How I Partnered with the Producers of The King's Speech & What I Learned Along The Way - Part 7
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I wasn’t exactly hopeful that my play would win or even place in the Canadian National Playwriting Competition but I sent it off anyway and hoped for the best. What happened next took me by surprise!
I think John was equally surprised (okay, probably more) when he became King. The incredible truth was that after his brother King Richard the Lionheart’s death in 1199 – there were two potential claimants to the English throne:
- John, whose entitlement rested on his being the sole surviving son of Henry II, and
- Arthur, his nephew and the son of John’s eldest brother the diseased Geoffrey.
The problem was that there were two sets of laws in play at the time and each set of laws supported one of the two claimants:
- Norman law favoured Arthur, Geoffrey’s son as heir to the throne, and
- Angevin law favoured John as the heir.
The matter of who would be King must have been decided I believe, by John and Richard’s mother Eleanor. Eleanor was a powerhouse of a woman who was the true muscle behind the throne.
John became King. It outraged the 13 year old Arthur and his mother Constance. They went to King Philip of France for his backing in Arthur’s struggle to take back the throne of England and much of France from his Uncle John. Philip gave him his support (for his own interests) and Arthur raised and commanded an army fighting many battles with John’s and Eleanor’s forces throughout the disputed territories in France. All at the tender age of 13 to 15 years old. Remarkable.
“The King’s Disposition” was awarded as a finalist in the Canadian National Playwriting completion. I attributed the play’s success to listening and applying the guidance of the Quiet Voice. Never had I experienced that kind of endorsement and the best was yet to come!
(pixabay.com)
Upon returning home, I began an extensive marketing campaign promoting my “award-winning play” to theatre film and television companies across the United Kingdom and North America.
One production company in the UK, Bedlam Productions read the play and their head of development, “Will Emsworth” wrote back expressing interest in the work. I was thrilled! Little did I know that Bedlam Productions had just been nominated as one of the producers of “The King’s Speech” and just two months later Bedlam Productions’ Gareth Unwin would be handed an Oscar for Best Picture at the Academy Awards by Steven Spielberg.
U-tube video of the Academy Award presentation can be viewed here:
Gareth acceptance speech is at about 3 min 43 sec in.
Bedlam’s interest in my work started a lengthy round of back and forth communications concerning the potential development and production of the play as a television series. This was about 3 years before the 800 year anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta. The British Government was planning a lot of public promotion to commemorate the anniversary and we believed the series could capitalize on that public outreach. Or so we thought…
Part 8: “WHAT?!” is next and feel free to share!
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