Del Toro, Grisoni, Roeg & Fellowes in Cheltenham Screenwriting Festival

Masterclasses from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas adaptor Tony Grisoni, writer/director Guillermo del Toro, Don't Look Now's Nicholas Roeg, Gosford Park's Oscar winner Julian Fellowes and Hilsborough's Jimmy McGovern top a packed programme at the Screenwriter's Festival 2006. Running June 27 to 30th, the festival is ferrying a vast range of film talents to the stately Cheltenham Film Studios, where the event takes place.

New Writers Day

A packed day featuring key note speeches, interactive masterclasses and networking opportunities. Sessions include:

• Pitch Factor a new initiative from Channel Four's Ideas Factory judged by a high profile panel including Oscar winner Julian Fellowes
• Veteran comedy writers Lawrence Marks and Maurice Gran (Birds of a Feather, The New Statesman) discuss their successful careers and offer advice to the new screenwriter
• Bryan Elsley writer of Crow Road on his innovative new Channel 4 series with its young newcomer team of writers
• Producer Kevin Loader (Straightheads for Film Four, Enduring Love) joins a panel of industry executives and writers including Phil Nodding Shameless to explore the many and varied ways to break into the film industry
• Is there such thing as a perfect pitch? Justin Trefgarne, former Head of Development at Working Title joins screenwriting partners Mark Hukerby and Nick Ostler to explore the ups and downs of trying to get your work made
• Agent and Pitch Expert Julian Friedmann - Editor of Scriptwriter magazine on pitching
• Charles Moore and Miles Ketley, leading legal experts in the film finance sector, explore the legal and business implications of a screenwriting career
• Dan Reed on the making of Straightheads, his first feature for Film Four due out early 2007, from the point of view of writer and director
• Actor, director and Oscar winning screenwriter Julian Fellowes closes the New Writers Day offering insight on how to succeed as a new screenwriter

Main Festival

The three day professional delegate section of the Screenwriters' Festival draws upon high quality speakers from across the industry to provoke debate, stimulate creativity and encourage critical analysis of screenwriting in all its forms. Speakers confirmed include:

• Guillermo Del Toro - 'Blade II', 'The Devil's Backbone' and 'Hellboy' - has just completed his horror fantasy, 'Pans Labyrinth' , and reveals his unusual methods
• Jimmy McGovern (Hillsborough, Bloody Sunday, Cracker) on his life, work and the responsibility of telling the truth
• Tony Grisoni, writer of Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas & In this World and Film Four's Peter Carlton on Brothers Of The Head - a dark tale of sex, strangeness and rock music
• William Nicholson (Gladiator, First Knight) on surviving as a working writer in Hollywood- Tony Marchant on writing Film Fours' Mark Of Cain to bring the dramatic truth about the Iraq war to the screen
• Nicholas Roeg and Alan Scott famous for Don't Look Now reveal their methods through their film Cold Heaven
• What happens when you have a Bar Mitzvah and no one turns up? Paul Weiland (Mr Bean), Elizabeth Karlson and writers Peter Straughan & Bridget O'Connor explain "66"
  
• Actor, director and Oscar winning screenwriter Julian Fellowes on being more commercial
  
• Film Four's Katherine Butler and Liza Marshall on writing for both the small and big screen
• Colin Brown, Editor-in-chief of Screen International, debunking Hollywood terminology - Producer Gina Carter (Bright Young Things, 24 Hour Party People, Wonderland, The Claim) on financing difficult scripts
  
• Debbie Isitt, Creator and Director of Confetti, on working through improvisation
  
• Producer Kevin Loader (Straightheads and Enduring Love) and Writer Olivia Hetreed (The Girl with the Pearl Earring) on the art of adapting.
  
• Guy Jenkins (Drop the Dead Donkey) on writing comedy
  
• James Hawes and Stephen Moffat on writing for Dr Who - Justin Trefgarne ex Working Title on script editors: friend or foe?
  
• James Watkins (My Little Eye) and horror expert Nic Ransome on conveying horror in an international market
  
• Comedy writers Lawrence Marks and Maurice Gran (Birds of a Feather, The New Statesman) - David Hughes author of Development Hell on the studio system More announcements about the full programme will follow soon.

 BOOK  at www.screenwritersfestival.com