Stephen Fry’s 2014 BAFTA Awards final comments

For a fleeting moment in time, there was a video on YouTube with the entirety of this year’s BAFTA Awards ceremony. But alas, the YouTube gods yanked it away. So we will have to make do with this:

And a transcript of Fry’s closing comments:

That’s all from the EE British Academy Film Awards 2014

Thank you Your Royal Highness and thank you everybody who has come and contributed and congratulations to all those who are nominated or involved in any of the films that have here been recognised.

After nine outings as host of this event, I can only speak truthfully and say that I think this year has presented the greatest variety of captivating, compelling, but always utterly watchable and engrossing stories.

There are new stories being enacted in the world every day, and there are stories that always need telling in new ways. There are stories being born in the minds of imaginative writers the world over. And maybe there is a story that you have fermenting in your mind.

Everyone in the film world starts out somewhere, and contrary to what you may think, it is not a closed world.

Everyone is welcome.

So to the established masters of the form — Good luck with your next story -

and to anyone out there who knows that they can tell a story in film, too — Go for it. I mean it.

Yes, the odds against achieving financial success as a writer and storyteller are significant. This path is not for the faint of heart.

But Fry is absolutely right: The film business is not a “closed world”. Maybe years ago, but now with the Internet, managers who want to read new writers, manager email addresses, and scripts as PDFs, anyone anywhere in the world has access to Hollywood.

Moreover there are sites like the Black List script hosting service which provide a go-to online platform for writers, buyers and reps.

Which means you can focus on the writing and learning the craft.

So by all means, go for it.

Onward!

HT to Trish Curtin for sending me the link to the BAFTA Awards video, alas gone with the virtual wind. But Fry’s message lives on!
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