Exciting things happening at the moment!

Things are moving along nicely with my comedy animation series  "Listen To Bapou" which has recently gone into production with Banter Hawk TV. This online show is based around the character of my obnoxiously traditional Greek-Cypriot Granddad and explores some of the frustrations the older members of society have about the modern world. 

The character of Bapou will be voiced by Darren Altman, most recently known for his appearance on Britain's Got Talent, and I shall be voicing the character of Becky! Dominic Philpot is Producing.

Looking forward to sharing some clips and visuals with you all soon :) 

The winners of Create 50 - The Impact were announced yesterday and I'm pleased to say that my project 'Daddy's Fort' was one of the chosen scripts!

The 54 scripts in the final selection will now move forward into the filmmaking phase where producers and directors are invited to team up, chose a script and produce it. The best 50 films will then be selected for the final edit of the feature length movie which will be screened in UK cinemas.

Big congrats to my LSF friends who were among the selected - Can't wait to share a screen credit with you all!

x

Excited to find out today that two of my short screenplays 'Plummet' and 'Daddy's Fort' have both made the finals for Create 50's latest project 'The Impact'!

Fingers crossed that one of these scripts makes it through to the final 50 which will be put forward for production for the final film :)

Well done to all the other finalists! Lots of talent in the group :)

So, I've just seen that my last post (from October) didn't actually post properly! So here's a brief run-down of the last few months...

LSF 2015 was brill. I met loads of wonderful new writers and producers! It's great to see the community growing year by year. Kudos to Chris Jones (as always) for creating and bringing the festival into existence :)

My Writers' Lab with Joshua St. Johnston was an enlightening experience, especially getting to hear how he put together 'The Enfield Haunting'. It was also great to revisit my project 'Leonard Of Mayfair' and get some fresh notes on it.

The script to screen for 'Jaws' with its writer Carl Gottlieb, was the highlight of my festival. Especially hearing his anecdotes about living with Steven Spielberg and what it was like to spend endless days at sea. What an experience! 

Since the festival, I've finished my one location teen comedy 'Those Kids Who Killed Ms. Hannigan' which, I'm pleased to say, is already generating a lot of interest. I've also finished initial development on a new children's web series named #instafamous, which looks set to be an exciting multi-platform project.

There are also a few more exciting developments on the horizon, but more on those when I know more about what's actually happening!

Until then... :)

xx

So, it's nearly time for the 2015 London Screenwriters' Festival! The line up this year looks totally fab - of course I'm mostly excited for the script to screen of 'Jaws' (Big Spielberg fan!)

I'm also thrilled to that 'Destination: Hollywood' has been selected for The Actors Table Read, and 'Leonard of Mayfair' has been selected for the 'Writing True Stories' Lab led by Joshua St. Johnston, writer of 'The Enfield Haunting'.

Can't wait! :)

x

So, my roadtrip comedy feature 'Destination: Hollywood' has made it through to the Quarter-Finals of the Final Draft Big Break Screenwriting Contest! I'm totally thrilled be selected in the Action/Adventure category!

It's also great to hear that a number of writer friends have also made it through in other categories - Congrats to KT Parker, Darren Barker, Rebecca Handley and fellow Imagine Talent writer, Dominic Carver!

Fingers crossed that we all make it through to the Semi-Finals, which will be announced in the coming month.

x

Going to update you all on my whereabouts very soon, but for now I'll leave you with one of my favourite quotes...

It's been a while since my last update, but that's because I've been busy, busy, busy!

I've been working hard to finish my new feature film: Destination: Hollywood, which is now ready to take on the world. I'm pretty excited about this one! Hopefully you'll all be able to see it on the big screen in the not-so-distant future :)

This year, I've also decided to apply for all of the US TV Writing Fellowships and have written a spec episode of The Big Bang Theory entitled: The Time Travel Manipulation.

Wish me luck with my submissions!

(Anyone interested in reading either project should get in touch with my agent Christina Pickworth at Imagine Talent Ltd.)

It seems that LSF 2014 has come and gone in a flash!

As a third year 'veteran delegate' (as Chris Jones calls us!) this year's festival really felt like coming home. It was great to catch up with old friends and hear about the progress made in their careers - a testament to hard work and perseverance!

As this year's delegate capacity was nearly 700 (!) I also met a lot of new writers, directors and actors, all at different stages of their careers but all eager and hungry to learn. It was lovely have so many of them come up to me and say that listening to my LSF podcast had really helped them to prepare for the festival :)

There were many great sessions on offer, and I found that I learnt something new even at sessions I've attended in previous years  - This is particularly true of Pilar Alessandra's classes, that woman just had a natural talent of inspiring magic in the writery brain!

I was lucky enough to be chosen for two of this year's LSF initiatives:

Firstly, 'Blink!' was chosen for the 'Writing Fantastical TV' Script Mentoring Lab with ex-NBC/Paramount executive Steve La Rue. Everyone was extremely complementary about the project and Steve even said "it's Buffy for the modern teen!" (He helped get Buffy on our screens) (Now I need to watch Buffy!) I was very impressed by all the other projects and their writers - Alex Kelaru, Amy Amani, David Young, Keith Storrier and Rachel Howard - each show was a completely different and fresh take on the sci-fi genre. Well done all!

My sitcom 'See You In Honolulu' was also chosen for the Actors Table Read! This is a show that's written around the real-life character of my Greek-Cypriot Granddad, so I was intrigued to see what poor unsuspecting actor-dude would be tasked with playing him! Luckily I was given Ben Gardner-Gray who gave an excellent portrayal. Actresses Moshana Kahn and Yonah Odoom took on the roles of Elle and Charlie and the piece was directed by the wonderful Leslie Manning. It was great to see everybody chuckling at my words as they bought them to life! Thank you!

My favourite session this year? I have to pick two! Firstly the script-to-screen of 'Silence of the Lambs' with writer Ted Tally. I was a little embarrassed to admit I'd never seen the film before but now I'm really glad I hadn't! It was wonderful to watch the film with 200 other writers, all gasping a shrieking in the right places while hearing Ted's musings.  The script-to-screen of 'Finding Nemo' with its writer David Reynolds was a special experience for me. This is a movie that gave me a warmth of comfort when I first went to University at the age of 18 - A time where I felt completely lost much like little Nemo! I always hear Dory's "Just Keep Swimming" in my head when I need to remind myself to keep on going - especially in my screenwriting career. It was a pleasure to shake Dave's hand and thank him for a movie that means so much...

Thanks again to Chris Jones and the LSF for another three amazing days of inspiration! x