Reigniting The Flame by Rebecca Colby

Sometimes you need a fire lit at your core to make progress in your life. You find yourself procrastinating, or you get fixated and hung up on one idea or one way of working, or you get stuck on a project and it stalls. Ultimately, it boils down to one thing—the flame has burned out and needs to be reignited to propel you forward.

That’s exactly where I found myself in early 2024—burned out. My MA Screenwriting degree (and the deadlines it provided) had finished the year before and the struggles of everyday life were wearing me down. I was losing momentum for my latest project, while convinced it was the only project worth working on. And due to a perfectionist attitude, I was further holding myself back by wanting every page of my first draft to sound like an award-winning script. I was my own worst enemy.

Enter the fireball that is Chris Jones—founder of the London Screenwriters’ Festival (LSF), best-selling author, Oscar-nominated filmmaker, splinter unit director on Mission Impossible and more! He is a man who is constantly on fire and it’s infectious. After attending LSF, the fire drew me in but didn’t yet ignite. I heard the impressive things Talent Campus alumni were doing and I made the decision to apply because I wanted to partake of whatever elixir he’d given the alumni. 

Flash forward to last week… I was sitting in a room in Ealing Studios on the first day of Talent Campus and being told the experience would change my life. I chuckled inside. I had high hopes of walking away with more tools for my trade and with renewed motivation, but life-changing? Please! This was nothing short of an exaggerated promise and pure snake oil. I didn’t believe Chris, but I did believe the experience would be impactful. Thankfully, Chris is all about helping others to change their limiting beliefs. And you know what? He was right. Talent Campus did change my life.

I bonded with the most amazing peer group in a way that I’ve never bonded so quickly with strangers before. It’s a not even a peer group anymore. It’s a family. I learned gold nuggets that I’d not heard elsewhere and this is from someone who works as a screenwriting retreat manager who regularly hears gold nuggets from industry professionals. The days were action-packed and provided peak value. No one can ever say Chris doesn’t give them their money’s worth. Particularly useful for me were the sessions with my mentor, Bob Schulz, as each person was able to tailor their sessions with Bob according to their personal aspirations and needs. It wasn’t a one size fits all. But best of all, Chris and his team pushed past my limiting beliefs and reignited a flame—both figuratively and literally.

Figuratively, Talent Campus accomplished this by helping me to push myself every day beyond my former thinking about what’s possible and what I’m capable of. I can now transmute fear around situations that would formerly have held me back. The alchemical change from worry, dread and terror to acceptance, confidence and excitement has become seamless.

And literally, Talent Campus has reignited that flame at my core, because this happened…