We received a record 5167 submissions to our latest annual Script Room window for Drama and Comedy Drama. Our Reading Team have been working as fast as they can and we'll let everyone know the outcome as soon as possible.
While you wait for the results we asked one of the newest members of the team for some thoughts and impressions on the experience so far.
Nothing beats the feeling of opening a new script. It’s a fleeting moment of absolute possibility – what could this story be? Who will I meet? Where could it take me? What might I learn, re-frame, understand or discover there?
As one of the newest members of the reading team at ±«Óãtv Writersroom, I’ve found myself in a group of readers without having met anyone face-to-face. What a strange and wonderful time it is to join this new digital space, and to think deeply about story with a new bunch of brilliant strangers. And of course, we’re all now used to the challenges and possibilities of online meetings: multiple-person conversations become harder and working WiFi can make or break you, but on the other hand – the digital set-up also provides the opportunity to listen more deeply, perhaps thinking more carefully about how to usefully contribute to the conversation.
In fact, much like being a writer, being a reader is a lonely job. Readers’ meetings provide the necessary space for us to champion the scripts we’re most excited about, reflect on patterns in recurring themes, stories or ideas, and celebrate and dissect the shared experience of the reading process.
Unique to this year however, are questions of if, and how, writers are responding to the Pandemic. In order to feel truthful, do stories set now have to be entirely re-framed? Can we write truthful, contemporary scripts set post-2020 that don’t directly acknowledge how the world has changed? Spoiler alert – there are no answers here, but it feels like a useful time to reiterate that the word ‘truth’ when referring to storytelling is so often confused with the word ‘fact’. The former encourages writers to use their sharpest tools of imagination to explore the past, present and future, and the latter can perhaps shrink or limit. The very nature of storytelling is that it’s all welcome, provided the writing remains curious, and focuses first and foremost on character and story, and not purely on concept or argument.
Actually, much of the work I’ve read for the latest Script Room so far has not been about the Pandemic. I’ve been excited by the patterns in scripts grappling with connected themes, as opposed to noticing the usual trends in ‘types’ of story. The recurring themes this year seem to be the ones we’ve all been simultaneously experiencing, albeit in different ways – the push and pull of closeness and isolation; communication; ageing; family and friendship; ‘human’ vs. digital. The sweet spot, as ever, exists in the voices that manage to tap into our collective experience through a particular character, or characters, who offer their unique perspective.
I’ve also really appreciated scripts which entirely transport me to another world or time-period. There’s been an abundance of sci-fi and fantasy narratives, often set against a high-stakes political backdrop. In our readers’ meetings, we’ve been talking a lot about ‘genre’, and how scripts that explore a familiar genre but through a new lens feel really exciting right now. Writing in this kind of territory, consider asking yourself what new perspective you can bring, as opposed to how you can slot yourself into the pre-existing structure of your chosen genre.
My experience across all of my reading work this past year (both for screen and stage) tells me that it does seem to be a time of real variety in storytelling, making it surely one of the most fascinating times to be a reader. This job always kind of feels like being the very first one to arrive at the party - except this time, it’s like none of us really know what kind of party it is, where exactly we are, who else will be there, or most importantly, if we’re going to get any cake*.
*Please let there be cake.
Find out more about Script Room - our annual open submission window for Drama and Comedy Drama scripts