Blog posts by year and monthFebruary 2011
Posts (10)
Free tickets: West is West screening and Q&A at The Tricycle
The Tricycle is offering a limited number of FREE tickets for a screening and Q&A of West is West tomorrow at 8pm. To book your tickets - call the Box Office on 020 7328 1000 and quote: '±«Óãtv Writers Room West is West Special Offer'. Tickets must be booked in advance of the screening and th...
2011 Oscar Nominated Scripts
This year's Oscar-nominated scripts including The King's Speech, Inception, True Grit and The Fighter, are available to read over on the Raindance website. Enjoy!
Writers Academy 25
Oscar nominations and other news It's Oscar weekend, and Writers Academy graduate Tom Bidwell has been nominated for his short film Wish 143, made through the Writersroom's scheme ±«Óãtv Drama Shorts. Tom's inspiring story as a writer is told in this Guardian article: http://www.guardi...
Silent Witness: Bloodlines
Silent Witness is a rare thing on British television, a two hour show. Two hours is the length of a film, and we've tried to approach each SW script we've written as just that - a movie. To carry an audience through a two-hour story you need a strong concept at its heart, and a good pay-off. If ...
Last day for Laughing Stock
The entries for our Laughing Stock comedy competition have been coming in thick and fast. We've had over 15 sack loads of mail today alone, and are expecting even more to come. Here's what our office looks like right now! We can only accept entries until 5.30pm today (if you're i...
The Big Question
It's a question that has become a joke amongst writers. You assume that the person asking you the question is devoid of any creativity. Certainly no self-respecting writer or wannabe writer would catch themselves asking the question in question. Still, maybe it's a question that bears some analy...
Men Behaving Badly
With only one week left till the deadline for Laughing Stock, we thought you could do with some inspiration. We've just added a script from classic ±«Óãtv comedy series, Men Behaving Badly - written by Laughing Stock judge, Simon Nye - to our script archive. Men Behaving Badly - Series 6, Episo...
The Interface - A Reader's Perspective
Somewhere out there in a distant universe is the land where TV drama gets made. For most writers, even highly experienced ones, successful in the field, it's a mirage on the horizon. Does it really exist? How the hell do you get there? All of us readers are people who work in one guise or another within the world known as the 'industry'. With this comes as an awareness of how hard it is to break through to that promised land. The sinking feeling that you get when you read a covering note saying something along the lines of, "I think Judi Dench/ Valerie Singleton/ Joan Rivers would be great in the part of Mrs X" is tangible. What this attitude implies is that we are destined to be the bearer of bad timings. Not only is Judi Dench not available, but neither are Val Singleton, Joan Rivers or even Joan Collins. One of the hardest things to deal with as a reader is the knowledge that writers are going to be disappointed with the feedback we give. They're going to be disappointed because they're approaching us with false expectations. The land of TV Drama Production does exist, but it's distant, remote, and most of the time there aren't even any signposts. As I say, even the most experienced of writers will struggle to arrive there and see the green light. For the inexperienced writer it's even harder. That's where we come in. We are a port of call. We are the interface. There are certain basics which if they're lacking in a script make a reader groan. An understanding of character, structure and story. A grasp of dialogue; the understanding, frequently lacking, that every story, no matter how avant-garde, has a beginning, a middle and an end. The sense of a world which is inhabited by the characters of the piece, a world which might exist in the real world, beyond the confines of the author's head. An understanding of genre and medium. All these things are essential, and frequently lacking, and it will be the ones which fail to come to terms with these basics which are unlikely to make it through the first ten-page sift. But when you enter the full-read stage, there's something else that we're looking for. The chances of unearthing the next Pinter or Potter are unlikely. But we're looking for potential TV writers. TV is a team game, and TV writing has own particular requirements. These include the ability to respond to notes; an awareness that even the submitted draft, whilst at the time seemingly the very best the writer can deliver, still has scope for improvement. And also, finally, sheer perseverance. On every sift day, when the readers come in to do the initial ten page read, there's a script meeting, where we feed back on the scripts we took away the last time which we feel have real potential. The writersroom is, in my experience, unique in encouraging this forum, where most organisations have a highly impersonal relationship with their readers. This opportunity for the reader to talk about why they liked the script in question is one of the most satisfying aspects of the job. Over the years of reading, certain names of aspiring writers become familiar. Satisfying as it is to talk about someone whose script you've just read and liked, it's even more satisfying when another reader champions the script of someone who you read six months or a year ago, call them Mrs T, and gave notes to. At which point you think - Great, Mrs T is sticking at it and maybe the notes I gave them helped and maybe they didn't, but something seems to be functioning, both for Mrs T and the system. At which point Mrs T's work will go on to be read by people who are slightly closer to the distant universe where exists the land where TV Drama gets made. They've still got a long long way to go, but they're on the road. As a reader, you've done all you can. We are not the wizards or gurus of the promised land. We're just the interface. But we aim to interface as well as we possibly can. Find out how to submit your script to ±«Óãtv writersroom.
Writersroom Q&A: Tony Marchant on Garrow's Law
We recently held a very special ±«Óãtv writersroom Q&A session with writer, Tony Marchant. Focusing on ±«Óãtv One drama, Garrow's Law, Tony spoke to Kate Rowland and an invited audience of writers about the process of researching and writing the series - how he approaches writing his treatments, and ...
Future Talent Award
We are delighted to announce that the finalists for the FUTURE TALENT AWARD are: Bill Grundy for his screenplay set in the Cumbria fells in the wake of the foot and mouth crisis Daniel Moulson for his comedy about a day in the life of three students with romantic crises Katie Ruffley for her ...