SWF'08 - YEAR THREE

THE THIRD INTERNATIONAL SCREENWRITERS' FESTIVAL
TUESDAY 1st TO THURSDAY 3rd JULY 2008
MANOR BY THE LAKE, CHELTENHAM

SWF'08 will be shorter than previous years at only three days. Feedback from delegates suggested that more people could participate if the length of the festival was three days which would also save them money on hotels. The festival is going to have a different feel to it this year with more of a relaxed atmosphere. Plenty of sessions are planned but with even more time set aside for the all important networking. We are planning to have at least two networking events per day giving the delegates much more time to mingle and create the opportunities to sell themselves. A lot of delegates, who went to SWF'06, were a bit perplexed by the term "networking", but for the majority that returned in SWF'07, and there were a lot, they came packing to take full advantage of the festival and promoted themselves and their work. Our aim this year is to give delegates increased chances to introduce themselves to the kind of people they really should meet and for intimate discussions.

As we are now a three day event, we felt that we should only have one ticket type, the three day pass, which will become available to buy around February 2008. The prices of which will be published at the beginning of next year.

BACK TO THE TOP OF THE PAGE

SWF'08 - WHO WILL BE THERE

Already we have preliminary list of guest speakers that include a return by two of 2006's most prominent speakers;

Guillermo del Toro

Julian Fellows

Peter Kominsky

Lucy Prebble

Guillermo Del Toro, who came to SWF'06, will return after finishing his latest epic, 'Hellboy II: The Golden Army'
Julian Fellowes, writer, actor and director, is also SWF'06 veteran and one of our Advisory board, will be hot off his latest production 'The Young Victoria' which is currently being filmed by 'C.R.A.Z.Y' director Jean-Marc Vallée
Peter Kosminsky, writer and director of the controversial 'The Government Inspector' and the recent Channel 4 drama 'Britz'
Lucy Prebble, creator and writer of the very successful ITV2 drama 'Secret Diary of a Call Girl'

We have a host of other writers, directors and industry professionals that we are discussing with as part of the line-up and should have a longer list on the other side of the New Year.

If there is anyone you think we should be considering, please e-mail us at info@screenwritersfestival.com and we'll do our damndest to get them.

BACK TO THE TOP OF THE PAGE

SWF'08 - THEMES AND SESSIONS

There will be no overall themes this year, screenwriting itself is the focus with sessions designed to inform and to educate.

Researching, what goes into a script based on actual events, who does all the researching
TV adaptation vs. Film adaptation as we look at the differences between two versions of the same novel/work.
Comic Book Writer, in SWF'07 we looked at writing for Games and Multi-Narrative storylines, so this year we are looking at writing for comic books/graphic novels.
There will be more sessions added as we go on and if there is any subject you would like us to cover, please send us an e-mail or go to the corkboard and tell us.

Making a return this year will be the highly popular Scriptbites which will cover all aspects of the screenwriting from technical to business to legal subjects in short round intimate sessions based in and around the café marquee.

We are planning more screenings, not just within the festival for delegates, but in Cheltenham for the public. In conjunction with Cineworld our guest speakers will take part in public screenings of their films. We are hoping to get at least one or two premieres, but we also want to have a retrospective with speakers introducing and talking to a public audience about their past work.

BACK TO THE TOP OF THE PAGE

SWF'08 - FEVER PITCH II

Returning for its third year is the well loved and very popular live pitching event, which we’re calling 'Fever Pitch II'. Again, we will be asking people to send in script ideas for film and television programmes. They can be for big blockbuster movies, small more personal films, a series or a sit-com idea. The only restriction is your imagination. So get your thinking caps on. Last years winner has already got a first look deal with a major production company as well as one of the runners up who has been snapped up by an agent. You SO have to enter…

Watch out for the start date announcement of the competition which this year will be sometime in December.

BACK TO THE TOP OF THE PAGE

THAT'S ALL FOR NOW

As said throughout the e-bulletin, if there is anything that you want us to do for next year, whether it is a guest speaker you would like us to try and get or a session suggestion you feel should be covered or explored, please e-mail us at info@screenwritersfestival.com or add to the corkboard.

We are hoping to get out more e-bulletins between now and the festival next year, but please keep visiting the website as well keep it updated with the speakers and session information as we go along.

BACK TO THE TOP OF THE PAGE