Sharps Latest
So, we have now made our final selection for the workshop. Most writers were contacted last Friday but a few are now receiving their invites. I can't answer every comment posted on the blog but i'll try to cover a few areas:
The Shortlist - our original plan was to invite 20 writers to the workshop. But the standard of the work we've received has been high and so we've decided to make space for 25 writers. This meant that it took longer than we had expected to second- and third-read scripts and therefore make final decisions on the last few possible writers. The great thing is, we'll meet more of you at the workshop. I can categorically state that there is no pecking order in that final workshop list - we just had more interesting scripts to consider.than we had anticipated.
Acknowledgments - the gremlins set in when we transferred data across in order to acknowledge receipt of scripts. And it's the first time we've used an online application form. We are methodically working through the submissions to clarify and inform everyone who has contacted us - but you need to bear with us so that we can do it carefully and properly.
Sifting Scripts - a team of experienced script readers looked at every script received and sifted the interesting ones to the next stage. Myself and our in-house script reader second-read these scripts and narrowed down to a longlist, all of which were then read by Kate Rowland, Creative Director of New Writing at the BBC. We then discussed everything that made it through to the longlist and made our final selection. We asked the readers to give the benefit of the doubt, and just over 100 scripts (out of nearly 600) made it through to the second read stage. The shortlist represents an extraordinary range of voices, ideas, styles and talents. For the writers who got to the second round but didn't make the final shortlist - when the dust settles we will let you know that you got to the second stage, with some brief feedback.
Turnaround - our turnaround was always fairly tight and although there have been some acknowledgement problems and a slight extension to our final workshop invitations, I'm really pleased that we've worked our way through all the scripts so quickly and efficiently.
As someone in the blog comments said, it's not rocket science. Indeed not. It's much more complex than that - because we are all individuals striving to be objective and fair, and we are fully aware that we are holding in our hands scripts that represent time, energy, work, imagination and hope...
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