The Journey So Far

So here I am, in Bristol doing EVERYTHING I think I possibly can to reach the finish line.

I'm lucky enough to have the great support of my partner meaning that I'm able to work part-time in order to carry out my creative pursuits and I feel that I've done an awful lot in the past year as a result.

I began the student after-life with a couple of months of freelance, voluntary work and internships which proved to be a great foundation for the months to come. I volunteered at the Screenwriter's Festival in Cheltenham (SWF) where I was fortunate enough to work in the Green Room meeting Oscar Winners and BBC Figureheads and generally just getting a little giddy from all the contact with film industry VIPs.

Following this was an internship in London for Little Bird Film & TV who co-produced Bridget Jones's Diary amongst several other well known titles. This was thanks to my University who had set up these opportunities months in advance for those that wished to apply.

Little Bird was an exciting experience but one which also taught me that I was in no way shape or form ready for the big smoke. The commute is one thing - crammed into commuter trains like an over crammed tube of smarties in the height of summer is not an experience I'd like to repeat day in day out. The other aspect I found hard to adapt to (having just spent 3 years living in a sleepy Cornish town) was the sheer pace at which everyone travels, not only is there the pace but somehow the women seem to be able to walk at warp factor 9 in the most ridiculous high heels! Is it all a front? Do these people actually have a ridiculous amount of health problems and numb feet or are they really capable of such a fast-paced and suffocating lifestyle? If so - please tell me your secret.

Anyway, London rant aside - Little Bird itself as a company was a fantastic experience. I was taught how to write script reports and given the opportunity to crit various drafts of screenplays by established writers. I was sent on many a courier mission to various studios around London. My most memorable trip was to Working Title. It was really only a "simple drop off the tape at the front desk" job but I couldn't help feel a flutter of excitement as the elevator doors opened to the shiny metallic logo on the wall opposite which glints as if giving you a knowing wink - I soon got snapped out of that little daydream but I hope to be back some day with a more exciting purpose.

On my return to Bristol I hooked up with a contact I'd made at SWF who was in the midst of developing a romantic comedy feature-length screenplay. I worked with the writer/director on this project for a period of around 6 weeks in a script editor/ assistant producer role which really threw me into the Bristol film network head first which was perfect. I knew virtually no one in Bristol at this point so being introduced to such a large volume of industry professionals and wannabes like me was of great significance. The group which really helped me in the long run was BAFTA sponsored networking group Cineformation. If you're Bristol based check out their website at www.cineformation.com and try to attend their next meeting. It was through this group that I met the filmmakers I would eventually end up collaborating with for the best part of 2009 which I shall tell you about in my next installment in which I hope to catch you up and from then on provide more 'live' installments as I continue my journey.

Choosing Paths

I saw a film last week which made me realise that it was about time I started blogging. Even if nobody reads what I write I think it's such an important thing to make some kind of record of what we do in our lives. At least then, people can one day see that we actually DID something. If nothing else, I will be able to reassure myself that I'm doing SOMETHING.

So...I want to be a filmmaker. I am a filmmaker but what I mean is, I want to be a RECOGNISED filmmaker. A filmmaker with a fan base - I want someone to look through the film showings and say "here's a film written and produced by Joanna Beard - they always make me feel good. Let's go see that". That's what I think is so wonderful about the power of film (and it has many powers) but my favourite is its ability to transport you into the fictional lives of others and fill you with that warm fuzzy feeling that makes you positively skip out of the Odeon in a style not dissimilar to Michael McIntyre.

So what got me here in the first place... Unlike the Dawson Leary's of this world - the young boys and girls who grew up making movies from the age of 5, I didn't realise I wanted to make films until I was 17. Yet, oddly enough a computer programme in our careers library at school predicted my future ambitions when I was 13 - I still find this rather spooky. So, I'm 17 and I'm starting to fill out UCAS forms not knowing really what I wanted to do in life. Up until the age 0f 16 I was dead set on being an airline pilot - following in the vapor trails of my Dad and many other family members within the aviation industry. Initially I decided on a combi course of Drama and English - my two strongest A levels. However, something didn't feel quite right.

Whilst on holiday in Cornwall I picked up a prospectus for an arts college in Falmouth and had a flick through thinking what an amazing place to study. Turning the pages I came across the Film Studies course. Stifling a smile, the cogs start rapidly gaining speed until everything seems to fall into place. I had always loved film, I was a keen story teller, I loved drama and the critical analysis of characters and narratives in literature - I could explore similar issues in film but in such a new and exciting way. I was positively buzzing.

Suddenly I felt I had found my calling. Slightly sudden perhaps and an abrupt change in direction but looking back it all made sense.

Needless to say I went to Falmouth, studied Film amongst the Dawson Learys feeling slightly out of place and hopeless at the number of 'classics' I hadn't seen - predominantly Tarantino's - our cohort was about 70% male and in love with Quentin. I, however, was in love and am still in love with Ephron (Sleepless in Seattle, You've Got Mail, When Harry Met Sally) and Disney. Ironically, it was her latest release (Julie & Julia) that inspired me to start this.

Falmouth was an enormous learning curve for me in many ways. For the first few months I told myself to be open to any film, any genre any gruesome topic and I was. However it didn't last long. I think it ended somewhere between my introduction to Requiem for a Dream and Saw. Enough was enough and although I was prepared to acknowledge and learn about the films that I found offensive and nightmare inducing I was not prepared to subject myself to them any longer.

So where did I see myself headed? Ultimately I wanted to be a screenwriter. In the same way some people make films from an early age I was always writing stories. The reason why film is so important to me is that in my mind storytelling is a unique aspect of human behaviour. As far as we're aware we are the only creatures capable of such a feat. With that in mind, film to me is by far the most powerful way of telling a story. That, combined with the pursuit of finding the ingredients to that warm and fuzzy feeling which makes us skip like children is the reason I chose the winding road ahead.