If you’re going to be near a radio — or an internet! — on July 20th around 9AM PST, I’m going to be talking about pilot writing and who knows what else with Barbara DeMarco-Barrett on her show Writers on Writing. If you’re in Southern California you can find the show on KUCI-FM — anywhere else it’s KUCI.org.
Writing The Pilot 
Why not come over to the UK and give one of your courses on writing the pilot! There’s an established, highly reputable creative writing group offering paying guests five days at several beautiful locations around England. It’s called ‘Arvon’ – http://www.arvonfoundation.org Perhaps contact them and offer to come over?
Let me know if any of your courses might be available here – normally I write Sherlock Holmes stories (http://tim-symonds.co.uk/ ) but I have a television series in mind, set in the Great War.
I see you teach at UCLA. Many many moons ago I graduated from UCLA.
Hi Tim,
Nice to meet you!
I have to admit, I haven’t taught at UCLA (the Extension, really) in many moons. I do teach at the UC Riverside Palm-Desert Low Residency MFA in Creative Writing and Writing for the Performing Arts…
Which is not going to do you a heck of a lot of good in Britain. But I do teach an online pilot writing class through Screenwriters University, and that’s available all over the world.
And thanks for the heads up on Arvon. I’d love to do some teaching in Britain!
Dear William, really good to get your reply – I hadn’t realised UC Riverside had anything as exotic as a Palm-Desert Low Residency MFA!
Do contact Arvon – they have a fine reputation and I’m keen to take a course with them, so if you do join in and conduct one of their residential workshops I’ll make sure my partner and I get to it. Have a look at the testimonials for their courses at http://www.arvon.org/courses/testimonials/
They have three centres – ‘three historic and beautiful writers’ houses. Each is remote and peaceful but with a distinct character, from the lush meadows of North Devon and the forested hills of Shropshire, to the dramatic uplands of Yorkshire.’
I’m keen because as I remarked earlier I plan to stop writing Sherlock Holmes novels after my forthcoming fifth and start scripting out a TV series I think could be a worldwide hit.
Cheers and very best wishes!
Tim
‘Writing The Pilot’ has just arrived and as it’s still sunny weather I’m taking it up into the woods and fields around my home here in Sussex this afternoon, with a flask of coffee and a canvas chair. I’m looking forward to reading it!
With best wishes
Tim
Dear William, I see you are working on a Chinese matter – my latest Sherlock Holmes novel comes out in a couple of weeks’ time, titled ‘Sherlock Holmes And The Nine-Dragon Sigil’ set in Peking in 1907 as the Ch’ing Dynasty totters to its end. If you let me have an address I’d like to send you a copy once it’s out.
All the very best
Tim