BBC Writersroom works with writers at all stages of their careers. Our TV Drama Writers' Programme was set up in 2014 in partnership with BBC TV Drama to develop writers who had already gained some production experience (find out more about the origins of the scheme). The second TV Drama Writers' Programme has recently concluded with a read-through of scripts by all 12 writers by a professional cast. The scripts were the first episodes of potential series.
Nessah Muthy was one of the writers on the scheme and explains what happened...
The BBC TV Drama Writers’ Programme is an epic project that on both paper and in reality can only be described as a TV writers’ dream.
At best, your script is brought to screen, at worst (although there really is no worst) you have a spec' script... one that has been developed and championed by a dedicated BBC script editor and executive producer team.
As if that weren’t enough, throughout the programme you’re also invited to attend a huge array of masterclasses (and the BBC Writersroom Festival) with leading TV writers, script editors, producers and directors. Namely, but not limited to, Esther Springer, Bill Gallagher, Marnie Dickens, John Yorke and many, many more!
I applied with a stage play and television pitch document. Subsequently I was invited to attend an interview with Ros Ward and Anne Edyvean. We discussed my play, my pitch and also explored a number of other ideas that I hadn’t yet put to paper, obviously, with BBC channels specifically in mind. I found it useful to share a few ideas, and, as it turned out, the idea I’d originally submitted was not in the end the one I developed on the programme. Instead, in that interview, we hit on the seeds of something else...
A couple of weeks later I was delighted to hear I’d gained a place on the programme, along with eleven other writers from across the UK.
Each writer was then assigned a script editor. I sometimes liken the script editor / writer relationship to dating, you either feel compelled to go on a second date or you don’t...It’s safe to say that I got lucky, extremely, extremely lucky with Rachelle Constant. Although we did know each other a little before our pairing, we hit it off and what followed was hard, meticulous work, but also an experience that was enjoyable and exciting.
The fact is this is a highly collaborative process, neither of you really know what “it” is you're creating because [hopefully] it’s new and uncharted. You have to trust that you’ll find and work “it” out together. And that’s just in script/story terms, the real life world of my story was also largely unfamiliar so we needed time to research and work out that world too.
Ultimately the perfect safe space was created, somewhere I could experiment whilst also benefit from Rachelle’s rigour and hugely skilled critical eye.
I wrote, rewrote and rewrote and rewrote again, first a series pitch document, then a story beat sheet, (detailing the pilot episode, scene by scene) and then finally a draft of a script... well in fact two drafts before a workshop with actors.
The workshop process is quite commonplace in theatre but most definitely a luxury in TV and even more so in TV script development. Mark Rice-Oxley, Sarah Ridgeway and Rakhee Thakra worked with director Jennie Darnell and for the first time I heard my script and my characters come to life. They interrogated it in the most open and helpful of ways, mainly through questions, some I could answer and some I couldn’t, but actually they were the more useful ones!
At the final read-through
More rewriting and research and rewriting continued until eventually it was time for the final script read-through days. There was less focus here on development; instead it was an opportunity to hear our scripts in their (almost) finished versions. Yet more fantastic actors (Lindsay Coulson, Ray Fearon, Henry Garrett, Jaye Jacobs, Michael Obiora and Rakhee Thakrar) delved into the twelve scripts under the guidance of inspiring director Andy Hay. It was fascinating to see and hear how everyone’s ideas had now become fully fledged live and kicking stories and even more striking was how each of the scripts was so very different.
Throughout the programme, there had always been an atmosphere of camaraderie amongst all the writers, but here it was felt more than ever. Observations and questions were offered in a genuine and supportive way.
Whilst the programme has officially ended for this cohort, it’s not really goodbye... for me there’s still another draft to do and from there who knows...
Most importantly, regardless of what happens, there’s real legacy, not just in the writers’ whatsapp group (!), but in the form of our spec' scripts. My spec' script is something I and others have hugely invested in, something that feels reflective of the characters I want to see on screen and crucially something of my own voice that I can share with the wider industry.
Find out more about the criteria for the TV Drama Writers Programme - Applications have closed for the 2017 scheme and we are currently interviewing shortlisted writers.
