My Ultima Online Experience

Began life as a computer analyst/programmer. Went on to become an actor, then a producer, writer, director, and acting tutor et al. A regular jack-of-all-trades!

I have written in most forms since I started school, but I only began dramatic writing in 1991.

Currently a British (Scottish to be more accurate) single mum, disabled, grandmother of 4, living in Central England.

In 2001, my short script 'VIRUS' was one of 10 finalists in the Sky Sci-fi Channel (UK) 'Sci-fi Shorts' competition. Although I didn't win, I got offered a commission on the strength of it, to develop my idea for a TV series of short anthologies (aka 'Twilight Zone'). Unfortunately, the project was dropped last minute and so the shorts were never produced or shown :( ah well - so close!

That year, I also received a phone call from the reader at one of Europe's top agency's to tell me she enjoyed one of my feature scripts and was recommending me to one of the agents! But the agent decided to decline (for the moment - huh - and yet another close one!), but recommended to to another agent colleague who was impressed but wanted to wait to see more (another pass - ah well!)

Shortly after that I became very busy:
%uF0B7 Commissioned to write a documentary and feature screenplay by a British producer;
%uF0B7 Had a short script accepted by a US producer who got pretty far into pre-production, then, I guess that fell through too (ah what a business!)
%uF0B7 Had two features requested (both US and UK) and another short being considered by two Prod. Co's;
%uF0B7 Had two offers for co-writing;
%uF0B7 Had a short (workshopped here at Zoe) called THE NEXT VICTIM produced by a US filmmaker as a graduation piece, then reproduced here in the UK by a British filmmaker. The film went on to make it to the Belize and York Film Festivals and has currently been picked up by an Australian Television Network.

In between all this I have continued to teach acting both for stage and for camera; worked as casting director on two feature films and about to cast another; and am currently working on returning to filmmaking after several years recovery from a stroke.

At the time of writing, I have a feature film in development with MCP Films in the US., which already has some interest from well-known actors and crew; two are already attached and which, all being well, will also be my feature film directorial debut.

I am now trying my hand at prose and have been writing a few short stories for competitions and an trying out my first novel.

That's it.

Ferdi

claire-ferdinando's Pages

• Mood Music - Food for the Soul?
• Harvey Segal - How to Succeed Online Without Google
• What Kind of Writer Are You?

See all of claire-ferdinando's pages