Relive the exciting relaunch of the Canadian Short Screenplay Competition and the award-winning blog with #WW 2025 Laureate Neil Graham.
It can often feel, particularly as I work near London’s Oxford Street, that Christmas begins sometime in September — when the shops start stacking mince pies or the rickshaws…
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The Art of the Start
There are so many wonderful opening lines to novels. You probably have your own favourite. “Call me Ishmael”, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”…
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The Art of the Movie Poster
I have a long term appreciation for movie posters. The best of them are works of art in their own right, and there is something fascinating about the process of trying to encapsulate a whole movie’s worth of storytelling in one eye-catching image.
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Bit by Bit: life in a small film archive
First and foremost I am a movie fan. I care that old movies and great television are preserved and remain available for viewing for future generations…
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Back in Fashion, or how I realized how little free time there is and learned to love short films again….
Neil Graham
01 Oct 2025
Artistically, shorts have always been important. There are as so many fabulous and important short films produced every year. But they don’t always get the attention they deserve…
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Those Unseen Inspirations….
Neil Graham
11 Sep 2025
I am not particularly an emotional person, outwardly anyway. I am English after all — I must have a couple of stiff-upper-lipped genes buried inside me somewhere…
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Christmas is Coming….
Neil Graham
11 Sep 2025
Don’t worry this isn’t a commercial and far too early Countdown to Christmas — a subversive effort to entice you to over-spend your hard-earned dollars in the coming weeks or months…
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Keep it Simple and Make it Clear!
Neil Graham
20 Aug 2025
My plan for my previous blog was to write a little piece on “Vertical Film-making” — but the day job life got in the way of the creative life and I did not have enough time to compose my thoughts…
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In Dialogue — David Cormican on ‘Pretending to be a Producer’ and the Revival of the CSSC
Canadian Short Screenplay Competition
13 Aug 2025
If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to make it in the film and television industry beyond the glitz and the grind, David Cormican has a story for you.
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The Best Laid Plans….
Canadian Short Screenplay Competition
30 Jul 2025
I will confess up front. This #WW post is a bit of a rush job….. Like many (most?) of us round these parts, I have a day job that remains a life necessity…
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The BIG Screen Experience
Canadian Short Screenplay Competition
02 Jul 2025
The sun has been shining this week in London. That’s not a metaphor. It really is baking hot. “Hot, damn hot” as the great Robin Williams once said about the Vietnamese jungle.
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In Dialogue — Michael Young on Queer Melancholy and Writing What Haunts You
Canadian Short Screenplay Competition
25 Jun 2025
Michael Young’s Canadian Short Screenplay Competition winning script, The Sound of Trees, was the very last script submitted to the 6th Edition of the CSSC….
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All Good Things Come to Those Who Wait…
Neil Graham
11 Jun 2025
Film history is filled with many examples of movies that have taken a long time to get from that moment of the completed script to the point that cameras start to roll…
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A Screen Contest
Neil Graham
7 May 2025
Amazing, well done to the 13 super talented screenwriters who have made the final list for the 6th Edition of the Canadian Short Screenplay Competition…
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Sex, Politics and Religion
Neil Graham
30 Apr 2025
The first real job I had was working at a bowling alley. As well as the lane marshaling duties — a role that largely entailed telling people not to run down the alley to retrieve their balls…
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The Ticking Clock…
Neil Graham
16 Apr 2025
Well the deadline— the final, final, final deadline has come and gone…..
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The Business of Writing
Neil Graham
2 Apr 2025
I assume most of us are here because, first and foremost, we love the movies. It’s an artistic and passion thing, a calling. A vocation…
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In Dialogue: Jesse & Zachary Herrmann — From Seder Table To The Screen
Sidney Nickerson
26 Mar 2025
The Canadian Short Screenplay Competition has always been a platform for fresh, compelling voices in screenwriting. Among those voices are Jesse and Zachary Herrmann, brothers whose short film script, Elijah The Prophet, was brought to life through the competition…
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Starting Is The Hardest Part: A Writer’s Advice.
Marek Blundell
20 Mar 2025
Whether you have hundreds of ideas rattling in your head, or need to review an old work you’ve written, the hardest part is always… putting your butt in that chair and STARTING….
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Do Popular Movies Not Win Oscars?
Sidney Nickerson
19 Mar 2025
“You never say ‘Thank you!’”
“That’s what the money is for!”…
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The Sound of Silence
Neil Graham
19 Mar 2025
Noisy the modern world, isn’t it?
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In Dialogue: Jag Dhadli — On The Podium
Marek Blundell
12 Mar 2025
The Canadian Short Screenplay Competition has long been a proving ground for screenwriters…
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5 Pro Tips for a Better Screenplay Competition Submission
Valeria Perea
4 Mar 2025
If you’re entering any screenplay competition— even perhaps the Canadian Short Screenplay Competition, you might want to read this whole article before clicking ‘submit’…
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The Art and Craft of Screenwriting Procrastination
Neil Graham
4 Mar 2025
Dither and doodle. Practice makes perfect!…
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Top 10 Most Common Mistakes Screenwriters Make (And How to Avoid Them)
Valeria Perea
27 Feb 2025
Writing is hands-down a creative process, and no single formula will guarantee your success. What works for one writer may not work for another…
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In Dialogue: Mark De Angelis — The Screenwriter’s Journey
Valeria Perea
26 Feb 2025
Crafting a screenplay is an adventure full of excitement and challenges. While there is no secret formula or a straight path to create the perfect script…
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In Dialogue: Suri Parmar — The Importance of Writing for Yourself
Valeria Perea
26 Feb 2025
Suri Parmar never expected her script to place in the Canadian Short Screenplay Competition. Her short screenplay, Minus Lara, not only won second place but was also swiftly produced…
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In Dialogue: Neil Graham—From CSSC Winner to Lifelong Storyteller
Mark Tuscano
5 Feb 2025
When Neil Graham first heard about the Canadian Short Screenplay Competition, he wasn’t expecting it to change the trajectory of his writing…
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Why We Still Write…
Neil Graham
5 Feb 2025
We have a remarkable level of access to movies today. It’s a far cry from when I began my love for all things film in the 70s & 80s when viewing was restricted to my local cinema screen…
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Debí tirar más fotos, o disfrutar el momento | Cherishing Moments in Bad Bunny’s DTMF
Valeria Perea
17 Jan 2025
17 Jan 2025
Debí tirar más fotos is a short film written and directed by Bad Bunny (Benito A. Martinez Ocasio) and Puerto Rican filmmaker, Ari Manuel Cruz Suarez…
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Why Short Is Better— The Art of Writing Short Films
David Cormican
8 Jan 2025
8 Jan 2025
In a world where attention spans are shrinking, but the appetite for compelling stories becomes insatiable, the short screenplay stands tall in the face of brevity…
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