The Write to Know, Issue 10
Recommendations, reviews, randoms and reads
The Write to Know newsletter has reached double figures! *throws confetti*
Immediately, that number conjures up memories of well, Number 10.
As a cub reporter I was sent by my local paper to pick up the Honours List from 10 Downing Street, home to the UK’s then Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. It was the day after her third historic win and the world’s press had amassed on her doorstep waiting for her victory speech.
In the midst of this, little ole me arrived at the imposing black door. Back then, you could just walk up to the house - now there are gates with armed guards. Physically trembling, I knocked on the door because watching my every move, from the other side of the road, were hundreds of cameras and reporters from all around the world, poised to capture her first actions and words.
Somebody let me in and I immediately heard Thatcher’s distinctive voice coming from a nearby room. She was talking to Sir Robin Day, then the country’s most foremost broadcaster (for the Americans, think Walter Cronkite), ahead of her first post election interview.
I shuffled awkwardly around the lobby for a few minutes until someone appeared with a plain brown envelope containing the Honours List. I checked the contents (pretending to know what I was doing), which were embargoed until the next day, and was summarily shown the door. The quick turnaround meant that I could jump on a train and high tail it back to the newsroom just ahead of the paper’s deadline.
As the front door opened there was a barrage of flashing lights and people yelling. They were expecting the PM. Oh. Just me then. I immediately felt hot under the collar and scurried away towards the main road as I heard someone say: “It’s no-one” The cameras stopped flashing and the shouting dissipated.
Nowadays, that kind of information is sent around the world at the click of a button but back then it gave me - a wide-eyed teen - a truly memorable experience. Can you imagine listening to the Prime Minister (the real one not the Spitting Image puppet, seen above) chatting away the morning after her third win and being able to stand there and soak up the moment? Terrifying but also exhilarating.
I can’t promise this newsletter will be as exciting but let’s see who gets the honours this week…
LOCKED AND LOADED
The early issues of loaded magazine were bloody brilliant. Fresh, funny and irreverent. It was a must-read publication with a lower case logo. The Nineties packaged in glossy foolscap.
It kick-started the ‘lads mag’ genre and while it spawned many copycats none came near to what loaded managed to do with its journalism as it expertly (and probably mostly by accident), surfed the zeitgeist and shaped popular culture.
It was announced this week that it’s relaunched online; the press release says that it’s ‘building a space for straight talk, epic experiences, and a community that celebrates who men really are.’
But how will it fare? Loaded was launched in 1994, in a different era that flaunted different sensibilities. I laughed when I saw that Elizabeth Hurley was their big launch interview. Very on brand and as it should be (she made it onto their first ever cover - see above).
It’s hard to describe the excitement of what it was like to thumb through a shiny new issue back in the day. It was so alive, very much its own beast but cleverly, it also appealed to women who didn’t just want to read about lipstick and horoscopes.
I read founder James Brown’s recent-ish autobiography, Animal House, which gave a detailed look at the magazine’s conception, his rise to fame/infamy and eventual departure.
The many office shenanigans were amusing, as were the tales of how they landed some of their bigger interviews - but it was also interesting to discover what a fight he had on his hands with the publisher, IPC, who never seemed to value the title (or many others) in the way they should.
It seems like ancient history now but could there be a successful reboot? Time will tell. But I know for a fact, it won’t come close to the days when picking up a fresh copy felt like an event in itself.
I mean, how can it?
*gazes wistfully into the middle distance like the gen x-er I am*
TALE AS OLD AS TIME
I’ve got a great long read for you this week. A proper yarn and a tale as old as time.
It was published last month in Toronto Life magazine, written by Luc Rinaldi, and tells the story of an elderly multi-millionaire who signed over his fortune to his wife’s nurse.
Did she abuse her position or was he exceptionally generous? Settle down with your beverage of choice and immerse yourself in this complicated story of complex relationships, greed and not keeping detailed accounts.
SOMETHING AND EVERYTHING
Very much on the theme of how times have changed (a theme always seems to show itself halfway through me writing this newsletter), is the Miriam Rivera documentary, currently showing on Channel 4.
You may have already heard the podcast about the Brazilian model, who was the star of a cruel early 2000s reality dating show, There’s Something About Miriam.
The ‘something’ was that she was a trans woman but the boys dating her didn’t know this. And when they found out, let’s just say it didn’t end well for Miriam.
Early reality TV was brutal. There’s no way this programme should have been made but it was, and the fallout was catastrophic. You like to think that times have changed and lessons have been learned but who knows. The world seems to be more divided and closed-minded than ever.
The podcast, Harsh Reality: The Story of Miriam Rivera, from Wondery, is well worth a listen and the Channel 4 documentary, Miriam: Death of a Reality TV Star, covers some new ground. The interviews with her friends and family are especially touching.
Miriam was ahead of her time. Beautiful, courageous and searching. It’s a travesty that she wasn’t cared for in the way she deserved.
NORTHERN EXPOSURE
Based in the north of England and want to hone your screenwriting skills? Yes? Then the Film Hub North script lab looks like a lot of fun and something you should most definitely do.
They’re offering ten new writers the guidance and support they need to turn a short film idea (under 15 minutes) into a shooting script.
Applications are open until June 3 and you must be able to get to Leeds, in July, for the mentoring sessions.
MEGA-WHAT-IS-THIS?
After much ado about funding, Francis Ford Coppola’s latest (and probably final) movie, Megalopolis, has premiered at Cannes.
The Apocalypse Now director stumped up $120million of his own money to make it and reviews so far range from it’s a masterpiece to it’s a stinker of epic proportions.
Part of the dialogue is spoken in Latin, there’s Hamlet’s ‘To Be or Not To Be’ soliloquy in full delivered by Adam Driver, and some breaking of the fourth wall in this tale of a futurist city called New Rome, and the power-hungry characters who lurk within.
Apparently, Coppola, who is now 85-years-old, sold part of his winery to raise the funds for this very personal story but told Variety a couple of years ago: “I couldn’t care less about the financial impact whatsoever. It means nothing to me.”
So that’s got to be a nice position to be in. I haven’t seen it yet but probably will because even though the teaser makes it look as batshit crazy as they say, this is the guy behind The Godfather. There’s some goodwill in the bank.
Here’s some more about it from the man himself in an older interview with GQ.
And a couple of reviews from Cannes: one from Vogue and another from Vulture.
Are you planning on seeing it?
ARTIFICIALLY, YOURS
Did you see what the new AI can do?
Shall we just go back to bed and stay there?
CLAIRE AS A BELL
Thriller writer Claire Douglas, who I interviewed for last week’s Ten for the Ten, has some great recs.
“My favourite authors that are writing in my genre at the moment are Lisa Jewell, Louise Candlish (her latest novel Our Holiday is out July 4), T M Logan, Alice Feeney, Gilly Macmillan, Amy McCulloch, Clare Mackintosh, C L Taylor and Tim Weaver.
“I also love anything Erin Kelly writes and I’m a huge fan of Maggie O’Farrell, Eve Chase and Marian Keyes”.
Claire’s latest novel, The Wrong Sister, published by Penguin, is out now.
LAB IT UP!
If you’re a screenwriter based in the States and looking for mentoring, and a nudge through the door into the industry, the Black List is offering 12 writers a great opportunity to join their annual lab programme.
They are on the hunt for “the strongest screenplays for the Labs–material with strong characters and a strong concept–as well as writers who have strong professional instincts and are looking to build long-term careers in the entertainment industry. The goal of the Labs is for all twelve writers to emerge with the strongest possible script and the knowledge of how to move forward in their careers, with Black List support.”
Get at it. Find out more here. Deadline is July 1.
AND FINALLY…
Such interesting snippets and deep dives into fabulous topics, Lisa. Thanks so much. The missing $30 million article was super interesting. All such great reads, like a mini Vanity Fair.