This coming Monday 2nd September, Sophie Neville is giving a talk on zoom about her screenwriting for Historical and Biblical Fiction Christian Writers Online. You can sign up on Bobbie Ann Cole’s website ahava.space
Sophie was interviewed recently for Writer’s Showcase at the Santa Barbara International Screenplay Awards:
Your script stood out among hundreds of others. What was the inspiration for your story and why did you write a script instead of a short story or a novel?
THE MEETING HOUSE is the extraordinary true story of an East African who served as an ambulance driver in Burma during WWII, became a POW to the Japanese and was airlifted out of Tokyo before it was bombed by Operation Meetinghouse in 1945.
I was commissioned to write the screenplay, then developed the historical novel with Curtis Brown Creative. It has won three writing prizes and is ready for publication.
How long did it take you to write your script… and what is your writing process?
This script took years of research! I worked on the outline with the producer, but she sadly died. It was then optioned by George Marshall who personally gave me rewrites. I then brought in historical advisers, script editors, kept polishing and tried out different structures while writing the novel.
What is your ultimate ambition as a writer?
I have two ideas for comedies: BANANA MAN – THE TRUE STORY about singleness and marriage (I was the bridesmaid) and THE RING OF KERRY based on an hysterical road trip collecting handprints for a genetic survey of Western Ireland in 1981 (the misadventures of me and a girlfriend).
Which film or television writers inspire you? Why?
Brian Sibley inspired me with his novel and true-life faith film ‘SHADDOWLANDS’. Sally Wainwright OBE writes humorous female-driven crime with gusto. David Wood OBE is great at adapting children’s literature for both film and stage.
What’s your all-time favorite movie or television show?
The movie SWALLOWS AND AMAZONS (1974) and tv drama SWALLOWS AND AMAZONS FOREVER! (1984) as I worked on them both.
What advice do you have for writers hoping to win a contest or place as a finalist as you have?
Keep writing – and keep submitting to Santa Barbara International Screenplay Awards for feedback!
What else are you working on that the world needs to know about?
The world needs to know about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. My book FUNNILY ENOUGH – a true-life, faith & family, comedy would convert into a low-budget movie. (We could add the fact that a serial killer was at large in Gloucestershire at the time. He has twelve known victims.)
Sophie Neville 