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SCRIPT
NEWS - October/November 2008
Script
has teamed up with Warwick Words and Birmingham
Book Festival to offer two exciting new workshops:
Writing
for Radio with Lucy Gough
4
October, 2-5pm
Friends
Meeting House, Warwick
Playwright
Lucy Gough leads a practical and stimulating workshop
on the art and craft of writing for radio.
Using examples of produced plays, together with
written exercises, the participants will explore
the tools that help create a layered narrative
soundscape.
There
are only 6 places remaining for this workshop,
so please book in advance.
Box
Office: 01926 776438
Tickets:
£15
The
Plays of David Edgar with Paola Botham
22
October, 6-7pm
Birmingham
Conservatoire
David
Edgar calls himself 'a writer of public life'
and once remarked that he wanted to be 'a secretary
for the times through which I'm living'.
He is one of Britain's leading playwrights and
has made his reputation with large-scale political
documentary plays. Paola Botham will lead
the discussion on the context and style of David's
plays
Box
Office: 0121 303 2323
Tickets:
£7 (£5 conc)
FORTHCOMING
PROJECTS...
Poised
for Flight
Script,
in association with Outside Centre, is offering
a 4-day Introduction to Screenwriting Course for
writers with disabilities. The course will
be held at The Lighthouse, Wolverhampton on the
following dates:
8,9,22,29
November 2008
£90
(£60)
Script
Games
Pictures
tell a thousand stories…
What's
yours?
Visual
art meets live drama as Script teams up with Birmingham
Museum & Art Gallery for an exciting new project
to celebrate the China Now Festival. Script
is inviting writers to submit a short (10 minute)
play in response to the “Beijing Map Games” exhibition
at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery. Five plays
will be selected and performed at the Museum,
in front of the exhibition, on Saturday 22 nd
November 2008.
Map
Games is an international contemporary art project
that reflects on the rapid changes influencing
the appearance and dynamics of Beijing city. Birmingham
will be the first city in the world, following
Beijing , to show this ground-breaking exhibition.
The works have been produced by international
artists and architects from China , Germany ,
Ireland , Italy , Russia , the Netherlands and
the UK . They will include paintings, sculptures,
photography, digital art and installation pieces.
The exhibition is curated by Officina.
Deadline:
Friday 24th October 2008
As
part of the project, Script is offering free 2½
hour writing workshops for British Chinese writers
to provide an introduction to playwriting.
The two workshops will utilize the images from
the Beijing Map Games exhibition and explore the
ways in which they could be interpreted dramatically.
It will provide writers with the tools, skills
and confidence to structure a 10-minute play.
Workshop
Date: Saturday 4th October
Morning: 10.30am – 1pm
or
Afternoon: 2pm – 4.30pm
Places are limited, so to book your place, please
email catherine.edwards@scriptonline.net
as soon as possible with your name and contact
details.
Workshops will be held at Birmingham Museum &
Art Gallery
Images from the exhibition will appear shortly
on Script’s website.
Approaches
to Writer Development: The European Model
Following
Alan Pollock's successful placement at Druid Theatre
in Galway in July (read his blog here),
our next professional placement will take place
in October. Playwright Arzhang Pezhman will
spend two weeks with Fishamble Theatre in Dublin.
OPPORTUNITIES
AND COMPETITIONS...
STAGE...
Red
Kettle
Red
Kettle Theatre Company are inviting open submissions
from new writers with a view to producing their
plays as part of the second Waterford Festival
of New Plays, to be staged in 2010.
Red
Kettle has produced theatre in Waterford and throughout
Ireland for 23 years, with over 60 productions
including 25 new plays and 24 national tours.
They have also played in London, New York, Edinburgh
and Japan.
They
are looking for plays with a running time of 10-15
minutes from writers of any nationality who have
not previously had their work professionally produced.
Entries
should be sent by hard copy (no discs please)
to:
Joan
Dalton
Red
Kettle Theatre Company
15 Broad
Street, Waterford
Ireland
Or via
email to: joan@red-kettle.com
For
further information, please contact Joan Dalton
or John O'Connell on +353 (0)51 879688
Deadline:
31 October 2008
HighTide
HighTide
are looking for new full-length scripts from emerging
writers. Writers may submit one unproduced,
unpublished full-length play. There is no
restriction on subject matter.
HighTide
welcomes international scripts, written in English,
on the basis that all selected writers are available
in the UK for the dramaturgy, rehearsal and production
period from January to May 2009.
To find
out more and apply, visit the HighTide
website
Deadline:
1 November 2008
Paines
Plough: Future Perfect
Future
Perfect is a once in a lifetime opportunity to
grow and develop as a theatre writer.
Channel
4 and Film
Four have enabled Paines Plough to host this
year-long attachment which creates a space for
writers to explore their individual voices and
develop their vision through practical writing
projects, working with professional practitioners
and creators of inspirational work, and watching
exciting productions. Over the twelve month period
each of the winning playwrights will work closely
with Paines Plough's award-winning creative team
to develop a full-length play.
To become
one of the Future Perfect writers please submit
a play to Paines Plough. Send two unbound hard
copies of your script with a covering letter and
a CV including your name, address, telephone number,
email address, and date of birth to
Future
Perfect
Paines Plough
4th Floor
43 Aldwych
London
WC2B 4DN
Paines
Plough cannot accept submissions by email or on
disk.
If you
have any queries please contact Paines Plough
on 020 7240 4533. For more information about Paines
Plough, visit
their website .
Deadline:
10th November 2008
The
Search Party
The Search
Party is the Royal Exchange's brand new playwriting
project for young people of Muslim heritage aged
16–25.
The project
has single sex and mixed workshops for individuals
and tailor-made sessions for community groups,
and will result in two evenings of readings and
performances of play scenes by professional actors
at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester during
Spring 2009.
To find
out more call Ben Turner on 0161 615 6792, or
email him at ben.turner@royalexchange.co.uk
. Deadline: 10th December 2008
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
about 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.
Submitted
plays must explore scientific or technological
stories, themes, issues or events, and science
and technology must figure prominently in the
script in either form or content. Biographical
dramas, history plays, and medical dramas are
discouraged unless they significantly employ science
and/or technology.
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.
To find out more, visit
the STAGE website .
Deadline:
December 15, 2009
Acid
Theatre Playwriting Competition
The
Acid Theatre Playwright Competition is looking
for 30-60 minute monologues or 2 handers based
loosely around the theme of 'Freedom of Speech
in the Theatre'.
Special
emphasis should be placed on religion and religious
influences in society.
The winning entry will be performed / produced
by AcidTheatre.
Contact:
theatreacid@yahoo.co.uk
Deadline:
5 January 2009
RADIO
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
SCREEN...
Red
Planet Prize 2008 - last chance
Red
Planet Pictures, Tony Jordan's production company,
have just announced their second annual writing
competition.
The
winner will receive:
- A
£5000 prize
- Representation
from a leading literary agency
- A
script commission from Red Planet Pictures
Runners
up will have the opportunity to be mentored by
the Red Planet team. To enter, you need
to send the first ten pages of a 60 minute pilot
script with television series potential, together
with a one-page outline for the series.
The
first ten pages of a script are the most important.
It's on those first ten pages that you have to
grab your audience. The series outline should
give us a flavour of your own unique voice as
well as an idea of your vision for the series.
There
are no guidelines or restrictions in terms of
genre or subject.
To find
out more and enter, visit the Red
Planet Pictures website
Deadline:
30 September 2008
TRAINING
AND EVENTS...
Sudden
Productions present: Playing Life
25-27
September 2008, 8pm
A Jazz
singer...a tortured Soul
A unique
combination of Live Jazz and Theatre
Venue:
Old Joint Stock Theatre
Tickets:
£8.50 (£6 conc)
Box
Office: 0121 303 2323 or 0121200 0946
The
Comedy Writing Weekend
27-28
September 2008, 10.30-4.30
Lectures
about writing are like poems about swimming: they
may be inspiring but they don't improve your technique.
The only way to learn how to write is by writing.
This course isn't fatal but it is hard work.
Over the course of the weekend you'll participate
in intensive, practical exercises that are designed
to develop the basic skills you need to make your
material funny in any format or medium you're
writing for: film, television, radio, theatre,
stand-up, or print. Bring pencils, notebooks,
and a list of everything you hate about your friends
and family.
Venue:
The Drill Hall, 16 Chenies Street, London,
WC1E 7EX
Price:
£150 (£135 conc)
Further
Details: 07958 244656
The
Estate presents 'A Body Moving Through' by Vanessa
Oakes
2-4
October
(post show talk on Friday 3rd chaired by Alan
Rivett, WAC)
This
dreamlike play explores loss, loneliness and hope
through a relationship that unexpectedly forms
between an older woman and a young runaway boy.
With
live improvised music by Uso Dzierzanowski and
Cathy Stephens of the Europa String Choir and
ZAUM
This
performance is supported by the National Lottery
through Arts Council England, and by Coventry
City Council
Venue:
The Ellen Terry Studio Theatre, Coventry
University Performing Arts Department, Jordan
Well, Coventry, CV1 5RW
Tickets:
£8 (£6 conc)
Box
Office: 024 7688 7496
http://www.wegottickets.com/evenue/1960
Stephen
Jeffreys' Playwriting Masterclass
10-12
October, London
Stephen
Jeffreys' intensive weekend Playwriting Masterclass
is designed to be stimulating, entertaining and
career-changing for the experienced playwright
and beginner alike. It will also be accessible
and useful for directors, actors, dramaturgs,
literary managers and anyone invlived in creative
theatre-making. the course gives a practical
guide to every aspect of the art and craqft of
writing plays including: dramatic structure, making
a scene, the art of subtext, character, six kinds
of logic, finding your myth, and selling your
plays
For
further details on the course, please visit: www.stephenjeffreys.co.uk,
or email admin@stephenjeffreys.co.uk.
Birmingham
Book Festival
Workshop
Saturday
Saturday
11th October, South Birmingham College, Digbeth
Campus
Performance
Skills for Writers (10am-3.30pm)
An Apples
& Snakes workshop for writers who want to
perform their work, led by Lorna Laidlaw, £25
(£20)
Radio
Writing, (10am-12.30pm)
Stephanie
Dale leads this workshop on exploring radio writing
techniques, £18 (£15)
Writing
for Performance (1.30pm-4pm)
Kaite
O'Reilly leads this workshop on writing for live
performance. What is dramatic? Where
do ideas come from? £18 (£15)
The
Writers' Toolkit - A Conference for the Writing
Industry
Saturday
18th October, 9.30am-4pm
South
Birmingham College, Digbeth Campus
An industry
day for emerging and established writers to learn
about aspects of the business in greater detail,
connect with other writers and those working in
writers development.
£29
(£23) includes lunch. For more information,
or to book, call 0121 246 2770 or email sara@birminghambookfestival.org
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.
ARCHIVE
To view
previous editions of Script News, please click
on the links below
2003-2007
January
2008
February
2008
March
2008
April
2008
May/June
2008
July/August
2008
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