We have been asked by the organisers of the Scriptly Challenge not to share details of the challenge on any blogs we write – to leave the exact wording of the brief vague. So I haven’t been giving the brief word for word, but it’s hard not to share the main detail. We’ve been asked to write around specific settings, to write a very short but still complete script (‘Waiting for Godot’ would be far too long…) and to write a short musical. Tonight’s brief is based around poetry. This challenge is starting to feel like being slung around in a bagatelle machine, but so far I’ve submitted a script on time.
Tonight’s brief feels tougher. First I have to find the kind of poetry the Scriptly folk are referring to and read it. Then, love it or hate it, I have to write them a script based on it. If I get all the way through this and submit all fourteen scripts on time, I’ll feel I have really achieved something. It’s been great at training me to form an idea, get stuck in and write.
I am really not sure I’m capable of their February challenge, though. Known as 28 Plays Later, it involves the same format but twice as tough – every day in February, a brief and a deadline to submit all 28 plays. Playwright Bootcamp, or what.
Julia Chalkley 