Ask me a question

  • Ask me a question, I love receiving them. As soon as I reply, you'll get an email containing my answer which will also be posted on this web site.
  • Please take a look at the Frequently Asked Questions to make sure I haven't answered your question before.
Your Name:
Your Email Address:
Your Question:
Please enter the code above in the text box below:

Search past questions

Submitted by visitors to this website

Posted by David T Ruth

March 4th 2010

How can I get a copy of your script: FIRELIGHT?

William Nicholson responded:

I'm afraid this screenplay hasn't been published. I have it, of course, but I don't usually send out copies of my screenplays. The finished film is the version I wish people to see.

Posted by Jessica-May

March 4th 2010

Before I begin, I would like to point out that this isn't a question. I wanted to thank-you for writing your books which have been an escape for me since I was a young girl. I have read The Wind Singer over thirty times since the age of 8, and I still haven't grown tired of it. I have also read Slaves of the Mastery and Firesong atleast 20 times. All three of them are equally brilliant and so easy to get lost in when you have things on your mind. I especially love Bowman. I was wandering if you were ever thinking of making them into a film? I've often thought about what a great film it would be and pictured the scenes in my head. I'd die of happiness if it was! Thanks for your time.

William Nicholson responded:

I used not to want films of my books. I've long accepted that it could be okay, under the right circumstances; but the right offer has still not come up. Maybe one day...

Posted by Richard

March 4th 2010

What was the specific context and aim of Sarafina? Does the movie simply reference the soweto uprising or is it an actual representation?

William Nicholson responded:

It began as a musical show created for the stage by Mbongeni Ngema. This show intercut music with verbatim accounts of the torture of kids in the 1976 uprising. I was later asked to turn the show into a movie, which I did. I used the original material, plus an added fictional group of characters. So the final result is not documentary, but it still represents the truth of those times.

Posted by Chris Lakeman Fraser

March 3rd 2010

Dear William The Screenwriters’ Festival last year was once again highly enjoyable and a great opportunity for networking. In writing an article for Twelvepoint.com on emerging screenwriters, I took the liberty of quoting your reaction to a previous festival which mirrored my own responses: “I felt like a long-lost traveller who was wandering starving in the wilderness and stumbles upon a fertile oasis populated by people miraculously speaking his own language. We screenwriters need such nourishment.‟ A copy of the article on the website I set up with a group of fellow screenwriters can be viewed at: http://www.highpitchlondon.moonfruit.com/#/journalism/4539338366 In the article I said how much I gained from Phil Parker’s The Art and Science of Screenwriting despite not being a fan of screen gurus. You have referred to working on a screenwriting manual. When will it be published? I love your artisan’s approach to scripts in which you take any number of notes but fiercely defend the core of your work. It should be a great success. Following on from the work-shopping my script City of Darkness at the Rocliffe Forum at BAFTA, I’m switching from writing into sales mode by approaching producers and directors. It’s such a different mind frame but I’m starting to enjoy it. Best wishes for your future endeavours. Regards Chris

William Nicholson responded:

I still have my book on screenwriting in a bottom drawer. At present I feel a little shy about coming on as a guru of screenwriting. If one of my more recent screenplays actually gets made, and is considered decent, I might dust off my thoughts and see if there's a publisher for them. But for now, I'm almost more of a book writer than a screenwriter. It's a frustrating business, as you'll know as well as me. My current advice to wannabes is: be a writer-director, not just a screenwriter. Good luck with your script.

Posted by Jodi

February 27th 2010

Hello! I'm currently directing a scene from your play, "The Retreat from Moscow," for my directing class. I was wondering who you feel the protagonist of the play is. I'm conflicted between Alice and Edward; I can see how both of them move the action along in their own way, but I know one must be more so than the other. Thank you!

William Nicholson responded:

I think I'd go for Alice as the protagonist, though I agree she could equally be seen as the passive recipient of events. Actors certainly seem to regard hers as the main part.

Posted by Bob Sherrill

February 24th 2010

I'm helping my wife with some research for her MA. In it is that quote - "we read to know we are not alone" - (nearly)always attributed to C.S. Lewis, but occasionally attributed to your screenplay. Was it a real quote or should the credit really be yours? Regards

William Nicholson responded:

It was written by me, for the film screenplay of my play Shadowlands, and given to the character C.S.Lewis. Lewis never said or wrote it himself.