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SCRIPT
NEWS - July 2009
CURRENT
PROJECTS
TENacity
Forging
a career as a writer requires drive, determination
and a certain degree of staying power. TENacity
is a targeted workshop programme designed to support
writers along that path, to challenge pre-conceptions
of the industry and to identify talented writers
in the West Midlands who would benefit from further
development.
Delivered in collaboration with ten
venues across the region, TENacity will
draw on the experience of professional playwrights,
screenwriters, producers and theatre practitioners,
to offer a unique focus on the creative process.
Where possible tying into local productions of
new work, Script will give writers the chance
to learn new skills and ways of working in a practical,
dynamic environment.
Birmingham
CHARACTER
INCUBATION: FINDING YOUR VOICE
Saturday
18th July, 10am-5pm
Led
by Malika Booker
Where
do characters come from? How do you create,
develop and nurture a 3-dimensional, believable
individual and give them a voice that will transcend
the page? Storyteller Malika Booker will
take you through the process of exploring and
building characters in script and performance
using practical exercises and examples from existing
dramatic monologues.
Venue:
The Birmingham Repertory Theatre
Cost:
£50 (£45 concessions)
To
book: Visit the Stage
page
Bromsgrove
VISUAL
IMPACT: WRITING FOR THE SCREEN
Saturday
25th July, 10am-5pm
Led
by TV/Film Producer Claire Ingham and award-winning
novelist and screenwriter, Helen Cross
Writing
for the screen demands many of the skills a writer
uses in creating short stories, novels, radio
and theatre plays - but it also requires new ways
of visualising and thinking about plots and characters.
How difficult is it to make the transition from
prose storytelling to writing for the screen,
and what are the tricks of the trade?
Using
a mixture of film clips, writing exercises and
practical advice, this course will encourage writers
to think visually about stories, characters, delivering
information and developing a visual style.
It will also include a session with award-winning
novelist and screenwriter Helen Cross, whose book
My Summer of Love became a BAFTA award-winning
feature film. Her first original screenplay,
Stratford Road, is currently in development
with Red Room Films and the UK Film Council.
Cost:
£50 (£45 concessions)
To
book: Visit the Screen
page
to: Script, Unit 107 The Greenhouse, The Custard
Factory, Gibb Street, Birmingham, B9 4AA
OPPORTUNITIES
AND COMPETITIONS...
STAGE...
A
New Voice
One-Act
Playwriting Competition 2009
The
Loft Theatre Company in Leamington Spa is launching
a competition to promote and encourage the writing
of new work, to be judged by BAFTA award-winning
writer Andrew Davies.
The
Loft is serious about theatre and aims to stimulate
interest in plays and the theatre, to give a voice
to unknown writers and to keep the spirit of local
theatre alive.
This
year we are pleased to announce a new play writing
competition. We are looking for a one-act
original play in any style.
Full
details: www.loft-theatre.co.uk/news/writers.php
Enquiries:
ad@loft-theatre.co.uk
Deadline:
30 July 2009
The
Alfred Fagon Award
The
Alfred FAgon Award is the pre-eminent Award for
playwrights of African and Caribbean descent.
It was established in 1996 in memory of the late
Jamaican playwright and actor, Alfred Fagon.
In 2009 the winner will be awarded £5000
in recognition of their outstanding achievement
in the art of playwriting. Already an annual
feature in the theatre calendar, this high-profile
Award will be presented to the recipient at the
Cottesloe, National Theatre followed by a staged
reading at the end of November 2009. To enter,
you will need to submit your play, a CV, a brief
synopsis of your entry, and confirmation of Caribbean
and/or African heritage as well as your residency
in the UK.
Deadline:
1 August 2009
Full
Details: Visit www.alfredfagonaward.co.uk
HighTide
Festival
HighTide
are looking to produce new scripts from emerging
writers for the fourth HighTide Festival, which
will take place in May 2010. Writers may
submit one unproduced full-length play.
Further
info: www.hightide.org.uk
Deadline:
1 August 2009
Cloud
Nine play day
Playwrights are invited to submit 30-minute scripts
to be considered for the next Cloud Nine Play
Day which is to be held at The Customs House,
South Shields, on Sunday 4 October. The selected
plays will be workshopped all day with the authors
present, then put on their feet and performed
before a live audience in the evening.
Deadline:
15 August.
More
details: Peter Mortimer on 0191 253 1901
or cloudninetheatre@blueyonder.co.uk
.
Peter
Wolff Supports The Whiting Award
This
national playwriting award, originally established
by the Arts Council in 1965 as the John Whiting
Award, gives £6000 to the writer of a new
play that demonstrates an original and distinctive
development in dramatic writing. For this
year's award, eligible plays must have had their
first performance between 1 August 2008 and 31
July 2009.
Further
info: http://www.birmingham-rep.co.uk/participate/for-everyone/writing/
Deadline:
17 August 2009
Writers
Wanted - In Company Theatre
The
Off Cut Festival:
A short
play festival of new writing. We're looking for
writers to submit plays of no more than 15 minutes,
with a maximum four actors. 24 shorts will be
chosen and performed over two weeks at The Old
Red Lion Theatre, London. The audience vote to
find the final eight. These will play in the finals
week and in front of a professional panel to win
a one week production package at the Old Red Lion
Theatre. Entry is free.
For more information, visit our http://www.theoffcutfestival.com/
Deadline: 17th August 2009
Short
or Full-Length, Kali wants your scripts
Are
you an Asian woman with something to say?
Then Kali wants to hear from you. The organisation
encourages, develops and presents high quality
new theatre writing by Asian women and is looking
for original and inspiring new theatre scripts.
Selected writers will receive dramaturgical support
to develop their script for the next Kali festival
on 2010.
Deadline:
31st August 2009
Further
info: www.kalitheatre.co.uk
Wild
Orchid Theatre's call for plays
Dedicated to performing exciting new writing in
unconventional theatre spaces, Wild Orchid Theatre
is seeking new plays to stage in its December
production at Sharpe's Pottery Museum. Open to
anyone living or working in the East or West Midlands,
plays should have a light-hearted/humorous Christmas
theme, require a maximum of four actors, and be
no longer than fifteen minutes.
Closing
date 30th September 2009.
Further details: wildorchidtheatre@live.co.uk
STAGE
International Script Competition
STAGE
(Scientists, Technologist, and Artists Generating
Exploration) is a collaboration between The Professional
Artists Lab and the California NanoSystems Institute
at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
They are offering a prize of $10,000 for the best
play exploring themes surrounding science and/or
technology. The prize will be awarded at a public
event with distinguished professionals from the
worlds of theatre, film, science, and technology,
in conjunction with a staged reading/performance/demonstration
with a cast of professional actors. Authors are
strongly urged to avoid the stereotypes often
assigned to science, technology, and those who
engage in these disciplines, and the competition
is not open to plays written in the genre of science
fiction.
Further
information: http://www.cnsi.ucsb.edu/stage/guidelines/guidelines.html
Deadline:
15th December 2009
Sampad
International Writing Competition
An opportunity
for aspiring writers from or connected to the
South Asian Diaspora around the world. Journeys...a
real or imagined journey, back to your roots,
homeland, or a journey of the heart.
You
can write in any style, using the theme of journeys
as a starting point: use your imagination to evoke
memories, sensations, your feelings about a journey
you have made - in your dreams or in real life
- voyage of self-discovery, back to your roots.
If you
would like to take part, call 0121 452 8899 or
visit the website: www.sampad.org.uk
for more details and an entry form
Deadline:
31 December 2009
National
Theatre Of Scotland: Call for Submissions
National
Theatre of Scotland takes theatre all over the
country and beyond, working with existing and
new venues, artists and companies to create and
tour world class theatre. We are looking for new
plays by writers who are inventive and fearless.
We want to be stimulated, challenged and excited
by writers with a strong theatrical imagination
and a nose for complex and urgent subject matter.
Further
information: www.nationaltheatrescotland.com/newwork
The
Group: Call for Submissions
The
Group consists of Equity members, whose monthly
meetings at Theatre Royal, Stratford East in London
focuses on reading & giving feedback on new
plays, both theatre, television & radio scripts
with the playwright present at the reading - followed
by an indepth discussion from all attendees, both
cast members & other members of The Group,
both actors & writers. We
welcome submissions of new plays.
Further
information: www.thegroup-scriptreaders.com,
& contact Shenagh Govan at shenagh.govan@thegroup-scriptreaders.com
RADIO
Scottish
Radio Lab
The
Scottish Book Trust and BBC Scotland Radio Drama
are now planning the next RAdio Lab. This
Lad is particularly aimed at emerging and established
writers who are already working in other media.
It is open to poets, prose writers an dramatists.
The Lab will include a mixture of practical workshops
and projects and talks from experienced radio
producers and writers. The Lab will also
include a day during which writers will have the
chance to hear their work being rehearsed and
recorded by professional actors. This opportunity
is only open to those living and working in Scotland
who have been professionally published, or have
had a professional production of their work.
Deadline:
Friday 17th Jul 2009, 4pm
Full
details: www.scottishbooktrust.com
RADIO
4 COMMISSIONING GUIDELINES
If
you've ever thought about writing for Radio 4,
take a look at the BBC's Commissioning Guidelines:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/arts/commissioning.shtml
Newsjack
The BBC have a new topical sketch show, and it's
open to everyone to write for. Newsjack takes
a comical look at the week's news stories. The
pilot aired on Thursday 4th June and the series
proper began on Thursday 18th June. If you want
to write for Newsjack, listen to the show (available
on iplayer). Submit your material for each show
on of before noon on Monday each week. For full
details, visit the Newsjack
website
Last
newsjack show: 22nd July
SCREEN...
Sir
Peter Ustinov Television Scriptwriting Award
Each
year, The Foundation of The International Academy
of Television Arts & Sciences administers
the Sir Peter Ustinov Television Scriptwriting
Award.
The
competition is designed to motivate non-American
novice writers under the age of 30, and to offer
them the recognition and encouragement that might
lead to a successful career in television scriptwriting.
Entrants are asked to create a completed half-hour
to one-hour (commercial length) English-language
television drama script for a family audience.
The
winner will be flown to New York City to be presented
with an Award and a $2,500 prize at the International
Emmy World Television Festival on November 21,
2009. The winning script will be read by
actors in front of an audience at the Festival,
and the winner will be invited to take part in
the red carpet festivities at the 37th International
Emmy Awards on November 23.
To
find out more and apply, please visit the website:
http://iemmys.tv/foundation.aspx
Deadline:
15th July, 2009
UK
Film Council
The
UK Film Council has a fund available to broaden
the quality, range, and ambition of film projects
being developed in the UK and to build a talent
driven home for writers, directors, and producers.
The First Feature Film Development Programme aims
to identify and support emerging filmmakers: screenwriters,
writer/directors, and writer-director-producer
teams who have not yet had a feature film released
theatrically or broadcast on UK television. Generally,
awards of up to £25,000 will be offered
to screenwriters or writer-directors to write
and develop a feature film.
Further
information: http://www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk/development
BBC
Film Network
Film
Network is the BBC's short film showcase, screening
short films from new British Filmmakers, with
four new shorts every week. The site also provides
filmmakers with tools to create online profiles
and exchange tips, advice and ideas and allows
audiences to comment on and rate the films. It
also provides links to all the great online resources
that already exist through the Filmmakers Guide.
The site is currently trialing but will launch
fully in October.
Further information: http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/
TRAINING
AND EVENTS...
Tales of Terror @ the Lichfield Festival
The Happiness Patrol's forthcoming Lichfield Festival
production, Tales of Terror,
Where:
The Lichfield Garrick Studio
When:
Wednesday 15th - Saturday 18th July.
Website: www.happiness-patrol.com
Apples
& Snakes, BAC, Birmingham Rep and Contact
present
Belief-O-Matic, Thursday 16 July 7.30pm
Free
Contact Theatre, Oxford Road Manchester M15 6JA
Booking/ info: 0161 274 0600 / www.contact-theatre.org
Come take a peculiar trip to a highly interactive
world of wonder, speculation, awe and faith.
This is a free work-in-progress sharing of a new
'stirring, stimulating, sensational project rooted
in exhilarating late night jangles over God' and
'what the hell is belief anyway?' by Bible-belt
born J. Fergus Evans, divine dissident Amanda
Milligan, son-of-a-nun Jonathan McGrath and lapsed
catholic schoolgirl Jackie Hagan.
The Great Animation Challenge
Screenings
Light House, Wolverhampton - 7pm, 21st July
This is your next opportunity to network with
fellow Animation Forum WM members at a free to
attend event. The event starts at 7pm Great Animation
Challenge screenings will be preceded by the best
submissions from last year’s Flip Animation
Festival, a talk by stop-motion animator Linda
McCarthy – whose animation company, Tiny
Elephants, is currently collaborating with the
cartoonist, Steven Appleby, to produce more films
featuring the Unbelievable family who inhabit
the world of Small Birds Singing. You’ll
then get a chance to see the fruits of The Great
Animation Challenge, followed by a chance to network
with fellow animators.
More details:
www.animationforumwm.co.uk
To attend, please RSVP by email or via the Facebook
group.
Changing
Times, Changing Visions - mid*point event
Old Joint Stock, Birmingham 22 July 1:30pm
What is the future of theatre in the West Midlands?
How can theatre adapt and survive in times of
change?
What are the new challenges and new opportunities
ahead?
mid*point
is the network for independent theatre companies
and practitioners in the West Midlands. We aim
to build links between companies, venues, agenies,
and practitioners.
The latest mid*point event is at the Old Joint
Stock Theatre, Birmingham, on 22nd July, from
1.30pm
Cost: Free
Deadline:
return
registration form by 15th July
Send to: news@midlandactorstheatre.co.uk
Creative Leaders Development Scheme (CPD
funding programme)
The
Creative Leaders Development Scheme aims to
further the career development of core creative
talent working in the UK television industry by
providing individuals with high profile industry
mentors and personal development programmes.
In rapidly changing times, the UK television industry
will require excellence in the field of creative
leadership if it is to compete in a testing and
competitive marketplace. This scheme looks to
provide the Creative Leaders of today and tomorrow
with the skills and experience to succeed.
Application Deadline: Friday
24 July 2009 noon.
2-4 October 2009, 29-31 January
2010
WRITING
DRAMA FOR TELEVISION
3-day
residential course in idyllic Sussex
A course
designed to assist students with getting a vital
insight into the television industry as well as
provide practical and creative support on drama
scripts that are either complete or presently
being written, or concepts that are at the early
stages of development. This course is suitable
for anyone who has the desire to write a script
and needs some support in how to start!
Course
tutors are two industry executives both working,
commissioning and developing television drama.
Between them work credits include Where the
Heart Is, New Tricks, Rome, Hotel Babylon, Holby
City, Dream Team
Venue:
Tilton House, Sussex
Cost:
£395 (includes course fees, shared
accommodation, meals and refreshments throughout
the weekend)
To
book: Email nicolalarder@yahoo.co.uk
to check availability and book your place.
Write/
Radio/ Spain
7-11th
September 2009
Write/
Radio/ Spain is a residential course aimed at
writers who want to explore radio drama and sound
as a creative medium. Led by award winning BBC
radio, film and television writer Steve Chambers
and Sony nominated independent radio producer
Andy Cartwright. The course offers participants
expert tuition in pitching and writing for radio
drama and tutorial support/script advice in the
relaxing and tranquil venue of Casa Acequia (
www.casa-acequia.se) in the beautiful inland region
of the Serriana de Ronda, Andalucia, Southern
Spain.
For full details of course, tutors and fees see
attached and contact the course organizer, Caroline
Mitchell
Contact: cam.algo@googlemail.com
JOBS
Programme
Manager at New Writing North
Deadline
for applications is Monday 27 July 2009.
2.5
days per week, £10k per annum (fixed term
for 24 months)
New
Writing North are looking to recruit a part-time
Programme Manager to work on the delivery of our
Read Regional programme and associated new events,
and to co-ordinate and expand our regional book
group network. Applications are welcomed
from people who can demonstrate a keen interest
in literarature and who have experience of event
management and arts marketing and who are able
to work across the region both during the day
and at evenings and weekends. A job pack is available
to download from www.newwritingnorth.com
Drama
Practitioner or Organisation required
Crudgington Primary School ,Nr. Wellington, Telford,
is looking for a drama practitioner or organisation
to work with us within a budget of £2900
to include fees ,travel and materials. The detail
of the project will be set in conjunction with
our creative partner/s. Shortlisted applicants
will be asked to give a half hour workshop to
children followed by a short informal interview
on Friday September 25th, 2009, for delivery preferably
starting in the Autumn term.
Please send a CV, short proposal or statement
of practice, up to 6 images/ link to your website
and details of 2 referees to the school's Creative
Friend Nicky Dupays, by email to nickydupays@ukonline.co.uk
Deadline:
September 10th.
More information: Headteacher,
Andrew Denton 01952 386910
DO
YOU HAVE SOME NEWS YOU'D LIKE TO SHARE WITH THE
SCRIPT MEMBERSHIP? If so, then e-mail
info@scriptonline.net by the end of the month
and it will go into the following month's Newsletter.
Script
asks you to note: These listings are drawn from
varying sources, all current at time of publishing.
Script
endeavours to investigate and validate all information
and opportunities listed here. We advise you to
make contact with companies before submitting
scripts.
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