Discovered on Coverfly, Jason Partridge signed an Option Agreement with an Australia Production Company after being introduced by the Coverfly team.

We asked Jason about his creative journey, from watching his scripts come to life on TV to "setting up dominos" so they all fall into place.

How It All Began

I grew up in a very small town. Movies were always such an important way for me to remind myself that the world I lived in was infinitely small compared to the world around me. The more I watched film, the more I deconstructed it. And the more I asked why writers and directors made the choices they did, the more I started to realize that I might be able to use this medium to tell my own stories. 

Getting Started

Writing has played a major role in my life. I studied English Literature and writing at University. I became a writer in advertising and loved watching my scripts come to life on TV. I’ve even written a couple of books on innovation and culture. I wrote my first screenplay while working as a copywriter 15 years ago. But it’s only in the past three years, where I feel like I’ve come to understand the craft of screenwriting. I can see a huge difference in the last three screenplays I’ve written. 

Every script comes with moments where you doubt where things are going.

Early Roadblocks

Trusting myself to see a story through. Every script comes with moments where you doubt where things are going. You hit snags, and it is easy to set an idea aside and move on to something else. But sometimes, you must force yourself to write through it. 

Breaking Through

I was on a writer’s panel recently, and one of the winning screenwriters used this analogy that captured my approach. He said that writing a script is like setting up dominoes that you want to push, so they fall perfectly to reveal your story. If you get to a place where one domino isn’t falling into place, it’s easy to think that the whole thing isn’t working. But the reality is that you need to focus on the domino that comes before it, and the domino that comes after it. Such an important lesson to get you over humps in your writing.

I loved that there was a place where my festival wins were being captured and shared with the industry. That, in and of itself was amazing. But when a production company reached out and said Coverfly shared my work with them because it was a perfect fit – I was blown away. A few meetings later, and we signed the option agreement.  

Don’t just accept criticism. Welcome it.

What Comes Next?

I’ve partnered with an award-winning director who is helping me to develop “Room Zero”. I have just recently completed another screenplay for a drama called “The Portage”. It’s a story about two brothers on a canoeing trip. When their father dies, they must survive the harshness of nature, while carrying their father’s body out of the wilderness, and back to civilization. Excited to see how this does on the festival circuit.

Advice For Aspiring Writers

Don’t just accept criticism. Welcome it. Sharing anything creative comes with having to open yourself to the fact that some people will not react the way you want to. And the process requires us to collaborate and be open to feedback. The challenge is, that sometimes the feedback is wrong, and you need to trust your vision. I like the rule of three. If you get the same note three times, you got some editing to do. 

Dream Project?

My next script is a much larger, fantasy-driven story. I’d love to work with someone brilliant at world-building. Heyday Films comes to mind. Plus, my brother-in-law Tyler would be insanely jealous, given his love of the Paddington movies.