The 2013 TV Drama Writers’ Festival Deadline: June 26, 2013

Led by writers for writers

EARLY BIRD BOOKINGS – DEADLINE EXTENDED: BOOK BY 10TH MAY FOR THE DISCOUNTED £45 RATE

“Drama is conflict. Everyone knows that. But is conflict also at the heart of our industry, and at the heart of our daily working lives as writers?” Emma Frost and Jack Thorne

Emma Frost (White Queen, Shameless) and Jack Thorne (The Fades, This is England) chair this year’s Festival and the theme is CONFLICT.

When: Wed 26th and Thurs 27th June 2013

Where: Leeds College of Music, Leeds

The festival is for professional working writers providing a unique opportunity to mix with your peers, alongside commissioners and producers in masterclass sessions, conversation and to debate the things that matter to you. This year’s creative group are: Sally Abbott, Pete Bowker, Danny Brocklehurst, Stephen Butchard, Dennis Kelly, Sarah Phelps and Toby Whithouse.

Is there a conflict between what we want to write – our art, our politics, our self expression – and what the industry, or even the audience, wants to make or watch?

If television drama is the perfect storm between art and industry, is that, in the end, a bad thing, or could that very collision be what produces the greatest television drama?

Are we, paradoxically, living in a golden age of television?

And has the rise of the showrunner led to increased power for writers or just the lucky one or two at the top?

Is the bottom getting crushed in order for the top to be fed grapes? And who is drinking the wine?

Is the ‘golden age’ an age of confused metaphors and possibly confused writers?

Think contradictions. Come and have a scrap at this year’s Writers’ Festival.

The line-up and sessions will be announced shortly but we have the following confirmed speakers:

Chris Chibnall

Dennis Kelly

Peter Bowker

Levi David Addai

John Yorke

Ben Stephenson.

Watch this space for more details.

Early Bird Bookings: Book by 10th May for the discounted price of £45 per ticket (standard ticket price £55)

**Please note we can only accept applications at this time from writers with a broadcast TV writing credit (short films are not eligible). We will not respond to applications from writers who do not have a credit**

To apply for a ticket please email: WritersroomEvents@bbc.co.uk

Subject line: 2013 TV DRAMA WRITERS FESTIVAL – EARLY BIRD

Please include in your email:

– A link to your work on IMDB so we can verify your writing credit

– The title & broadcast date of your most recently produced work

– Your contact telephone numbe

Learn invaluable tips at writersroom screenwriting seminar (Sold Out)

Ever wondered how to send your script to the BBC and what happens when you do? How do they assess your work? What grabs them and what puts them off? If you’re after some tips, this is a session not to miss.
BBC Writersroom is always on the lookout for fresh, new, talented writers of any age and experience with an original voice and great stories to tell.
Join Henry Swindell, New Writing Manager for BBC Writersroom North, at Curve Theatre, Leicester, who will provide you with some invaluable tips and answer any burning questions you may have about screenwriting.
This 3 hour seminar utilizes loads of film and TV clips to clearly demonstrate the building blocks of great story telling. It’s a very broad talk that is suitable for both beginners and experienced writers designed to get people excited and invigorated about writing as well as covering most of the basics.
Henry R Swindell is New Writing Development Manager, BBC Writersroom North where he works across Film, TV and Radio finding and developing writers for the BBC. Henry’s background is as a TV, Film and Theatre Producer. His 2011 award winning film ‘All That Way For Love’ has been shown at film festivals all over the world. As a TV producer he’s worked for the BBC, ITV and Channel Four on shows including Casualty, Hollyoaks and Coronation Street.
Date: 11th May
Time: 11am – 2pm
Address: Curve Theatre, 60 Rutland Street, Leicester, LE1 1SB
Please note this event is now sold out!

Screenwriting Top Tips – Liverpool Literary Festival (sold out)

Ever wondered how to send your script to the BBC and what happens when you do? How do they assess your work? What grabs them and what puts them off? If you’re after some tips, this is a session not to miss.
BBC Writersroom is always on the lookout for fresh, new, talented writers of any age and experience with an original voice and great stories to tell.
As part of the Liverpool Literary Festival: In Other Words, join Henry Swindell, New Writing Manager for BBC Writersroom North, who will provide you with some invaluable tips and answer any burning questions you may have about screenwriting.
This 3 hour seminar utilizes loads of film and TV clips to clearly demonstrate the building blocks of great story telling. It’s a very broad talk that is suitable for both beginners and experienced writers designed to get people excited and invigorated about writing as well as covering most of the basics.
Henry R Swindell is New Writing Development Manager, BBC Writersroom North where he works across Film, TV and Radio finding and developing writers for the BBC. Henry’s background is as a TV, Film and Theatre Producer. His 2011 award winning film ‘All That Way For Love’ has been shown at film festivals all over the world. As a TV producer he’s worked for the BBC, ITV and Channel Four on shows including Casualty, Hollyoaks and Coronation Street.
Date: 3rd May
Time: 6pm – 9pm
Location: Liverpool Lighthouse, Oakfield Road, Anfield, Liverpool, L4 0UF
This event is now sold out!

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Bluestone 42 research

One of the most common questions my co-writer James Cary and I get asked when we’re talking about our new comedy Bluestone 42, is about the research process. Did you do lots of research, people ask. Do you have a military background? The last question gets asked very rarely when it’s face-to-face. I can’t think why.
Bluestone 42
Given the subject matter of the show, a counter-IED team in Afghanistan, we knew from the outset that we were going to have to know what we were talking about. When we started developing the show, almost three years ago, we read all the books and watched all the documentaries we could. And we read reams of posts on ARRSE – the forum by soldiers, for soldiers, that gives an inside view of all things to do with the Army.

But more useful than any of that was talking to current and former soldiers first-hand about their experiences of Army life in theatre and back home. We talked to people who had served in the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan, trying to focus on those who did the same job that the characters in our show do. It often seemed to work as a ‘six degrees of separation’ exercise – you’d be surprised at who your family and friends know once you start asking around.
Lots of the material in the show is inspired by stuff that really happened, not least because real life is usually funnier, weirder and more interesting than anything you could make up. However, it’s vanishingly rare that you can just lift someone’s story and drop it into the show. Research gives you a big grab-bag of props, circumstances, rules, phrases and events that still need to be assembled into stories that are driven by your central characters.

Although the idea of research may seem a bit dry – as I’m writing this blogpost I am imagining readers up and down the country clicking over to YouTube and starting to look for videos of humorous cats – the process is incredibly engaging. In fact, it’s too engaging – there’s always something else to read or watch, but at some point you have to remember to write the stories. Research becomes a distraction rather than an inspiration. And if you’re lucky enough to actually make the show, you have to be prepared to let the research be the background not the point of the whole thing. Getting everything right on screen is not the same as not getting anything wrong.
Of course, we have got stuff wrong – there are always limitations, be they in terms of time, money, communication or just knowledge. But the stronger your foundation the better placed you are to avoid too many howling errors.
Throughout the process our touchstone was authenticity: comedy has to have one foot in reality to be funny. If you watch something and don’t believe in the world, it’s hard to laugh at. We were lucky to have an on-set military advisor with us every day during filming, and soon discovered that authenticity is a great trump card to play if you don’t like a script note – just tell them you can’t change it because that’s how it is in the Army. Although I’m pretty sure our producer saw through that one fairly early on!

Richard Hurst is co-writer of Bluestone 42, a brand new comedy drama following the lives of a bomb disposal detachment serving in Afghanistan.

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Skobbler’s online-offline ForeverMap2 app is now available on iOS

Gigaom

Skobbler, the Berlin-based outfit that largely provides tools for incorporating OpenStreetMap-based functionality into other companies’ apps, has launched a major revamp of its own iOS(s aapl) play, ForeverMap.

ForeverMap provides both online and offline mapping functionality, based on OpenStreetMap. The first iteration used a much older version of Skobbler’s technology and required the user to download a rather hefty 1.5GB of data covering all territories, regardless of where they intended to use the app.

The new version, ForeverMap 2, has been available for Android since November, but is now also out there for iPhone and iPad. It aims to provide the best of both online and offline worlds – to allow proper offline search and routing, unlike Google(s goog) Maps, and to allow online functionality, unlike travel apps such as CityMaps2Go. Its coverage is global, and users can choose to download offline maps on a per-country…

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Nominations for the 2013 Tony Awards

Select nominations for the 2013 Tony Awards
Best Musical
Bring It On: The Musical
A Christmas Story, The Musical
Kinky Boots
Matilda, The Musical

Best Play
The Assembled Parties
Lucky Guy
The Testament of Mary
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike

Best Book of a Musical
A Christmas Story, The Musical
Kinky Boots
Matilda The Musical
Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella

Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre
A Christmas Story, The Musical
Hands on a Hardbody
Kinky Boots
Matilda The Musical

Best Revival of a Play
Golden Boy
Orphans
The Trip to Bountiful
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Best Revival of a Musical
Annie
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Pippin
Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play
Tom Hanks, Lucky Guy
Nathan Lane, The Nance
Tracy Letts, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
David Hyde Pierce, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Tom Sturridge, Orphans

Best Performance by an Actress in Leading Role in a Play:
Laurie Metcalf, The Other Place
Amy Morton, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Kristine Nielsen, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Holland Taylor, Ann
Cicely Tyson, The Trip to Bountiful

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical
Bertie Carvel, Matilda The Musical
Santino Fontana, Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella
Rob McClure, Chaplin
Billy Porter, Kinky Boots
Stark Sands, Kinky Boots

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical
Stephanie J. Block, The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Carolee Carmello, Scandalous
Valisia LeKae, Motown The Musical
Patina Miller, Pippin
Laura Osnes, Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play
Danny Burstein, Golden Boy
Richard Kind, The Big Knife
Billy Magnussen, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Tony Shalhoub, Golden Boy
Courtney B. Vance, Lucky Guy

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play
Carrie Coon, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Shalita Grant, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Judith Ivey, The Heiress
Judith Light, The Assembled Parties
Condola Rashad, The Trip to Bountiful

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical
Charl Brown, Motown The Musical
Keith Carradine, Hands on a Hardbody
Will Chase, The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Gabriel Ebert, Matilda The Musical
Terrence Mann, Pippin

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical
Annaleigh Ashford, Kinky Boots
Victoria Clark, Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella
Andrea Martin, Pippin
Keala Settle, Hands on a Hardbody
Lauren Ward, Matilda The Musical

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2317639/Tony-Award-nominations-2013-The-Matilda-The-Musical-child-stars-ruled-out.html

Maypole — Luc Tuymans

Biblioklept

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