Danny's Toys wins another screenplay award

My short film script DANNY'S TOYS has won another prize, which is nice. The Leith Short Film Festival (happening this weekend in Edinburgh) ran a screenwriting competition this year, with two categories - features and shorts. I entered DANNY'S TOYS after seeing the contest advertised, and promptly forgot about it. So getting the news was a lovely surprise last Sunday.

I was interviewed about the script and my writing on radio station Leith FM yesterday. The reward for winning is a reading of DANNY'S TOYS by a professional cast, broadcast on Leith FM sometime next week. Not sure if they'll be doing the whole script [maybe, it's only 15 pages]. It's a very visual piece, so perhaps they'll be using a narrator to read the scene description.

Vicious Imagery readers with long memories might recall DANNY'S TOYS won a first prize in the Page International Screenwriting Awards at Los Angeles, back in 2007. So why did I enter this old favourite into a competition this year? In the hope it might win and get the script some fresh exposure. I still want to see this story made into an animated short film one day.

I did work with an animation producer on DANNY'S TOYS for a few months in 2008, with a view to getting it made. But he couldn't squeeze get any enthusiasm out of Scottish Screen for it - let alone any formal development funding - so that came to naught. I know it's an incredible longshot that my little gem will ever get made, but I haven't given up on it. Not by a long chalk.

Even if DANNY'S TOYS doesn't become a short film, the script is a great calling card. Highly visual, evocative, prompts an emotional reaction out of most people who read it. A lovely showcase for what I can do as a writer. It's hardly typical of what I've been writing for a show like Doctors, but does demonstrate my voice. DANNY'S TOYS is the script that keeps on giving. Onwards!