What was the last film you really enjoyed and do you know precisely why it was so satisfying? You obviously don’t need to know why it worked to enjoy it, but the reasons are likely to relate to plot, character, structure and most cryptic of all, the controlling idea, the movie’s basic premise. The qualities that make a good movie are so well documented, one wonders why bad movies ever get made. As we know, the majority fall down for various reasons. The trick seems to be to follow the conventions of screen writing while being highly creative in their interpretation.

So what has all this to do with marketing? If you apply the fundamentals techniques of screenwriting in developing your marketing communications, you’re unlikely to go far wrong. The goals are fundamentally the same; to provide the audience with a satisfying and memorable experience. Small wonder so many successful screenwriters did time as advertising copywriters before branching out into movies. Here are some of the qualities screenwriters are aiming for:

• A good script has a strong premise
• A good script hooks its audience
• A good script has a theme
• A good script is entertaining
• A good script ends with a satisfying resolution

Where appropriate, replace script with campaign, premise with consumer insight and resolution with call to action. Looking for a screenwriter anyone?

There’s no point winning the creative battle only to lose the business war. You pitch to win, no holds barred. I have learned a lot about pitching working with the industry’s top producers and my discoveries are summaried in my report Pitching to Win. At the very least, it should considerably reduce your chances of losing. The report covers:

• Analysing the brief
• Observing the corporate culture
• Choosing the right creative approach
• Developing the theme
• Constructing the document
• Bringing the proposal to life
• Planning the presentation

I have a good track record helping companies to win pitches. Earlier this year I helped win a £100K project for a training DVD. I also like to think I help companies keep their clients by delivering a very professional service. Click here for a free (no obligation) copy of Pitching_to_Win.

‘Not all scriptwriters are able to conceptualise,’ said Des Good of CEO Grosvenor Productions. This surprised me; I thought that was what scriptwriting was all about. Fortunately, I am one of the ones who can. If you need a cracking opener, a magical metaphor or a thoroughly thought out theme, then get in touch. Getting down to specifics, here are some areas where I can add value:

• Medicine and the pharmaceutical industry
• Science and technology
• Programmes requiring drama and/or humour
• Compliance, financial crime and legal training
• Local Government
• Skills training for the transport sector

On the production side,  I can help with:

• Off-camera interviews in English and French
• Off-camera interviews with doctors and patients
• Translating and subtitling from French to English
• Supervising post production
• Supervising animation storyboards
• Pitches and proposals

Thank you for visiting my new web site, launched 18/08/2009

The site is aimed at video production companies, creative agencies and individual business people and demonstrates the variety of my video and marketing work. I hope it will also give you an impression of the professional approach I take to my work.  Many of my clients have been with me for 15 years or more.

I would like to thank Luke Burford of Lunamedia for suggesting this platform and for so diligently building the site and accomodating my requirments. I can highly recommend him. I would also like to thank Tia Azulay for her help in developing the concept and keeping me honest. In less than a month, the site has rocketed to top of the Google rankings for ‘creative writer uk’ which is brilliant.

Google Analytics tells me I have visitors from right across the world, which is very humbling.  Being realistic, I imagine they may have been interested in a different kind of creative writing to mine. But don’t be deceived by appearances. I have just finished my first novel and there’s a screenplay and some short stories on the back burner. So if you want to share ideas about creative writing of the purely creative type, please get in touch.

If you Google this question, you get no replies. Does that mean it’s a silly question? I  mean everyone knows what websites are for, don’t they? They may think they do until they try to put one up. For example, should it be a portrait of the owner or a mirror to the user? Where should it lie on the continuum between positioning and partnership? Is it right to make an indivual look like an organisation or a small organisation look like a multinational? Should the emphasis be on the words or the images?

Business people are often too busy to worry about their websites, but it’s a task they delegate at their peril. Your website is the most significant representation of your brand. My beliefs about controlling ideas, themes and positioning are as crucial to building a website as they are to a video or feature film. Going through that intellectual process, step by step, will save buckets of time and money on development and deliver a site that reflects your values. If you have a web project, I would be happy to take you through the process, but I shall be asking lots of questions such as, ‘What is your website for?‘

Occasionally a client commissions a video with the slightly quaint request that it should win an award. The most prestigious of these and the hardest to win are undoubtedly the IVCA Awards. Having judged them for many years, I have a reasonable idea what makes a winner but it’s hard to prescribe. I do know however what will positively guarantee failure:

• Do enter your programme into the wrong category, the judges won’t notice

• Don’t check the DVD actually plays, the judges are all techies and will sort it out

• Do give a misleading description of the objectives, no one reads them

• Don’t provide the supporting materials you say go with it, ditto above

• Do state the client was really pleased, that means so much

• Don’t take your name off the titles even though you were asked to do so

• Do blow half the budget on the opening, they never watch them through

• Don’t employ an award-winning scriptwriter, it’s a complete waste of money

Here are some of the video projects I have been working on:

• courtroom dramas for the Dept of Justice for series ‘You be the judge’
• series of videos on urology for Ferring Pharmaceuticals
• 3D animation for GlaxoSmithKline on how to conduct assay for H1N1 virus
• 30 minute training drama for The Standards Board for England

• sales video for GE Health Care on a laboratory analyser

• PR video about atrial fibrillation for Sanofi Aventis