What better way to understand the mechanics of film and TV writing than to sit down with a writer and break down a script with them?
In this virtual event series, the WGF Library team gathers acclaimed writers for the ultimate script dissection. Hosted by WGF Librarians Javier Barrios and Lauren O'Connor, we'll take a painstaking look at scripts on screen to analyze and learn about description, dialogue, character voice, text on screen, plus much more.
For this session, we welcome Peter Straughan, the writer of Conclave. He’ll take us through the pages of his adapted screenplay and share his approach to developing memorable characters and dialogue.
The Zoom webinar starts at 12PM PT. After signing up, you’ll receive information on how to access the Zoom panel.
Questions? Feel free to reach out to us at events@wgfoundation.org.
Click here to watch previous sessions of WGF Library Script Breakdown.
About the Writer
Peter Straughan is a British playwright, screenwriter and author, based in the north-east of England. He was writer-in-residence at Newcastle's Live Theatre Company. Whilst there, Live staged his plays, Bones and Noir. Both of these plays have displayed Straughan's talent for writing dark, twisted and witty stories.
His first ambition was to be a professional musician and he achieved this while playing bass guitar with Newcastle-based band "The Honest Johns". He spent four years touring and recording with the band through the late 1980s and into the early 1990s before leaving to take up full-time education at Newcastle University. While Peter was a student he was also a member of the band Cactusman. Peter wrote the song "Killer", which appeared on the CD album North of London, a collection of music by North East bands released through Newcastle Arts.
Straughan co-wrote the 2006 feature film, Mrs Ratcliffe's Revolution and adapted Toby Young's memoir How to Lose Friends & Alienate People. He is the writer of the 2009 film, The Men Who Stare at Goats, and co-writer of the 2011 film Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Adapted Screenplay, a screenplay he wrote in collaboration with his late wife Bridget O'Connor. O'Connor died of cancer, aged 49, in 2010, before the film was released. They were awarded a BAFTA for Best Adapted Screenplay.
He adapted Wolf Hall for television. Series 2 of Wolf Hall was confirmed to be in production on 27 May 2019.