HOW TO GET STARTED AS A WRITER

If you're a budding screenwriter, how do you break into the industry, either film or TV?

Last December, the Australian Writers' Guild in Victoria hosted a one day session about how new writers can break in. A highlight of the day was the opening remarks by Shaun Grant, Anne Richey, Grant Scicluna, Shanti Gudgeon and Rohan Jones, who have bee past recipients of New Writers' grants.Karin Altmann then gave a terrific talk about what assessors are looking for in new submissions, John Reeves spoke about the option of doing a screenwriting course such as the one at RMIT, and then Charlie Carman outlined the Film Victoria's new Catapult Lab.

For those interested, Film Vic has recently put online a tips and tricks document for those people thinking about submitting to the Catapult Lab. But hurry, the deadline is January 13!

The alternative, of course, is to grab a camera, a few crew and bunch of actors, and start shooting!

MARK POOLE