A ray of sunshine penetrated the wintry gloom of the city centre last December when Los Angeles film lecturer, casting director and writer Wendall Thomas visited the Tyneside Cinema to present her one day film masterclass: ‘Bridesmaids: Anatomy of a Hit.’

When you think of the Tyneside Cinema you might think of its plush seats, the glorious fact that you can take your glass of wine or chilled beer into the cinema or its beautiful Art Deco décor. What doesn’t spring to mind quite so readily is that the Tyneside regularly plays host to a wide range of activities and international guest speakers that support the arts scene in the North East.

Listening to a woman who has hands-on experience of working in the Hollywood film industry was like being an avid baker given an audience with Mary Berry (throw in Paul too and you’ve got more Hollywood than you can shake a stick at!).

The Roxy Cinema was full of people as eager to learn about ‘the three-act structure’, ‘ensemble comedies versus the hero’s journey’ and ‘universal themes’ as I was. We were guided through a recent history of successful international comedies: The Full Monty, The Tall Guy, Notting Hill and Meet the Parents to name just a few. And we learned that it’s the universal themes behind these films that mean that they travel – and sell – so well across the world. Notting Hill is ‘a dream come true’; Meet the Parents is about the fear commonly experienced when meeting your prospective in-laws; and Bridesmaids? Well Bridesmaids is all about ‘What happens when your best friend in all the world announces she’s getting married.’

Watching a few minutes of the film and then listening as it was explained in terms of how the story was constructed by a mixture of scenes and sequences was fascinating. To go back to our keen bakers it was like those episodes of The Great British Bake Off where Mary and Paul bake something from scratch and hold your hand as they take you through each stage. Suddenly you find yourself thinking “Sachertorte! What a doddle! I could do that!”

I have written one screenplay so far in my life. It took a year and a half to complete. I used three reams of A4 paper and several cartridges of printer ink to produce something that’s just ninety pages long. And that’s ninety pages with a lot of white space. What I learned at the Tyneside with Wendell Thomas is that there’s a lot more to Sachertorte than meets the eye – It’s back to the laptop I go!

by Katherine Wildman © 2013

Katherine Wildman is the Creative Director of Haydn Grey Ltd, a copywriting agency based in Cullercoats.

Discover how Haydn Grey can help you find the right words to promote your business at www.haydngrey.co.uk or call the office on 0191 289 3170.

As soon as I turned the corner I heard it. A bass line that shook the floor and messed with my heartbeat. The room was dark but for the flickering lights that illuminated a small, square stage. While the rest of the nation sat glued to Strictly Come Dancing and the X Factor, I entered a dark and dangerous world. A world of violence, damage, fear and despair.

And what’s more, I had paid for the privilege.

The music pulsed through the floor as I made my way down the stairs to my seat. It felt like being twenty-one again, standing on a podium in a packed nightclub. I clutched my respectably small glass of red wine and sat down. A wall of flashing video screens behind the stage bombarded my eyes with images of bodies, numbers and boxing gloves.

For an introductory sequence, this was utterly thrilling.

Beautiful Burnout, written by Bryony Lavery, was brought to Northern Stage by Frantic Assembly and the National Theatre of Scotland last November. I went to see it at the last minute after reading a Facebook message from an old school friend telling me that it was extraordinary. I can’t thank her enough for the push.

We all know that television isn’t just reality shows. It can be brilliant. Especially when either Sir David Attenborough or Hugh Bonneville are involved. We know, too, that the cinema can leave you open-mouthed – but there is something extraordinary that happens when you are at a theatre.

To see people moving in the harmony that only happens after months of rehearsals, to marvel as they become someone else, someone new and someone real. To watch the words on a page come to life. I knew I was entranced by Beautiful Burnout when I realized, a good half an hour into the play, that the woman on the stage in front of me was not just the downtrodden single mother of an aspiring boxer on the mean streets of Glasgow where the play is set. She was also ‘Miss Hooley’, the primary school teacher who always wears green and has bobbed hair, from the CBeebies children’s show Balamory.

This woman had been in my front room for years, and now here she was, a few feet away from me, dressed in cheap leggings and a baggy grey sweatshirt with her hair scraped back, fighting for her son and considering “the best washing powder to remove sweat – and blood”.

For ninety glorious minutes I was transported. I felt afraid, aghast, astonished and amazed. I laughed, I cried and, when it was all over, I stood up by myself and thumped out the loudest applause I could muster.

Stepping out into the freezing cold night air outside the theatre, my mind whirring with the final scenes, the world seemed a little bit brighter, a little more alive than it had two hours before.

Thank you, Northern Stage, for an amazing night. No X Factor required.

by Katherine Wildman © 2013

Katherine Wildman is the Creative Director of Haydn Grey Ltd, a copywriting agency based in Cullercoats.

Discover how Haydn Grey can help you find the right words to promote your business at www.haydngrey.co.uk or call the office on 0191 289 3170.