PRETTYBIRD UK has added emerging Gen-Y writer/filmmaker Josef Bates to its directorial roster. Bates has already developed a signature dark comedy style, which was first showcased in his inaugural short, Meat. The film made waves on the European film festival circuit and won him an award at the British Horror Film Festival in 2018, as well as shortlist recognition at Molins de Rei Horror Film Festival. Bates has kept up the momentum with his second short, TIC, which premiered at the BFI London Film Festival in October 2019. TIC hit the big screen again during the London Short Film Festival on January 11 and is now scheduled for few special screenings at some of London’s top ad agencies. TIC was produced by the BAFTA-winning VAL TV and stars Emma Mackey (Sex Education) and Will Merrick (Skins, Dead Pixels, About Time) in a tense black comedy about a guy trying to hide his Tourette syndrome on a first date with a witty young woman. Bates applies his personal experience of Tourette’s to the script, combined with references to slasher movies, to create a refreshing twist on the stereotypical portrayal of people with Tourette’s in cinema. Laced with dark humor and uncomfortable moments, TIC is an unconventional and original portrayal of a first date, which singles out Bates as one to watch. TIC is currently being written as a TV series for Channel 4 with the same cast…..
Writers of “Conclave,” “Say Nothing” Win Scripter Awards
The authors and screenwriters behind the film โConclaveโ and the series โSay Nothingโ won the 37th-annual USC Libraries Scripter Awards during a black-tie ceremony at USCโs Town and Gown ballroom on Saturday evening (2/22).
The Scripter Awards recognize the yearโs most accomplished adaptations of the written word for the screen, including both feature-length films and episodic series.
Novelist Robert Harris and screenwriter Peter Straughan took home the award for โConclave.โ
In accepting the award, Straughan said, โAdaptation is a really strange process, youโre very much the servant of two masters. In a way itโs an act of betrayal of one master for the other.โ He joked that โYou start off with a book that you love, you read it again and again, and then you end up throwing it over your shoulder,โ crediting author Robert Harris for being โso kind, so generous, so open throughout.โ
In the episodic series category, Joshua Zetumer and Patrick Radden Keefe won for the episode โThe People in the Dirtโ from the limited series โSay Nothing,โ which Zetumer adapted from Keefeโs nonfiction book about the Troubles in Ireland.
Zetumer referenced this yearโs extraordinary group of Scripter finalists, saying โprojects like these reminded me of why I wanted to become a writer when I was sitting in USCโs Leavey Library dreaming of becoming a screenwriter. If you fell in love with movies, or fell in love with TV, chances are you fell in love with something dangerous.โ
Special guest for the evening, actress and producer Jennifer Beals, shared her thoughts on the impact of libraries. โIf ever you are at a loss wondering if there is good in the world,โ she said, โyou have only to go to a... Read More