I can't write "UK"!

Or can I?

Somewhere in the archives of this blog I posted about where all my screenplay ideas seem to take place. The problem was most of them seem to take place in the good old U. S. of A. I don't seem to be able to write "UK" based screenplays.

It would seem that the media has snared another victim. Most films that hit our movie screens are in the US, and/or star primarily US actors/actresses. Perhaps that is why.

Perhaps it isn't the sole reason. A lot of adverts on TV would be in a typical US location rather than a UK one. A lot of music videos (even from UK artists) seem to be in the US. We have a lot of American high street names (Starbucks, Subway, McDonalds etc…). America also seems to dominate the news most of the time (sadly not for good things). Even my favourite TV shows are American.

HAVE BEEN BRAINWASHED? I think a good attempt has been made!

So, to my point: I am "thinking" about my ideas and they are all set in the US (apart from one which is 50% UK, 50% US), but just because I am thinking that way doesn’t mean that have to be written that way.

Take "Good Guys": Scene number one starts with a guy walking down a New York street (THINK "New York Street" but WRITE "Street"). The story involves the Mafia (THINK "Mafia", but WRITE "West End Gangsters"). See the theme? If I go through my first draft doing things like this, it turns into a UK based screenplay (plus some tweaks). It's a simple tool to use.

In short, it is fine to think your screenplay a certain way, but that doesn't mean it is restricted to that environment. After all, if someone optioned Good Guys and said "but I want it to be UK based", I wouldn't be much of a writer if I couldn't come up with the goods.