Still reeling from an amazing evening at BAFTA HQ in Piccadilly where my winning film script The Colour Room was performed in front of a packed audience of industry professionals.

In summary the event goes something like this:

JOY → TERROR → JOY

To explain, the event starts for the writer at 4pm when you enter the hallowed (hidden) HQ of BAFTA in Piccadilly.  Straight away you meet the director and actors and begin rehearsals.  It was such an amazing experience having my characters brought to life for the first time.  I’d been warned by more than one person that there would be a difference between what I imagined and what actors and the director depicted but it was spot on, exactly what I thought it would be.

The second read-through, with director Nat Luurtsema

By 7pm we were in the theatre and the magic began for real.  After an introduction and a short specially-composed piece my ten minute extract was performed.  Thankfully it seemed to go down well (laughter in the right bits, enthusiastic clapping at the end…).  Then … the terror!  I went on stage and was grilled by two industry professionals (Script Editor Kate Leys and Director Paul Andrew Williams).  They were ruthless and it’s quite hard to get a grilling in front of so many people but they were spot on with their comments and I’ll certainly work with what they gave me.

And then … the fun!  We headed to the bar and I networked with people who were interested in reading the full script, some of whom wandered over to speak to me and some sprinted!  And while I was making connections my lovely agent had elbowed to the bar for much needed wine.   Brilliant.

For anyone thinking of putting their work to BAFTA I’d say go for it.  It’s brilliant in so many ways and can only help as I find my way in this new scriptwriter world.