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Warren Glover

 

BlueCat: Why did you start writing screenplays?

Warren Glover: Quite by accident. In 2009 I moved from London (England) to Edinburgh (Scotland), with the intention of doing a Masters degree in global health policy at Edinburgh University. I had three months before the Masters course started so I decided to re-visit an old passion and enrolled on an eleven-week course on writing short stories and poetry. There were also courses on adapting short stories to short film and screenwriting, so I took those as well. I ended up pulling the plug on my Masters and have devoted my time to writing ever since.

BlueCat: What is your highest screenwriting goal for yourself?

WG: To sell a feature script and see it produced and in cinemas. I’ve sold a short film script and have made two of my own shorts into films. I’ve also had another short film script made into a film by someone else, but the goal is a feature.

BlueCat: What aspects of the writing process do you struggle with the most?

WG: Making my characters likeable (or at least that’s what coverage always comes back with).

BlueCat: What movies do you watch to remind yourself that you love screenwriting?

WG: I watch anything! I’m always recording movies to watch later, and if I’ve read the screenplay in advance so much the better, but I tend to gravitate to rom-coms and dark comedy.

BlueCat: What do you feel you do well as a screenwriter?

WG: Dialogue, or at least that what coverage always comes back with!  I also write stage plays.

BlueCat: Do you feel that screenwriting is different in your country than it is in Hollywood? If so, how?

WG: Although I’m English I live in Australia, which is a much smaller market. Australian films are hard to sell domestically as it appears Australian audiences don’t really want to see Australian films. It’s also hard to sell screenplays set elsewhere in Australia; the market’s just too small.

BlueCat: What screenplay have you written which you feel most proud of and why?

WG: DeCodeMe is a very contemporary, and slightly controversial, comedy/rom-com about a ladies’ man who’s maliciously diagnosed with the ‘latent gay gene’ by his girlfriend, who erroneously suspects that he’s been cheating on her. He’s forced to confront his entire sense of self and identity as he comes to terms with the fact that he’s gay. When he finally accepts this the truth comes out that it was all a hoax, but by this stage he’s much more comfortable with himself and is ready – finally – to commit. However, will it be to a man or a woman? I was hired to write this story by an independent production company in Melbourne who have since gone bust. It’s a great concept, very timely and topical, and very funny (or has the potential to be). I enjoyed researching the science set-up and there are some great characters in it.