Phil Parker workshops

WRITING AWARD WINNING SHORT FILMS

ONE of the country’s most eminent screenwriting gurus, Phil Parker, is to give two FREE workshops in the region, in his bid to inspire Northwest filmmaking talent.

Phil comes to the region each year to inspire young filmmakers with his creative workshops. This year he’ll be delivering a brand new, ground breaking one-day workshop all about WRITING AWARD WINNING SHORT FILMS.

Phil will be holding two, exclusive workshops:

Liverpool Workshop 11th September 2007 10am – 5.30pm

Manchester Workshop 12th September 2007 10am – 5.30pm

Over 800 short films are made each year in the UK, so how can you make a short that stands out and moves your directing career forward in the direction you want? Short films are more than calling cards, they can now be found all over the Internet, and the competition for attention is fierce.

That’s why Phil’s challenging and entertaining workshop will look at all the problems associated with short films; why so many fail with audiences and achieve little distribution.

Over 100 short films are made in the UK each year as part of the UK Film Council New Cinema Fund’s Digital Shorts scheme. This national scheme is available in every part of the country and Northwest Vision and Media are about to launch their latest Digital Shorts scheme (From August 24 click here for more details).

This year, they will be searching for new stories that show passion and imagination. They will be looking for stories that are unique and challenging and will be asking: “Why is this film important?” And: “Why will people want to see this?”

With these questions in mind, Phil’s inspiring workshop has been specifically designed to help all filmmakers keen to apply for schemes like Digital Shorts.

Phil Parker will explore all the factors which make for an award-winning short - from the idea, through to the screenplay to production and awards criteria. Using a number of examples, Phil will then illustrate different approaches to short film narrative including genre, length, tone, style and subject matter.

The day will include examples of outlines, drafts of screenplays, and numerous new short film examples.

ABOUT PHIL PARKER

Phil has been involved in short films for over fifteen years. During this time he has worked on over 2000 short films including the 1997 Palme D’Or winner, Is It The Design On The Wrapper? the 1997 Oscar nominated short, Holiday Romance and the 2001 Toronto Short Film winner, The Rat That Wrote.

Phil has also seen his students have shorts produced for First Take; Brief Encounters; ‘10 x 10’; New Directors, Cinema Extreme, and several DV Shorts. These have won numerous other festival awards, including Berlin Talent Campus plus FUJI screenplay and Kodak new talent awards.

Phil has been a consultant for Aardman Animation for over ten years and his latest short film project with them, The Pearce Sisters, has just won the Special Jury prize at Annecy, and the grand prize at Portland Animation Festival.

As the author of The Art and Science of Screenwriting he also designed for the UK Film Council their new Introduction To Screenwriting course, currently being taught throughout the UK. He advises UK production companies on feature film development including Cuba Films, The Mob, The Bureau and Vita Nova Productions.

In Germany, Phil is currently involved in a co-production with Poland, and the PRIME project which develops and packages projects from all over Europe with script consultants, producers, distributors and sales agents. In addition, he has lectured all over the world at the Script Forum, Potsdam Film School, SOURCES2, and Berlin Brandenburg Medienboard.


LIVERPOOL WORKSHOP

If you would like to attend Phil Parker’s WRITING AWARD WINNING SHORT FILMS workshop in Liverpool please email your contact details to liverpool@eventa-management.co.uk

Date Tuesday 11th September 2007

Time 10am – 5.30pm

Venue Blackburne House
Blackburne Place
Liverpool
L8 7PE

MANCHESTER WORKSHOP

If you would like to attend Phil Parker’s WRITING AWARD WINNING SHORT FILMS workshop in Manchester please email your contact details to manchester@eventa-management.co.uk

Date Wednesday 12th September 2007

Time 10am – 5.30pm

Venue Manchester Cathedral Visitor Centre
10 Cateaton St
Manchester
M3 1SQ