Category Archives: Script Writing

Nearly all puppets complete!

Posted on by Collette Knowles
2

Nearly all the puppets are made for the show (just one tiny mouse and various props and backgrounds to go). The ones in the pictures here are from Chicken Licken and The Enormous Turnip stories. Please see the previous 2 posts to see earlier updates about the “Fairytales of Wit, Wisdom and Witchcraft” show.

What I really need to do now is to get my shadow screen and OHP (overhead projector) out and have a play to see how best to use the puppets and put the show together. I will then be able to see what more things need making and Tim Austin and I will be able to put a script together too. Finding a space to do this in is the tricky part at the moment as we do not have a suitable space of our own.

If you would like to book this show we are putting dates in our diary now so please CLICK HERE to get in touch!

We will be visiting The National Science and Media Museum in Bradford on Saturday the 12th with a drop-in Shadow Puppet making workshop and performances of my suitcase shows. This is part of a family day to celebrate the opening of their (long awaited) new “Sound & Vision” gallery space. CLICK HERE for more details.

I am also talking to a festival about a shadow puppetry commission for next year; I won’t go into detail as a funding bid has to be put together. I’ll let you know all about it later if the funding bid is successful.

Writing “The Secret Keeper”: Part 2

Posted on by Collette Knowles
Reply

Here’s a bit more on the writing process from Rough Magic Theatre’s Tim Austin:

The trouble with starting again is that you get very attached to scenes and dialogue that you’ve already put together. Something said by your main character gets a giggle or sounds profound,… is there a way to keep it?

Simply put: No. You can’t be precious or sentimental when writing fiction. You’ve got to be brutal and ruthless or you’ll end up going in circles.

I wrote three chapters of a disaster story many years ago and I could not, for the life of me, figure out why chapter four wasn’t working and why I couldn’t get beyond it. Eventually I realised that I’d made some psychological errors back in Chapter 2 that meant the main character’s headspace was wrong by the time it came to concluding that act. Two chapters had to go. And they did.

Because the beauty of starting again is that sometimes the new stuff that you write is better than you wrote before. You’re working with new ideas and new challenges and that takes you in different and interesting directions.

Sometimes you can recycle a line or two, sometimes not. The trick is to not get attached.

I’ve now worked out a new plot to run through the series. It’s more intimate, more detailed and more interesting than the original. Starting from scratch allowed me to look at the format again and concentrate more on individual motivations. Maybe it’ll make the crafting and shooting process a bit more complex but it’ll also make the finished series better.

And that’s the aim.

The Secret Keeper will be as rich and fully-formed as any HBO or BBC drama. It’s a full-fat sci-fi thriller,….. just animated with shadows. A Film Noir mystery in light and dark.

The pilot version of episode One is in Pre-production, with puppets now being drawn and cut. Audio for this rough-cut (to be used to gather funding for the series) will be recorded in the next two weeks. Filming is likely to start in November.

You can see the original post on Tim’s blog by clicking HERE

If you missed “Writing the Secret Keeper – Part 1” CLICK HERE

If you would like to contribute to our work please donate below:

One-Time
Monthly
Yearly

Make a one-time donation

Make a monthly donation

Make a yearly donation

Choose an amount

£5.00
£10.00
£50.00
£3.00
£9.00
£60.00
£10.00
£20.00
£60.00

Or enter a custom amount

£

Thanks so much for contributing to our work! 😃👍

Thanks so much for contributing to our work! 😃👍

Thanks so much for contributing to our work! 😃👍

DonateDonate monthlyDonate yearly