Review of the Year 2008

Scripts

We continue to assess thousands of unsolicited scripts written for film, TV, radio and theatre on behalf of the BBC as a whole.

Development Schemes

Sharps Following an open call for original half-hour scripts from unproduced writers, we whittled down from hundreds of scripts to 25 for a workshop with writer Jack Thorne (Skins), and then selected 10 for a week-long residential, where they began to develop their craft and an original calling card script.

Radio Sitcom Nine emerging comedy writers were targeted for a residential to develop original audience sitcoms for Radio 4. One series and a single comedy were commissioned, with more ideas from the scheme still under consideration.

Radio Drama Series 10 writers went on a residential to generate original series ideas for Radio 4. Four writers have been commissioned, and more are under consideration.

Eastenders Voices 12 writers attended a one-day workshop at Elstree, including a tour of the set and a masterclass from Simon Ashdown. Three writers subsequently went on the full Eastenders shadow scheme.

Sparks Twelve writers brand new to radio drama were brought together to develop their craft and ideas for Radio 4 and Radio 3. Five of the writers have since been commissioned across a range of slots and more are being offered.

B.B.C. Bites We targeted British Born Chinese writing talent through workshops, theatre companies and community groups looking for short film scripts, and selected five writers for further development.

Northern Ireland TV Drama With Northern Ireland Drama, we ran a residential for ten writers to develop their TV craft and explore original ideas.

Silver Street We took five writers to a story workshop day for the Asian Network soap, and two were selected to join the writing team for the show in 2009.

Radio Drama North A workshop day for 10 writers with one radio drama credit looking for a second commission.

Writers Academy We sifted scripts and shortlisted for the final interview stage.

Comedy College We helped select the writers from the final shortlist.

Tony Doyle Award We helped BBC Northern Ireland Drama select the winners.

Partnerships

24 Degrees Working with the Royal Court Theatre, we sought out 24 writers in six cities across the UK – Plymouth, Hull, Nottingham, Glasgow, Cardiff, Belfast - for a six month project. Each city group had a writer-mentor to support them in the writing of a new script, and the writers came together for workshops in London and Manchester.

Action for Children Experienced writers-in-residence in projects for young people in or leaving the care system, including the development of a web drama, Trapped, and short films in Liverpool and London.

NE Voices John Yorke launched this partnership with Northern Film and Media. Five writers developed their calling card TV script with mentoring from Michael Chaplin.

Future Talent Award The BBC announced a major shift of production to Salford, and we targeted universities and colleges providing writer training across the north to find the best new talent coming through their courses.

North West Vision Partnership with BBC Comedy North for three writers to develop original sitcom scripts with writer-mentors, including Graham Duff and Georgia Pritchett.

Tinderbox/Fishamble A partnership with two leading Irish theatre companies and BBC Northern Ireland Drama to bring together Northern Irish and Republic of Ireland writers in a residential to develop new voices and work.

Free Thinking Festival Generation Gap developed short monologues for Radio Merseyside and The Verb on R3, and Tony Marchant's first radio drama 24 Weeks was produced by Kate Rowland 'as-live' at the Bluecoat for BBC Radio 3.

Docks Project A partnership with Paines Plough, Live Theatre, and the Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse, to develop true tales from three cities by nine writers for the Everyword Festival.

Atching Tan We supported the development of the first soap written by and about the UK’s Romany traveller community for BBC Local Radio stations in the south and east of England.

Graeae A partnership with BBC Radio Drama to take a group of writers with disabilities on a residential to develop their radio writing craft.

Talawa We supported the Talawa new writer development program, including a speed-dating event with new writers, and a TV masterclass by John Yorke.

Screen Yorkshire We shortlisted the Sparks program of writer development.

Residencies

Kwame Kwei-Armah and Michael Bhim were writers-in-residence at BBC Radio Drama, with Kwame also mentoring Michael as a new writer for radio.

Angie Clarke was our writer-in-residence for the Free Thinking Festival in Liverpool, and the Generation Gap project with BBC Merseyside.

Rob Hockley shadowed Keith Brumpton, the creator of MI High, on the third series of the show. Rob came through our unsolicited system.

Website

We had an overhaul and redesign of the website, which is now sharper and much better organised, with more and more scripts, blogs, interviews and features on the site, alongside the ongoing guidelines and updated opportunities page.

Events

Open writer Q&As: Russell T Davies; Ashley Pharaoh and Matthew Graham; Lenny Henry and Danny Robins; Kwame Kwei-Armah and Sarah Daniels; Sharman MacDonald

Open workshops: Unsolicited Roadshows (Edinburgh, Brighton, Manchester, Cardiff); Alfred Bradley Award (Manchester, Leeds, Hull, Keswick); BFM Festival; 24 Degrees (Plymouth, Hull, Nottingham, Cardiff, Glasgow, Belfast)

Targeted sessions: NE Voices (Leeds, Newcastle); Generation Gap (BBC Merseyside and Liverpool schools); B.B.C. Bites (London, Manchester, Birmingham); Talawa; Old Vic New Voices; Screen Yorkshire; Script Factory North; National Student Drama Festival; Middlesborough Screenwriters Festival; Latitude Festival; BBC Blast! @ BFI; Meet the Writer; Trapped Screening; Universities/Colleges (NFTS, Royal Holloway, City, Central School of Speech and Drama, Grimsby, Bolton, Leeds, Manchester, City Lit)