What Guild members are getting up to

PAUL ALEXANDER wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Monday 16th November.

JESSE ARMSTRONG co-wrote the episode of The Thick of It going out on BBC2 at 10:10pm on Saturday 14th November.

RAY BROOKING wrote the episode of Doctors "Once Upon A Time" going out on BBC1 at 1:45pm on Thursday 19th November.

SIMON CROWTHER wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at7:30pm on Monday 16th November.

DAVID EDGAR'S radio play The Shape of the Table produced by Peter Leslie Wild goes out on Radio 4 at 2:30pm on Saturday 14th November. Tim McInnerny, Henry Goodman and Jeremy Clyde among the cast.

STEVEN FAY wrote the episode of Hollyoaks going out on C4 at 6:30pm on Wednesday 18th November.

JEREMY FRONT has adapted Vaclav Havel's latest play, Leaving for BBC World Service Drama, starring Simon Russell Beale, Hugh Bonneville, Joanna Scanlan and David Haig. Broadcast Saturday 14th November 2009 at 8:00pm

MARK ILLIS wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Friday 20th November.

IAN KERSHAW'S radio series Pick-Ups concludes with the episode "Heroes and Villains" going out on Radio 4 at 11:00pm on Thursday 19th November. His radio comedy Alan and Jean's Incredible Journey is also going out on Radio 4 on Thursday 19th November at 2:15pm.

CAROLYN SALLY JONES' Victorian mystery in five parts Shadow Play is being repeated on Tuesday 17th November at 11.40am on BBC2.

JONATHAN MYERSON'S radio series Number Ten continues with the episode "And Drugs Won" going out on Radio 4 at 2:15pm on Friday 20th November.

JOHN O'FARRELL'S new book An Utterly Exasperated History of Modern Britain has just been published by Doubleday.

JESSE O'MAHONEY wrote the episodes of Hollyoaks going out on C4 at 6:30pm on Monday 16th and Tuesday 17th November.

HOWARD OVERMAN wrote the episode of Merlin "The Sins of the Father" going out on BBC1 at 6:05pm on Saturday 14th November.

STEPHEN RUSSELL wrote the episode of Garrow's Law: Tales from the Old Bailey going out on BBC1 at 9:00pm on Sunday 15th November. He also wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 8:30pm on Friday 20th November.

BILL TAYLOR wrote the episodes of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at7:00pm and 8:00pm on Thursday 19th November.

JOANNA TOYE wrote the episodes of The Archers going out on Radio 4 at 7:00pm from Sunday 15th till Friday 20th November with each episode being repeated at 2:00pm the day following its original release.

JOE TURNER wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 8:30pm on Monday 16th November.

MIKE WALKER'S adaptation of Our Mutual Friend goes out on Radio 4 at 7:45pm on Monday 16th November.

Adapting Money

With the BBC announcing that it will be screening an adaptation of Martin Amis's novel, Money, next year, Tim Martin in The Telegraph considers the prospects for a screen version of book that has often been considered 'unadaptable'.

The novel is unlikely to be a wholesale failure as an adaptation. It's stuffed with good dialogue and the plot, though almost dementedly unclear at times, has a sound tragic skeleton of disappointment and betrayal. But it is a baffling choice for an adaptation, as so much depends on the book's textual form.

The adaptation will be written by Tom Butterworth and Chris Hurford (neither of whom are mentioned in the BBC press release).

Martin Amis's high media profile is evident from the fact that in The Guardian, Mark Lawson also considers the prospects for the new adaptation.

Filmed literature works best when the content of an old book chimes with the times and Money fits this dollar bill: a character caught in financial fantasy and learning that wealth can be a form of fiction feels apposite. More gloomily, though, the central plot of Money involves the terrible failure of a US-UK movie co-production. Perhaps I'll end up wishing they'd made another sodding Sensibility instead.

Report from the World Conference of Screenwriters

On the Writers' Guild of Great Britain website, Gail Renard reports on the first World Conference of Screenwriters, which concluded in Athens last week.

We were reminded that the WGA strike two years ago enhanced the status of writers worldwide, and taught producers and broadcasters that writers mean business. We need to build upon that. As Lowell Peterson, the executive director of WGA East said, ‘No one will give you anything you haven’t the strength to take for yourself.’

Bebo halts online drama commissioning

From Mark Sweney and Mercedes Bunz for Media Guardian:

Bebo is cutting jobs at its UK operation and freezing commissions from its web TV production arm, which has been responsible for groundbreaking shows including KateModern.

The social networking website has been forced to make cutbacks to its UK, US and Australian operations following an announcement by its parent company, AOL, that about 100 employees from across its total operation would be cut.

Camilla Campbell is new C4 head of drama

From Matthew Hemley in The Stage:

Channel 4 commissioning editor for drama series Camilla Campbell is to replace Liza Marshall as the broadcaster’s head of drama.

Campbell, who joined in 2004 and whose credits include Shameless, Teachers and No Angels, will report to Channel 4 head of programming Julian Bellamy.

BBC 'will use Guild TV guide'

According to a report by Katherine Rushton in Broadcast, the BBC will be making use of the Writers' Guild's new TV good practice guide, Working With Writers.

BBC head of drama series and serials Kate Harwood said her team would use the guide: “It’s always useful for people at every level to be reminded of best practice and I found the guidelines sensible and clearly written.”

'Why Britain can't do The Wire'

In Prospect, Peter Jukes looks at why, in his opinion, British TV drama is lagging behind that from the USA.

In 1994, I worried about the cultural power of four network controllers. Now you can forget Channel 4 and BBC2: they can make decent one-offs, such as Red Riding and Freefall this year, but both have basically dropped out of adult dramas. ITV has fared no better. In the 1990s the powerful baronies of Granada, Yorkshire TV, LWT and Thames had some autonomy. But their amalgamation into one corporation, followed by a catastrophic fall in advertising revenue, has turned ITV drama into a shadow of its former self. Whatever your view of public service broadcasting (and I support it) the near-monopoly of the BBC in drama commissioning is disastrous.

Roald Dahl Funny Prize 2009

The winners have been announced of the Roald Dahl Funny Prize 2009:

• For children aged six and under, the winning book was Mr Pusskins Best in Show by Sam Lloyd (Orchard Books)
• For children aged seven to fourteen, the winning book was Grubtown Tales: Stinking Rich and Just Plain Stinky by Philip Ardagh, illustrated by Jim Paillot (Faber and Faber)
  

Commenting on the winner’s books, Michael Rosen [from the judging panel] said:

‘Welcome to Grubtown and a cast of characters crazy enough to wake Spike Milligan from his home on the Ning Nang Nong. Here we have Manual Org who is so repulsive and smelly, Philip Ardagh has to take a several-page break for a bath. There's Farflung Heaps, Constable Gelatine, Acrid Scorn, Mango Claptrap and many more. Noddy and Toytown, it isn't.

'Mr Pusskins is a cat who could turn into a catastrophe but instead, he's a champ. Even though he heads for the toilet instead of the cat-show, and even though he doesn't realise he's wizzing through an obstacle race, he ends up being the winner. If only life was as easy. This is a ridiculously funny book, full of marvellously mischievous cartooning.’

Face to Facebook

On the Writers' Guild website, Amanda Whittington explains why she created a Facebook group for her play Be My Baby.

At certain times of the year, I get daily emails from students studying the play and they all ask similar questions about character, design and research. Often, I’d receive an email from one student and when I’d replied, I’d get five more from the same group all asking about their characters! I’m happy to help but answering each one individually was time-consuming. I also wanted to guide them away from thinking I had all the answers and encourage them to think for themselves. I felt the students could help each other just as effectively and Facebook seemed the obvious place for them to do it.

Poliakoff attacks 'Kafkaesque' BBC

Following the revelation that Tony Marchant had to attend BBC 'Safeguarding Trust' training, Stephen Poliakoff, in an interview with Radio Times, has attacked 'Kafkaesque' BBC committees.

The Radio Times interview doesn't seem to be online, but Poliakoff's comments are widely quoted elsewhere, including in The Guardian.

"It's difficult enough writing drama without being given suggestions and rules devised by Kafkaesque committees, and what's more it's completely unnecessary. I've always felt audiences are far more intelligent than they're given credit for, and are quite capable of realising that when real events are compressed for drama, certain liberties have to be taken...

It's very important that writers in television tackle unfamiliar stories rather than being made to recycle the same ones endlessly. They can't do this if they are artificially restricted. There's a danger we are going to regress into a much safer world and I'm not sure the audience want that."

Jimmy McGovern interview

On the BBC Writersroom site, an interview with Guild member Jimmy McGovern.

You were on Brookside for seven years, were you changed by that experience or were you just ready for the next thing?

Yes I was changed. I met some great people, directors, actors. I learnt my trade, how to mine a story, I could write you a half hour episode about who makes the tea and that becomes a big discussion of sexual politics or the role of a sixteen year old son and it all starts off with who makes the tea. And I learnt a respect for my life and my experiences. I knew they were worthy.

There are still tickets left for the next two BBC Writersroom Q&As, with Miranda Hart and with Stephen Poliakoff and Jane Wright - both at the Soho Theatre in London.

Andrew Motion defends "found poetry"

Andrew Motion has defended his new poem, An Equal Voice, against accusations of plagiarism. As Dominic Kennedy reports in The Times:

The former Poet Laureate yesterday insisted that his use of quotations that he discovered in a history book belonged to a noble tradition of “found poetry” dating back to Shakespeare.

But Ben Shephard, an expert who produced The World at War for television, complained that the poet had been “extracting sexy soundbites” from his painstaking work on military psychiatry.

You can read An Equal Voice on The Guardian website. Here's an extract:

There were some cases of nervous collapse

as the whistle blew on the first day of battle.

In general, however, it is perfectly astonishing

and terrifying how bravely the men fight.

Mike Bartlett interview

In The Observer, Hermione Hobby meets playwright Mike Bartlett:

"We've got to get away from the idea that it's good to go to the theatre," says young playwright Mike Bartlett over lunch at London's Royal Court theatre, where his new play is about to open. "It isn't church. There's nothing innately good about it. Most theatre is still really bad."

Ignoring his plate of pasta, the 29-year-old is on a roll. "It has to appeal to people who do jobs and have lives. Theatre about theatre is the most awful, terminal nonsense."

Cock, by Mike Bartlett, opens at The Royal Court in London on 13 November (but is already sold out).

World Screenwriters Declaration

The World Conference of Screenwriters has released a Declaration and a Joint Activity Programme. The Conference, the first of its kind, concluded in Athens today.

World Screenwriters Declaration

In the new digitised and globalised world, we screenwriters have today come together, in Athens Greece, to discuss our central role in the creation of the stories that are carried with such impact to the world’s myriad screens and to people’s minds and hearts.

Stories influence our behaviour and shape our culture. They help us understand. Stories can conquer fear. Stories have power. As screenwriters, the storytellers of our time, we are conscious of our role and our responsibility and we have met to make sure that we can continue our work in the new environment.

The creative and financial challenges which we face, can only be met if we join forces and work together. We insist on the individual capacity of every one of the twenty five thousand screenwriters, whose representatives are gathered here, to see and understand the world in their own way and to reflect that unique perspective in their stories. We exult in the knowledge that individual creativity is what brings us together to defend and assert our common rights and goals.

We endorse the ambitions and intentions of the Charter of the FSE, the Charter of the IAWG and the Manifesto of the European Screenwriters.

We demand the right of screenwriters everywhere to be acknowledged as an author of the audiovisual work which they have written and to be fairly compensated for each and every use made of their work.

In pursuit of these objectives we will engage in active collaboration on campaigns that seek to achieve our common goals.

We pledge to work together to defend and extend the rights of writers for the screen.

Agreed and Signed on Saturday 7th November 2009 in Athens at the conclusion of the first World Conference of Screenwriters :

Christina Kallas
President
Federation des Scenaristes en Europe/Federation of Screenwriters in Europe

Michael Winship
Chair
International Affiliation of Writers’ Guilds

What Guild members are getting up to

JESSE ARMSTRONG co-wrote the episode of The Thick of It going out on BBC2 at 10:15pm on Saturday 7th November.

DAVID BARRY'S children's book The Ice Cream Time Machine, a science fiction adventure, is due to be published on 14th November. Price £5.99 it is published by Libros International. David is doing a book signing and interactive reading from it on the same day at an arts festival in Staplehurst, Kent.

TRACEY BLACK wrote the episode of Doctors "Up the Garden Path" going out on BBC1 at 1:45pm on Thursday 12th November.

RICHARD BURKE wrote the episode of Hollyoaks going out on C4 at 6:30pm on Friday 13th November.

ANNA CLEMENTS wrote the episode of Hollyoaks going out on C4 at 6:30pm on Wednesday 11th November.

SIMON CROWTHER wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 8:30pm on Friday 13th November.

PAUL COATES wrote the episode of Hollyoaks going out on C4 at 6:30pm on Thursday 12thNovember.

DAVE COHEN is performing preview shows of his new one-man show My Life As A Footnote on Thursday 19th November at 8:30pm at Hampstead Comedy Club, Tuesday 24th November at Downstairs at the Kings Head, Crouch End and on Monday 14th December at Upstairs at the Ritzy, Brixton.

World premiere of LISA EVANS' new play Up The Duff, a comedy about expectation and loss set in a rundown NHS ante-natal clinic and a DIY superstore on the ring road, opens at York Theatre Royal on Nov 7th - Nov 28th. Directed by Damian Cruden and produced in association with Fresh Glory Productions. Box Office 01904 623 568

CHRIS FEWTRELL wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 7:30pm on Friday 13th November.

ROB GITTINS wrote the episodes of EastEnders going out on BBC1 at 7:00pm on Tuesday 10th and at 7:30pm on Thursday 12th November.

JONATHAN HARVEY wrote the first episode of the new series of Beautiful People "How I Got My Groom" going out on BBC2 at 10:00pm on Friday 13th November.

JONATHAN HOLLOWAY'S radio play The Railway Sidling is going out on Radio 4 at 2:15pm on Thursday 12th November.

NICHOLAS HICKS-BEACH wrote the episode of EastEnders going out on BBC1 at 8:00pm on Monday 9th November.

ALEX JONES' play Canned Peaches In Syrup has been published. This is the American version of his first global warming play Tinned Peaches In Syrup, (River's Up followed) produced to great acclaim at the Pasadena Playhouse LA, it was also produced in Italy, but not yet in UK.

IAN KERSHAW'S radio comedy series Pick-Ups continues this week with the episode "Carpe Diem" going out on Radio 4 at 11:00pm on Thursday 12th November.

BILL LYONS wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Monday 9th November.

CAROLINE MITCHELL wrote the episodes of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm and 8:00pm on Thursday 12th November.

DOMINIQUE MOLONEY wrote the episode of Doctors "Cold Light of Day" going out on BBC1 at 1:45pm on Friday 13thNovember.

SUE MOONEY wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Friday13th November.

JONATHAN MYERSON'S political drama Number Ten is back on with a new series on Radio 4 with the episode "Be a Good Chap" going out at 2:15pm on Friday 13th November.

DEBBIE OATES wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 7:30pm on Monday 9th November.

HEATHER ROBSON wrote the episode of Hollyoaks going out on C4 at 6:30pm on Monday 9th November.

A.C.H.SMITH'S Poems are published by Greville Press, selected with a foreword by Tom Stoppard.

DANNY STACK wrote the episode of EastEnders going out on BBC1 at 8:00pm on Friday 13th November.

JOANNA TOYE wrote the episodes of The Archers going out on Radio 4 at 7:00pm from Sunday 8th till Friday 13th November with each episode being repeated at 2:00pm the day following its original broadcast.

Guild Awards update - TV short form drama

Apologies: when we published the shortlists for the Guild Awards last week the TV short form drama category was missing.

The shortlisted works and writers are:

• The Devil's Whore by Peter Flannery and Martine Brant
  
• Criminal Justice by Peter Moffat
  
• The Long Walk to Finchley by Tony Saint

If you've not seen them yet, here are the rest of the shortlists.

National Theatre Wales

National Theatre Wales has announced its first year programme (pdf):

National Theatre Wales is all set to create invigorating theatre in the English language, rooted in Wales, with an international reach.

This is the launch programme from March 2010 – April 2011. Twelve new shows, one each month, plus one spectacular finale – in amazing places and unique spaces across Wales.

As Mark Brown reports in The Guardian:

Getting to the launch has been a long journey. Dai Smith, the chairman of Arts Council Wales, said: "We have been putting our toes in the water for too long. It was inexcusable, outrageous, that we did not have a national theatre for Wales. It may be 100 years late, but better late than not at all."

Guild member Gary Owen is among those commissioned for the launch season - his new play, Love Steals Us From Loneliness, will premiere in Bridgend in October 2010.

Sesame Street celebrates 40th anniversary

In the New York Times, Alessandra Stanley looks at how the influential children's show, Sesame Street, has evolved as it approaches its 40th anniversary.

The pedagogy hasn’t changed, but the look and tone of “Sesame Street” has evolved. Forty years on, this is your mother’s “Sesame Street,” only better dressed and gentrified: Sesame Street by way of Park Slope. The opening is no longer a realistic rendition of an urban skyline but an animated, candy-colored chalk drawing of a preschool Arcadia, with flowers and butterflies and stars. The famous set, brownstones and garbage bins, has lost the messy graffiti and gritty smudges of city life over the years. Now there are green spaces, tofu and yoga.

World Conference of Screenwriters

The first World Conference of Screenwriters gets underway in Athens tomorrow, bringing together all of the members Guilds and Unions of the Federation of Screenwriters in Europe – who initiated the project – and the members of the International Affiliation of Writers Guilds.

More than two hundred representatives of more than 20,000 writers from more than 30 guilds will attend the meeting to discuss issues including new distribution platforms, the future role of media multinationals and royalty payments for writers.

You can find out more, and read profiles of participating writers, on the World Conference of Screenwriters blog.

Shooting People campaigns to support 1 Day

From a press release from Shooting People:

Shooting People, the Independent Filmmakers' Networking Community, encourages its 35,000 members to see director and writer Penny Woolcock's '1 Day' film on its Friday 06 November opening after some cinemas withdraw the film on police advice.

'Our independent filmmakers are gravely concerned about the actions of the West Midlands police, who have stepped in to advise cinemas not to screen the small British independent film '1 Day'. We have started a campaign amongst our 35,000 members and call on those cinemas to reinstate the screening of this important film,' said Cath Le Couteur, Co-founder, Shooting People

'On Monday night, Shooting People put on a free screening of its patron Penny Woolcock's film '1 Day'. Penny arrived at the screening very distressed at the news that police were advising cinemas not to screen the film and that it was being pulled from Birmingham, Birmingham, Walsall, Wolverhampton and Coventry. Independent filmmakers up and down the country are speechless that the police suddenly seem to have new powers to effectively censor films,' said James Mullighan, Creative Director Shooting People

There's a report about the film's withdrawal in the Dudley News:

Odeon in Birmingham were the first to announce they were not showing the movie, which was released last Friday, after taking ‘police advice’.

And now Showcase have followed suit, by pulling it from Midland cinemas.

Karen Fox, general manager of Showcase UK Theatres, said: “Showcase has made the decision not to screen the film 1 Day at its cinemas in the West Midlands region.

“However, we are screening the film in our other UK locations.”

The police, however, deny advising cinemas not the screen the film.

There's an interview with Penny Woolcock on the BBC Birmingham website (published before the controversy arose):

Young men would quite reasonably ask me what the film was going to be about. I’d reply that I didn’t know because I needed them to be open with me, that I couldn’t as a white middle class, middle aged woman write a script about their lives out of my head. “Yes, but what it is about?” “I don’t know yet, I need you to talk to me.” “Yes, but what it is about?” And so it went on and on in frustrating circles.

Eventually, I met a couple of people who actually liked me and things really took off. Dylan Duffus who plays Flash says he knew within 30 seconds that I was not a grass. Through him I met lots of people and heard lots of stories. I asked lots of questions and I made lots of notes. As I got to understand the slang I realised how clever it was – it is intended to keep secrets. Money can also be paper, scrilla, p’s or don’s. Most people speak several languages, school English, street talk, code and patois.

I went home with all my notebooks full and wrote the script. Everything in my script is true although it did not all happen to one person in one day. Very early on I had the idea of containing the story in 24 hours and have Flash chased by his own side, the ‘other’ side, his three baby mothers and his family.

Girl Number 9 - online drama

An interesting experiment in online drama started this week: Girl Number 9.

Written by Dan Turner and James Moran in six short parts, it has a well-known cast including Gareth David-Lloyd, Joe Absolom and Tracy-Ann Oberman and is (I think) a completely independent production.

There's an online forum and Twitter streams for the individual characters - see bottom right of the About page.

In an interview with Simon Brew of Den Of Geek last week, James Moran explained how the Girl Number 9 came about and how he approached the writing.

Did you have to be any more ruthless with your writing given the strict time constraints of the on-screen narrative?

Extremely! We only have a few minutes to hook people, so I have to write incredibly lean, tight scenes. I always had a fairly lean writing style, but now even more so. I kept starting scenes later and later, and ending them earlier and earlier, until they were almost subliminal. We were able to let some of them breathe a bit more while shooting, but even then, it's a really fast paced, condensed type of storytelling. Which really works well for this type of thriller.

Kirkwood to succeed Santer at EastEnders

From the BBC Press Office:

Bryan Kirkwood will succeed Diederick Santer as EastEnders Executive Producer following his decision to step down from the role in February 2010, it was announced today.

He will take over from Santer next year after EastEnders celebrates its 25th anniversary.

Kirkwood comes to EastEnders having spent three years producing Hollyoaks, during which time the show enjoyed awards success and soaring popularity.

Tony Marchant had to take BBC compliance training

An extraordinary story by Chris Hastings in The Times (link via @julianfriedmann @DreamsGrafter on Twitter): Tony Marchant was required to sit the BBC's 'Safeguarding Trust factual drama interactive module' last month.

Nothing strange about that, you might think. Until you hear about some of the content.

[Marchant] now has a certificate that congratulates him on passing the test and provides helpful tips such as: “Don’t oversimplify the ‘goodies’ and the ‘baddies’ ... the truth is rarely as cut and dried as this.”

He is further reminded that “tone of voice and facial expression can significantly alter what an audience infers about a character”.

Marchant, whose new series, Garrow's Law, began on BBC One last night, is a multi-award winning writer with a string of credits. He was not impressed.

“The module is a complete nonsense and proof that the compliance culture is out of control at the BBC. I was baffled when I was asked to do it and still can’t see the point of it.”

Even more worrying is a comment elsewhere in the article from Hugh Bonneville who starred alongside Julie Walters in BBC2’s Filth: The Mary Whitehouse Story

“I now detect a creeping self-censorship in the television scripts I am given to read,” he said. “I remember in the light of the Queengate affair the producer of the Mary Whitehouse programme saying the compliance unit wanted him to go through the script pointing out which bits actually happened and which were dramatic invention.

“Whatever next? Do you put up a warning at the beginning of the programme telling the audience that Julie Walters is not Mary Whitehouse?”

Writers' Guild Awards shortlists

The Writers’ Guild of Great Britain has announced the shortlists for its 2009 Awards. The winners will be revealed at a reception on Sunday 29 November 2009 along with individual awards for Lifetime Achievement and Special Contribution to Writing for Children.

Television comedy / light entertainment

• Outnumbered, by Andy Hamilton & Guy Jenkin
• Peep Show, by Sam Bain & Jesse Armstrong
• The IT Crowd, by Graham Linehan
  

Television drama series

• Being Human, by Toby Whitehouse.
• Doctor Who, various writers
• Little Dorrit, adapted by Andrew Davies from the novel by Charles Dickens
  

Television soap / continuing series

• Doctors, various writers
• Casualty, various writers
• Coronation Street, various writers

Television short form drama

• The Devil's Whore by Peter Flannery and Martine Brant
  
• Criminal Justice by Peter Moffat
  
• The Long Walk to Finchley by Tony Saint

Best feature film screenplay

• The Damned United, adapted by Peter Morgan from the book by David Peace
• Hunger, by Enda Walsh, Steve McQueen
• In the Loop, by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Ianucci, Tony Roche, (additional dialogue by Ian Martin)
  

Feature film screenplay – newcomer

• Is Anybody There? by Peter Harness
• Shifty, by Eran Creevy
• Summer, by Hugh Ellis.
  

Best theatre play

• Apologia, by Alexi Kaye Campbell
• At the Gates of Gaza, by Juliet Gilkes Romero
• Relocated, by Anthony Neilson.
  

Best theatre play for children and young people

• Knock Against my Heart, by Oladipo Agboluaje
• Red Fortress, by Carl Miller
• Scarlet Ribbons, by Brendan Murray
  

Radio comedy / light entertainment

• The Now Show, by Steve Punt, Hugh Dennis, Laura Shavin, Jon Holmes et al
• 15 Minute Musicals, by Richie Webb, David Quantick and Dave Cohen
• Bleak Expectations, by Mark Evans
• Cabin Pressure, by John Finnemore
  

Radio drama

• A Prayer for Owen Meany, adapted by Linda Marshall Griffin from the novel by John Irving
• The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, adapted by Andrew Lynch from the novel by Robert Tressell
• The Gunshot Wedding, by Katie Hims.
  

Video games award

• Prince of Persia, by Andy Walsh
• Fable II, by Mark Hill
• Routes, by Tom Edge
  

The Writers’ Guild Awards are sponsored by the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society, BBC Writersroom, BBC Talent Rights, and H.W. Fisher & Company, the accountants with many media and trade union clients.

The 2009 Awards reception will be held at the Free Word Centre in Clerkenwell, central London, the newly-opened home of English PEN, Free Word, Index on Censorship, Arvon Foundation, Literary Consultancy, Reading Agency Apples & Snakes, Article 19, Booktrust and Dalkey Archive.

Update (6.11.09): Apologies, the TV short form drama category was missing when this post was first published.

What Guild members are getting up to

JESSE ARMSTRONG co-wrote the episode of The Thick of It going out on BBC2 at 10:10pm on Saturday 31st October.

SARAH BAGSHAW wrote the episodes of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm and 8:00pm on Thursday 5th November.

SONALI BHATTACHARYYA wrote the episode of Doctors "Worst Critic" going out on BBC1 at 1:45pm on Wednesday 4th November.

PAUL CAMPBELL wrote the episode of EastEnders going out on BBC1 at 8:00pm on Monday 2nd November.

NAZRIN CHOUDHURY wrote the episode of Doctors "Great Expectations" going out on BBC1 at 1:45pm on Thursday 5th November.

LESLIE CLAIRE O'NEILL wrote the episodes of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Monday 2nd and Wednesday 4th November.

RICHARD DAVIDSON wrote the episodes of EastEnders going out on BBC1 at 7:30pm on Thursday 5th and at 8:00pm on Friday 6th November.

FIONA EVANS wrote the episode of EastEnders going out on BBC1 at 7:30pm on Tuesday 3rd November.

STEVEN FAY wrote the episode of Hollyoaks going out on C4 at 6:30pm on Wednesday 4th November.

ADRIAN FLYNN wrote the episodes of The Archers going out on Radio 4 at 7:00pm from Sunday 1st November till Friday 6th November with every episode being repeated at 2:00pm the day following its original broadcast.

JONATHAN R. HALL wrote the episode of Doctors "Family Values" going out on BBC1 at 1:45pm on Monday 2nd November.

JONATHAN HARVEY wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 7:30pm on Friday 6th November.

MARTHA HILLIER wrote the episode of Holby City "The Professionals" going out on BBC1 at 8:00pm on Tuesday 3rd November.

LISA HOLDSWORTH wrote the episode of New Tricks "Communal Living" going out on BBC1 at 9:00pm on Thursday 5th November.

NICK HORNBY co-wrote the episode of The Richest Man in Britain going out on Radio 4 at 11:30am on Friday 6th November.

IAN KERSHAW'S radio comedy Pick-Ups continues with the episode "All Bar Nun" going out on Radio 4 at 11:00pm on Thursday 5th November.

DAVID LANE wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 8:30pm on Thursday 5th November.

KAREN LAWS and FIONA EVANS'S BBC Radio 3's drama Beware the Kids is now available on BBC i-player until Sunday 1st November. This new drama tackles the family head on. When should the State intervene and where does the line between personal and public responsibility lie?

GRAHAM LESTER GEORGE wrote the short film WASHDAYS, which has been nominated for a BIFA. Earlier this year, Washdays won Best Film at the Rushes Soho Short Film Festival.

BILL LYONS wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Firday 6th November.

OLLY PERKIN wrote the episode of Doctors "Doctor Who?" going out on BBC1 at 1:45pm on Friday 6th November.

DIANE SPEAKMAN'S play Taliswoman is to have a production at Leicester Guildhall from the 17th to the 27th of November 2009, directed by Heather Taylor.

RICHARD STONEMAN wrote the episode of Doc Martin "Do Not Disturb" going out on ITV1 at 9:00pm on Sunday 1st November.

SUE TEDDERN'S five-part Woman's Hour comedy-drama serial, Singleparentpals.com, is on BBC Radio 4 from Monday November 2nd to Friday November 6th, at 10.45am (repeated 7.45pm). It stars Maxine Peake and Kris Marshall and is the story of the developing friendship between two single parents who correspond via a parenting advice website.

HEIDI THOMAS has been commissioned by Ben Stephenson and Jay Hunt (Controller, BBC 1) to bring the legendary TV series Upstairs Downstairs back to life. It will not be a remake but a completely new version, set in a different era with a whole new cast of characters. She will also be executive producer along with Piers Wenger. Jean Marsh will reprise her role of Rose, the parlourmaid, returning to the same house in Eaton Place as housekeeper to its new residents, the wealthy and well-connected Holland family. A new role will be created for Dame Eileen Atkins. Filming begins early next year.

MIKE WALKER wrote the last episode of the series Dickens Confidential "Why Are We in Afghanistan?" going out on Radio 4 at 2:15pm on Tuesday 3rd November.

Jack Thorne wins Best British Newcomer at London Film Festival

Congratulations to Guild member Jack Thorne who has won the Best British Newcomer award at the BFI 53rd London Film Festival for his script for The Scouting Book For Boys.

You can read Jack's notes about the film on the Film4 website. A release date for the film has not yet been announced.

Thomas Turgoose in The Scouting Book For Boys

Norman Painting 1924-2009

Norman Painting, who played Phil Archer in the BBC radio soap The Archers, has died at the age of 85. As BBC News reports, as well as being an actor, Painting also wrote for the series "under the pen name Bruno Milna, and was responsible for more than 1,100 episodes, receiving a Writer's Guild Award in 1967."

There are obituaries in The Guardian, The Telegraph and by Jenny Booth in The Times.

The show’s editor, Vanessa Whitburn, described Mr Painting as a consummate professional.

“Under his sure hand, Phil graduated seamlessly from young romantic hero to serious farmer and father - holding Brookfield together in good times and bad, handing over the farm to eldest son David in 2001," she said.

“Norman then gave us the delighted grandfather; enjoying astronomy with Daniel, music with Pip and finally always there when needed to give advice about farming methods of the past to son David.

“Norman always wanted to remain working on The Archers until he died - and I am delighted and proud of him that he achieved his wish.”

Ben Stephenson on drama series

In Broadcast, Ben Stephenson, controller of BBC drama commissioning, says that drama series are undervalued.

I worry that there is residual snobbery in the UK surrounding drama series. That somehow making something that is there to entertain isn’t quite good enough. The best of entertainment isn’t fluffy, silly or undercooked - the best entertainment is innovative, authored, intelligent, shocking and emotional.

I believe the writers and directors in this country are world class. Across the networks, they are already producing some of the finest series we have ever seen. But I feel we can all do more to foster an environment in which multi-episodic television is king.

Screenwriters Festival: Day Four

By Piers Beckley

And to finish with, some thoughts on the fourth day of this year's screenwriters festival. (Or conference, if you prefer.)

While there are always going to be talks which aren't aimed at your skill level - there's no real point in someone with a few pieces of work behind them going to the sessions aimed at first-time writers - there are four concurrent streams throughout the day, so there should always be something interesting going on for you to check out.

It can be a little intimidating for first-timers, especially if you don't know anyone else here. But the writers are a friendly bunch, and it's easy to get chatting to someone in the tea queue. After all, you already know that you have a lot in common.

Over lunch, many of the guests volunteer to sit in the canteen for something called a scriptbites session, where anyone can gather round the table with them for an open and informal Q&A - no stuffy lecture halls, no waiting-for-the-mike-to-get-to-you, just honest answers to questions about the business.

Over the last few days I've listened to Ben Stephenson, Phil Collinson, Bob Baker, and others give their time and advice generously to help new and emerging screenwriters during these sessions - and there were many more people who I would have liked to listen to that I just didn't have time to see.

The Screenwriters' Festival plays a vital role in finding out what's going on in the UK writing community - and in helping you to reconnect with friends and colleagues both old and new.

See you here next year.

Screenwriters Festival: Day Three

By Piers Beckley

A very BBC-centric day today, with Ben Stephenson, Christine Langan and Kate Harwood all dropping in to give talks and Q&As.

Ben answered one particular question from the floor to which I've never had a satisfactory explanation - until now. That's: Why don't we have longer runs of UK drama series?

As usual, it comes down to money. A 13- or 22-part US series is deficit-financed. What that means is that for the (say) 4 million dollars that it costs to make an episode of a US drama, half is paid for by the channel, and half is paid for by the studio making the drama.

So the studio loses money on every single episode that they make, and the only way this loss can be recovered is if the series runs for a hundred episodes - at which point it can be sold into syndication. It says a lot about the cash available from syndication that they'll more than make their money back if this happens.

But the broadcasters here can't fully-finance such long runs, and no studio here has pockets deep enough to deficit finance. So it looks as if six and eight episode series will be the standard in the UK for some time to come.

The most popular past-time among the writers here at the moment is speed-dating. Not each other (amusing though that would be) but producers and agents. Most everyone who asked to be on the speed-dating has been assigned three people who will hopefully be able to move their projects along. Just as in the ordinary-dating equivalent they have to sit at a table, try to impress the person on the other side in less than five minutes, and then move swiftly on to their next person when their time is up.

Everyone I've spoken to so far has said that despite their initial nervousness they've managed to make at least one good connection with their dates, and several have been asked to pass on their scripts.

And like any dating, we'll see over the next weeks or years how many of these relationships last.

Imison and Tinniswood Radio Award winners

The Writers' Guild and the Society of Authors have announced the results of the 2009 Imison and Tinniswood Radio Awards:

• The Tinniswood Award Winner (for the best original radio drama script broadcast during 2008) - Goldfish Girl by Peter Souter, produced by Gordon House for BBC Radio Drama.
• The Tinniswood Award Highly Recommended - Far North by Louis Nowra, produced by Judith Kampfner, Corporation For Independent Media
• The Imison Award Winner (for the best original radio drama script by a writer new to radio, broadcast during 2008) - Girl From Mars by Lucy Caldwell, produced by Anne Simpson for BBC Northern Ireland

Awards of £1,500 (sponsored by the ALCS and The Peggy Ramsay Foundation) and digital radios (donated by PURE) were presented to the two winning writers by film director and writer Mike Hodges at a ceremony in London last night.

Girl from Mars was Lucy Caldwell's first radio play. As a playwright she has won the George Devine Award 2006 and as a novelist she was shortlisted for the inaugural EDS Dylan Thomas Prize.

Peter Souter was formally the Worldwide Creative Director of one of the biggest advertising agencies in Britain. Goldfish Girl was his second radio play.

A number of the winning and shortlisted plays will be repeated in the Afternoon Play slot on Radio 4 in the week beginning 23 November. All the plays will receive a further broadcast on BBC7 over January 2010.

Working With Writers - a good practice guide for TV programme makers

Gail Renard, Chair of the Guild's TV Committee, introduces a new publication

In response to our members’ many problems and queries, the Guild is proud to launch, Working With Writers (pdf), our new good practice guide for TV programme makers.

It can be seen as a companion piece to Making Film (pdf), the good practice guide recently produced by the Guild's Film Committee, but the problems in our two industries are very different.

Television production and its personnel are constantly changing and it’s imperative we’re all singing from the same hymn sheet. The guide was compiled by the Television Committee over the course of a year (for which many thanks) and follows the fine example set by Tony Read in his original guide of more than 20 years ago.

The new version explains what members can expect every step of the way of the production process. It also advises how TV production personnel should work with writers, so there can be reasonable expectations on both sides... though writers should always remember that professionalism is a two-way street.

The Good Practice Guide is just that and covers everything from a writer’s first ideas, to progressing to treatments, outlines and scripts. It also advises on commissions, rewrites and, importantly, explains when you should be paid (or sadly not.) It outlines the writer’s role in production and post-production, including screenings and awards ceremonies, though it’s up to members to write their acceptance speeches themselves.

The Guild asks that everyone, both writers and all production personnel, read and respect our new TV Guide. Our common goal, as always, is to make the best television programmes possible and to enjoy the journey along the way. We’re hoping the new Guide makes that easier.
Article published: 28.10.2009

Screenwriters Festival: Day Two

By Piers Beckley

Yesterday I looked mostly at the craft and networking aspects of a festival. But for screenwriters there's another part to this equation that novelists and poets, for the most part, don't have to worry so much about: getting hold of the money required to put your film into production.

Fortunately here at Cheltenham there's also a business track. So today I've mostly been going to seminars and talks about the business end of screenwriting from producers (who'll make your film) and sales agents (who go out and sell it to different countries across the world) to find out what the current state of the market is.

The current recession means that things are particularly difficult for straight dramas. For a drama to sell right now you're going to need A-list stars, a great director, and a great writer. Preferably award-winning.

And even those are difficult to sell at the moment. Passion projects are being deferred right now until the market improves.

What is selling are genre pieces. Comedies, Thrillers, Horror, Romcom, Action-Adventure. Something that it's easy to find on the DVD shelves or in a category at the online retailers.

The cycle will turn, of course, and it'll be easier to make the odd pieces, and the downbeat pieces, and the straight dramas.

But right now the advice for a piece of writing you're trying to sell is: know what your film is about, and what genre it's in. And make sure it's a bulletproof piece of writing for that genre.

BAFTA Children's Awards nominations

Nominations have been announced for the 2009 BAFTA Children's Awards.

The nominees in the Writer category are:

• Helen Blakeman – Dustbin Baby (Kindle Entertainment Ltd/CBBC)
• Phil Hall, Neville Astley, Mark Baker – Peppa Pig (Astley Baker Davies/E1 Kids/Channel Five/Nick Jr)
• Ross Lee, James Defrond – Ross Lee’s Ghoulies (Running Bare/Nickelodeon UK)
• The Writing Team - Horrible Histories (Lion Television/CBBC)

The Awards will be presented on Sunday 29 November.

Update (30.10.2009): Among the nominees is Guild member Myles McLeod who, along with his animator brother Greg (as The Brothers McLeod), has been shortlisted in two categories for the work they did with the Tate.

Sam Lavender to head Film4 development

From Broadcast:

Film4 has promoted Sam Lavender to head of development. He replaces Katherine Butler, who was promoted to senior commissioning executive in September.

Eisner sees future online

In Variety, Cynthia Littleton reports on former Disney boss Michael Eisner's plans to produce content exclusively online.

"We’re going to put the foot to the metal. We’re trying to show that high-quality content with a promotable hook can get an audience on the Web," Eisner told Daily Variety. "If you can get an audience, you can get advertisers. I think the big upside in the entertainment business in the future is probably not the movie business or other existing businesses. I think it’s going to be story-driven content delivered through the Internet."

Screenwriters Festival: Day One

By Piers Beckley

The screenwriters' festival is being held in a new venue this year, but despite that the red-shirted runners were able to direct people around the place without one single monster-related incident. Which is rare, as connoisseurs will know.

In a way the word "festival" is a bit of a misnomer, suggesting screenings and awards - or, if you prefer, drugs and lasers - but what it really is, is a four-day screenwriting conference.

Which is actually a lot more useful to a writer.

This year there are more than a hundred speakers over the four days. There are panels, lectures, launches (such as the Guild's own good practice guide for screenwriters - more of which anon) and networking both formal and informal.

There are two main reasons for coming to any conference, whether it's for science, art, literature, barbering (according to our taxi driver last night, Cheltenham recently hosted a barbers' conference), or screenwriting.

One is to find out best practice and news - that's mostly covered by the lectures.

The second is networking. And contrary to what many people believe, networking isn't trying to find someone with money and pushing your masterpiece into their hands - it's learning craft from those further along than you, and talking about it with other people at the same level you are, whether that's someone with a dozen credits or someone who's only just set pen to paper.

That's what really happens at a conference of any sort, whether it's for science, art, literature, barbering, or screenwriting. Talking with people you know and don't know in the gaps between lectures, and in the pub after the day is over, about your work, and theirs, and what's going on in the world in which you all work.

And it's those conversations that make an event like this worth coming to.

Digital Theatre launches download site

As Alistair Smith reports in The Stage, a new website, Digital Theatre:

...will see full length versions of stage shows filmed in high definition using multiple camera angles made available to download and keep at the cost of £8.99 each. The films will be copy protected and only be playable through specific software which is free to download from the site.

A partnership between a number of leading British theatre companies, Digital Theatre's first offering is the English Touring Theatre company's Far From The Madding Crowd, adapted by Mark Healy from the novel by Thomas Hardy. New, original work will also feature.

It seems an interesting initiative, although it's annoying (and surprising) that the website is all in flash.

Google on track to dominate online video ads

In Broadcast, Michael Comish suggests that, following a new deal with Channel 4 and the launch of an auction-based sales model, Google is set to dominate the market for online video advertising.

At its core, Google is an advertising company and it has successfully dominated paid search advertising in almost every market where it competes. Going forward, it intends to dominate online video advertising as well. The strategy is all too familiar: build an advertising product where people bid for words associated with video programming by taking your existing, hugely successful search technology and modifying it to create a unique product for video ads. Build a large market share and you will not only drive up the price people will pay for the adverts, but also dictate the terms of how the revenue is shared with programme makers. By so doing, you will capture the majority of the value in an online video advertising market, which is estimated to reach £4b+ by 2013 in the US alone.