How To Become a Freelancer – March 26 Update

March 8, 2026March 10, 2026 Christy.E.SLeave a comment

Intro:
Have finally got my diploma from the Film-making course I did last year! It was delayed due to various reasons, but now I have the diploma I can frame it and stick it up on the wall.

So on to the update!

Scripts Update:
I have sent two scripts – The Trojan War Diaries and The Last Witch in Swanage – to two different agents now. The first one got back to me – it was a no, but a rejection is better than being ignored! I have put LWIS into the Scribe Lounge competition. As of March I will be downgrading my membership back to the free version to save money, unless I can find new work before then.

I have also applied to a job posted on Scribe Lounge to be a Vertical Drama Writer for an upcoming project. Though I vaguely knew about these, it was the first time I had tried writing one myself. I had to submit four pages for the application and am waiting to hear back.

Though they are different from how I like to consume my media, I can see the appeal. Short-form content, that you can watch in segments, so you’re never going to be late because you’re finishing an episode. From a writing persepctive, I think they have a lot in common with writing for soap operas and that is becoming harder and harder these days. Vertical dramas might well fill that gap.

Why? Well, with a soap opera, if you are a staffed writer, you have to write a certain number of episodes a week on an ongoing basis. You have a quick turnaround time and certain things, plotwise, have to happen at certain points in the script. The same is true of vertical dramas – just on a much quicker scale. With only a minute or two in each episode, there is no room for anything but plot. From the ones I have watched for research, it seems that a good way of looking at writing them is to presume half your audience is only watching – on mute – and the other half is only listening. This means if you say a character’s name, you should also caption it for the watchers, and if you show something, you should speak it also, for the listeners. This is a difficult but vital thing to learn in screenwriting. We are of course asked to show not tell in writing, but the audience does have to know what you’re showing to stay engaged.

It is similar to writing for radio – or a podcast, like mine – where you have to help the audience paint the picture you have in their own minds, so they can follow the plot. No, you shouldn’t say exactly what’s happening, but if, for example, your characters are watching a dragon fly through the air, one of them must acknowledge the dragon or the audience can’t.

I haven’t heard back from the company yet, but it’s been a useful writing exercise regardless and one I think I will continue going forward.

Things Learnt:
Aside from learning about vertical dramas, I’ve been thinking about those agent emails I’ve written and how really they are not too different from writing a cover letter for a job! You find the agent you want to write to, explain why you’ve chosen them, a bit about your script and why they would like to read it, then thank them for their time. Submitting to agents can be seen as just another job application, and that has taken some of my fear away from doing it!

Freelance Journey

How To Become a Freelancer – October Update

October 13, 2024October 15, 2024 Christy.E.SLeave a comment

Intro:
In September I submitted my time travel script to the Channel 4 Screenwriting scheme and have begun a Film-Making Diploma that takes place on Saturdays.

I also went to the TV and Film Meetup in London on 14th September, where I managed to make contact with an actor who is interested in my fiction podcast.

So on to the update!

Scripts Update:
I met with an actor about my fiction podcast idea and have been advised by them that the next best step is to write some sides for potential auditions. I am hoping to do this within the next week.

Having someone else interested in the project has given me new drive for it and it is highly possible that I will be able to record the project in January!

Am also editing my Gold Rush script, so it’s ready for BBC Writers room which opens in November. The story is there now, it’s just the ending that still needs work.

Things Learnt:
Have begun to build myself a profile on fiverr for freelance work, as I think it will work better for me than Upwork’s system does. I am likely to be busy over the next month (all those general life things I’ve been mentioning for months are all coming to fruition before Christmas) but, once that dies down, I can give myself the Christmas present of a freelance profile!

What a good way to start the new year!

Freelance Journey

Writing To Budget

March 25, 2024March 28, 2024 Christy.E.SLeave a comment

As part of the film course I’m attending, we get the opportunity to film two short films – up to three minutes in length.

Naturally, I jumped at the chance to get a script made (Even if only three minutes) and happily mine was one of the two selected.

The lecturer for the course liked my idea because of its simplicity.

The short film only needed one actor (and a spider or fake spider), could be filmed all in one room (with a sound effect of someone rifling through kitchen cupboards needed at one point but done out of vision) and really that was it.

The script originally took place in an old cottage with multiple rooms, but seeing as there’s only one living-room set available, I did some re-writes so it could all take place in one room.
The lecturer noted that a lot of the scripts received are too ambitious for the budget of £0.00 that is available to students and it made me think.

I have often been told in screenwriting not to worry too much about how things are going to happen. If you need a fiery tornado in order to tell your story, then put in a fiery tornado in order to tell your story. How the fiery tornado gets made and put into the story is a problem for the director, editors and special-effects crew to actually make happen.

But what if that’s not an option to begin with?

Re-writing a script multiple times is something that writers have to do on a set. Re-writing scenes so they take place in different rooms if one isn’t available, different characters if an actor isn’t available. So surely that might also include taking out the fiery tornado if no-one can make a fiery tornado?

Re-writing the script so it can be done in another way, with fewer characters or suddenly take place in one room instead of three is an interesting exercise and tests my ability as a writer.

Sure I might need a fiery tornado to tell my story, but without one what will happen? Will the characters see the tornado outside the window, but it will be invisible to the audience? Maybe we hear about it on news segments or we simply see its aftermath?

It’s made me think that in future this will be a useful exercise to try with all of my scripts. How many ways can I think of to tell the story I need to? Therefore I can learn not only which approach works best from a writing point of view, but which one works best from a camera operating/directing/editing point of view, too, and they might not always match up!

Besides anything else, we discovered that the best way to film the (fake) spider falling into a mug of hot chocolate was to tie thread around it, put it in the mug in the first place and slowly pull it out of the mug from out of shot. We will then, in the editing process, reverse this footage so it looks like it’s falling in. Which means I have given everybody on the course the chance to learn how to reverse footage as a bonus lesson!