Graduate Spotlight: Screenwriter Belinda Lees

Belinda Lees is a screenwriter, playwright, researcher and Writing for Script & Screen MA (Online) 2020 graduate. With a style ranging from drama to absurdist comedy, Australia-based Belinda is prolific; she has written nineteen children’s plays for The School Magazine – Australia’s longest-running literary publication for children – together with poems for many other literary magazines. She is also award-winning; she has won both The Todhunter Literary Award and the Professor L. Marchant Award for her plays for adults. 

We recently chatted to Belinda about her lifelong love of performance, her PhD project and how studying online opened her up to an international network of audiences and collaborators.  

When did you first become interested in writing and performance?  

Telling stories through performance and writing has been an essential part of my life for as long as I can remember. I have fond memories of creating plays to perform in front of the class at primary school. My first degree was in acting, through which I got some experience in directing. I went on to direct six productions for the university and came to appreciate the importance of the written word from a different perspective. My first acting job after graduating was in a touring puppetry play for six months, during which time I also wrote my first serious play. 

The course opened me up to new people, new ideas, new opportunities, and wide audiences, and so I can literally say that it changed my life.

What made you choose to join Falmouth’s online master’s in Writing for Script & Screen?  

I was searching for an online master’s in screenwriting and all signs pointed to Falmouth. I was very impressed by what the course offered and by the expertise of the course leader, Dr John Finnegan. I was working and so Falmouth’s course would allow me to study at home in my own time and complete the course in two years. I was also excited about the opportunity to work with international tutors and students.  

What was the most exciting thing about being on the course?  

There were so many exciting things about being on the course – I can’t narrow it down to just one! Working with tutors who are experts in their fields was excellent, as was learning the intricacies of screenwriting and meeting people from all over the world. During my time on the course, John created an agency called The Script Department and gave me the opportunity to turn my first short film, Smashed, into a fully produced podcast. Suddenly, my work had an international audience, and I had an IMDb credit. The course opened me up to new people, new ideas, new opportunities, and wide audiences, and so I can literally say that it changed my life. 

How did the course help your practice to evolve?  

My practice now has so much structure around it. The discipline of starting with a premise, developing that into a treatment, then a step outline, then a screenplay, while hitting all the marks of film story structure has made the process of writing not only manageable but so much more effective. We also learned about deep structure, in which the themes of the film impact the structure itself. I am now far more disciplined with structure in my practice, while also having a deeper knowledge of screenwriting. I also appreciate having a network of writers with whom I can share my work, and likewise, provide feedback on their work, which, in turn, strengthens my writing.