An Insight into Screenwriting and Career Development by Rob Sprackling

Chichester Filmmakers C.I.C Spring Event 2026.

Rob Sprackling is an experienced screenwriter and an award winning writer/director. Along with his writing partner John Smith, he wrote the original screenplay for the animated Disney feature film Gnomeo & Juliet. It was the number one movie at the box office in the UK and US, taking nearly $200 million worldwide.

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From the moment Rob started speaking it became immediately apparent that here is a guy who is down to earth, approachable, and oozes passion for his craft. But it wasn’t just a talk from a successful professional inspiring a room of future filmmakers. At the core of Rob’s talk sat key takeaways valuable to all who work in a creative sector.

‘No’ Is The Process

Initially we hear about career progression, slogging away writing with his partner, rejection, exchanging agreements, copyright issues, rejection, successful deals cancelled at the final hurdle due to other scheduling, and abandoning hard work to an office draw. In essence the road so many of us have to travel to bring our projects to life.

Whilst Rob spoke about all these past tests it was clear that it was an automatic assumption that ‘no’ was a part of the process and not a setback. This resilience was not a prominent theme of his biography but nevertheless a key characteristic every creative should embrace. Writing did not stop for other projects whilst agents worked to get agreements in place, and ‘no’ did not seem to be lingered upon.

Structure & Workflow

Capture an enclosed world, take polar opposites and smash them together (like garden gnomes and the greatest romantic tragedy of all time), something relatable, something world-breaking, and you have the basic elements of a unique story. Rob broke down these key elements of his writing process and related it to sketches stood at the kitchen counter with his writing partner creating reams of notes.

In this brief dissection of the Oscar and Bafta nominated film Gnomeo and Juliet, Rob stripped his 3 months of work back to its core components, acts, and even to what page of the script the world breaking moment hits or when the hero fails.

Along with many listening to this talk with a background not in screen writing, the imposition of a structured workflow translated clearly. The focus of the workflow, keeping clear structures wasn’t spoken about in a flexible manner, it was the heart of the story arch, the foundation from which the concept imprints itself upon, and was in place before any of the story components were brought to life.

This naturally is not to say all creative work must fall into a ‘cookie cutter production line’ workflow but as Rob describes, ‘if you are on page 300 and something in the script, it isn’t going to work’. 

Only after pages of ideas were scribbled down were these then organised into the pre-established form using software that contained preformatted parameters to ensure timeframes were maintained for the end result. 

Quality

By keeping to a predetermined workflow, in combination with software to help keep this in check, it somewhat forces the framework into a clear structure. Rob emphasised repeatedly the importance of each element hitting the 10/10 mark for quality but the overarching theme seemed to be consistency.

By taking a consistent approach to developing components, and having a structure already in place, quality is built through the development of each element in turn without having to worry about where it fits into the narrative.

Investment 

It is clear that Rob is not just invested in the role of a screenwriter, he has the oversight of ensuring the whole project is cared for. He describes pushing to be a director in contract negotiations and having sight of the whole picture rather than one element.  This was an intriguing moment where as filmmakers we generally stick to our relative departments (sometimes wearing multiple hats), doing our job and being a part of the creative process. 

Rob seems to automatically assume responsibility for the project as a whole, being fully invested and aware of the whole whilst focusing on the element in front of him. As I write this Rob is currently travelling to Andalucia, Spain to collaborate with a world leading flamenco guitarist for the upcoming film Flamingo Flamenco.

Being this invested in the process as a whole is not only inspiring but a solid lesson to not work in isolation but to create something that is more than just the sum of its parts.Rob’s talk at the Chichester Filmmakers C.I.C Spring Event felt like sitting listening to an old friend describe his week over a drink in the pub but beneath tales of this colourful raconteur sits a trove of insightful practices.

In addition to a willingness to impart long earned knowledge from an extensive screenwriting career Rob recommended some key resources at the foundation of screenwriting: 

Final draft - writing software where the formatting of a single page equates approximately to 1 minute of screentime. Available here.

Screenplay; The Foundations of Screenwriting, by Syd field. A short but crucial introduction to writing screenplays. Available here.