Novelist, award-winning Shadowlands scriptwriter and one-time director William Nicholson began by telling his audience of writers and filmmakers that he wanted to be of use – but cautioned: “Do not send me your screenplay. I am your competition and I will burn it.”

A key point he emphasised was the immense difficulty of selling books and scripts, and the many challenges that can prevent a film from getting made.

Throughout his career, much of his work has been repeatedly rejected. His hand rose from his heart despairingly as he explained ruefully, “Nobody commissions novels. You have to write them and thrust them at people!”

With wry eloquence he discussed Gladiator, which he was called in to rewrite completely on a wage of £200,000 a week. The audience gasped as he revealed casually, “After five weeks I asked them to stop paying me.”

He was most animated when discussing how Oliver Reed’s death midway through filming called on all his storytelling skill to construct a satisfying resolution to his character’s journey using only outtakes and a body double.

Gladiator was a “four-quadrant” success, appealing to men and women, young and old – as opposed to a film “about sperm in someone’s hair, which” he enunciated with pained restraint, “is for young people”.

Nicholson was scarred for life when, after writing and directing Firelight, he was “delivered bound and gagged”

to Harvey Weinstein. He concluded his fascinating talk with fervent instructions for how writers should be treated.