052000 The Times

May 20, 2000
The Times
Success by the book for a film novice
By Dalya Alberge

THREE years after Jenny Mayhew bought a £10 book on how to write a screenplay, her investment has paid off with two commissions, including an epic about Oliver Cromwell, being promoted at the Cannes Film Festival.

After working as a television researcher for more than four years, she had wanted to try some creative writing and decided to "have a go" at a film script. Realising that she needed basic guidance, she visited her local bookshop and picked out a film book at random.

Mrs Mayhew, 33, who read English at Oxford and lives in Cambridge, said: "When I started, I hadn't read a screenplay. I didn't know what they looked like. All advice is useful when you know nothing."

Later her talent was spotted when she took part in a workshop conducted by the Performing Arts Lab, which runs courses for writers near Sevenoaks, Kent. Kevin Loader, a producer who has commissioned the £13½ million Cromwell movie for Natural Nylon - the company founded by Jude Law and Ewan McGregor - was struck by her understanding of "what film story-telling is about, how you tell a story in visual terms".

The idea for a movie about Cromwell came years ago, when a display in her local library caught her attention. She was amazed that no one had tackled the subject since Richard Harris's 1970 movie, Cromwell.

"As I read more, I became more interested," she said. "We were the first country to execute our king. It inspired the French Revolution. This is an amazing story."

Her script does not attempt to tell the story of the Civil War. Instead, it is about the relationship between Crom-well and Thomas Fairfax, commander-in-chief of the Parliamentary army, and the difficulties between them after winning the Civil War "shoulder to shoulder", she said.

Mr Loader said: "Cromwell is trying to build a new English state and Fairfax is having qualms about sweeping away the old order entirely. They have got the King and must now decide what to do with him. The political leanings of the two had not been exposed before, but they suddenly splinter. Tom thinks it is wrong to kill the king and won't do it."

Dougray Scott, the Scottish actor who found fame in Soldier, Soldier on television and made a huge impact in Hollywood as the romantic lead alongside Drew Barrymore in Ever After, is in the frame to play Fairfax, while the search is on for a Cromwell.

Mrs Mayhew's second commission is a story of sexual intrigue for Company Pictures.

The teach-yourself book she chose three years ago was an American publication, Writing Screenplays That Sell, by Michael Hague. Recalling some of its most useful tips, she said: "Don't write a scene that doesn't progress the story, be economical with your language and your thoughts and make sure everything you put down drives the story on."