Monday, June 30, 2008

Filth and Mince

So the EIFF has ended. This was my first whole film festival as a delegate (last years was a part-time affair), and I'm proud to say I made it through the entire couple of weeks without a whole day off. Frankly my brain was mince by the time it ended, but it was glorious, damp (it rained a LOT) and rather inspiring.

I'm already missing the buzz of always having something filmic available to see, but am buckling down to write the feature that the final part of the MA requires. I've sat for over an hour now staring at my screen. I want to be swanning about at the Cheltenham Screenwriters Festival but that will have to wait until next year. For now, it's comedy and a balancing act along the fine line that is bawdy rudeness whilst avoiding straying into filth. Although filth has its place.. but here's a question - how rude is too rude for a screenplay?

2 comments:

Chip Smith said...

Tell you what, MJ, make it as filthy as you possibly can - at the least, it'll get remembered! I had the same problem with a script a while back, where I wanted a character to do something pretty revolting - in one version I left the scene out, but it didn't seem right. So back in it went. I really don't think you should censor yourself at all, and if it fits into the context of the story you're telling, go for it - the filthier the better!

Mandy Lee said...

I'm with you Chip, it's going in - it's not gratuitous, is relevant, and sets tone and expresses an until-now hidden desire of a main character. I've written some quite violent scenes and never worried about censoring those... weird.