My short film script is a Page Awards finalist

Happy news late last night: THE WOMAN WHO SCREAMED BUTTERFLIES is a finalist in the 2009 Page International Screenwriting Awards. It's one of the ten contenders in the short film script category. There are ten categories, with a winner and two runners-up to be announced in each section on October 1st. The contest had nearly 4400 entries from 58 countries, so it's nice to be among the top 100 from all of those submissions.

I don't expect ...BUTTERFLIES to win. It's a striking script with a visually arresting element to the layout, but not exactly uplifting, feelgood fun. Even if it does win, the chances of my script getting made are slim. Short films tend to be arthouse efforts aimed at the film festival circuit or stepping stones to longer projects. Guess a director might fall in love with it, but I'm not holding my breath.

Been done this road before. Two years ago my script DANNY'S TOYS won the short film category in the 2007 Page Awards. Got a few reading requests and an Edinburgh producer sounded out Scottish Screen about development funding [without success]. A big strike against DANNY'S TOYS was the fact it had to be animated, meaning a six figure production budget - no easy ask for a short film.

THE WOMAN WHO SCREAMED BUTTERFLIES is contemporary, live action and doesn't feature any children [or clockwork bumblebees] - so it has a fractionally better chance of progressing beyond the script stage. Whatever happens, it's nice to see a project I developed for the BBC Sharps contest last year finding recognition. Keep your fingers crossed for ...BUTTERFLIES on October 1st. In the meantime - onwards!