Sharps Workshop
The 25 shortlisted writers convened for an afternoon at BBC Broadcasting House. After the usual initial nerves and wariness of BBC catering, everyone relaxed and got into the swing of brainstorming, on-the-spot writing exercises, group idea pitching and a fantastic session where writer Jack Thorne very generously and honestly shared his experience.
They've now gone away with a two-day writing exercise to complete. And then comes the excruciating task (for them and us) of selecting writers for the residential in July. But even if they don't get to the next stage, we've still found a swathe of writers new to us - we know their work, we've met them, we've heard what they have to say and seen them in action, and we hope this will just be the beginning.
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'We've found a swathe of new writers new to us - we know their work, we've met them, we've heard what they have to say and seen them in action, and we hope this will just be the beginning'... not for the rest of us, though.
Perhaps this blog is a tad insensitive to the other quality writers who took part in Sharps.
By all means blog up the group exercises the 25 participated in or even print out Jack Thorne's wise words. But please don't rub it in. Most of us would love to be in the excrutiating scenario of waiting to be selected for the final eight.
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Point taken - but there has been a lot of interest in how the scheme progresses. Also, the other writers who made it through to the second round haven't been forgotten, and we will be following up with some brief feedback for all of them.
Paul Ashton
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Paul, thanks for the post. Great to know how the day went (even if I'm green, blue, red, and all other colours of the rainbow with envy...!). Well done to the 25 who got there and good luck to the 8 who do the residential.
John
PS Are you there any plans to make Sharps an annual thing or doing something similar again?
PPS I don't think it's insensitive at all. They got through because they desevered to and we have to go away and work out why we didn't and what we (positively) can take from the experience to improve our writing.
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Congratulations Paul on finding lots of new writers and I look forward to seeing their work on the screen. Just one question, i didn't receive a conformation email and wondered if my script got lost in the post or if you didn't confirm everybodies? Either way I was wondering if it would be okay to send it in to the BBC as unsolicited work.
Rose
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Come on Oscarthewise, don't channel your frustration into slating Writersroom...come up with a better script and you too could be one of the Beeb's new writers. Just because 25 made it, it doesn't mean the rest of us never will.
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I have an idea for a screenplay, but don't know how to go about putting it on paper. I have written some stories and I suppose I could write this as a story, but I think, given the right treatment this would be a good drama piece.
If anyone has any advice to give me regarding submitting an idea for a screenplay, please let me know.
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Hi Lydiarebecca
The best thing to do is just get it written.
You can find out about format by reading scripts from our script archive.
Once it's written, put it in a drawer for a few weeks. Get it out. Read it through. It will suck.
This is perfectly normal at this stage. Rewrite until it doesn't suck. Then show it to several friends. If you know a screenwriter you can get to read it, that would be ideal. Otherwise try and find someone who'll give you honest comments - anyone who'll tell you it's good if in truth it isn't might be a good friend, but isn't useful at this stage.
Anything that's brought up by more than two people needs to be addressed. Rewrite until it is.
Another technique that some people recommend is the "Power of Three" - get it read by three people. Rewrite. Get the new draft read by three people. Rewrite. Get the new draft read by three people. Rewrite. There's a good primer for the Power of Three here
Anything that's brought up by more than two people needs to be addressed. Rewrite until it is.
Put it in a drawer. Leave it for three weeks. Get it out. Re-read it.
It should be pretty good by this point. Rewrite to fix any problems that you spot this time round, then do one more pass for grammar, spelling, and format.
Then start sending it to people. You can find out how to send it to us here.
We'll take about four months to get back to you. So while you're waiting - start on the next one.
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Thanks to Piers for some brilliant advice. I have just printed off the script to the first episode of Ashes to Ashes (I hope there is nothing wrong in that) and I am going to take it home and read it thoroughly, taking in every part of it.
It's so nice to be taken seriously. The Writer's Room is the bext thing I've found when it comes to writing so far.
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hello writers room, when are you giving feedback to the longlisted writers? it's been soooo long since you said you would ...
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