” I nearly fell off my chair with
excitement! He actually liked it! “You’ve made my day,” I said, “In fact you’ve
made my year!” He looked me in the eye and said “No! The cheque will do that!”
Well, you
can imagine that I was walking on air as I came out of that meeting. A little
while later, I completed my course and graduated with an MA in Screenwriting
(Fiction). I immediately went on the attack and sent my drama series idea and
script to every TV drama production company I could find, including the BBC and
ITV. And I got a snowstorm of rejections. When I thought about it sensibly, I
realised the reality of the situation. Here was I, an unknown writer with
nothing that had ever been produced to my name. Why would anyone want to risk
hundreds of thousands of pounds to make the TV drama series I had written when
they had scripts from the likes of Lynda La Plante coming out of their ears?
Why not?
I thought about it some more and concluded that if everyone, cast and crew,
were prepared to work for nothing, I could probably make a feature film out of
it for maybe £10,000 or thereabouts. I had, myself, worked on a couple of
similar projects, although neither of them had ever been completed so I knew it
was possible. That day I made a decision to rewrite the screenplay as a full
length (90 minutes) feature film screenplay and produce it, direct it and edit
it myself. I discussed the idea with my wife and she had no objections, in fact
she was very much for the idea.
That day,
I went for a walk around Yeadon Dam, as I did every day. But on that day, as I
walked past the ducks swimming in the water, I said to myself “You’re going to
be a film director!” A huge smile broke out all over my face - I think the
other people round the dam must have thought I must be a bit simple, wandering
around with this huge grin on my face for no apparent reason.
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| Owen at the Belize Film Festival ~ on the Panel of Directors!
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Author blog - Living with a creative mind: www.lwacm.blogspot.com
Facebook page: Owen Carey Jones
Rough Cut The Novel FB page: http://www.facebook.com/roughcut.thenovel
Twitter A/c @owencareyjones: https://twitter.com/#!/owencareyjones
Facebook page: Owen Carey Jones
Rough Cut The Novel FB page: http://www.facebook.com/roughcut.thenovel
Twitter A/c @owencareyjones: https://twitter.com/#!/owencareyjones
