For the second year here at BBC Writersroom we're joining up with the Popcorn Award, which celebrates the best new writing at the Edinburgh Fringe. One of last year's finalists, Laura Horton, explains what it has meant for her and her writing.
Entries for this year's Popcorn Award are open until 10am on 23rd June 2023.
Popcorn Award - eligibility criteria and entry details
Breathless started as a short play. Ben Lyon Ross at Theatre Royal Plymouth offered me space in their Lab theatre in 2021 to present three 20-minute pieces. I’d already written two, one as part of Miniaturists and the other, Giddy Tuppy, adapted from the first small commission I’d been given from The Space theatre to write a play for zoom in 2020. I needed a third and it made sense to me to write a monologue. The previous year I’d written a big surreal ensemble play about hoarding disorder, it was due to have a reading at The Bunker, but then the pandemic hit and that space sadly closed. I knew as an unknown writer no one would ever stage it; I also knew I wanted to write a semi-autobiographical piece about the sliding scale of hoarding behaviours. I initially called the piece Suffocating Stuff and we presented it as a Triptych, fundraising to pay for the creative team. I was keen to develop all the pieces, but the reaction to Suffocating Stuff was so visceral I knew I had to focus on that first.
Ben Lyon Ross encouraged me to apply for the Pleasance Regional Partnership which I was delighted to be selected for. The partnership supports you to take work to the Fringe, giving you a good slot, some financial support as well as a lot of in-kind help and encouragement. I’d been to the festival many times as a freelance publicist, but this was the first time taking my own work. I’d started fundraising and knew I needed to produce it myself as I couldn’t afford to hire anyone. I was fortunate that Theatre Royal Plymouth then decided to give me the remainder of the money I needed to support the play in Edinburgh. I loved pulling the creative team together, buying the set, art directing the marketing images - it was incredibly eye opening. I always knew theatre producers worked hard, but I have so much more understanding of what’s involved now.
Nic Connaughton at the Pleasance kindly circulated the details of the Popcorn Award and I promptly sent off the script for Breathless and a 50-word summary. We found out on the first day of the Fringe that I was longlisted, it was an incredible boost for me and definitely helped market the show in what is a remarkable, but incredibly competitive and gruelling month. We were really fortunate that Breathless seemed to strike a chord, winning a Fringe First and being shortlisted for Holden Street and the Scottish Mental Health Awards. As the only writing competition at the Fringe though I think the Popcorn Award is tremendously important. The Popcorn team also held a drinks reception where I met the rest of the longlist and they kept in touch with us all. The awards then bookended the festival and were a glorious way to finish. Being in the final three meant the world to me, it also opened so many doors I would never have been able to find myself. I had a meeting with the BBC Drama Commissioning team, who were just marvellous. I had over twenty meetings with television production companies, and a lot of touring interest.
Following the Popcorn Awards Breathless went on a mini South West tour with the support of Arts Council England. The Space awarded me support to run a digital project, Hidden by Things, to support our aims in digital audience development. Breathless was programmed at Soho Theatre for two weeks with an Offie nomination and was selected for Brits off Broadway at 59e59 for three weeks where it was a New York Times Critic’s Pick. I was selected to be on the BBC Writersroom Voices South programme and that has been invaluable in supporting me on my journey to write for television. I hope I know the group of people and mentors I’ve met on this course forever; they are the best. I’ve also been working on a number of new plays, one on the Criterion writer’s group, which I really would urge playwrights to apply for.
I would absolutely recommend writers with shows at the Fringe enter the Popcorn Awards. The Popcorn team are just wonderful, they’ve stayed in touch and been so kind to me. You’ve nothing to lose and everything to gain by throwing your hat in the ring. I spent so many years doubting myself and not applying for things, and don’t get me wrong, I have an enormous rejection folder, but I’m so glad I stuck with it as the doggedness is finally paying off.
