I MAY DESTROY YOU WITH BLANCA ESCODA

Blanca Escoda is Script Consultant with her own company called Decoding Stories, she also works as a script analyst for Filmarket Hub and Cine Europa.

Jesus Fragoso is part of the Communication team of Filmarket Hub. He studied Distribution and Business in the Audiovisual Industry at the ECAM. He also has his own distribution company of documentaries with which he presented “Les filles du feu” at the San Sebastian Film Festival 2021.

JESUS: To begin with, I wanted to ask you about your work as a consultant. When you’re dealing with a script, like the one on this show, how do you do it? How do you engage with it?

BLANCA: My involvement relies on the state of the work and the project. For example, there are more advanced scripts that need an analysis to finish profiling; and then there are others that require a consultancy, and the process is longer. I usually read it once or twice, sometimes up to three times in one sitting. As if I was watching a movie already made.

Sometimes, when I reread it, I write down notes and observations on more specific things. However, I believe it’s important not to go too much into detail, not to start making comments on very concrete things because the important thing is always to see it at a general level to help the writer.

In the case of a face-to-face consultancy, I want it to stay like a debate, not a monologue of mine towards the other person. It’s about talking to the writer to find a new direction. On the other hand, an analysis is more of an assessment for the writer to understand how the story is read, and I always try to offer and suggest various directions to help them face the next rewrite.

JESUS: We wanted to invite Blanca to analyze a script that has been very successful. The winner of the Emmy in 2021. It is the screenplay for I May Destroy You. A mini-series of one season. Produced by the BBC and HBO. Written by Michaela Coel, who previously wrote Chewing Gum. This series originates from when Michaela was writing the second season of Chewing Gum. At that time she lived in Italy, where she fell in love with the country, and she found herself facing for an extended amount of time the blank page. During that same year, she suffered a sexual assault. The combination of these two situations…