The exceptionally talented and handsome Oliver Warren is a screenwriter, director, and one of the judges in our Little Wonder Radio Play competition. Watch this space because in the not so distant future he’s going to be a big deal (we just slipped in before the feeding frenzy!)
In this short interview Oliver talks about his experiences as a writer/director, how the roots of storytelling can be found in everything from a script to a fashion shoot, and gives some advice on how to survive the tough old world of writing.
Click on “more” to get to the good stuff!
Hi Oliver! Who are you?
I’m a writer-director. London-born, New York-based, and story-obsessed.
Tell us about your writing experience.
I’ve just, yesterday, completed my fourth TV pilot script. The previous three are currently doing the rounds of agent’s desks and screenplay competitions, whilst my first pilot script, Cusp, has garnered some high profile fans, praise, and just earned itself a Quarter-finalist place in the Shore Script competition.
I’ve also written three feature scripts (similar off fighting for a place in the world), five shorts (one produced and award-winning), two produced radio plays and a soon-to-be shot web series too.
My passion is creating original worlds, through the medium of TV pilot scripts, but writing in a mix of radio, feature, web-series and short gives a chance to exercise different parts of the writing muscle. It’s also a chance to explore ideas, dreams and moments of creative inspiration that simply wouldn’t sustain a TV format.
Outside of writing, what do you do?
Everyone has a “day job” to support their writing, and I’m just lucky enough that mine is directing Fashion and Documentary films – itself an incredible place to practice the art of storytelling.
Each have their own demanding form of storytelling.
Documentary has a purity and honesty that I love, but needs a very story-focused eye to sift reality wheat from mundane chaff.
Fashion-film-making, so rich in visuals, demands an aesthetic-priority so much so that many filmmakers mistakenly forego any form of story-telling, but it’s still an essential part of keeping an audience engaged and their finger held those all important millimetres from the next click.
How does this experience inform and improve your writing?
Getting to immerse myself in the very real world of production keeps me very much grounded in the reality of what is possible on screen (and on budget), but more than this, the documentary storytelling and constantly meeting new people in different walks of life, allows me to confidently create authentic characters who are different to myself, but still speak to the universal human condition.
Meanwhile, relying only on visuals for storytelling in fashion films, more often than not communicating a mood more so that a narrative, gift me the ability to create screenplays that play heavily on visual mood, strengthening the non-dialogue storytelling.
Of course, radio plays are the complete opposite to fashion films, which is in part, why it’s such a delight to work on them with Little Wonder!
What advice would you give to new writers?
Simply, live. A lot.
If you don’t live life, fuck up, love with all your heart, get hurt, love again, hurt others, cheat, lie, beg, fuck up some more, try to fix things, make bad decisions, travel, meet people, hate people, fuck up the same things AGAIN, fight for things, fight against things, get chewed up by the machine, be the machine, be the drama.. Then how the hell are you supposed to write drama!?
And try. The old adage that 100% of successful people try, is literally the only thing approaching a universal truth.
What advice would you give to those entering competitions – and not succeeding?
Well, it happens to all of us. Happened to me again this very morning. So being on both sides of the equation at the same time, I can confidently say.. Ignore them!
Ignore the rejections. Judge’s might have bad days, and other things to do, and whizz past your script and miss the magic. Also, it might not be very good. Terrible, even. It could have been the worst thing the judge has ever read. But still.. Keep writing. It’s the only way you’re going to get better. And if you’re going to let some half-interested rushing writing competition judge derail your writing career, then you’re not cut out to be a writer.
Also, it might just be taste too. I hate period dramas, and so would most likely not advance a script that was a period drama. One of my scripts, a dark sci-fi time-travel gay-rape drama is struggling to find fans – which is fine, I get why people might dislike it. But it IS genius, and one day (maybe) someone else might recognise that! But ultimately, don’t rely on writing competitions.
Personally, I’ve had far more success sneaking into fancy pool parties that I don’t belong at, and lurking near the open bar.
