Meetings with Scottish screenwriters
Last night I forsook the 2 (TWO) free drinks parties taking place 6-8, and wandered off the Film Festival’s remote little triangle (where you wouldn’t know there was a gigantic arts festival taking place) and set off for Candlemaker Row, just past the Greyfriars Bobby statue down to the Deadhead Comics shop where Scottish Screenwriters were staging their annual break-out event.
I was rewarded for my choice by the presence of free drinks. Brilliant. And when they ran out, someone nipped round to the offie and brought a few more tinnies in.
Had a great time chatting to John McShane and Jerry Brannigan, who set up the group and kept it running till it was good enough to run itself. As I’m involved in setting up a similar group for the West Midlands it was great to hear their take on things and how they’ve turned a writers’ social event into something with real clout.
I had to nip out in the middle of it to go interview Paul Laverty (aren’t I the little name dropper!) who had 10 minutes to spare out of his busy day. His In Person session that morning had been packed out and I taped it for a forthcoming audio podcast, but it was nice to get face to face with him and really ask the questions writers want to ask. He was locked into a meal for the evening and was nice enough to express his envy that I was heading back to the Scottish Screenwriters beano.
What a nice guy.
The Scottish Screenwriters group has its own website here. As we talked I left my mp3 recorder running, so that too will be a future podcast that will appear on our podcasts page soon.
