Hello... - Print Topic

I joined yesterday, and made my first post a short while ago. I always find it difficult to know how to introduce myself, whether it is on a Forum (not that I have much experience) or in real life! Posting on an already existing thread was easier :)

Anyway. I have always wanted to be a writer. I can never remember wanting to be anything else. And I always had an interest in films. When I was 10, my brother in a rare act of generosity, offered to buy me a present - I said I wanted a book I'd seen about MGM films!

It was obvious that the two strands would eventually intertwine. In 1979, I bought the recently republished scripts of the classic 1950s TV series "Quatermass", and the world of script writing was opened up to me (even though they were not in anything like the correct format, as I would realise later). Shortly afterwards, the British cult TV show "Doctor Who", of which I was a fan, commissioned ascript from a 17 year old fan.

I began sending them ideas - like thousands of others - but received some very nice encouragement from the script editors of the time, and from then on never thought of anything except being a scriptwriter.

I have, over the years written a wide variety of screenplays, stage plays, TV scripts, shorts, features... you name it, I have probably done it! I have received a lot of positive feedback, some praise, and met the odd director and producer along the way. But nothing has ever been accepted for production.

I have still yet to achieve my dream of being a professional screenwriter. In the last few years I have written less - and have not been happy with what I have written. Family problems have tended to distract me from my writing. But I have never given up my hope that one day I will reach my goals. I know that, as with most things, screenwriting can be a young person's game - the older you get, the less likely it is that you will make the necessary breakthrough.

But if you don't have a dream, how you gonna have a dream come true?

That would make a good song lyric :)

I have often visited Simply Scripts, which is a fantastic resource for anyone interested in films and screenwriting, but only recently realised that it even had a Forum! I am fairly new to the social networking aspects of the web, and still a little unsure of myself. I have been in a couple of Forums, but am still very much a novice.

Just a couple of other bits of background - I'm an academic librarian (with particular responsibility for film and media) and my principal past time is photography.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.