How to be a scriptwriter: Take a long walk

Some say it’s the glamorous side of writing, others quite the opposite. Award-winning actor and scriptwriter Mark O’Halloran has the inside track.

I’m full of stories, but I don’t know where to start

That’s a common story itself. O’Halloran went to drama school. The writer of Garage, Adam and Paul, and Conversations After Sex says he started at the age of 30, to “expand my creativity. I began writing and staging short plays. From there, everything is measured out in happy accidents”.

Sounds like a movie already, but it’s not entirely helpful

Being in the business is the best way to meet people in the business. “The person who had the most profound effect on my writing and my career is Lenny Abrahamson,” O’Halloran continues, although he does agree that hoping a world-famous director will drop into your lap as a mentor is a little woolly in terms of making an overall career plan. O’Halloran has now set up a stage and screen writing course at UCD, with Dr Nicolas Pillai, to try to mirror that sort of experience.

Now you’re talking

“We aim to get writers off the page, up on to their feet and out into the world,” says Pillai. This means learning the craft of writing, including structuring your work, as well as pitching and making industry connections. Writing “is a sort of a highwire act”, says O’Halloran. “You have to believe you can take this story from small idea to completion, and then find an audience. Of course there will be missteps along the way,” he agrees. “But that is part of the learning.”

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Anything I should be reading to get me writing?

Bookshelves stagger under the weight of writers telling you how to do it successfully, and if one actually worked there would be only one – if you think about it. A few classics include Robert McKee’s Story, for tips on structure; On Writing by Stephen King to get you through any crisis; and Adventures in the Screen Trade by William Goldman – written back in the 1980s, it’s full of old-style Hollywood chicanery.

Stephen King! William Goldman! Mark O’Halloran! Help!! I’m only starting out

There are resources to help. O’Halloran cites Screen Ireland on the film and television side, and the Arts Council for playwrights. It’s worth seeing if your local authority arts office have any grants too. O’Halloran began by writing and putting on small pieces, and says that “to be a screenwriter you need to love film and be engaged in life – to be actively watching and observing people and situations”.

What about writer’s block?

“When you can’t write you should try to figure out why you can’t write, or else take a long walk – it tends to sort out most crises,” says O’Halloran, which is one way of getting fit at least. “You might not know when it’s good,” he continues, “but you’ll always know when it’s as yet unfinished”. You’ll have layers of “finished”, all the way to the final draft. The early days can be pretty solitary, but once you hit the big time, story editors and script editors get involved, which helps or hinders, depending on your point of view.

Next stop fame and glory?

Quite possibly. “There is now an insatiable hunger for content in the TV world,” says O’Halloran. “Now more than ever, a career as a TV and film writer is a real possibility.”

Find out more about the Creative Futures Academy/UCD MA in Writing for Stage and Screen, and register your interest now at creativefuturesacademy.ie