Apologies for being unable to complain

I write to apologise for my complete unpreparedness for the current winter weather winge.

Owing to my failure to plan ahead, I have had no ability to write letters of complaint or grouse to my neighbours.

By clearing the pavement outside our house, failing to take inappropriate journeys, owning good snow boots and ensuring I could continue to work uninterrupted, I have totally failed to join in the nation’s collective moaning.

On the one occasion when I was unable to drive up our hill, I could only park less than two minutes walk away on a red route, where the traffic wardens totally failed to give me a parking ticket.

I have been further hindered by Camden Council who gritted the roads and pavements before the first snowfall, ensured the local grit bin was well filled in advance and have kept collecting refuse and recycling.

I have been left alone to admire the beauty of the snow, enjoy the silence when it falls, walk through crisp white drifts, and even throw the odd snow ball.

I cannot express my dismay more powerfully and shall endeavour to do much better next time.

Have a great holiday.

Van Gogh’s Lessons for Screenwriters

Just went to the exhibition of Van Gogh’s paintings and letters at the Royal Academy in London last week. Amazing.

The  most striking thing is the sheer amount of work he put into improving his technique. The early sketches reek with the physical effort. His pencil and charcoal lines are virtually gouged into the paper. He would determine a particular skill he wanted to master, such as perspective, and go at it 100%, picture after picture until he got what he wanted. Then he’d move onto the next skill.

It makes me feel very humble. How many of us could even dream of working so hard at our weaknesses. Most inexperienced (and experienced) screenwriters I know much prefer working on their strengths. Because that’s more fun. And it’s certainly important to work on your strengths – and equally important to be aware of where you need to be stronger and to work on that too.

The results show in the later paintings – filled with energy, feeling and a superlative technique. No-one has ever handled paint like Van Gogh, before or since. And he didn’t get to do that without honestly facing up to what he needed to learn.

Policeman mistook drink carton for weapon

Yesterday’s Guardian headline: Policeman who hit G20 protester with baton mistook drink carton for weapon… You couldn’t make it up.

I do love satire but they do make it difficult for us. Check it out (I won’t even stoop to mentioning the sergeant’s name).  http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/mar/22/policeman-g20-protester-baton-court

Recycling Oscars is a CROC

At last a practical idea to improve movies. Screen and radio writer Paul Bassett Davies is campaigning for us all to join CROC, the Challenge to Recycle the Oscar Campaign.

The plan is to limit the number of Oscars in circulation. If a previous award-winner makes a really atrocious film, they have to give their Oscar back. They do it with Michelin stars, so why not with Hollywood stars? This scheme not only endorses eco-friendly practice, it will also discourage stars, directors and writers from making terrible movies. I’m going to lobby the Green Party to put it in their manifesto.

Rush back down the red carpet to Paul Bassett Davies’ blog The Writer Type at http://thewritertype.blogspot.com/ and put in your own nominations. I feel moved to tears already. And I just want to thank my agent, my producer, my parents without whom…

Best TV drama, my arse

I know that the point of lists is to argue with them, but come on! Who in their right minds could put Prime Suspect eighteen places above The Shield? – the Guardian, today, that’s who.  Prime Suspect is watchable, if cliched, with a good strong female lead, but it can’t hold a candle to a seven series noir drama that beats it on every count, including plot, character, dialogue, cinematography, sound, originality, theme.

When every drama that runs more than one series inevitably turns to soap, one of The Shield’s many achievements is to create a gripping, horrifying arc that holds convincingly from the start to the bittersweet end. And in Vic Mackie is created one of the most complex, tragically flawed characters in TV history.

That opening episode had me in its clutches by half way through, and the series never gave up its hold… I’m not going to say any more about the brilliance of the twists, the unexpectedness of seeing Film Noir in a cop show. (How dare the Guardian call it a “police procedural”!) If you haven’t seen it, well, repent at speed and grab the DVD boxed sets before it is too late to retrieve the ashes of your wasted life.

OK, I know everyone’s gone bananas over The Sopranos and The Wire and yes, they’re good, but somehow after The Shield has shattered so many stereotypes and developed such a strong personal style, they just always felt a bit, well, predictable.

And then, talking of unpredicatability and a cast of complex, flawed, fascinating characters: no mention at all of Spiral. But of course, silly me, it’s in Frog. Nothing made not in English could possibly be on the list, could it? Well, I don’t see any.

It’s official: all great TV drama is Anglo-Saxon.

The Guardian should expect a very loud knock on the door, imminently.