Steve Staff, Class of 2014 | Join a Screenwriters’ Circle

SteveStaff_ in studioIf you, like me, are an aspiring screenwriter you will know that our chosen profession comes with its fair share of challenges, probably the most prominent of which is the sheer mass of people who share our common dream of seeing the words we’ve written performed on the silver screen. In fact, I would be willing to bet that, much like Kevin Bacon, each of us alive today are never any more than six connections away from a screenwriter or their lowly cousin, the humble ‘aspiring screenwriter’(throw a tennis ball in your local Cafe Nero and you’ve probably got a 1 in 5 chance of hitting at least three of these). So I thought, why not use those numbers to our advantage? Because as I’m sure you know, another common problem for people of our ilk is getting things read,  friends and family loath having a screenwriter in their lives, because it means they’re bugged, prodded and cajoled constantly into reading and reviewing every single thought that passes through our heads, of course we know what we’re writing is fantastic, but what’s the point if other people aren’t enjoying it too?

Which brings me round to my point, if you saw my previous post (re: my recent internship at Knight Hall Agency) you may have seen mention of a University of Lincoln (UoL) grad/student ‘screenwriters’ circle’ that I am going to be setting up; Continue reading

Steve Staff, Class of 2014 | My Internship at Knight Hall Agency

SteveStaff_KnightHall-picTo the left you will see a picture of some books. More specifically a picture of some books on the elongated book case that makes up one wall of the Knight Hall Agency office space, each of which earned their place by having their screen adaptation rights picked up by the agency. All great reads I’m sure, but the reason I just spent the last month interning there was to get a glimpse of what happens behind those books, in the very cool hidden meeting rooms that lie beyond. Here is where Knight Hall’s four agents entertain noteworthy figures from all over the British (and occasionally American, French, Scandinavian) TV and film industry, as well as their impressive roster of accomplished screenwriters and playwrights.

Some of Knight Hall’s more recognisable names include award winning writers such as Simon Beaufoy (The Full Monty, Slum Dog Millionaire, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire), Martin McDonagh (In Bruges, Seven Psychopaths, A Behanding in Spokane) and Jeremy Brock (The Last King of Scotland, The Eagle, How I Live Now) I could go on but after seeing just one of these names I was quickly into my Yahoo account and firing off an email begging for an internship. A response came almost immediately (not a brag, they just happened to be checking through internship emails at the precise moment mine hit their screens) and after a quick interview I was offered a place. I spent the next couple months working in a shoe shop to save up (London is expensive, who knew?) and in mid-August I set off.  Continue reading