Happy New Year!
We start our 2007 events next Tuesday, 16 January, with the first of a four-week season of open workshop meetings — your chance to get feedback on extracts of the scripts you’ve been busy writing over the festive season. All meetings take place from 7.30pm in the Macready Room at Bristol Old Vic in King Street (ask at the box office for directions). Everyone attending pays £1. You can also find a current list of the dates, times and locations of our upcoming schedule on the Diary page of our website.
Tuesday, 16 January at 7.30pm: Open Workshop
Tuesday, 23 January at 7.30pm: Open Workshop
Tuesday, 6 February at 7.30pm: Open Workshop
Tuesday, 13 February at 7.30pm: Open Workshop
Southwest Sounds
Having successfully completed our short film project, Southwest Shorts, last year, we’re planning a radio drama scheme for 2007. Subject to a successful grant application, we hope to launch a competition for radio drama scripts of between 45 minutes and an hour. We’ll record full productions of the winning entries and podcast them from our websit. Full details of the competition will feature in a future edition of this newsletter, but if you like to get a head start on your script, bear in mind that while radio offers huge scope for imagination and setting, you should limit the number of characters in your play and avoid including commercially recorded music — even the BBC has trouble licensing this for podcasts!
BBC Writersroom tips on writing radio drama
Heads You Win, Tails I Lose
Congratulations to Pete Kesterton, whose radio drama Heads You Win, Tails I Lose will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Friday, 9 February at 2.15pm. Tune-in on 92-95FM or 198LW, or catch Pete’s play online through Radio 4’s ‘Listen Again’ service.
EastEnders
Michael Jenner, Southwest Scriptwriters’ Honorary President, has written another episode of BBC1’s flagship soap, which will be transmitted on Thursday, 25 January — the word from industry insiders is that it’s a particularly dramatic one…
Kings Cross New Writing Award 2007
This biennial award is open to writers of all levels of experience resident in the UK and Republic of Ireland. It rewards the author of the most outstanding, imaginative and original play submitted with a full professional production of his or her work. There’s an entry fee of £5 per script and the deadline for submissions is 1 May 2007.
Touch Films’ Innovative Writer Development Programme
As part of its commitment to bringing on new and existing talent, Touch Films has established an innovative Writer Development Programme in partnership with South West Screen. The scheme aims to help writers in the region by supporting the growth of joint ventures. Through this scheme Touch Films is interested in receiving both single and series drama ideas with potential for both the UK and international market. Applicants should have a minimum of two years demonstrable experience working within the media industry and should be resident in the South West.