Screen Academy Scotland graduate wins LA screenwriting competition
A recent screenwriting graduate from Screen Academy Scotland, a Skillset Screen Academy, has won the award for best short film screenplay at the prestigious Page International Screenwriting Awards in Los Angeles.
David Bishop, 41, a former daily newspaper journalist, won the £1,000 prize for his short film screenplay ‘Danny's Toys'.
He was one of 10 category winners at the LA competition. More than 3,400 screenplays were submitted.
The win has catapulted his work into the hands of major literary agents as well as development executives at Aardman Animations - the creators of Wallace and Gromit.
David completed his MA Screenwriting last month at Screen Academy Scotland - a collaboration between Napier University and Edinburgh College of Art.
He studied for his degree part-time over two years, and previously worked as a newspaper journalist, comic book editor and novelist (he has published 18 novels including tie-ins for Dr Who, Inspector Morse and Judge Dredd).
New Zealand-born David said he was making a comfortable career as a freelance writer and editor, but felt he needed more of a challenge as a writer.
"I was making a comfortable living working as a writer across a range of media, but not film and TV. I thought screenwriting would provide me the challenges I needed to become a better writer and story-teller," he said.
"I read about the Screen Academy, applied and was lucky enough to be successful. It's been a turning point for me in the sense that the screenplay ‘Danny's Toys' was developed and written as part of my MA work - and this very same piece of work is now winning screenwriting competitions in Los Angeles and has landed on the desks of agents and other people in the film industry who might not have read my work otherwise."
David is just one of a number of Screen Academy Scotland graduates and current students who are finding recognition in the highly competitive film and TV production industries.
Other successful students from last term are husband and wife low-budget film-making team, The Finnigans, who have had their fifth feature film, ‘My Life as a Bus Stop', screened to popular and critical acclaim at this year's Edinburgh International Film Festival. Wilma Smith-Finnigan and Duncan Finnigan are both MA Screenwriting students.
MA Screenwriting graduate John Parker's feature script, ‘The Line' (developed at the Screen Academy and inspired by a Bruce Springsteen song), so impressed his summer mentor film producer Peter Broughan that he has commissioned John to work on his next feature film, 'Renegade'.
Another successful student from MA Screenwriting is Phyllis McGowan, whose short film script, ‘Fly Away', is through to the second round of the British Short Screenplay Competition. Other talented students who made the first round of the British Short Screenplay Competition were Regina Moriarty and Adrian Maitra who both recently completed the Screen Academy Scotland's first e-learning, online course.
The Skillset Screen Academy Network is a UK-wide group of 'Centres of Excellence' in film education and training. These institutions were identified by the UK film industry as those already offering the highest quality of skills training but which need further support to continue to serve industry need. Their aim is to ensure the UK has the most talented and skilled workforce in the world, both now and in the future. The Network is made up of six Skillset Screen Academies and the Skillset Film Business Academy at Cass Business School.
Media contact: Rajiv Maharaj, Skillset Press/PR Manager
Phone: 02077 139812
Mobile: 07968 010325
e-mail: rajivm@skillset.org
Notes to Editors
1. Skillset is the Sector Skills Council for the Audio Visual Industries covering Broadcast, Film, Video, Interactive Media and Photo Imaging. Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) are licensed by the UK Government and by Ministers in the devolved administrations to tackle the skills and productivity challenge by sector. SSCs are independent, UK wide organisations developed by groups of influential employers in industry or business sectors of economic or strategic significance. SSCs are employer-led and actively involve trade unions, professional bodies and other stakeholders in the sector.