ScripTeast - innovative workshop program for scriptwriters from Central and Eastern Europe.

>>> Christian Routh

In recent years Christian has been involved in the design and execution of various audiovisual training workshops. Currently he is Head of Studies at FOUR CORNERS, a European Union MEDIA supported programme which is a new initiative for initial training, involving film schools based in Spain, England, Bulgaria, and Greece. He holds the same position for another MEDIA project, SCRIPTEAST, based in Poland, serving central European filmmakers. Prior to these, he was Head of Studies at the CO-PILOT development workshops in Barcelona, Spain, where courses were held in feature film, and mobile content. Between 2002 and 2005 he held the same role at the PILOTS TV drama workshops, in Sitges, Spain.

He also acts as a consultant, lecturer, screenwriter, and script editor, for various European production companies, state agencies, directors, and film schools, including the Binger Film Lab in Amsterdam, where he has been teaching regularly for over twelve years. With the late Dagmar Benke, Christian is the co-author of a book called SCRIPT DEVELOPMENT, published by UVK, Germany.

Before moving to the delights of Spain from his native London in 2000, he was Head of Selection at the European Script Fund, and EMDA, from its inception in 1989, until 1998. Whilst there he helped develop hundreds of European films and programmes, including TOTO LE HERO, ORLANDO, BREAKING THE WAVES, and ELIZABETH. Prior to that he had been a film buyer and development executive with Thorn-EMI, Cannon, and Red Rooster Films.

Where have you heard about Scripteast?	From a seminar held in London a couple of years ago, attended by a Polish colleague, Violetta Kaminska.
What made you interested in this program?	The prospect of working with new people, with new stories to tell. Whenever I work in a different European country, I find that there are fascinating ideas that reflect the culture they come from. Poland, with its great cinematic history, and the challenges and opportunities offered by its new European status, is a culture that intrigues me immensely.
What do you expect from this year edition of scripteast?	What I hope I can do, with the other trainers, is to help nurture some of the emergent new talent attending the event, and assist them in making their projects appeal to as wide an international audience as possible.
Do you have previous experience as tutor and advisor at similar workshops?	Yes, it's what I do most the time, in various European countries, but mostly in Catalonia, Spain, where I'm Head of Studies of the Co-Pilot workshops. I've just returned from one I did in Slovakia for an Italian agency called Maia.
What is your personal defintion of a good scrtipt and what - the most- makes it succesful?	How long have you got?...It's good, if, when I read it, I can see it visually, and it makes me want to know what happens next, rather than just being a chore. It's also good, if it surprises me, but in a believable way. It needs to make me think, rather than just react passively. What makes it successful? Achieving the right mix of strong characters with whom an audience can identify on an emotional level, convincing dialogue, an intriguing narrative, and a profound underlying theme, even if it's comedy, so that they leave the cinema (or whatever type of screen it may be), contemplating what they have just seen.

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