The Alfred Bradley Bursary Award
Jeremy Howe, Commissioning Editor for Drama on Radio 4 is one of the judges for the Alfred Bradley Bursary Award, which launched today.
So if you're thinking of putting in an entry - or even if you want to try writing something for the Afternoon Play slot outside of the competition - you should probably have a listen to what he's looking for. Here's Jeremy:
"If you want to write an Afternoon Play for Radio 4 I have two important suggestions to make - please listen to the Afternoon Play - and not once but often, get a feel for what we do. It is on every weekday at 2.15 and available as Listen Again on the BBC Radio4 website or the iPlayer.
"Whatever you do don't clone what you hear - because we have already done it.
"And please listen to Radio 4. I would put money on it isn't what you think it is. A Torturers Tale was a series of interviews with torturers, Down the Line is a thoroughly irreverent spoof chat show, Vent is a sit com about a man on a life support machine, etc, etc.
"At its best Radio 4 is challenging, curious and mischievous. And is content rich. Get a feel for what Radio 4 does and you will get a feel for what you can do in an Afternoon Play.
"What are we looking for in a play? A good story told in a fresh and original way. It is that simple. Good dialogue is pretty crucial. Because it is a single it has to stand out, it has to grab us. And the canvas you can paint on in radio is as large and as exciting as your imagination can make it.
"We make nearly 200 Afternoon Plays a year. About 40 of them are by writers new to radio or writers on their second commission. We want new voices. We are serious about developing new talent. There wasn't just one winner the last time we ran the scheme - five of the writers shortlisted in the 2006 Award have been commissioned for the Network. This year it could be you."
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~46~RS~)
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Why is this Alfred thing only open to Northerners? Seems a bit discriminatory.
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Is North Norfolk considered Northern. If I walk out of my house and walk northwards for longer than three minutes I am up to my neck in the North Sea?
Does this count?
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"If I walk out of my house and walk northwards for longer than three minutes I am up to my neck in the North Sea"
Don't do a Virginia Woolf, Mister P! Things will pick up for you soon. I can feel it in my bones. :)
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Aspie: Alfred Bradley lived and worked in the North. So it's an award for people in the North.
There's plenty of other awards which don't let people from the North enter, so it all works out in the end. Even as we speak, people from the North aren't allowed to enter Script in Hand, for example, which is only for people living in the South West.
MisterP: I've checked the terms and conditions, and it appears Norfolk isn't considered the North. Even if you walk into the North Sea. Sorry.
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@Piers
I live in the Midlands. Any chance of a competition just for us?
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Don't worry AspieBoy - Stones in the road... none in my pockets.
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Aspie: Actually, you just missed one; Script Games was only open to writers in the West Midlands, and closed on the 24th of October.
I'm not aware of any that are running at the moment, but I'll let you know when I see them.
While we're talking about opportunities though, I don't know how many of you use this already, but you can get notifications of all the competitions and opportunities we hear about by using our RSS feed.
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Thanks for posting Jeremy's thoughts. I'll enjoy the research as well as the writing!
Antonia
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@Piers
I live south London way but north of the river. Does that count or should I get Mr M to go to Newcastle and we could buy a little bijou terraced house in South Shields or similar?
Mrs M
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@Piers
It does seem to me that there's a definite bias towards London, the North and Manchester when it comes to opportunities. I'd much rather every competition or scheme was open entry to everybody in the country.
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But it's great for you southerners when it's a comp JUST for writers down south. Bet you don't say anything about it being unfair then??
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'The other great thing about the award is that it continues Alfred Bradley's fantastic legacy by developing Northern voices'
I think what you are saying is far more important than what accent you are saying it in.
:)
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@Antoniablue
I'm located in the Midlands. Which is enough of a burden to bear, without the BBC's rampant anti-Black Country bias! :)
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There are plenty of opportunities, contests and schemes for the individual regions of the Uk, you just need to look for them, be they television, radio, film, theatre, literature etc - Just check out arts councils, film funds etc; sign up to the newsletters - The Writersroom is just the tip of the iceberg, with an obvious bias towards schemes that produce output for the BBC - Check out the CH4 website (sorry to advertise your rivals) that is very cross-media -
I'm not familiar with Alfred Bradley's body of work but it is clear that in THIS CASE it is for promoting radio writing from the North - maybe he set up the scheme himself or it was in his will, I don't know; sometimes schemes/competitons are open entry, sometimes for a specific group
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@Doctorfrankenstein
Just to play devil's advocate, maybe we should have some schemes only open to whites? Or men only? Or the able-bodied?
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I'd agree with Doctor. There are so many plays, tv and radio opportunities, placements etc, whether you're based in the north, midlands or south. Just Google them and you'll come up with lots.
Also, most of the BBC opportunities, and other opportunities are inclusive.
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Well, that's getting a bit political, Aspie. I mean, the reason they have separate opps for, say black people, is that they ARE under-represented. In an ideal world...
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Antonia are you saying opps for black people should be there so they can write about black people who are under-represented or can they write about white people too, not sure what the point you are making is?
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MisterP, I was just saying that black people are a minority group, so it's right that minority groups have these occasional opportunities, and should be able to write about anything they choose.
As I said, there are loads of opps for all if you look for them.
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@Antonia
The trouble with your argument is that it begs the question why do some underepresented groups get schemes while others are ignored. Are they intrinsically better than some minorities? How about some schemes for manic depressives or albinos or common people with ASBO's against them?
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Well, Aspie, this is a discussion that could take forever, Aspie, and I'm here to write and learn more about writing. I will say that no matter what any organisation does, they won't please all of the people all of the time.
I think all of these arguments would be better off being aired on a message board somewhere, or in a group that deals with these issues. You'll find loads on the internet, I'm sure.
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I wonder if there are statistics that show that black people are under-represented as writers? That is to say of the entire population of white people a certain amount are writers but that percentage is lower amongst the black community as a percentage? It may well be true but it seems a worrying thought if people just assume that to be the case.
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Personally, I think writing is one area where colour or religion is not a barrier. When you see the writers name in the credits you don't know what colour he/she is. The same goes when a producer recieves a script.
Also, the media is far more liberal than other industries, so I wouldn't imagine you get much problem with people not wanting to work with somebody because they're black etc.,.
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As a matter of fact, the UK Film Council did some research on this last year.
98% of UK Film writers are white.
82.5% of UK Film writers are male.
Data and methodology.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2008/mar/06/theatre2
Above, gives a bit of an idea into part of the issue, though it's much more complex than this, I think.
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it's an interesting article.
'As Kwei-Armah pointed out last week at a discussion on the future of black playwriting organised by Talawa, an assumption persists that "black writing is somehow local, while white writing is universal". "It's patronising and segregating," says playwright Trish Cooke. "A good story is something that people can share and relate to, and those stories don't have colour." As Levi David Addai says, "I write about life. Characters and themes from black culture will slip into my work because that's part of me as an artist. But I write about human beings, and every human being is welcome to listen."
This particularly addresses the point I was raising. That there is a difference between under-representation of black writers and an under representation of black performers, directors and issues etc.
I don't know if there is a proportional under representation of black writers in the arts generally - but assuming there might be is kind of segregating them as writers. Art is all about integration not segregation.
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I think it's also about an individual's life experience, too, which if you're in a minority, can knock your confidence and overshadow your perception of what you COULD do.
I would put writers in the same bracket as performers. It's all art related.
Here the argument rages on:
http://www.asiansinmedia.org/news/article.php/publishing/1767
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Crikey they seem to be saying what I was saying but a tad more eloquently, and with some sort of basis of research rather than my shirt sleeve take.
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I always get confused when comps say they are open to people from the North. What North are they talking about? North England, North Scotland, North Britain?
I mean I'm from South Scotland but North Britain obviously does that count in these North comps or are they only for England?
If i'm living in North England for the time being does that count.
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@science-world
I have checked the terms and conditions and apparently there is a metaphorical UK Mason and Dixie line here. If you are on the borders the acid test is... if you cook a Yorkshire pudding in one tin you can be classed as Northern, if you cook them in individual muffin style tins you are classified as Southern.
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Do they actually want Northern themed plays as well? About pigeons and grimness?
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At the Masterclass in Newcastle last night, Katherine and Charlotte mentioned that while it wasn't an absolute requirement that your entry should be set in/about the North, it may be helpful in terms of winning the commission - as the award is about highlighting 'Northern voices'.
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They also mentioned that happy/uplifting endings are in favour at the moment so grimness probably a 'no'. But pigeons are okay. As long as they don't talk - talking animals are NOT popular right now, apparently!
;)
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Aspie, careful not to stereotype. I mean, we don't really believe down South is as grim as Enders makes out, do we?
I like grim anyway, especially with a bit of humour in there!
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@delilah
'the award is about highlighting Northern voices.'
I'm still struggling to grasp this. Surely the Northern voice is the same as any other? ie same issues, same anxieties, same fears and frustrations that anyone from any region faces? But with a northern accent...
Just a thought.
Mrs M
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hi mrs m
it is arbitrary to draw a line around a region and say 'everyone in here speaks with the same special voice' - of course that isn't true, and of course i would agree that we're all human beings at the end of the day and share certain universal concerns, regardless of where we live and who we are.
but i would say that regions have their own unique identities - don't you think? the ways that the people of a region choose to respond to those issues, how those choices impact upon that region's communities - communities which are all built upon very different industrial heritage, landscapes, history, local myth and legend, etc etc. if identical 'big events' were to happen in both newcastle and birmingham, i am sure that people would tell each other the story in different ways - and not just in a different accent.
delilah :)
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Has the shortlist for the 2009 award been announced yet?
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if the shortlist is out why arn't we told on the homepage??? please put us out of our misery! the homepage still advertises the comedy college. please show us some consideration and keep us informed as it happens. a simple sentance will suffice, dear writers the shortlist for the alfred bradley as been sent out.
thanks.
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So....? Is the short list out? And where is it to be found?
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