The First: No alarm and no surprises
Beautiful shot and thoughtful, The First ultimately hits all the beats you expect it too, with no surprises. The First is a futuristic drama documenting the first manned mission to…
Reflect and regroup
Just before I begin my next module, I want to take a while to reflect on what I learned during the last one: Collaborative Script Development. I struggled with this…
Week seven: Screenwriting culture in the digital age
Writing is an odd beast, both influenced and unchanged by technology. On the surface, the outcome of writing is for us exactly what it was for previous generations: print on…
Nicola Shindler at the BFI
If you ask me to name some of the best British drama I would probably say Cracker, Happy Valley, Queer as Folk. The latter of these shows have come from…
Week six: first draft
First Draft It’s been perfect first-draft-writing weather. Nothing to tempt me from the keyboard except to make more coffee and watch my dogs play in the snow for a while….
Week five: How we tell stories
The step outline is my new best friend. I’ve spent a bit of time figuring out the best way to plan a story, for me. This is an entirely personal…
Let women tell their own stories
When I saw the list of new drama commissioned by ITV this year I was heartened to see the focus on female characters seems to have shifted, but confused to…
Week four: Screenwriting history and a deadline
This week I’ve written my first treatment. Previously I have been so eager to get writing the script I have forgone these stages of script documentation which are both methodical…
Dark River
I’ve just come back from watching a preview of Dark River, Clio Barnard’s new film, and hearing Clio speak about the making of the film and it’s pretty much all…
Meet me at dawn
My reading for this weekend was the brilliant and utterly heartbreaking, Meet Me at Dawn by Zinnie Harris. This play reminded me how much I can learn about dialogue from…
Week three: Moving things on
Embarking on this course was with a couple of objectives in mind. To develop a creative practice where I am writing regularly, and collecting and reflecting upon ideas. Deadlines. I’m…
Week two: writing an outline
Right, an outline. See, this is confusing because I suppose my idea of outlining comes from writing prose fiction, and it’s quite in-depth. But I guess that’s a matter of…
Rita, Sue and Bob Too
In November of last year I saw Andrea Dunbar’s Shirley performed at Halifax’s Square Chapel so when a tour of Rita, Sue and Bob Too was announced, following a run…
Week one: Why we tell stories
Recently, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about why I write. Why I want to tell stories. This is the conclusion I have come to: I think storytelling can…
Red by Somalia Seaton
Oh my god, I loved this play. An exploration of grief and friendship, I love the replaying of scenes, looking for the missed clues, dropped stitches, trying to make sense…
I wrote to survive – I am my reader
Astra Bloom’s Wild Horses of Suburbia is the real thing. Please read it. Support working class writers. Our stories can be this visceral. This surprising. This breathtaking. Wild horses of…
Hanna by Sam Potter
What’s a play? This short play by Sam Potter is a one-woman performance of the story of a child, accidentally sent home from the hospital with the wrong family as…
10 ways to make ideas happen
I’ve spent 15 years working in creative industries, a shortage of ideas has never been an issue. This is how I make ideas happen, and keep happening: Observe the world…
Don’t write the first episode, write the third episode
Don’t write the first episode, write the third episode I’ve heard Sally Wainwright say this a few times. The gist of it being that you enter into the throw of…
Mosquitoes
When I found out about Mosquitoes it was fully booked, but the gradual release of a few tickets and my willingness to head down to London for a Saturday matinee,…