Hot pants and spinning optional
It's a week after LSF 17' and usually, by now, I'm stalked by some niggle in a long coat and bonnet playing post LSF blues... but not this time. This time, I'm relatively chipper because 'I am Wonder Woman'!
Not something you'll hear me say often.
From Day 1 as Chris Jones bounced on stage to tell us how 'F*******Awesome' we were, I decided that this year, I would not get my hopes up about how wondrous my pitching would be, or how a producer would grab my script with both hands and whisk me off for tea, instead I would settle into the Festival with a laid back, networking head and enjoy it.
Normally, I get up early and schedule in all the things I will do through the day and forget to eat as I run from one place to the other trying not to fall over my own feet, or flash my cleavage at some poor bloke when I accidentally drop my water bottle. (Sorry, Mr.P!)
Anyway, at this year's festival it finally clicked. 'I am Wonder Woman'!
Note: Twice in one sitting!
So, passing on the spinning and the hot pants, which are really for much younger women with less thigh and more height, I decided to put myself first. I spaced out the things I really wanted to attend around my session to 'Meet the Experts' and my 'Actors Table Read' and let myself have room to go for coffee and do the 'Elevator Pitch' if I wanted to... and I enjoyed it.
I let my hair down, literally and figuratively and went with the flow. It gave me the chance to catch up with friends I'd only ever met, or read via social media and Create50. It's a wonderful thing to discover their heads aren't square boxes and to go, 'Oh, you're the one with the sexed up robot, or hand puppet!'
It also gave me the chance to put out feelers for a producer for my short and to collaborate with a friend from the previous year on an idea for a short movie together. Just sitting hearing about everyone else, new and old, their dreams and projects is the most inspiring thing of all.
The best thing about LSF is we're one big team and when somebody has a win, like musketeers with a bit more swashbuckle and a lot more typing, a win for one, is indeed a win for all.
It finally dawned on me that it's great to aim high but you can't reach the top of a hill without climbing it first. You have to set manageable and realistic goals. Yes, write that masterpiece but write some other small bits too. That way, you can develop what you are doing and if you don't see progress with the gargantuan thriller that's growing mouldy as your kid's dragged mud everywhere and you need time to clean, maybe you can get a tip on improving with the short story you've submitted, or by doing a script swap with a chum. Either way, you're stepping in the right direction, biting manageable chunks and not having to fight M'lady, or some lanky bloke with a dodgy eyepatch.
Not one to get shirty, another thing I learned is no one has the right to talk down to you as you are 'inexperienced'. We are all here on the same ticket and whether experienced to the hilt, or a newbie starting off, you deserve to be treated with the same respect. Yes, everyone has a bear in their cave but they shouldn't have the right to let it chase you. Be kind and don't be a 'Dumas'. Boom. Boom.
Since my return, I've done a short story and a script swap with pals, teaching me that sometimes I pair things back too far and what I see clearly in my head (Don't call the funny farm, I'm not finished!) can be unclear in someone elses. It's good as I can then spot my bad habits and hopefully, help them spot their own too. I've also written a short noir story which was loads of fun and I discovered I am out of touch with 1940's mens neckwear. (A Kipper is British and a Belly Warmer's American, which really ought to be the name for a book.)
To conclude, there's a year until LSF 18' - finances permitting - so set goals, network, have a bash at other styles and write. No one can do it for you but you. You are metaphorically 'Wonder Woman'. So, grab your tiara and go for it!
Hot pants and spinning optional.
