Sometimes you live where you live

Warren over at The Screenwriting Life has a good post about the “to LA or not to LA” debate, so I thought I’d write about that from my point of view.

I live in the UK with a wife, kid, a big mortgage and not much money in the bank, so that rules out jumping on the next plane to LA to go house hunting. If I’m going to look for a market as a stepping stone to Hollywood (let’s assume that’s where I’m aiming), I guess it is in London. Hmm, well I live in West Yorkshire (for those who don’t know, that’s about in the middle. London is down near the bottom right hand corner), so am I in the same boat as someone who lives in Minnesota trying to network with people in LA?

Well, thankfully not. If I send out my current script and people show interest and want to meet, I have the advantage of living on a tiny little island. If I get the call, I can be on a train and in London somewhere between two and three hours later. I’ve done the trip on business many times before.

Now saying that I’ve got to ask the question "is there much of a market in London?" James Moran sold a spec in London, but that was a horror and I see that as something that will sell in the UK (not trying to make light of the achievement there, nice one James). The other genres? I have no idea. I guess I'll have to put some scripts out there and find out :)

Tags: screenwriting, L.A., London, West Yorkshire.