Since I've been around on these boards for more than two months I now this is kinda silly, but I thought I should actually properly introduce myself.
Hello! My name's Jon Barton, I'm a 19 year old student doing a BA in English with Film here at King's College, London. I love London - I walk over the Thames on Waterloo Bridge every day on my way to lectures and get to see the Eye, Big Ben, the Gherkin, St. Paul's, my campus is next to Somerset House, the setting's amazing - but sometimes it all feels a bit cold and disconnected, and it's so expensive! My course means that not only do I study literature and the use of language, but I'm also exposed to a lot of arthouse cinema I probably otherwise wouldn't come into contact with; for instance, last semester we watched Polanski's 'Knife in the Water', Ozu's 'An Autumn Afternoon', Fassbinder's 'Fear Eats the Soul'...yesterday we watched 'The Five Obstructions', with Jorgen Leth and Lars Von Trier. It's a really interesting course.
I've written for years, almost exclusively in prose. I finished and submitted a fantasy novel to Walker Books (big British children's book publisher) when I was 16 - they rejected it, but told me to keep going. I've finished two more novels since, neither of which I've been able to find homes for. But I keep going! I really want to learn how to write screenplays. After I finish my degree I intend to go on and do a Masters in Screenwriting at the National Film and Television School...so I'm looking to learn! I act, I directed a play at school so I'm comfortable with scripts - just need to work out how to write them.
My film tastes are pretty eclectic, to be honest. I like Charlie Kaufman, particularly Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I have a pretty healthy DVD collection (over 100 movies), and everything's pretty well represented. I think the Lord of the Rings films are fantastic achievements. For sheer technical-cleverness, it's hard to beat Rear Window. But I'm also a fan of small-cast, word-war type films, where there are two characters who continually shift positions, try to trip each other up. Collateral, Hard Candy and Training Day are films like that that I love. I'm a huge fan of Children of Men (it's so darn believable!). I recently saw Schindler's List and now understand why it's spoken of so highly. The Shawshank Redemption, Lost in Translation, Withnail and I, The Truman Show, Groundhog Day, the Back to the Future films...the list goes on and on.
My writing plans are, at the moment, mainly adaptations. I've obviously adapted Stephen King's The Last Rung on the Ladder. I'm halfway through adapting Quitters, Inc. I may end up adapting Blaze. I'm not some huge Stephen King fan - I've only read about a quarter of his work - but I think there's a reason so many people have used King as their source for making good (and bad) films: he's just so darn good at storytelling! I want to try to write a film based on the Metroid games (in fact I have the plot mapped out for three films, plus two prequels). I wrote the first 15 pages of that and then abandoned it...for now. I have my original idea, The Walls We Build (which I laid out on the Work in Progress thread), but it's really just the beginnings of an idea and I don't want to rush it and ruin it, so I won't. I also have my Oscar idea, the script that I feel some day I will HAVE to write. I live in fear that one day I will read somewhere that someone has taken that idea. 'Cos that bitch is MINE. :)
Whenever I read your script I will end up giving you a long review. I apologise for that. It won't be particularly well structured, it'll just be a series of thoughts. I'm not at all trained in this and I'm learning as I go along. But I like to think I have at least a shred of writing talent, and hopefully engaging in this community will benefit me. I welcome honest criticism of my scripts (when I write some).
Oh, and finally: I like to write. At length. I don't do one line posts. Sorry about that. I will try to cut down on the length of my posts...but since this is my thread, I thought I should just lay it all out there.
Hi. I'm Jon. Look forward to learning with you. :)