Lifelines: Adrian Mead, 46, film writer-director and ChildLine volunteer

I realised I needed to make a short film, so I wrote a script, got a group of people together, saved up some money and said, “Right, we’re going to New York to make a 35mm film.” It won a few awards and I started doing a lot more writing.

I run workshops for aspiring screenwriters. Artists are good at burrowing themselves away in what they’re doing and hoping somebody else will do the sales stuff, but the truth is there has never been a creative person who didn’t go out and hustle.

I’m a diary nazi. When other people set you deadlines, you jump to them, so I set deadlines for myself and reward myself when I meet them.

I’ve just been working with my partner [Clare Kerr] on The Wicker Tree, the sequel to The Wicker Man, which we made with Robin Hardy, the director of the original Wicker Man. We shot most of it in the Gorebridge area [of Edinburgh] and got to burn a huge effigy on Middleton Hill.

I see myself more as a writer than a director, but it’s great to be able to go out and direct and be part of a team.

My favourite job was a film called Night People, which we shot in Edinburgh a few years ago. It was a great chance to pull together all the different aspects of filmmaking, writing and producing. A close second would have to be working on the Dennis and Gnasher cartoons for CBBC. There’s nothing like waking up in the morning and trying to work out the sound of Gnasher farting underwater.

I got involved with ChildLine for a mix of altruistic and selfish reasons. I have a fairly nice life and I wanted to put something back into the community, and when I heard ChildLine were opening up a centre in Edinburgh I thought it would be a good thing to put my name forward. The other side of it was that as a writer I needed to find a way to understand the world of young people. Obviously I would never use an actual incident, because it’s confidential, but it helps me understand the attitude of young people.

My one piece of advice to aspiring filmmakers would be to ask yourself whether, if your film never got made, it would it be missed. How will it change people’s lives or entertain them more than what’s already out there?

How To Make It As A Screenwriter by Adrian Mead is available from www.meadkerr.com, priced £8.96. All proceeds go to ChildLine. The Wicker Tree is due out next year.