Forum Activity for @katy-penland

Hollywood and Owain Glyndwr?

Promoting Wales in the USA

Hi, Rhianne! Yeah, that and what has turned out to be several dozen bears have appeared behind my house, on the property or down in the greenbelt below my back deck over the past two years I've lived here. They're pretty easily intimidated, though, and I've successfully discouraged every single one from lingering close to the house itself.Nope, no pets, but if I did, they wouldn't be allowed outside except on a leash with me on the other end. People have lost dogs and cats to not just bears but our other wildlife here: coyotes, foxes and mountain lions. The weekending "flatlanders" as we call them just don't get it that we live inside a National Forest where it's literally the wildland/urban interface, and pets are just another meal to the wildlife here.Yeah, this site is addictive, isn't it? There's so much going on here now I don't even have time to scope it all out. My Llywelyn research and writing have had to take a back seat for a while as I look for a new job (have been unemployed as a reporter/photographer from the local paper since Feb. 12, thanks to our stupid economy). But will get back on track with that shortly, I hope. But as this is a Glyndwr thread, I haven't participated in it (and I totally do not understand the latest posts at all LOL!).

Hollywood and Owain Glyndwr?

Promoting Wales in the USA

I'm workin' on it but I'm doing a mini-series not a movie. At least that's the plan. If TPTB want a 2-hour movie instead, hey, I can switch oars mid-stream. Agree wholeheartedly, there's plenty of material for just about any historical character if enough effort is made to dig out the story and facts. Then it's just a matter of how passionate you are about the telling. Personally, I'm fairly obsessed.

Hollywood and Owain Glyndwr?

Promoting Wales in the USA

I really wanted to like Penman's prose but it's just a bit too Harlequin for me. My sister gave me Falls The Shadow , which is primarily about Simon de Montfort, but I honestly couldn't get through it. I also have a problem with contemporary novelists who insist on giving historical characters nicknames, e.g., Ellen de Montfort, where her name was Eleanor and she's always referred to as Eleanor in every document I've studied over the years, whether in official chronicles or personal correspondence.I think Llywelyn ap Gruffudd's grandfather, Llywelyn ap Iorwerth (Llywelyn Fawr), would be an interesting study, too, but his story ends with a whimper in a monastery, where he spent his last few, illness-ridden years. I guess I should give Penman's The Reckoning a try since it is apparently mostly about Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, but I don't think I have the heart.Edith Pargeter's The Bothers of Gwynedd Quartet , about Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, is a brilliant study although I disagree with some of her conclusions about motivations vis-a-vis Dafydd, Llywelyn's brother. However, there's been a lot more research done and papers published since she wrote this series of novels and wouldn't have known what we know today about who did what to whom and why.As for Braveheart , I dont think theres anything that could redeem it for me. From the very first words that appear onscreen, 1280 A.D. to the very first words the narrator utters about the King of Scotland having died and left no heirs, I knew that if the filmmakers couldnt get their simple, easily researched facts right, there wasnt much hope for historical truth elsewhere. And there wasnt.I also dislike being confused by movies, so when this one started off with "1280 A.D.", I knew they couldn't be referring to Alexander II who had died in 1249 because "the Longshanks," as the narrator calls him, didn't exist as such -- Edward would have only been ten years old then. Plus, Alexander II did have an heir of the same name, and I knew he, Alexander III, outlived Llywelyn ap Gruffudd by 4 years, dying in 1286. So now I didn't know what the hell was going on up there on the screen but it annoyed me that I had to stop and think about it instead of being able to just sit back and watch the beautiful scenery and, hopefully, a good story unfold before me. No such luck.Aren't I the crabapple today? Must be all the bear sightings we've had in the yard in the last 10 days: 5! I know I live up in the mountains but this is southern California, for pete's sake! LOL!

Hollywood and Owain Glyndwr?

Promoting Wales in the USA

I think this was taken near Machynlleth or Dolgellau. I was on a bus from Aberystwyth to Bangor and we stopped near this great old bridge for a few minutes.

Sorry for cluttering up the board here, but wanted to see if I could follow Ceri's above directions. Thanks, Ceri!

Hollywood and Owain Glyndwr?

Promoting Wales in the USA

Nice shot! I like the arrow loops in the b.g.! Hey, how'd you get your photo to embed in the message itself? When I uploaded mine, it only showed the link, not the photo.

Hollywood and Owain Glyndwr?

Promoting Wales in the USA

Oops, meant to attach this photo I took when at Carreg Cennen. It's one of my favorites from my second trip to Wales where I finally got to visit some castle ruins. Not the ones I really wanted to visit, but next time...! This one has provided me endless inspiration although I'm sure the view out that arrow loop was vastly different from the pastoral patchwork we see now.

Hollywood and Owain Glyndwr?

Promoting Wales in the USA

When I was driving out of Cardiff in my spiffy, stick-shift-on-the-wrong-side rental car, as I headed north out of the city and saw the first road sign whose name I recognized, it was for Caerffili Castle and I burst into tears. It was the most bizarre thing. But I had been researching medieval Wales and Llywelyn's life for two years and here I was, finally in Wales, seeing for myself a few of these extraordinary places I'd only dreamed of seeing. I was pretty much choked up for most of the 4 brief days I had before having to return to London. By the time I got to Abbey Cwm Hir, I was a basket case.All by way of saying, there was most definitely something there with which I completely identified and that was soul-stirringly deep. And I've been obsessed with Llywelyn's story ever since.Although I like your imagery. Why don't you write that magical story? I think you'd be far better at it than I!

Hollywood and Owain Glyndwr?

Promoting Wales in the USA

It's a very different thing, although I think the biggest difference is simply training yourself to write nothing that can't be seen through the camera lens. And not write what we call the million dollar line: "And the cavalry came over the hill." Of course you can't do that in either of your media as well, so perhaps the genres aren't as different as you'd think. One great advantage to writing for the big or small screen is that you don't have "stage waits" from one scene to the other as you do in plays.I'll bet you'd be great at writing screenplays. Why not give it a go?

Hollywood and Owain Glyndwr?

Promoting Wales in the USA

Working from last to first...Not an official working title. I've variously called it "The First Prince," "The Last Prince," "The First and Last Prince," "Prince of All Wales" and, my personal favorite although I doubt it'll fly, "Hireath."I'm afraid I'm not a good enough student of Hollywood statistics to know whether historical accuracy is on the upswing. I would hope so but like any collaborative medium, s/he who has the biggest salary wins in any discussion of content. And that most certainly isn't the writer.I'm not familiar with Adorno's work or philosophy. I'm afraid you're way too ahead of the curve for me, Ceri!Hey, I'm ashamed to publicly admit how many times I paid to see "The Karate Kid." Each time I went back it was to focus on a single aspect of the story, the music, the characters, the props, the music, the story, the music, the story...And please don't take offense at this question, but why do you spell Llywelyn's name "Llewellyn"? I'm truly curious, not trying to be a school marm or anything.

Hollywood and Owain Glyndwr?

Promoting Wales in the USA

A "nosy parker"? I love that! I have several overseas friends and I'm constantly learning some new colloquialism. Although I must say, cockney rhyming slang should be designated a language unto its own. I mean, I know all the words but I haven't a clue what they mean sometimes. LOL!Yes, one and the same KP on imdb. I've worked for writers all of my so-called career, until last year when I got hired to do my first pro writing gig, adapting a book into a screenplay, which my agent is flogging about town as we speak.As for how far along on the Llywelyn project, not far enough to be able to give you any kind of guesstimate as to when it might be produced. As we say, no deal is set until the check clears. Even when it clears, if the exec who bought/optioned your project gets the boot from one network to another, which seems to be happening with frightening regularity lately, well, there goes your project, too. Two producers are very, very interested in it, but it's all just so much blue sky and blowing smoke until it gets the green light (and the check clears!). I don't want to count me chickens before they cross the road.Re: Chris Eccleston... I'm not very familiar with him even though I've seen some of the things he's been in. I can't hear his voice in my head, unlike my other "fantasy choices" whose work I do know well. It's just a game I play, anyway, in picturing a particular actor's voice/mannerisms as I write. Sometimes it helps with dialogue, sometimes it can get in the way. But it's all fun.