Charlie Fletcher
Encyclopedia
Charlie Fletcher is a British
screenwriter
and author.
After many years writing for film and television, he is now probably best known for his children's novel, Stoneheart
.
where he worked in film editing on everything from Drama to Current Affairs.
He then went to California
where he became a screenwriter, having been awarded a Warner Brothers Fellowship in Screenwriting at USC School of Cinema and TV
. He wrote screenplays for Tri-Star, MGM, Paramount
and Warner Bros among others. He continues to write for the movies, and also television.
He also moved into other types of writing, including magazine features, a computer game and as a national Sunday newspaper columnist and a restaurant reviewer.
He met and married his wife, Domenica, a fellow Scot
, in Los Angeles
. They have two children, whom Fletcher calls his first, most important, and toughest audience. They’ve all now returned from California and live in Edinburgh
with a terrier called Archie.
In ten years of learning and practising the screenwriter's craft in Hollywood, Fletcher found out all about the impossibility of the film showing in the cinema ever matching the version of it playing in his head. Only after he came back to Scotland
to live in Musselburgh
did he think about writing a project in which, just for once, what he wrote would be the last word. Not a film script, but a children's book.
His son Jack and daughter Ariadne were still at the age for bedtime stories. They were also, at the time, mini-Californians: London's antiquity – "a thousand years of built, lived-in, heritage" – surprised them.
So they gawped in something like awe as their father, on the top deck of the tour bus, pointed out monuments older than anything they had yet imagined. And he remembered how, when he was a child, his father had driven him through London. As they passed Hyde Park Corner, the bronze soldiers at the foot of the Royal Artillery monument had caught his eye too.
By the time, four decades later, he fleshed out that memory, making the Gunner and the Officer from the monument central figures in the war against the "taints", Fletcher had learnt a lot about the art of storytelling.
Far Rockaway is a standalone novel published in Sept 2011. It's the story of a feisty young woman who is injured with her grandfather in an accident and who wakes up in a world constructed from all the classic swashbuckling adventure novels he read her as a child. She has to make her way to the castle at the end of this world in order to rescue him, knowing that only by so doing will she enable survive back in the real world. The story takes place both in this fantasy world and in the modern Manhattan ER in which doctors fight for both their lives as their family look on.
Fletcher's novel, Stoneheart
, was shortlisted for the Branford Boase Award
in 2007.
He wrote two sequels, Ironhand and Silvertongue.
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
and author.
After many years writing for film and television, he is now probably best known for his children's novel, Stoneheart
Stoneheart
Stoneheart is a children's novel by Charlie Fletcher, published in 2006. It is part of the Stoneheart Trilogy. Stoneheart is followed by "Ironhand", which is itself followed by "Silver Tongue"...
.
Biography
After studying English Literature at university, Fletcher began his career in the film business and then progressed to the BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
where he worked in film editing on everything from Drama to Current Affairs.
He then went to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
where he became a screenwriter, having been awarded a Warner Brothers Fellowship in Screenwriting at USC School of Cinema and TV
USC School of Cinematic Arts
The USC School of Cinematic Arts, until 2006 named the School of Cinema-Television , is a film school within the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California. It is the oldest and largest such school in the United States, established in 1929 as a joint venture with the Academy of...
. He wrote screenplays for Tri-Star, MGM, Paramount
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
and Warner Bros among others. He continues to write for the movies, and also television.
He also moved into other types of writing, including magazine features, a computer game and as a national Sunday newspaper columnist and a restaurant reviewer.
He met and married his wife, Domenica, a fellow Scot
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. They have two children, whom Fletcher calls his first, most important, and toughest audience. They’ve all now returned from California and live in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
with a terrier called Archie.
Filmography
| Year | Film | |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Fair Game | |
| 2001 | Mean Machine |
| Year | TV Series |
|---|---|
| 2003 | Red Cap Red Cap (TV series) Red Cap is a British television series produced by Stormy Pictures for the BBC and broadcast on BBC One. Two series of 6 episodes each were produced following a feature length pilot. It featured the investigations of an SIB unit of the British Army based in Germany... |
| 2004 | Steel River Blues Steel River Blues Steel River Blues is a British television drama serial first broadcast in September 2004 on ITV. Produced by Ken Horn, it was based on the working and private lives of a group of firefighters in Middlesbrough... |
| 2005 | Murder Investigation Team Murder Investigation Team Murder/Major Investigation Teams are the specialised homicide squads of the Metropolitan Police in London, England. Forming part of the Homicide and Serious Crime Command, itself part of the Specialist Crime Directorate, there is one MIT for each Borough Operational Command Unit... |
| 2005 | Taggart Taggart Taggart is a Scottish detective television programme, created by Glenn Chandler, who has written many of the episodes, and made by STV Productions for the ITV network... |
| 2005 | Afterlife Afterlife (TV series) Afterlife is a British television drama series, produced by independent production company Clerkenwell Films for the ITV network... |
| 2006 | Donovan Donovan Donovan Donovan Donovan (born Donovan Philips Leitch (born 10 May 1946) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. Emerging from the British folk scene, he developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music... |
| 2006 | Ultimate Force Ultimate Force Ultimate Force is a British television drama series that was shown on ITV, which deals with the activities of the fictional Red Troop of the SAS... |
| 2008 | Wire in the Blood Wire in the Blood Wire in the Blood was a British crime drama television series, devised and produced by Coastal Productions for the ITV network that ran from 2002 to 2009. The series is based on characters created by Val McDermid; a university clinical psychologist, Dr Anthony "Tony" Valentine Hill , is teamed with... |
Novels
The Stoneheart Trilogy*- StoneheartStoneheartStoneheart is a children's novel by Charlie Fletcher, published in 2006. It is part of the Stoneheart Trilogy. Stoneheart is followed by "Ironhand", which is itself followed by "Silver Tongue"...
(2006) - Ironhand (2007)
- Silvertongue (2008)
In ten years of learning and practising the screenwriter's craft in Hollywood, Fletcher found out all about the impossibility of the film showing in the cinema ever matching the version of it playing in his head. Only after he came back to Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
to live in Musselburgh
Musselburgh
Musselburgh is the largest settlement in East Lothian, Scotland, on the coast of the Firth of Forth, six miles east of Edinburgh city centre.-History:...
did he think about writing a project in which, just for once, what he wrote would be the last word. Not a film script, but a children's book.
His son Jack and daughter Ariadne were still at the age for bedtime stories. They were also, at the time, mini-Californians: London's antiquity – "a thousand years of built, lived-in, heritage" – surprised them.
So they gawped in something like awe as their father, on the top deck of the tour bus, pointed out monuments older than anything they had yet imagined. And he remembered how, when he was a child, his father had driven him through London. As they passed Hyde Park Corner, the bronze soldiers at the foot of the Royal Artillery monument had caught his eye too.
By the time, four decades later, he fleshed out that memory, making the Gunner and the Officer from the monument central figures in the war against the "taints", Fletcher had learnt a lot about the art of storytelling.
- Far Rockaway" (2011)
Far Rockaway is a standalone novel published in Sept 2011. It's the story of a feisty young woman who is injured with her grandfather in an accident and who wakes up in a world constructed from all the classic swashbuckling adventure novels he read her as a child. She has to make her way to the castle at the end of this world in order to rescue him, knowing that only by so doing will she enable survive back in the real world. The story takes place both in this fantasy world and in the modern Manhattan ER in which doctors fight for both their lives as their family look on.
Fletcher's novel, Stoneheart
Stoneheart
Stoneheart is a children's novel by Charlie Fletcher, published in 2006. It is part of the Stoneheart Trilogy. Stoneheart is followed by "Ironhand", which is itself followed by "Silver Tongue"...
, was shortlisted for the Branford Boase Award
Branford Boase Award
The Branford Boase Award is a British literary award presented annually to an outstanding novel for young people by a first-time writer.Wendy Boase, Editorial Director of Walker Books and Henrietta Branford worked together previously to produce a great number of books. Both Wendy Boase and...
in 2007.
He wrote two sequels, Ironhand and Silvertongue.