Liz Argall

Luke Devenish – Emerging Writers Festival, 7 Enviable Lines

Saturday, June 6th, 2009 | Conventions | No Comments

Five skilled wordsmiths, each providing seven gems of knowledge at the Emerging Writers Festival. Luke Devenish was the second to speak. Ambassador Devenish witty, charming and, as is appropriate for a screenplay writer, does good punchy dialogue. He’s a novelist, coming from the land of TV and the stage. He also teaches for AFTRS and has got me seriously considering going back to school. He too has a website. Here’s my paraphrasing of his enviable lines.

• I wish somebody had told me not to believe my own PR. Don’t get a hyped up, bloated ego head.
• I wish somebody had told me the importance of doing more than clever dialogue. To start with I was just a dialogue monkey (ed: Luke didn’t say monkey, Liz just likes to say monkey). Good story takes you to the next level and writing for TV forces you to be a story machine.
• I wish somebody had told me the real deal about agents – you don’t need to have them to get published.
• I wish somebody had told me to keep my gorram mouth open. You must learn how to talk about your work and promote your work. It is a skill you can learn and get better at with practice.
• It pays to be multi-skilled
• It is impossible to have a career without spelling and punctuation
• There is no shame in the lowest common denominator. Next to my computer I have two words SEX and DEATH.
• Just do it

Tomorrow, Ambassador Rachel Hills.

Tags: Emerging Writers Festival, Luke Devenish, screenplay