Katielee.co.uk

Screenwriter and crafty type

Working with Zodiak Kids

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It’s been an incredibly exciting year for us. Amazing, in fact. Why’s that, you ask? Well, I’ll tell you.

Back in October 2017, we met the extremely lovely people at Zodiak. They asked us to develop a children’s comedy drama series for them. We shook ourselves to check we were definitely awake, successfully resisted the urge to run over and kiss them jubilantly, and calmly accepted their offer.  

I’m still unclear how much we are allowed to say about it all. So for the time being I’ll just say that it’s been the most amazing experience, we absolutely loved working on the project, and we hope you’ll be hearing a lot more about it one day! 

(By the way, you can now Follow my blog with Bloglovin)

I got shortlisted for the Funny Women Awards Comedy Writing Award!

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Blimey, it’s all kicking off this month, isn’ t it?!

So you know how I mentioned I entered my first every script – Mum-Life Crisis – into the BAFTA Rocliffe Comedy Award and didn’t get anywhere? Well, after they gave me so much helpful and brilliant feedback, I reworked it and sent it to a production company.

They were very nice about it and gave me even more helpful feedback.

So I reworked it again and entered it into the Funny Women Awards. And they shortlisted me!

I didn’t get to bask in glory for long though – they let me know the next day that I didn’t make the final. But STILL!

I’m still high on making it onto the BAFTA Rocliffe Children’s Media Forum with my second script (co-written with Alex Milway) and then I go and get shortlisted for Funny Women with my first script!

It’s all too much. How will I cope next month when I don’t get shortlisted for something? Life will seem hollow and empty without all this external validation.

LEAP Podcast Episode 4: Life Coach and Author, Joanne Mallon

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Joanne Mallon Life CoachYes, it’s the podcast you’ve all been waiting for! The latest instalment of Life Exists After Parenthood! This time I have the wonderful Joanne Mallon, author and life coach.

She’s not only very wise, she’s also very funny. Her main advice to all parents is “fuck guilt” which I’m going to get printed on a mug.

In this episode we talk about her career as a TV producer, how her life changed when she had children, and why she collects Korean handcreams.

Joanne has written three books. Her latest is Social Media for Writers, which I can’t recommend enough if you’re looking for a primer in social media.

You can listen to the full podcast below, or subscribe on iTunes (or wherever you get your podcasts).

itunes button

Or the feed is here.

Episode Three: Web Celeb Gia Milinovich

Episode Two: Nancy Cruikshank Entrepreneur Extraordinaire

Episode One: Jo Behari Famous DIY Guru

We got Forum listed in the BAFTA Rocliffe Children’s Media Award!

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That headline is the short version. Here’s the full story:

At the start of the year I entered my first ever script – an ante-natal sitcom inspired by my ecourse/book – into the BAFTA Rocliffe Comedy Award. I didn’t get anywhere with it, but the feedback they gave me was so helpful and positive that I felt brilliant.

I wish I’d done it sooner!

As I entered it, I saw the deadline for the Children’s Media competition was a few months away. So I sent my husband this email. (Even when you’ve been together for 20 years, asking someone to co-write with you is a strangely vulnerable experience).

want_to_write_a_children_s_script_with_me__-_shinykatie_gmail_com_-_gmail

Luckily, he was up for it. He’d written a book treatment about 10 years ago that I’d mentioned I’d like to turn into a TV script. He wrote me a load of episode synopses and I put the paper in my pants drawer and just kept looking at it every now and then, thinking, “Well, you never did bother writing that script did you?”

It became my pants drawer shame space.

Anyway, we entered. Then we got this email:

bafta_rocliffe_children_2016_-_shinykatie_gmail_com_-_gmail

OMG!

So then we spent the weekend letting the children binge watch Clifford The Big Red Dog while we worked on our script.

AND WE GOT THROUGH!

Ok, so we didn’t make it into the Showcase (which is where the perform your script at BAFTA in front of an audience and then industry bods critique it while you sweat), but we are on the Forum List which goes out to the industry!

So thank you Alex Milway!

On our way to the BAFTA showcase

And what’s the moral of this story? Well, if you ever thought, “Hmm, I really want to write scripts,” but haven’t got round to it yet. Pull your finger out and JUST DO IT.

Don’t live with a pants drawer shame space. You’re better than that.

bafta_selects_three_writers_of_childrens_media_for_special_industry_showcase

This Was My Mum-Life Crisis: now a book!

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I made you a present and it only took me 100 hours!

And you didn’t even ask me to do it!

Yes, I turned my popular ecourse into an ebook! Download it for free here!

This Was My Mum-Life Crisis by Katie Lee

This Was My Mum-Life Crisis by Katie Lee

In a final push to get this off my to do list and onto the internet, I forced myself to only spend 30 minutes making this cover. And then I spent another 2 hours this afternoon titting about with minor edits in the book that normal humans won’t notice (en dashes are important, dammit!)

But here it is!

This Was My Mum-Life Crisis by Katie Lee Download PDF

This Was My Mum-Life Crisis by Katie Lee Download epub (Kobo etc) 

This Was My Mum-Life Crisis by Katie Lee Download for Kindle 

This Was My Mum-Life Crisis by Katie Lee View in Kobo store

Do let me know if you spot any typos etc won’t you.

This book was the thing that kicked off my screenwriting career, so I am forever grateful to it. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

“Yes, but WHAT ELSE have you been doing?” I hear you ask.

When I’m not spending way too long composing my 10 Commandments for Email, or creating infographics for clients even though I’m not a designer and the client didn’t even ask for an infographic and would have been happy with a few bullet points, or adding even more hobbies to my already brimming hobby list, or working on a sitcom (yes, really) and a novel (yes, really), I like to neglect all housework and make things for YOU.

Mum-Life Crisis Audiobook

Since I’ve done it as an ebook, I figured I’d record it as an audiobook at the same time. But I forgot to record the name of the book and the author. So now I need to work up the energy to open Garageband on my wheezing old Mac and set my mic up to record a sentence. I’ll no doubt take at least another 6 months to get round to it.

More LEAP Podcasts

I’ve also got three more amazing podcasts recorded, including one with the marvellous, sweary Joanne Mallon. I recorded them all last year. LAST YEAR! It took me about the same length of time to edit the last lot, so at least I’m consistent. Stay tuned!

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