Over the last year, I’ve been working on a screenplay currently entitled ‘Last Days of the Empire Hotel’; set in a boarding house in London in 1966.
Last October I went over and spent three weeks in London staying with my dear and patient friends of 30 years, Catherine and Patrick Bowens, who walked the streets of Islington with me and discussed various historic aspects of the story I was planning.
While you create a location for the story in your mind, it helps to be guided, inspired and constrained by a specific location and so, for me, the process is enhanced by walking the streets and imagining the story being played out in that environment.
Patrick, who was actually in a rock band in the 60’s, also took me on a retrospective tour of Soho, showing me the famous Anello and David shoe store where the Rolling Stones bought their Cuban heeled boots, the Marquee Club where Georgie Fame played and the Flamingo Club where you could catch Eric Clapton on stage.
As a Londonophile and aficionado of 1960’s culture, I loved every minute of the research and later, as I was writing, could feel myself immersed in that time and place (no drugs required).
The script is now at third draft stage and I have been putting it out to various friends to get feedback – which has also been incredibly rewarding. I’m amazed (and honoured) at the time that friends have put into reading and ‘fault-finding’ either with character actions, structure or small details that don’t ring true. And the work will be improved considerably as a result of their feedback.
Writing is considered to be the ‘lonely’ profession. Although I don’t find writing lonely (I feel a sense of peaceful contentment when I write) it’s fantastic to get the village involved and share the investment and the long-haul writing journey with friends.
