Archives for April 2011

We're very pleased to announce that screenwriter Danny Brocklehurst will be speaking at this year's TV Drama - The Writers' Festival.

Danny won a BAFTA for his work on Shameless and was lead writer on the third series. He has written on some of the biggest UK dramas of recent years including Clocking Off, The Stretford Wives, The Street, Accused and Talk to Me. His new three-part psychological thriller, Exile, which tells a story of prodigal redemption and stars John Simm and Jim Broadbent - starts on BBC One this Sunday at 9pm.

Watch a preview clip from Episode 1 of Exile below:

Read an earlier interview we did with Danny.

Find out how to apply for a place at TV Drama: The Writers' Festival.

We recently held a special Writers' Studio Q&A session with West is West writer, Ayub Khan Dinn.

Ayub answered questions from BBC writersrooms' Kate Rowland, and an invited audience of writers, about the challenges involved in writing the sequel to East is East and the inspiration behind his characters. He also talked about his transition from acting into writing, the strategies he uses when dealing with writer's block, and how he approaches working with a director and producer.

Watch the clips below for some highlights from the session:

Writers' Studio: Ayub Khan-Din - West is West

Writers' Studio: Ayub Khan-Din - Cultural identity

Writers' Studio: Ayub Khan-Din - Writing for Film

Writers' Studio: Ayub Khan-Din - Character

Writers' Studio: Ayub Khan-Din - Writing Process

Watch the trailer for West is West - along with interviews with the cast and crew, on the BBC Films website.

TV Drama: The Writers' Festival 2011 is now open for bookings to writers with a TV credit or commission.

To apply for your place, visit the Writers' Festival page on our website, download and fill out the application form and send it to us at [email protected] with the subject 'TV Drama - The Writers Festival'. The festival costs £40 to attend on both days.

If you do not have a credit or commission as yet but would like to attend you can make an enquiry briefly detailing your writing experience to [email protected]please title your email Writers' Festival Query.

If you are an industry professional and would like to come along we may have some spaces. Please download and fill out the application form and email it to us at [email protected]. Please put Writers Festival - Industry in the subject line.

Keep an eye on the TV Drama - The Writers Festival page and our Twitter account in the coming weeks for announcements about the guest speakers and seminars we'll be hosting this year.

Below are some pictures from last year's event:

In conversation with Paula Milne and Tony Marchant.

'What is a series?' talk with John Yorke, the BBC's Controller of Drama Production and New Talent.

'They Won't Like It' discussion on censoring with Toby Whithouse, Sophie Gardiner and Ben Stephenson.

Delegates enjoy a beer in between sessions.

We've just uploaded a script from the last series of Waking the Dead:

Waking the Dead, Series 9, Harbinger - Parts 1 & 2 by Ed Whitmore

Read series producer Colin Wratten's post on the BBC TV blog where he talks about the research and grisly special effects on Waking The Dead.

Watch clips from Part 1 and Part 2 of Harbinger below:

Frequently Asked Questions

The Writers Academy is now open for online applications from writers until 5th May. To apply go to the Writers Academy page on this site and click on the link.

I thought I would just go through a few of the questions that regularly come up about the course:

Why are only experienced writers eligible?

You need to have had at least one professional commission in drama in order to apply. This is for several reasons. Firstly, and most importantly, the course is not a beginners course. Within six months of being accepted on to the course, you could be writing a broadcast episode of Holby or Casualty. Showing us that you have been paid to write drama helps to show us that you can collaborate and work with people, and that you had some commitment to working as a professional writer. Also, it keeps the number of applicants down to a level where we have some chance of giving every script enough attention.

Do I have to apply with a television script?

No. Radio, Film or Theatre scripts are fine too. We need to see your best work - the piece that says the most about you as a writer.

Do I have to apply with the script I had professionally commissioned as my uploaded sample?

Not necessarily - you need to send us your best work.

I have already written for Doctors, can I still apply?

Yes. We have had several regular Doctors writers on the course. There is a massive technical leap between writing for Doctors and writing for Casualty, say.

My script was optioned - does this count as a professional commission?

Yes it does.

I have written a novel - do I qualify?

No - you need to have been commissioned to write drama.

What about comedy?

A full length script of a sit com or comedy drama would be fine. Sketches would not.

I really want to write for EastEnders, but I don't qualify.

This course is not the only way in to writing for Continuing Drama. If you have an agent - get them to send me a sample of your work. If you don't have an agent, send your script into the Writersroom, and tell them you are interested in writing for EastEnders. You may end up on one of our Shadow Schemes. See our Continuing Drama section on this website for more details.

Ceri

We received an extremely high standard of entries for our Laughing Stock competition, so much so that the original shortlist had to be increased from 25 to 26 scripts. These are the writers/writing partnerships who were selected for the masterclass stage:

Sarah Seth

Jack Dickson

Sarah Glenister & Alison Jeapes

Mike Rampton

John Dorney

David Byrne

Nev Garven

Elliott Kerrigan

Louisa Fielden

Mathilda Gregory

Gini Woodward

Shazad Mohammed

Martyn Ford

Robert Goldsbrough

Andrew Parkhill

Joe Hodgson

Pete Jones

Joseph Glavey

Jo Walliams

Joel Slack-Smith

Amir Khoshsokhan

Jenni Armstrong

Daniel Calder & Rees Nicholls

Dom Woodward

Steve Hollbrook & Anna McQueen

Daniel Moulson

The masterclass took place yesterday at BBC Television Centre - it was an informative and creative day giving the writers an opportunity to pitch their scripts and put their questions to BBC comedy commissioner, Cheryl Taylor, comedy writer and performer Adil Ray, and The Thick of It's Rebecca Front.

Stay tuned for the announcement of the winners, who will be attending a very special residential in June where they'll get to develop their ideas hand in hand with BBC comedy producers, and established comedy writing talent.