Casablanca Blues

<p>An image had rooted itself in my mind.</p><p>That of an ingenuous fresh-faced American arriving at Casablanca’s airport at the start of a mid-life crisis.</p><p>I could see him clearly.</p><p>Dressed in a crumpled old Burberry raincoat and fedora he was a clone of Humphrey Bogart of Rick’s Café Americain.</p><p>Each night before I drifted off to sleep I allowed myself to imagine the adventures of the <em>Casablanca</em>-obsessed visitor.</p><p>Within a week or so I had an entire storyline planned out.</p><p>Drilling down into the dark side of Morocco’s seething modern metropolis it exposed the subculture of speakeasies gangsters corruption and vice – a realm inspired by Hollywood’s own take on Casablanca.</p><p>I’m a book writer through and through but believe writers should experiment and so try my hand at screenplays from time to time.</p><p>Writing movies is the absolute opposite of creating novels. Book writing is all about lavishing one’s readers with sumptuous descriptions and developing a story through a long dependable text. Screenwriting is a case of less definitely being more. It’s the <em>nouvelle cuisine</em> of the writing business. Use a single word more than is needed and you’re guilty of the most terrible crime.</p><p>My hope is that in publishing <em>Casablanca Blues: The Screenplay</em> I’ll encourage other writers to free themselves from the rigidity of a single genre... to question how they work and what they work on.</p><p>But most of all to remember to write for themselves.</p>