Jonathan Hall & Hannah Robinson
London-based Jonathan Hall and Hannah Robinson’s script FIREWORKS recently won the prestigious American Screenwriters Association Grand Prize.
What training have you received?
Hannah: BA English Lit, Arista, Script Factory Writers’ Group, Mediterranean Film Institute, and North by Northwest.
Jonathan: MA Screenwriting from LCC, NxNW, Mediterranean Film Institute, Script Factory Readers courses and Writers’ Passage, etc. In fact, I’m a course junky.
What themes do you like to explore in your work?
Opposites and contradictions existing at the same time in people—the closeness of destruction and creativity, short-term thrill versus long-term stability, fantasy versus reality. Self-esteem. Family conflict. Lots of fairly serious stuff, but we prefer to explore themes through comedy with pathos rather than social realist lectures.
What’s the best advice you’ve been given as a writer?
The sequence method of screenwriting (as taught at USC) breaks the job down into manageable sections. Also, don’t be precious; do be tenacious. It’s possible to decipher bad criticism and find something useful in it. No one knows anything—what can sound like a verdict is only an opinion. Meetings are nice… Moaning with other writers is fun… Coffee tastes good… But don’t forget to actually write.
Most significant moment in your career so far…
Hannah: Winning Best European Director at Rome’s Donne in Corto Film Festival and the Grand Prix Européene at Vendôme Film Festival.
Jonathan: First TV commission—the definition of a professional writer? The combination of a deadline and a cheque.
Both: Winning the American Screenwriters Association Grand Prize with our screenplay FIREWORKS—the first international winners! It’s shown us that our voice is one that speaks to US audiences. It also brought us to the attention of Frank Wuliger, our fantastic US agent who has a clear and exciting career plan for us. We also had a “cute meet” on our way to the Mediterranean Film Institute, which was the start of everything for us as a team. A year later we made an award-winning short film together (IN THE MOOD with Kelly Brook) and a year after that we wrote FIREWORKS.
You’ll die happy when…
Jonathan: England stuff Australia in cricket.
Hannah: I have one gadget that does everything and doesn’t need charging. ■
