On the face of it, a film about three weeks in the life of political icon Winston Churchill, at the most critical time in the Second World War, could have been as dry as old bones, but director Joe Wright and Scriptwriter Anthony McCarten, together with an absolutely s...
'Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife,
Their sober wishes never learn'd to stray;
Along the cool sequester'd vale of life
They kept the noiseless tenor of their way.'
Thomas Gray’s Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard
Brooklyn, 1957, and fifty-four year-old Rudolf Abel lives in a boarding house on Hick Street and rents a studio on Fulton. He likes to paint and has become quite skilled, taking his canvas down to the waterfront to capture life as it happens – and no one would be any t...
George’s life sucks pretty bad – he’s drunk and sleeping in the bath for God’s sake, and there’s this guy Art, who looks a lot like Steve Buscemi... wait, it is Buscemi… Okay, let’s start again. When George’s ex-girlfriend, Sheila, is evicted from her run down New York...
In my day job, the one that pays the bills and keeps a roof over my head, I work for a company that builds hospitals. Would that it were something more creative, but hey ho.
Anyway, in my day job I get to meet lots of very industrious lawyers, consultants, engineers, ar...
I’ve been writing professionally for 29 years. First on TV and film and more recently as a novelist. The thing I’ve noticed lately is the increased use of ‘beta’ readers and feedback; as if each novel is now written by committee and not by a single author at all. I’ve...
By mistake I watched some really early footage of Donald Trump the other day and I was struck by how humble and down to earth he seemed. Totally unlike the man we know today from the lurid headlines and speeches where he threatens to incarcerate Hillary and build a wal...
I recently wrote a post on a facebook site called Writers Unite! - yes there's an exclamation at the end and no apostrophe - that got a great reaction from members. Here's what I wrote.
As a professional writer (scripts for broadcast TV, Hollywood films, documentaries)...
Departure -in conversation with Andrew Steggall and Juliet Stevenson
By Angela Elliott
Not so much a ‘coming out’ as a ‘coming of age’ story, Departure is a multi-facetted film that picks at the bones of a family’s secrets. From pretentious fifteen-year-old Elliot (Al...
From the opening scenes in Miss Kelly’s shop all the way through the sign-off, the film Brooklyn is a masterpiece of characterisation, adeptly carried by a cast, seemingly born to the roles. Rapturously received at its premier at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2...
