Add a Comment

Comment by carmen medway-stephens on November 13, 2012 at 4:56

Exciting News, John McGrath will attend the forum too on Friday @Chapter quote Utah Forum to get discounted ticket for forum and play The Utah Bride

Comment by carmen medway-stephens on November 11, 2012 at 9:11

Guest Speakers at this forum '16th', Cathy Boyce, Louise Osborn

Comment by Othniel Smith on November 7, 2012 at 6:26

Re BBC Writer's Prize - there was a very useful Q&A session on Twitter today, which can be viewed using the #writersprize hashtag.

Comment by Matt Ball on November 7, 2012 at 6:06

A new Radio drama and comedy award from the BBC..

The Writer’s Prize – Where great writing meets its audience…

BBC Audio and Music joins forces with BBC Writersroom to launch The Writer's Prize:  A prestigious new writing opportunity for radio drama and comedy writers. 

The BBC is looking to commission the best new ideas across the Radio 3&4 networks.  We are looking for bold, original new stories with characters that will engage, challenge and entertain an audience. 

The Writer’s Prize will be judged by Jeremy Howe (Commissioning Editor, BBC Radio 4 Drama), Caroline Raphael (Commissioning Editor, BBC Radio 4 Comedy and Radio 4 Extra), Kate Rowland (BBC Creative Director of New Writing) and award-winning writer Roy Williams OBE (The Interrogation, Lift Off, Clubland, Sucker Punch).

What makes this different? We are open to a range of ideas and approaches. It could be a 30 minute comedy for Radio 4, a studio sitcom recorded in front of an audience or a 45 or 60 minute drama for Radio 3 or 4. We are looking for original, multi-character narrative scripts for Radio (we are not looking for monologues, one man shows, stand-up routines or adaptations).

The prize is the opportunity for a Radio 3 or Radio 4 Drama commission or a pilot commission for a Radio 4 Comedy. It is open to any writer as long as the work submitted is not currently in development or under consideration for development and has not previously been produced by any broadcaster or production company. 

Closing date for entries: 9am Monday 3rd December 2012

For more details visit: http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/opportunities/the-writers-prize

 

Comment by Iain Goosey on November 3, 2012 at 5:45

Tim, maybe we (WE & DP) should be working together and discussing some of these ideas in more detail, and how we might attempt approaching things in future?

We're all aiming for the same thing here; an ambitious and prosperous future for welsh work, in Wales and beyond. Unfortunately though, we simply don't have the theatrical infrastructure here (yet) to enable this to happen. We have NTW, Sherman Cymru, Clwyd and very little else (that possesses significant RFO funding for these areas). So Wales really is incomparable to the rest of the UK on this front. This is a big problem that needs addressing by the powers that be.

In the short-term though, at the risk of sounding Romney-esque (which makes me feel uncomfortable), I feel there is a massive opportunity for welsh-based arts individuals to become far more productive and self-sufficient (rather than relying on traditional companies that are already over-subscribed / failing to produce work). ACW has never had, in its history, the level of project funding that it does now (not always the most easily accessible mind you). Maybe this will be the start of a small culture shift in Wales (rightly or wrongly), resulting in new work being co-produced by writers, alongside opportunistic producer types...   

Unfortunately, nothing is going to change for the time being, especially at Sherman Cymru. So the only thing we can do is make things happen and produce work of a similar scale and importance.

Hopefully, at the next portfolio review in a couple of years there will be an important shift in companies and provisions.

Comment by Tim Price on November 3, 2012 at 1:09

Hi Mike - I'm delighted WE are speaking to Kath (so are Dirty Protest so perhaps she'll have a bidding war on her hands???). 

I think it's great WE are stepping in to this, just as DP are. Fringe companies will always try and step in where the institutions aren't. Being the positive go-getting young producer you are - you see this as an opportunity, and being the tired miserable writer I am, I see it as a problem!  Waking Exploits and Dirty Protest should be scrabbling over a runner-up play, not the winner. It is not the place of the fringe to produce a play that has won a national award.  Dirty Protest would produce Kath's play and would produce the winning play every time, if no one else would. We'd find a way, because you and I know that that play needs to be produced. Kath and I talked about Parallel Lines before the award. And we're still talking about it after the award. I think that's a problem. We can either choose to celebrate how dynamic our fringe is, or we can flag that up as a problem the WDA needs to iron out. 

John - Yes I fully appreciate that the WDA is a more complicated beast than Bruntwood. And I understand the winner each year could be a film/TV/script or play. So the professional opportunities it provides have to be flexible.

So why not have categories for best play, TV script and film? Bring in the Film Agency, and have 3 winners?

The WDA is not a step in the right direction, it is an enormous leap in the right direction.

If we can attach the winning playwright to a production then it is hands down the perfect award. 

 Whether that means ACW underwrite a fringe production and put it out to tender so Mike and I can fight it out. Or NTW or Sherman commits to producing the winner, but I feel that for WDA to have the greatest impact, the wider theatre community needs to see the play. 

Comment by Marc George on November 3, 2012 at 0:28

It can safely be said that we can all find flaws in any competition but we do all have to remember that it has been The Drama Award's first run.

There's going to be issues and flaws in any new process but properly handled and addressed those flaws can be ironed out and the process become stronger for it.

As for the discussion about Kath - well quite frankly that's all down to her. It's Kath's decision to do what she wants to do and how she wants to progress - no one elses. This award has certainly helped given Kath opportunities which is an an important factor we should consider for when we enter the next one!

As for the winning plays being produced? If I was in Kath's position I'm not sure how I would feel. I certainly wouldn't be comfortable with you horny lot baying after it and would imagine that any negetive feedback or clamour would make me screaming for the hills.

Whatever Kath chooses to do next (as with the others) I wish them every success. As for the rest of you...come one...get off here and get back to your projects...you've got a winning script to write.

As they say around here - 'just saying like'.

Comment by National Theatre Wales on November 2, 2012 at 23:47

Hi Tim, when I sat down with the BBC to talk about what they could do for writers in partnership with NTW, the discussions in this group were very much on my mind. That's why I suggested that we consider a prize.  It's fantastic that the BBC not only said yes, but found the scale of prize money needed to make the award meaningful.  A key feature of the Wales Drama Award, responding to discussions here, was that it should be open to everyone, with the scripts read anonymously, rather than being an 'emerging' award.  In announcing the prize we were, I hope, as open and honest as possible about what it involves; we wanted to be sure that everyone knew what would and wouldn't happen.  

It's a step in the right direction - and one that the BBC and NTW are committed to every two years for the foreseeable future.  However, not having the massive sponsorship behind the Bruntwood prize, and also having the unique feature of accepting drama scripts in all forms - TV, film, theatre - matching the commitment of the Bruntwood prize to automatic theatre production was neither feasible nor appropriate.  I'm very aware that the next big issue to address with writers in Wales is an increase in the range and volume of productions, and I intend to work on this actively in the coming months and years.  In the meantime I believe that the award has achieved a boost to the writing scene in general, and the winners in particular. In relation specifically to Kath's opportunities, you are perhaps jumping to some assumptions.  Before the award, no-one in the BBC had heard of Kath, nor did she have any access to the BBC.  This is entirely changed now.  Of course she's a fantastic writer and I'm sure she would have started working in TV eventually (as she has said that is something she very much wants to do), but the award has made this happen much faster, and means that rather than having to bang on the door, she will be invited inside to discuss options and will be supported in developing ideas.  I'm sure you know from your own experience with the BBC Academy and other opportunities how invaluable this can be.  

With NTW the situation for Kath is more complex, as I know her work fairly well and she already has a full commission with NTW; so Kath and I will need to think about the best way forward.  If, for example, her success in the award means that another company wants to option Parallel Lines while we work on the other piece, and that's what will work for Kath, then that might be a pretty good outcome.  But it's early days, the award was announced a week ago and Kath, the BBC, and NTW all need to talk before anything is decided.  In the meantime the WDA may only be one step towards a richer environment for drama writers in Wales - but I believe it's a good step.

Comment by Tim Price on November 2, 2012 at 23:03

In reply to John's answer re: the award, I think NTW and the BBC have always been really clear about the award not being a commitment to produce. That doesn't mean it's isn't flawed.

Literature Wales have just announced a new poetry prize for the best poem in Wales. The winner gets £10,000 and the accolade of having written the best poem in Wales. The poem isn't going to be published though. 

Also The Welsh Music Foundation has announced an award for best song written in Wales, there's a £10,00 prize but they're not going to release the song, you can't hear it - but be sure it is the best song written that year because the best musicians Wales has ever produced have got together and all agreed that this is the best song.

Wales Arts International have announced a £10,000 prize for the best painting. They're not going to exhibit it, because No-one's interested in what the painter thinks is worth painting, but when WAI want to commission a painter to paint something they want painting, this winner will be considered.

I am of course being provocative, but I hope this captures how disempowering for the community the Wales Drama Award in it's current form can seem. It just would not happen to a poet, painter or musician.

The problem with the approach to artists is, is the implicit suggestion that you are looking for people who can write, not people who have something to say.

Kath had something to say, and she said it through her chosen form which was drama, and some incredibly talented and successful dramatists have agreed it's the best piece in Wales. But we're not going to see it. 

It seems like the professional doors open to the WDA winner is the chance to be considered when a BBC Wales producer has an idea for a TV show and wants a writer, the pool of writers they can choose from is a little healthier than usual. Likewise NTW, when NTW are looking writer to collaborate or write to a brief, there are more people blinking like unemployed beacons on the mighty NTW radar.

The opportunities you've listed for Kath are great, but are the same if she'd just sent Parallel Lines through normal channels. So beyond having conversations with people she would get anyway, and £10,000 (that minor detail!) where is she now that she wasn't last week? £10,000 grand richer - yes. Further in her career? No.

It's not NTW's job to professionalise writers, it's wonderful when it does happen (me!) but it's not NTW's duty the way it is the Sherman's. And dear God I am utterly overjoyed this award exists and it is just the kind of responsive dynamic thing NTW does when it sees a problem, so please caveat everything I've said with 'Tim Price thinks this is the best thing to happen to writing in Wales since NTW.'

With some re-imagining the WDA could be a genuine revolution for Welsh new writing. But I fear in it's current make-up it's an opportunity missed. 

The Royal Exchange commits to producing 3 of the winners of the Bruntwood playwrighting prize - it's an anonymous competition like WDA - and it has unearthed some phenomenal talents like Vivienne Frantzman.

The Verity Bargate award - commits to producing the winner and has found people like Nina Raine and Toby Whithouse.

If Kath's play was produced, then her work is there to be seen by other professionals. Professional writers need to be on more radars than BBC and NTW. Radio producers, TIE producers, other theatre managers, other writers and the WDA should be there to allow writers to start their careers rather than a conversation.  

Also 'being on the radar' is TV speak. I don't want to be on the radar, I want to be behind the wheel, music blaring, windows down, arm out, oi-oi-ing at girls. Come on John, commit to us having a burn around town, once a year? Go on?

Comment by Tim Price on November 2, 2012 at 13:05

Kaite - the community awaits. #dancegate

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• …
• 54
• 55
• 56
• 57
• 58
• …
• 122
• Next ›
• Page