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British Film Awards in London

I just returned from London, where I was attending the Orange British Film Awards, also known as the Bafta’s. Big Fish was up for seven awards, including Best Adapted Screenplay. We won exactly zero. But it was a very fun time, and truly an honor to have been nominated.

A few observations:

1. Stephen Fry is much, much better than any other awards host I’ve encountered.
2. The British don’t capitalize acronyms if it’s possible to pronounce them. Therefore Unicef supports people with Aids, while SBC stock is listed on the DJIA .
3. Scripts are five pages shorter when printed on A4 paper, the European standard.
4. The English are much smarter about binding scripts. Instead of brads, they use clips that go through two holes and fasten in the back.
5. British phone numbers are wildly inconsistent. At least three times, I had to ask a native how to dial a number.
6. London has an alarming number of traffic cameras. Borderline Orwellian. In Los Angeles, we have cameras that can catch you running a red light. London has cameras that can measure your average speed between two points, or determine whether your car was driven inside a certain zone on any given day, and charge you a congestion fee. Americans would revolt.

One Response to “British Film Awards in London”

1. Americo says:
   February 20th, 2004 at 1:26 am

   Sounds like the same experience when I went to Bristol couple years ago… I stayed there twp months and noticed a couple of other things myself…
   1. Paying for a license to own a T.V.
   2. They carpet their bathrooms, which is fine until you spill water over the side of the tub, or miss (you know what I mean).
   3. A faucet for hot water and a faucet for cold water. Why? You get this in the older homes, not really in London. A bucket became my best friend. Oh, no water pressure.
   4. Buses run when they want.
   5. If you want a cab, schedule one 4 hours in advance.
   6. Pubs close at 11, again in Bristol, I hear London’s not that bad.
   7. An over abundant variety of wine coolers.
   8. A scarcely limited amount of decent food, unless it’s fried or boiled.
   9. Meat tastes different (was that just me?).
   10. The people are either incredibly nice, or snobby, no real inbetween, but really pushing to the incredibly nice, I did love it there.

   Oh by the by, John. Huge fan of your work. I’m a writer myself, just finished a script, going on the agent searching quest. Love the site.

   Thanks…

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