Welcome back to The Write Room.
Here is a selection of opportunities, events and roles that are currently open to writers writing for screen, stage or page.
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In the meantime, happy writing!
BAFTA Panel on Kids’ Drama
BAFTA Kids is running a free panel session next Wednesday (February 10) at 5pm on ‘My Mum Tracy Beaker’. It will involve a discussion with the creative team behind CBBC’s My Mum Tracy Beaker, including actors Dani Harmer (Tracy), Emma Maggie Davies (Jess) and Jordan Duvigneau (Sean), director John McKay, executive producer Spencer Campbell and writer Emma Reeves, who has adapted Jacqueline Wilson’s book of the same name. My Mum Tracy Beaker launches on CBBC and iPlayer on Friday, February 12. There are 3 x 30 minute episodes, which will be re-versioned into a 90 minute mini movie. Book a place here.
Commentary Writing Course
Expert Patrick Uden is running two free courses on ‘Commentary Writing’ starting next week. The sessions will run from Tuesday, February 9 - Friday, February 12, and again from Tuesday, March 16 - Friday, March 19. All sessions will run from 9.30am-10.45am. Applications close at midnight on Thursday (February 4) and March 11 respectively. Further details are available via ScreenSkills.
Playwrighting Fellowship
The Alpine Fellowship 2021 is offering an opportunity for the best playwriting response to the theme of ‘Untamed: On Wilderness and Civilization’. The prize is £3,000 plus a rehearsed reading at the Fellowship’s annual Symposium. The final play should be no more than 45 minutes in length and should be submitted by April 1. Further details here.
Pitching for Television
Stage 32 and Netflix are holding a ‘Television Pitch Workshop’ webinar tomorrow (Thursday) at 7pm-8.30pm (GMT). Hosted by Christopher Mack, this free session will cover: what makes a television pitch work at Netflix; how to write an effective pitch document; how best to communicate your show’s overview, world, tone, and characters; how season summaries should be built; and give ideas on how to think about and present potential episodes. Further details are available here.
Creating Content for Kids Television
ScreenSkills is continuing to runs its series of workshops on ‘Developing Content for Kids’ with the next session on Wednesday (February 10) between 10am and 11.30am. These sessions cover pitching and developing content for children’s TV. It is aimed at creators, writers and producers. Further details about these free events are available here.
Marketing Tips for Running Workshops
Writer and Communications expert Francesca Baker is running a workshop focused for writers on how to market workshops. It is aimed at those running writing workshops, poetry sessions, expressive arts series or something entirely new, with the aim of helping to reach audiences and sell tickets. The event is on Friday (February 5) from 10am-11am. Book a ticket here.
TV Production Scheme
ITV Studios has launched a new Production Trainee scheme to introduce new voices to the TV industry. Placements are on offer at 10 of the labels and indies who are part of ITV Studios in both scripted and unscripted entertainment. These include Boom, ITV Studios Continuing Drama (Coronation Street and Emmerdale), ITV Studios Daytime, ITV Studios Entertainment, ITV Studios Drama, MultiStory Media, Potato, Mammoth Screen, Silverprint Pictures and World Productions, and roles such as trainee researchers, script editors and assistant script editors. Applications are open until February 19, find out more on the ITV website.
Writing for Children’s Animation
ScreenSkills is holding a panel session on ‘Writing for Children's Animation’ on March 16 at 6pm. Chaired by writer Myles McLeod, it is an opportunity to hear from a range of professionals involved in the making of an animated series for children on how they work with writers and what they need from a writer. The panel will include a storyboard artist, director, producer and broadcast commissioner. Bookings are now open via their website.
Still open for submissions…
Call for One-Act Plays
Windsor Fringe Festival is asking amateur playwrights worldwide to submit unpublished one-act plays for the Kenneth Branagh Award for New Drama Writing. Three winning scripts will be selected for fully staged performances during October 2021. One of the three scripts will be chosen for the £500 prize, judged purely on the writing. The deadline for submissions is March 5. Further details are available here.
Essay Writing Prize
The 2021 Fitzcarraldo Editions/Mahler & Lewitt Studios Essay Prize is open to submissions until March 5, 2021. The annual competition is aimed at unpublished writers resident in the UK & Ireland who have yet to secure a publishing deal. The prize awards £3,000 to the best proposal for a book-length essay (minimum 25,000 words), as well as the opportunity to spend up to three months in residency at the Mahler & LeWitt Studios in Spoleto, Italy, to work on their book. The book will then be published by Fitzcarraldo Editions. Further information is available here.
Emerging Writers’ Programme
The London Library Emerging Writers Programme offers writers, in all genres, one year’s free membership of The London Library and includes writing development masterclasses, literary networking opportunities, peer support and guidance in use of the Library’s resources. Open to anyone over 16 years of age resident in the UK, who is committed to pursuing a career in writing in any genre and wants to develop their practice. The Programme will run from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022. The deadline for applications in March 5 at 11am. Find out more here.
TV Crime Fiction Contest
The DETECt Screenwriting Contest, part of an EU-funded research project on European crime narratives, is looking for original TV crime fiction that will be evaluated by an international jury of industry professionals. Further details are available here. The deadline for submissions is March 1.
And, if you hear of any interesting opportunities for writers, please do get in touch and we can circulate them for FREE to our growing community of budding and accomplished writers.
Simply drop us an email using the button with ‘Newsletter’ in the subject line. Have a good week!
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