A Writer's Life

As I talk to screenwriter Paul Pender, he tells me he is watching dolphins frolic in the ocean from his beachfront apartment in Los Angeles. Pender is that rare breed - a British writer who appears to have cracked Hollywood. His first major feature Evelyn starring Pierce Brosnan and Julia Margulies was released to good reviews. It seems its timing could not have been better. At a time of war, people often seek out heartwarming tales at the cinema and this year you'll be hard pressed to find a more uplifting movie than Evelyn, the true story of Irishman Desmond Doyle who took the Ministry of Education to court over the custody of his three children and won. Pender tells me the film has already won several awards in the States to this effect, including the Christopher Award which carries a $25,000 prize. Previous winners include Schindler's List. (The money was donated to Unicef Ireland).

Pender is in fact Scottish and started out studying law at Glasgow University. While a student, he stumbled across a book called How to Write a Screenplay and never looked back. He wrote his first script as a final year student which eventually became a play called The Game about a group of obsessive Scottish football fans. The play was performed at the Edinburgh Festival where it was well recieved, so much so that Granada optioned the script for television. But, says Pender, "After that it was another six years before I sold anything."

The writer readily admits he had a tough time during the Eighties which found him doing a succession of jobs including selling secondhand books at Camden Market in North London.

But, he says, he had a deep down determination to succeed: "It was tough but I never lost my vision. I'm glad I stuck with it."

A job as a script editor at the BBC led to Pender working with National Theatre director Bill Bryden, who became something of a mentor to the writer. This was his first taste of the big time. "I used to have to call Al Pacino's agent to see if he was available. We worked with people like Harvey Keitel and Rosanna Arquette. Bill taught me to always think globally."