BUDGET THIEVES OR: HOW I LEARNED TO HATE THE GOVERNMENT AND STOLE FROM THE TREASURY

Hello.

This post is best read while listening to this:

In the smoky aftermath of the budget announcement (or not so smoky given the 37p increase on tobacco) it seems like a good time to post about a screenplay I’ve been working on over the last year and a half.

It is a socio-political comedy that follows a group of lazy, state-scroungers who decide to steal the budget briefcase in an attempt to prevent the cuts going into place.

Budget Thieves Or: How I Learned to Hate the Government and Stole from the Treasury has involved more research, reflection, predicting and thought than any written project I have thus far worked on. That doesn’t mean it’s good, it just means there have been certain interesting challenges that have arisen that I haven’t faced on other projects.

The main question, after constant writing, reviewing, read-throughs, rewrites, research, re-research, is: what to say?

Of course I don’t know the answer to all the world’s problems, that’s not my job. However my job IS to find a responsible and carefully contemplated truth about the situation. Neutrally. Pop-shots and digs are easy. And lazy. If anything is at all worth saying, it is worth thinking about, dwelling upon and tearing your hair out over until you have the most accurate reflection of truth you can find in the matter, even if that truth is totally ambiguous.

More on this some other time. I’m still working on it with co-writers Oli Gots and Mark Steele and with the excellent script consultant Sarah Olley. I doubt we’ll find a political answer (otherwise I expect we’ll be fast-tracked to Downing Street) but we’ll find an emotional one at least…even if that answer doesn’t really solve anything…

To all of you, in and out of touch, I hope you’re well.

All yours,

Andy