We've just announced a new roadshow date in Birmingham on Tuesday 18 August to join the previously-announced Norwich date on EDIT: 6 October.
As ever, you can find out how we deal with your scripts, ask questions, and even hand scripts in to us in person.
After weeks of agonising waiting, we were finally able to put the nine shortlisted ABBA writers out of their misery, when last night, at the prize giving ceremony, we announced who had won the award. So, I'm incredibly pleased to tell you that Chris Wilson, with his play 'Playing the Game' is the winner of the 2009 Alfred Bradley Bursary Award. 'Playing the Game' is a play about a teenage boy who has to negotiate his dad's growing relationship with his aunt after his mother's death, his ambitions to be a footballer, school bullies and his acne. The Radio Drama Commissioner Jeremy Howe called it 'an extraordinary rites of passage play' before presenting Chris with a bursary for £3000. Chris later that evening said that winning the award was a 'huge honour' and that he would never normally have thought about writing for radio drama, but 'ABBA gave me the incentive to send in my play and see what happened'. What has happened is that 'Playing the Game' has now been put forward for a radio drama commission, Chris has received a bursary and will also receive a years mentorship with a Radio Drama North Producer. We very much look forward to working with Chris and developing his ideas. So watch this space!
Chris was not the only ABBA winner though. Two scripts came joint second in the award. These scripts were 'God and That' by Tom Wells and 'White Horses' by Ben Ayrton. Both Tom and Ben received £1000 bursary money and will receive a years mentorship with a Producer. One script was highly commended by the judges, 'Maine Road' by Sarah McDonald Hughes and two scripts were commended, 'Faith' by Alexandra Denye and 'Driftwood Something Something' by Paul Buie. Sarah, Alexandra and Paul will all receive mentorship and have the chance to develop their scripts and further ideas for the Radio 4 offers round.
We in Radio Drama North are absolutely thrilled by the high level of talent which has come through the award this year, and we know that these very talented writers, most of whom are at the very beginning of their writing careers, have bright and brilliant futures in front of them, and it will be a pleasure to help them on their way.
Shortlist
It's been a month since I last blogged, and we've now shortlisted down to thirty writers. This means that everyone who entered should have received a "yes" or a "no". If you haven't - something's gone wrong - so you need to get in touch with us directly.
This is the longest stage of the process. Each of the 150 long-listed scripts was read in full by two members of the drama department and marked in eight categories: Dialogue, Character, Narrative Structure and Pace, Distinctive Voice, Emotional Appeal, Visual Storytelling, Credible World and "Did it keep your attention?". Each section is marked out of five and so the final score is a mark out of 80. It's tough "scoring" writing ability, but at least it gives us something to hang our responses on and it's the best system we've come up with so far. Anyone got a better suggestion I would love to hear it!
The team and I then read as many of those as is humanly possible (usually all those with marks over 50). We then (and only then) look at the application forms and factor those into the equation:
- Do they watch (or at least pretend to watch!) Continuing Drama? - you'd be amazed those applications that don't even mention the programmes... or television!
- Do they have some knowledge of the pressure they'll be working under?
- Do they come across as writers who can work collaboratively? - really difficult to judge, and this is what the workshops are all about.
- What's their writing CV so far and how does it show an aptitude for this kind of writing? (that doesn't mean only writers who've worked on continuing drama before)
- Do they want it? - do they really want it? Again impossible to judge from 400 words on a stuffy online application form, but you have to try get to the heart of what they're saying and make a judgement on this.
Then... we get input from the Writersroom for anyone on the list who's work they've read, we ask around, we ask for second opinions, we compare notes... basically we do everything we can to try and make this rather artificial process as fair and as exhaustive as possible.
I'll be meeting the final thirty at the workshops later this week. We're very excited about them, and the quality of work this year, everyone agrees, has been higher than ever. If you didn't make it this time, I would really encourage you to try again next year. I could have filled the workshops several times over with worthy people.
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~20~RS~)
© MMIX