“Making Magic Real” - David Edgar in Cornwall

Playwright David Edgar will be at Hall for Cornwall on Thursday October 9th.

This is a great opportunity to meet multi-award winning playwright David Edgar.

David will discuss the writer’s life, and will also be talking about the perceived problems of being based so far away from London. But is geography a state of mind? Or, with the advent of the Internet, do writers now have the greatest freedom to live wherever they choose – including Cornwall?

Do you really need an agent? How important is it to become a member of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain? And how does all this tie in with the current state of theatre?

Come along for an uplifting talk, a lively debate, wine and nibbles, and a chat afterwards with other writers and people interested in writers and writing.

David is perhaps best known for his adaptation of Nicholas Nickleby for the RSC, he has also written for radio, television, and film, as well as founding the University of Birmingham's MA in Playwriting Studies. He is President of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain.

Thursday 9th October 7:30pm Assembly Room, Hall for Cornwall Tickets are free, so booking is advised. HfC Box Office 01872 262466

Presented by Writers’ Guild of Great Britain and supported by Hall for Cornwall, Mundic Nation and Cornwall Media Focus.

Guild Awards - Best Book shortlist

The final shortlist for the Guild Awards has been announced today. The contenders for Best Book are:

• Tim Butcher - Blood River
• Kate Clanchy - What is she doing here?
• Owen Sheers - Resistance

Tickets for the Awards ceremony, which takes place at BAFTA on 23 November, are still available (priced £30 to Writers’ Guild members and £50 to non-members).

For further information, please contact the Writers’ Guild office on 020 7833 0777 or email Lauren@writersguild.org.uk.

(Paul) Abbott Vision will put writers on top

In Media Guardian, Ben Dowell reports that Guild member Paul Abbott has bought out his partner in Tightrope Pictures and brought it within his company, Abbott Vision.

"Abbott's plan is to establish an innovative model for the creation, production and distribution of world-class drama, putting writing talent on top of the supply chain," Abbott's spokeswoman told MediaGuardian.co.uk.

"Abbott Vision is spearheading a shakeup of the current independent production model which is manifestly failing to address the famine of imaginative new work."

Adapting novels for the screen

In The L.A. Times, Lewis Beale talks to writers about the challenge of adapting novels into screenplays.

"Blindness," Nobel Prize-winner Jose Saramago's 1997 allegorical novel about an epidemic of sightlessness that threatens to destroy society, is told in a stream-of-consciousness style that reads like a fever dream. Not exactly " Harry Potter," straight-to-the-big-screen material.

Yet, Don McKellar saw in it a screenplay and Fernando Meirelles ("City of God") saw in that screenplay a film he could direct. And the fact that "Blindness" is now multiplex fodder, with the film opening Friday, is a testament to the willingness of moviemakers to tackle -- sometimes against great odds -- some of the toughest literary works.

Blindess trailer



Blindness, directed by Fernando Meirelles, opens in the UK later this year.

Guild Awards shortlists - Best TV Drama Series

An update to the list of shortlisted writers - Julie Rutterford, Mick Ford and Mark Greig should have been included with Ashley Pharoah and Matthew Graham for Ashes To Ashes (Best TV Drama Series).

Theatre and Politics: A Playwright's Agenda

On the Guild website, Othniel Smith reports from Theatre and Politics: A Playwright's Agenda, an event organised by the Guild's Welsh Branch.

Phil Ralph suggested that [his play, Deepcut] served a need in terms of filling the ideological void and combating audience cynicism, by telling a profoundly political story via the experience of one family; as well as by succeeding where more supposedly objective journalistic media had failed.

Cash in the garret

A guest post from Gail Renard, Chair of the TV Committee

Are you sitting on a fortune? On December 4th, Christie’s is having its “Popular Culture and Entertainment” sale and is looking for items to auction. As someone who’s recently been lucky at auction myself, I’d urge you to check if you have any hidden show biz gems.

Christie’s are looking for items relating to 20th century icons or from classic Hollywood films or genres. Pieces they already have for auction include a selection of costumes from The Sopranos; personal wardrobe from Marilyn Monroe; tuxedo trousers worn by James Dean in Giant; and Batman and James Bond collectibles, including a replica of the Golden Gun.

They also have items from Star Wars and Harry Potter; as well as a collection of vintage portrait photographs of Marlene Dietrich. (The photo shown is by Eugene Robert Richee, from the Paramount 1933 film, Song Of Songs, estimate £1200 - £1600.)

The deadline for pieces is October 10th. If you’ve memorabilia you might like to auction, contact:

Katherine Williams 0207 752 31

kwilliams@christies.com

What Guild members are getting up to

Taken from the Guild's weekly ebulletin for members.

MARTIN ALLEN wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 8:30pm on Monday 29th September.

PERRIE BALTHAZAR wrote the episode of Hollyoaks going out on C4 at 6:30pm on Wednesday 1st October.

IAN BROWN and JAMES HENDRIE wrote the episode of My Family, Going Dental, going out on BBC1 at 7:30pm on Monday 29th September.

PAUL CAMPBELL co-wrote the episode of Casualty, Guilty Complex, going out on BBC1 at 8:55pm on Saturday 27th September.

JOHN CHAMBERS wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Thursday 2nd October.

SIMON CROWTHER wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 7:30pm on Friday 3rd October.

LISA EVANS’ play Stamping, Shouting & Singing Home tours the SW in a production by Forest Forge in a co production with The Nuffield Theatre, Southampton from 11 September - 21st October.

PETER FLANNERY wrote the episode of Agatha Christie’s Poirot, The Third Girl, going out on ITV1 at 9:00pm on Sunday 28th September.

CHARLIE FLETCHER wrote the episode of Wire In The Blood, Falls the Shadow, going out on ITV1 at 9:00pm on Friday 3rd October.

NAWAL GADALLA wrote the episodes of The Archers going out on Radio 4 at 7:00pm from Sunday 28th September until Friday 3rd October with each episode being repeated at 2:00pm the day following its original broadcast.

CHRIS GILL wrote the episode of Hollyoaks going out on C4 at 6:30pm on Monday 29th September.

ROB GITTINS wrote the episodes of EastEnders going out on BBC1 at 7:30pm on Thursday 2nd and at 8:00pm on Friday 3rd October.

DAVID HANSON wrote the episode of Hollyoaks going out on C4 at 6:30pm on Thursday 2nd October.

PATRICK HARBINSON wrote the episode of Place Of Execution going out on ITV1 at 9:00pm on Monday 29th September.

JONATHAN HARVEY wrote the episode of Beautiful People, How I Got My Vase, going out on BBC1 at 9:30pm on Thursday 2nd October.

JANE HOLLINSON wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 7:30pm on Monday 29th September.

JANE HOLLOWOOD wrote the episode of Heartbeat, Oscar’s Birthday, going out on ITV1 at 8:00pm on Sunday 28th September.

MARK ILLIS wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Friday 3rd October.

ALICE JOSEPH'S play For The Public Good and Celebritney by HEATHER JOHNSTON, a double bill of one-act plays, both inspired by current news events, started its run on Tuesday, September 23rd and has daily performances until Sunday 28th, 7.30 pm, at Barons Court Theatre, Curtains Up Pub, 28a Comeragh Road, London W14 9HR £10 (£7 concession) 020 8932 4747

MARCY KAHAN wrote the episode of Psmith in the City, Stirring Times With Comrade Waller, going out on Radio 4 at 11:30am on Friday 3rd October.

DAVID LANE wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 7:30pm on 3rd October.

BRIAN LANGTRY’S musical play The Eva Cassidy Story is currently on its 8th U.K./Ireland tour. Again starring ex Steps star Faye Tozer in the title role and with the addition of the flame-haired Irish songstress Rose Marie as Eva’s mother.

TONY MCHALE wrote the episode of Holby City, No Breaks On The Midnight Express, going out on BBC1 at 8:00pm on Tuesday 30th September.

SUE MOONEY wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Tuesday 30th September.

JONATHAN MYERSON’S radio drama Number Ten is beginning on Radio 4 at 2:15pm on Tuesday 30th September. The cast includes Guild member ANTHONY SHER.

DAVID NICHOLLS’S dramatization of Tess of the D’Urbervilles continues with its penultimate episode going out on BBC1 at 9:00pm on Sunday 28th September.

HOWARD OVERMAN wrote the episode of Merlin, Valiant, going out on BBC1 at 6:00pm on Saturday 27th September.

JULIE PARSONS wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Wednesday 1st October.

TIMOTHY PRAGER wrote the episode of Silent Witness, Safe, going out on BBC1 at 9:00pm on Wednesday 1st October.

PATREA SMALLACOMBE wrote the episode of EastEnders going out on BBC1 at 7:30pm on Tuesday 30th September.

JENNY STEPHENS’ play The Speckled Monster, produced by Birmingham Rep, runs at The Think Tank, Millenium Point until 4th October.

PETER WHALLEY wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 7:30pm on Wednesday 1st October.

BBC Vision's commissioning wishlist

In Broadcast, controllers in BBC Vision reveal their wishlists for new commissions.

They include Jane Tranter (outgoing controller of fiction):

"I would like to see more wit in absolutely everything. Even the most serious drama is made better and more exceptional by having moments of lightness and wit in it, because actually that is what real life is," she says.

She's particularly keen to find shows to compete with ITV at 8pm on Sunday nights.

Elsewhere:

• Lucy Lumsden, controller of comedy, wants more studio sitcoms
• Anne Gilchrist, controller of CBBC, is on the look out for comedy
• Michael Carrington, controller of CBeebies, wants web content for two-to four-year-olds.
  

Doc and Dram

In The Guardian, Guild President David Edgar examines the rise of the documentary play.

Fact-based theatre calls attention to, and thus questions, the credibility of the evidence on which we base our view of the world. Unlike naturalistic drama, which invites us to suspend disbelief, verbatim drama wears its sources on its sleeve. At a time when people are highly distrustful of public information, the presentation of witnesses in the theatre invites us to cross-examine. Testimony theatre can be simultaneously reliant on and suspicious of its raw materials.

Attack on The Jewel Of Medina publisher foiled

From David Leppard in The Times:

Scotland Yard's counter-terrorist command yesterday foiled an alleged plot by Islamic extremists to kill the publisher of a forthcoming novel featuring sexual encounters between the Prophet Muhammad and his child bride.

Early yesterday armed undercover officers arrested three men after a petrol bomb was pushed through the door of the north London home of the book’s publisher.

The Metropolitan police said the target of the assassination plot, the Dutch publisher Martin Rynja, had not been injured.

The book, The Jewel Of Medina by American author Sherry Jones, was withdrawn from publication in America but will be published in the UK next month.

The end of American TV seasons?

As the US financial system teeters on the brink of collapse, another seemingly fixed point in American life is also under threat, albeit with less severe consequences.

As Bill Carter reports for The New York Times, the traditional idea of TV seasons is now less relevant than ever as the networks position themselves as part of a 52-week, multi-platform media industry.

The writers' strike, which disrupted season planning, is part of the cause, but so is the increasing use of digital video recorders and the sales of DVDs.

“What counts is how many people watch a show everywhere it plays,” said Ben Silverman, co-chairman of NBC Universal Entertainment. “We’re selling a million DVDs of ‘The Office’ and ‘Heroes’ and ‘House.’ On ‘The Office’ if we get 200,000 downloads of an episode, that’s the same as selling two more commercial units in the show.”

Clive James talks to Tom Stoppard

On video for The Times, Clive James interviews Guild member Tom Stoppard about his long career.

Funny or Die UK

Comedy clips website Funny or Die, created by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, Chris Henchy and Judd Apatow is now available in a UK flavour.



At the moment that more-or-less means the US version plus some clips from Little Britain USA but, according to Owen Gibson in The Guardian:

In conjunction with Hat Trick, the independent producer behind Have I Got News for You and Father Ted, it will also open a London-production office headed up by comedian James Serafinowicz, with other staff including Al Campbell, the director of Charlie Brooker's Screen Wipe and also worked on Fonejacker.

Channel 4 plans drama cuts

In Broadcast, Robin Parker reports that Channel 4's budget cuts will affect most types of programming, including drama.

The £100m savings, introduced because of the downturn in the ad market, include trimming £25m from C4's 2008 programming budget, which now stands at £575m - down from £615m in 2007. C4 also plans a further £25m in savings from areas such as marketing, new business investment, new media and general overheads.

The programming cuts come almost entirely from UK-originated shows and will affect all C4 channels.

September 2008 ALCS payout

A guest post from Gail Renard, Chair of the Guild's TV Committee:

The latest ALCS payout was distributed last week and, as we know, writers are always glad to receive money. The ALCS is a worthy organisation but I’d recommend checking your statement carefully, which is a pretty good general rule for any payment you receive from any company.

The digital age is upon us, and we’re all (with luck and a prevailing wind) going to be receiving more and more micro-payments from more and more different sources. Writers are notorious for sticking their heads in the sand and hyperventilating when it comes to finance, but now’s a great time to change.

None of these payments, including those from ALCS, are gifts from the writing gods. They’re a legitimate, negotiated part of your writing fee, which you’ve earned by the sweat of your computer. Mistakes do happen, even in the best of companies, so if there’s something you don’t understand, ask!

And, should you have a query about your ALCS statement, or were expecting money and didn’t get it, please get in touch with ALCS. I’m sure they’ll be happy to help.

A million free theatre tickets for young people

From the Department for Culture Media and Sport:

A new scheme to encourage young people to experience live theatre was unveiled today by Culture Secretary Andy Burnham. A £2.5 million programme – funded by Arts Council England, who will manage the scheme – will be focused on some 95 venues all over England. Each will offer a proportion of the tickets for arts productions on the same night every week – free – to anyone under 26 years old.

The scheme will start in February 2009 with an initial goal of providing a million free tickets by March 2011. Theatres taking part will have to guarantee free seats for young people across the whole two-year period.

Pinter and cricket

In The Guardian, Michael Henderson is prompted by an imminent revival of Guild member Harold Pinter's No Man's Land to reflect on the playwright's long-standing passion for cricket.

One day at drama school Pinter skipped classes to go to Lord's, running through the gate at the Nursery End to see Cyril Washbrook late-cutting for four. His abiding memory of that truant day, expressed in six simple words towards the end of that 1969 essay, is of an Eden familiar to all cricket-lovers: "that beautiful evening Compton made 70".

Is there a more evocative sentence in cricket literature? Even those who never saw Compton in his prime may feel, reading those words, that "I have known this before". It is one of those moments frozen in time.

Andrew Davies in Sheffield

As part of the Off The Shelf Literary Festival in Sheffield, Guild member Andrew Davies will be talking about his work on Tuesday October 21st, 7.30pm at the Pennine Theatre, Sheffield Hallam University, City Campus, Howard Street, Sheffield.

Tickets £9/7 (cons) from Sheffield Theatres Box Office. Tel: 0114 249 6000

The UK horror revival

A story on BBC News this morning, about shooting commencing on a new Hammer Film, led me (via Dread Central) to this story by Ali Jaafar in Variety a couple of months ago about the revival of UK horror.

One reason for the current glut lies in the success of Danny Boyle's 2002 "28 Days Later." Pic's critical and commercial success marked a paradigm shift for Brit financiers in terms of backing genre projects.

"With '28 Days Later,' you had a respected, nonhorror director in Danny directing a horror film, and the British establishment took note," says Neil Marshall, whose "The Descent" is also cited by U.K. film execs as a successful example of the new wave of Brit horror. "It took me six years to get financing for 'Dog Soldiers,' and the money ended up coming from the U.S. After '28 Days,' though, people here saw horror films as lucrative and respectable. 'The Descent' ended up being financed 100% with British money, which is quite unusual."...

"We're a society in change right now," says Film4 senior commissioning exec Peter Carlton, who has invested in a number of the emerging Brit horror projects as well as other dark fare including Rufus Sewell starrer "Vinyan" and helmer Jonathan Glazer's "Under the Skin."

"When you have much bigger forces in the world, such as terrorism and climate change, that threatening to blow society apart, naturalistic dramas sometimes feel insufficient to deal with that feeling of going out of control. Horror films can tap into that sense of unease."

Jane Tranter to leave BBC Fiction, Stephenson promoted

From Leigh Holmwood for Media Guardian:

The BBC has confirmed that its controller of fiction, Jane Tranter, is to leave her post for a new job in the US.

Tranter will join the BBC's commercial arm BBC Worldwide as executive vice-president of programming and production, overseeing its US scripted and reality business from Los Angeles.

Tranter won't take up her new role until 2009, but the BBC has announced that Ben Stephenson (right) will become Controller, Drama Commissioning - taking over one of Tranter's key responsibilities - with immediate effect. Stephenson was previously Head of Drama Commissioning.

Ben Stephenson said: "Drama on British television has never been in better shape. I am very excited to be able to play my part in ensuring the BBC's offerings continue to be as rich and diverse as possible.

"The drama team have a great understanding of the wide range of content that our audiences enjoy. They work with some of the world's greatest talent in the indie and in-house drama communities.

"Working with them in the future to continue to push creative and artistic boundaries is something I am looking forward to immensely."

Update: As Broadcast explains, Stephenson is now able to give one of the two 'ticks' required for a project to be greenlit - the other must come from the relevant channel controller.

Update (24.09.08): An interesting debate has ensued on the Guardian Organ Grinder blog, including a contribution (apparently) from Nick Elliot.

Writers’ Guild Awards 2008 Shortlists Announced

The Writers’ Guild of Great Britain is delighted to announce the shortlist for the Writers’ Guild Awards 2008, to be held at BAFTA on Sunday 23rd November:

Best Short Form TV Drama

• Tony Basgallop - Hughie Green, Most Sincerely
• Gwyneth Hughes - Miss Austen Regrets
• Sarah Williams - Poppy Shakespeare (based on a novel by Clare Allan)
  

Best Soap

• Mark Cairns, Andrew Holden, Martha Hillier, Sam Wheats, Graham Mitchell, Jake Riddlell, Chris Murray, Tony McHale, Matthew Evans, Martin Jameson, Dana Fainaru, Len Collin, Joe Ainsworth, Peter Lloyd, Ian Kershaw, Veronica Henry, Gert Thomas, Jeff Dodds, Dan Sefton, Sebastian Baczkiewicz, Daisy Coulam, Abi Bown - Holby City, Season 10
• Angela Corner Anna Clements Barry Woodward Carol Ann Docherty Chris Gill Daran Little David Mcdermott Helen Blakeman Jane Marlow Jane Pearson Jesse O'Mahoney Jessica Lea Johanne Mcandrew Elliot Hope Kim Millar Lyn Papadopoulos Mariam Vossough Mark Bickerton Matthew Westwood Maurice Bessman Nick Saltrese Nick West Paul Coates Perrie Balthazar Richard Burke Roger Williams Steven Fay Tara Byrne Tony Green Tracy Brabin - Hollyoaks
• Geoff McQueen (series deviser), Richard Ommanney, Neil Clarke, Steve Griffiths, Emma Goodwin, Julian Perkins, Steve Attridge, Clive Dawson, Peter G. Morgan, Andrew Taft, Chris Murray, Tom Higgins, Julia Wall, Maxwell Young, Jane Marlow, Sally Tatchell, Si Spencer, Matthew Bardsley, Jonathan Rich, Matthew Leys, James Hall, Chris Murray, Stuart Morris, Nicholas McInerny, Chris Ould, Alan Pollock, Simon Moss, Nicholas Martin, Scott Cherry, Doug Milburn, Steve Trafford, Stephanie Lloyd Jones, Steve Baillie, Frank Rickarby, Andrew Alty, Will Shindler, Chris Dunn, Sarah-Louise Hawkins, Len Collin, Gregory Evans, Tom Needham, Patrick Homes - The Bill, Season 23
  

Best TV Drama Series

• Heidi Thomas - Cranford
• Matthew Graham, Ashley Pharoah, Julie Rutterford, Mick Ford and Mark Greig - Ashes to Ashes
• Clive Bradley and Peter Harness - City of Vice

Best TV Comedy / Light Entertainment

• Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin - Outnumbered
• James Corden and Ruth Jones - Gavin and Stacey, Series 2
• Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain – Peep Show, Series 5

Best Play (Theatre)

• Lucinda Coxon - Happy Now?
• Levi David Addai - Oxford Street
• Martin Crimp - The City

Best Play for Children and Young People (Theatre)

• Mike Kenny – Electric Darkness
• John Moorhouse - Fly Away Peter
• Neil Duffield – Small Fry

Best Screenplay (Feature Film)

• Martin McDonagh - In Bruges
• Ronald Harwood - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (based on the book by Jean-Dominique Bauby)
• Matt Greenhalgh - Control (based on Deborah Curtis’ autobiography ‘Touching from a Distance’)
  

Best Radio Comedy / Light Entertainment

• Mark Evans – Bleak Expectations
• Sanjeev Kohli and Donald McLeary – Fags, Mags and Bags
• Nigel Smith - Vent

Best Radio Play

• Dan Rebellato - Cavalry
• Jennie Buckman and Ulises Rodriguez Febles - Cuba
• Chris Harrald - Mr Larkin's Awkward Day

Best Videogame Script

• Rhianna Pratchett - Overlord
• Tom Jubert - Penumbra Black Plague
• Rhianna Pratchett, Tameem Antoniades and Andy Serkis - Heavenly Sword
• Steve Ince - So Blonde

Best Book

• Tim Butcher - Blood River
• Kate Clanchy – What Is She Doing Here?
• Owen Sheers - Resistance
  

Also presented at the ceremony on Sunday 23 November will be:

• An Award for Outstanding Contribution to Children’s Writing
• A Lifetime Achievement Award

100 tickets to the ceremony, which will be hosted by Jeremy Hardy, are now on sale at a cost of £30 to Writers’ Guild members and £50 to non-members.

For further information, please contact the Writers’ Guild office on 020 7833 0777 or email Lauren@writersguild.org.uk.

What Guild members are getting up to

Taken from the Guild's weekly ebulletin for Members.

EMMA ADAMS’S play Forgotten Things is about to begin touring the country as Red Ladder Theatre Company's Autumn show beginning in Yorkshire.

GUY ANDREWS wrote the episode of Lost in Austen going out on ITV1 at 9:00pm on Wednesday 24th September.

TARA BRYNE wrote the episode of Hollyoaks going out on C4 at 6:30pm on Thursday 25th September.

TIM DYNEVOR wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Wednesday 24th September.

CHARLIE FLETCHER wrote the episode of Wire In The Blood, Fall the Shadow Part 1, going out on ITV1 at 9:00pm on Friday 26th September.

SIMON FRITH wrote the episodes of The Archers going out on Radio 4 at 7:00pm from Sunday 21st till Friday 26th September, with each episode being repeated at 2:00pm the day after its original broadcast.

LUCY GANNON wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 7:30pm on Friday 26th September.

JULIA GILBERT wrote the episodes of EastEnders going out on BBC1 at 8:00pm on Monday 22nd and at 7:30pm on Tuesday 23rd September.

CHRIS GILL wrote the episode of Hollyoaks going out on C4 at 6:30pm on Tuesday 23rd September.

JONATHAN R. HALL wrote the episode of Doctors, Seeing Red, going out on BBC1 at 1:45pm on Thursday 25th September.

PATRICK HARBINSON wrote the episode of Place Of Execution, a new crime drama going out on ITV1 at 9:00pm on Monday 22nd September.

JANE HOLLOWOOD wrote the episode of Heartbeat, Mixed Messages, going out on ITV1 at 8:00pm on Sunday 21st September.

MAGGIE INNES wrote the episode of Doctors, Smokescreen, going out on BBC1 at 1:45pm on Monday 22nd September.

JULIAN JONES wrote first episode of Merlin, The Dragon’s Call, going out onBBC1 at 7:30pm on Saturday 20th September. The cast includes John Hurt and Anthony Head.

JULIE JONES wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 7:30pm on Monday 22nd September.

MARCY KAHAN wrote the episode of Psmith In The City, The Haunting Of Mr Bickersdyke, based on the books by P.G. Wodehouse, going out on Radio 4 at 11:30am on Friday 26th September.

FIN KENNEDYS radio play Caesar Price Our Lord is going out on Radio 4 at 2:15pm on Friday 26th September.

ROB KINSMAN wrote the episode of Doctors, The Watcher, going out on BBC1 at 1:45pm on Tuesday 23rd September.

DAVID MCDERMOTT wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Thursday 25th September.

DAVID NOBBS’S play, Silent Nights, goes out on BBC Radio 4 at 2.15pm on Monday 22nd September.

LYN PAPADOPOULOS wrote the episode of Hollyoaks going out on C4 at 6:30pm on Wednesday 24th September.

HEATHER ROBSON wrote the episode of Hollyoaks going out on C4 at 6:30pm on Friday 26th September.

BILL TAYLOR wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Friday 26th September.

CHRIS THOMPSON wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Tuesday 23rd September.

NICK WARBURTON’S radio play Last Days Of Grace is going out on Radio 4 at 2:15pm on Wednesday 24th September.

J.C. WILSHER wrote the episode of New Tricks, Diamond Geezers, going out on BBC1 at 9:00pm on Monday 22nd September.

Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale

If your hunger for the inside track on writing the Doctor isn't yet satiated, you can read extracts of a new BBC book, Doctor Who: The Writer's Tale, in The Times. It's 'writer' in the singular - i.e. Russell T. Davies. Here's his response to the question, "How do you know when to start writing?"

"I leave it till the last minute. And then I leave it some more. Eventually, I leave it till I'm desperate. That's really the word, desperate. I always think, I'm not ready to write it, I don't know what I'm doing, it's just a jumble of thoughts in a state of flux, there's no story, I don't know how A connects to B, I don't know anything! I get myself into a genuine state of panic. Except panic sounds exciting. It sounds all running-around and adrenalised. This is more like a black cloud of fear and failure."

Blimey.

Guild books co-op

On her blog, Frances Lynn reports from a meeting about the establishment of a publishing co-operative.

It's early days, but one of the co-op's aims is to help book writers (traditionally published and self-published) with their marketing. A brilliant idea! When my two novels Crushed and Frantic were published in 2006, I had to heavily promote them myself on the net: a time consuming learning curve. Back then, it would have been helpful to have belonged to a virtual world for authors who work co-operatively: to be a member of a website which 'could' be called "The Writers' Guild book co-operative".

Enda Walsh interview

In The Guardian, Maddy Costa talks to Enda Walsh abouthis play, The Walworth Farce, which opens at the National Theatre next week.

For Dublin-born Walsh, avoiding naturalism is written into his "Irish playwright DNA". "I don't like seeing everyday life on stage: it's boring. I like my plays to exist in an abstract, expressionistic world: the audience has to learn its rules, and then connect with these characters who are, on the surface, dreadful monsters." If he feels a strong connection with his grotesque characters, it's partly because they are reflections of himself.

The return of Václav Havel

In The Times, Alan Franks talks to Václav Havel about his return to writing.

Playwrights take career breaks for all sorts of reasons, but none quite so strikingly as Václav Havel, the former President of the Czech Republic. This week his first play for nearly 20 years receives its British premiere, at the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond. He was, of course, getting on with other things in the meantime, such as seeing the Soviets out of his country, dissolving the Warsaw Pact, reshaping Europe. It was hardly a retreat from drama.

Leaving, by Václav Havel, is at The Orange Tree in Richmond.

ITV's Britannia High gears up for launch

By Kate McMahon in Broadcast:

ITV has heralded a new era of 360-degree commissioning as it gears up to launch a ground-breaking array of multiplatform content around teen musical drama Britannia High.

The show marks ITV's largest ever investment in multiplatform content and will be the first ITV1 programme to premiere online ahead of transmission on TV - going out a full week early.

There's more about the new show on the ITV website:

Gareth Philips, Producer of Britannia High, led the team of writers that created the characters and storylines for the project, which was uniquely developed in house by the ITV Productions drama team in Manchester.

He comments: “We’ve pulled together a top notch team of writers for Britannia High, who are tremendously talented and full of enthusiasm to make this unique show the best drama on television this year.”

The writing team consists of Jonathan Harvey, Damon Rochefort, Julie Jones, Kirstie Falkous and John Regier.

Writer Jonathan Harvey, whose previous credits include Coronation Street, Gimme Gimme Gimme and Murder Most Horrid, comments: “It’s a fantastic opportunity to be involved in such an exciting and original show; we’ve loved creating some exceptional characters and situations that are topical, current and accessible.”

Paul Jackson quits ITV

From Leigh Holmwood for Media Guardian:

ITV's director of entertainment and comedy, Paul Jackson, the man behind shows such as Britain's Got Talent and Benidorm, has quit the broadcaster...

Jackson, who joined ITV in February 2006 under its previous director of programmes, Simon Shaps, will leave the broadcaster at the end of the year and is expected to return to production.

ITV said no decision had made on his successor - or even if he would be replaced.

MovieScope Magazine free online

For a limited time the current issue of MovieScope Magazine is available free online (registration required).

Contents include a report on the The Annual Banff World Television Festival, David Lemon on his debut feature Faintheart, Lucy Hay on structure and William C. Martell on the importance of limiting the number of speaking roles in a script.

Back issues will also be available soon.

London and SE Branch drinks

Great turn-out last night on the South Bank for the Guild's London and SE Branch drinks. A good mix of new and established writers and plenty of ideas for upcoming events.

Whether you were able to come or not, look out for a message in the next ebulletin asking for volunteers to help take the Branch forward.

Who's Who?

The cover story in the latest issue of the Guild magazine, UK Writer, is an interview by Guild member David Lemon with three Doctor Who writers: Robert Shearman, Paul Cornell and James Moran.

If you're not a Guild member, it's very easy to join - that way you'll get the magazine four times a year.

In the meantime, you can read the interview on the Guild's website.

Is there any advice you could offer anyone hoping to write for Doctor Who?

James Moran: The best advice is: Don't. Don't write something with a Who feel, or designed to appeal to the producers. I got in with Severance, a slasher movie, Curfew, a dark, bleak horror, and a surreal comedy TV pilot – none of which bear any relation to either Doctor Who or Torchwood. Write your own stuff, write what you love the most, write what you want to see, write from the heart, without thinking "will this fit on BBC1 at 7pm?", just follow the story and ideas. It doesn't have to be clever, it doesn't have to be stupid, it doesn't have to be anything - it just has to be something you want to watch.

The end of book publishing as we know it?

In New York magazine, Boris Kachka considers the future of the publishing industry.

...pretty much every aspect of the business seems to be in turmoil. There’s the floundering of the few remaining semi-independent midsize publishers; the ouster of two powerful CEOs—one who inspired editors and one who at least let them be; the desperate race to evolve into e-book producers; the dire state of Borders, the only real competitor to Barnes & Noble; the feeling that outrageous money is being wasted on mediocre books; and Amazon .com, which many publishers look upon as a power-hungry monster bent on cornering the whole business.

One by one, these would be difficult problems to solve. But as a series of interrelated challenges, they constitute a full-blown crisis—a climate change as unpredictable as it is inevitable. And like global warming, it elicits reactions ranging from denial to Darwinian survivalism to determined stabs at warding off disaster—attempts not to recapture some long-lost era but to harness new, untapped sources of power. That is, if it’s not too late.

The challenge of mobile phones

Are mobile phones a blessing for scriptwriters or a curse? In The L.A. Times, Zachary Pincus-Roth investigates.

While cellphones appear to help storytellers, since they allow anyone to talk to anyone at any time, "that seeming freedom only makes it all the more difficult," says Robert McKee, the screenwriting guru and author of "Story." "It takes away a possible source of conflict -- the difficulty of communicating, the difficulty of calling for help."

McKee compares the situation to the loosening of rules about depicting sexuality -- writers have more options, but they lose the tension created when they're forced to be implicit rather than explicit. Still, he doesn't see the development as negative. "All it means is that the writer has to be even more ingenious in building the conflicts and the tensions in a credible way," he says.

Corduroy Mansions

In The Telegraph, Alexander McCall Smith is writing his first online novel, Corduroy Mansions.

A new chapter will be published each day, with suggestions from readers welcomed - as the author explains.

Readers will also be able to contact me with suggestions as to how the plot should unfold, as at any time in the publication of the novel I shall only be about 20 episodes ahead of the one that is published that day. This should make the novel interactive - to some extent at least. I obviously have my own ideas of what will happen, but I shall be open to persuasion.

Why do people appear to enjoy serial fiction? My experience of writing Scotland Street over five years suggests that much of the enjoyment is the feeling of involvement that this particular form of fiction brings.

When we read a novel, the very nature of the book itself conveys a sense of completeness. This is a finished work; the author has resolved the issues he raises. With the serial novel we know that this is not so, and so we feel a greater sense of immediacy. This is still happening - even the author has not seen the end. People respond to that - it reminds them of real life.

No Heroics

No Heroics, Drew Pearce's new sitcom in which superheroes are the norm, has caught the attention of The Guardian and Stephen Armstrong in The Times.

"It’s reached the point where all these dark Hollywood superheroes are dominating the genre and becoming moodier and moodier with each film or comic,” he [Pearce] adds. “They’re now so introverted and destructive that you can’t believe they’d ever actually go out and do anything.”

Pearce’s homage to this angst is the Timebomb; a psychotically violent hero who carves vicious slogans into foes’ faces and can see 60 seconds into the future, so essentially struggles with a constant sense of ennui about his own life. He thus spends much of the series retired, drunk and watching porn.

No Heroics begins on ITV2 on 18 September at 10.30pm.

EastEnders behind the scenes

In The Guardian, Aida Edemariam speaks to the creative team behind EastEnders about the development of a controversial new storyline to coincide with the return of actress Patsy Palmer, who plays Bianca.

Four times a year, [executive producer, Diederick] Santer, John Yorke - controller of BBC drama production - and some senior writers spend a few days just talking through every character on the show. They plan story arcs for the next year, discuss what isn't working, dream up spectaculars. (None of this can they tell anyone else; not friends, not even partners. "It's a badge of honour, really," Yorke says. "No one actually signs anything. It's like the Hippocratic oath.")...

As usual, they split into small working groups. [Series consultant, Simon] Ashdown was sent off with some scriptwriters to think about Bianca. He had just watched a documentary about homeless people and had been especially struck by a woman and child at a bus stop with nowhere to go. What might happen to them? They would be easy prey... What if a paedophile noticed the child, who might be, say, 12, and pretended to be the woman's saviour? She would be too grateful to notice that this was unusual behaviour, that he seemed to have few friends or family... They suggested the idea to the whole group. "It drew a sharp intake of breath," Yorke says.

Update (17.09.08): BBC News reports that there have been more than 150 complaints about the storyline.

What Guild members are getting up to

Taken from the Guild's weekly ebulletin for Members.

PERRIE BALTHAZAR wrote the episode of Hollyoaks going out on C4 at 6:30pm on Thursday 18th September.

IAN BROWN and JAMES HENDRIE wrote the episode of After You’ve Gone, Dawn of the Dad, going out on BBC1 at 6:30pm on Sunday 14th September.

RICHARD BURKE wrote the episode of Hollyoaks going out on C4 at 6:30pm on Friday 19th September.

ANNA CLEMENTS wrote the episode of Hollyoaks going out on C4 at 6:30pm on Wednesday 17th September.

DAVID CROFT co-wrote the episode of Dad’s Army, Number Engaged, going out on BBC2 at 7:00pm on Saturday 13th September.

EMILIA DI GIROLAMO wrote the episode of EastEnders going out on BBC1 at 8:00pm on Friday 19th September.

STEVEN FAY wrote the episode of Hollyoaks going out on C4 at 6:30pm on Tuesday 16th September.

CHRIS FEWTRELL wrote the episodes of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 8:30pm on Monday 15th and at 7:30pm on 7:30pm September.

DAWN HARRISON wrote the episode of Doctors, In The Dark, going out on BBC1 at 1:45pm on Monday 15th September.

JAYNE HOLLINSON wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 8:30pm on Friday 19th September.

MARK HOLLOWAY wrote the episode of Hearbeat, You Never Can Tell, going out on ITV1 at 8:00pm on Sunday 14th September.

MARTIN JAMESON wrote the episode of Holby City, Separate Lives, going out on BBC1 at 8:00pm on Tuesday 16th September.

JULIE JONES wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 7:30pm on Monday 15th September.

NEIL JONES wrote the episode of Grange Hill going out on BBC1 at 4:35pm on Monday 15th September.

DAVID LANE wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 7:30pm on Friday 19th September.

BILL LYONS wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Thursday 18th September.

CAROLINE MITCHELL wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Monday 15th September.

DOMINIQUE MALONEY wrote the episode of EastEnders going out on BBC1 at 7:30pm on Thursday 18th September.

DAVID NICHOLLS’S dramatisation of Tess of the D’Urbervilles starts on BBC1 at 9:00pm on Sunday 14th September.

TIM O’MARA is currently compiling and composing a 24 part international series for an Indian television network on the life and times of Indira Gandhi. He will be filming in Mumbai and other global locations for the next six months.

PHILIP QIZILBASH has written next weeks episodes of the BBC Asian Network's daily soap, Silver Street. It is broadcast Monday 15th September to Friday 19th September at 1.30pm, with an omnibus edition on Sunday 21st September at 4.30pm.

CHRISTOPHER REASON wrote the episodes of EastEnders going out on BBC1 at 8:00pm on Monday 15th and at 7:30pm on Tuesday 16th September.

PAUL ROUNDELL wrote the episodes of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Tuesday 16th and Wednesday 17th September.

NICK SULTRESE wrote the episode of Hollyoaks going out on C4 at 6:30pm on Monday 15th September.

The curse of writer's block

Following poet laureate Andrew Motion's complaints that he has been struggling to write new verse, in The Independent, John Walsh considers the curse of writer's block.

...when creative blockage sets in, the blank page before you grows to the size of a tablecloth. The grey laptop screen seems to hum with malignity. You feel you have nothing of interest or amusement to impart to the world. Words refuse to shift – as they always have done hitherto – from the vast lexicon in your memory to the sentences half-forming in your brain.

WGGB Theatre Encouragement Awards

The winners have been announced of the 2008 WGGB Theatre Encouragement Awards. Set up by the Guild's Theatre Committee in 2005, the awards are based on nominations from Guild members for anyone who has given them an exceptional experience in new writing during the previous year.

The 2008 winners are:

• Joe Devlin, artistic director, Focus Theatre, Dublin (nominated by Brian McAvera)
• Elske van Holk, director of STET Promotions, the English language theatre for The Hague (nominated by Cheryl White)
• Lakeside Theatre, Nottingham - Matt Aston, Theatre Programmer/ Producer (nominated by Stephen Lowe)
• Annette Mees (nominated by Roland Moore and Paula Stanic)
• The Menagerie Theatre, Cambridge - Paul Bourne, Patrick Morris & Holly Race - (nominated by Danusia Iwaszko)
• Oldham Coliseum Theatre - Kevin Shaw, Natalie Brown, Michelle Temperley and Jodie Lamb (nominated by Ian Kershaw)
  

You can read more details of the nominations on the Guild website.

Charlie Kaufman profile

In a draft article for Wired that's open to comments, Jason Tanz profiles screenwriter Charlie Kaufman ahead of the release of his new film Synecdoche, New York.

It may seem surprising...that Kaufman began his path to screenwriting stardom as a scribe for that most constrained and artificial of formats, the half-hour sitcom. It is probably less surprising that Kaufman was not very successful at it...

More than once, Kaufman wrote scripts that so incensed the networks that they opted to "go dark" — not broadcast the show that week — rather than air them. Kaufman penned an episode for the short-lived Bronson Pinchot vehicle The Trouble With Larry, in which the title character mistakes his archaeologist-roommate's rare child-king mummy for a piñata, and then has to replace it with an injured tightrope-walking monkey in a full-body cast.

Synecdoche, New York opens in America next month but doesn't yet seem to have a UK release date.

Scottish Broadcasting Commission report

The Scottish Broadcasting Commission has published Platform For Success, its report into broadcasting in Scotland.

The headline recommendation is:

...the creation of a new Scottish Network: a digital public service television channel and an extensive and innovative online platform. The network should be funded out of the new UK settlement for PSB a plurality and should be licensed and given full regulatory support by Ofcom.

In addition:

The Commission recommends that BBC Scotland should review its television commissioning policy and funding for Scottish programmes to address concerns about ambition and range.

In The Herald, Blair Jenkins, Chair of the Scottish Broadcasting Commission, responds to criticism that the proposal for the Scottish Network has not been costed.

We explain at some length in the report why the costs (which we indicate would be up to £75m annually) should be found as part of the major review of future funding of UK public service broadcasting (PSB) which is currently under way.

Arts Council Theatre Assessment open meeting

I was at an Arts Council England (ACE) open meeting at The Young Vic yesterday afternoon, part of their Theatre Assessment 2008.

The aim was for the independent consultants, Anne Millman and Jodi Myers, who are undertaking the Assessment, to learn as much as possible from the audience about what has changed (or not) in theatre since the Theatre Review of 2003 that informed how the additional £25 million per year for theatre that came as part of the government's spending review in 2000 should be spent.

With around 50 people in attendance from all sorts of organisations there were, inevitably, many different viewpoints. The mood, however, was mostly positive. The extra money clearly has made an impact. There are new buildings, new companies and, for some, more opportunities for touring.

Several speakers praised Arts Council flexibility for helping to break down barriers between different art forms, with crossover from circus arts, street arts and dance increasingly commonplace. The growing willingness to experiment - for example, by opening up the theatre-making process to public scrutiny, or staging work in unusual sites - was also noted.

However, as one speaker pointed out, a lot of this activity is quite small scale and, perhaps, largely limited to London. Indeed, it was later argued that London now has excess theatre capacity while the rest of the country has far too little.

There was also criticism for ACE, particularly over the way in which theatre officers' approach and advice can vary so much from region to region. There was also a feeling that, while progress has been made on diversity in theatre, there was still a long way to go.

The proper payment of artists, including writers, was also recognised as a widespread problem. Several people spoke up for the need to support new writing, with the difficulties for mid-career writers specifically noted.

There's another open meeting in Bristol on 1 October 2008 from 2pm at Circomedia, St Paul's Church, Portland Square.

You can also respond to the consultation questions online until 31 October 2008.

Rowling wins Potter copyright case

From BBC News:

Author JK Rowling has won her legal battle in a New York court to get an unofficial Harry Potter encyclopaedia banned from publication.

Judge Robert Patterson said in a ruling Ms Rowling, 43, had proven Steven Vander Ark's Harry Potter Lexicon would cause her irreparable harm as a writer...

Following the ruling, Ms Rowling said her legal action had aimed "to uphold the right of authors everywhere to protect their own original work".

Honorary Fellowship for John Sullivan

Guild member John Sullivan has been awarded an Honorary Fellowship of Goldsmiths, University of London.

Sullivan, who created and wrote hit comedy series including Only Fools And Horses and Citizen Smith told the South London Press: "I'm considered a local lad by Goldsmith's... Because I was born here I have an understanding of the area and the people like Alan Bleasdale has of his home town, Liverpool."

Tom Stoppard interview

In The Guardian, Maya Jaggi talks to Guild member Tom Stoppard about his new adaptation of Chekhov's Ivanov and his long writing career. The interview concludes with an extract from Stoppard's introduction to The Real Inspector Hound.

After 40 years, the problem remains, each time. You can't start writing until you know what you're doing, and you don't know what you're doing until you start writing. I still have to resist the false intuition that I need to know as much as possible in advance. The essential thing is to know as little as possible. Ideally, when things fall out well, you shouldn't feel clever, you should feel lucky.

Ivanov opens at the Wyndam's Theatre on 12 September.

Duffy pens GCSE riposte

Following the decision by the AQA exam board to withdraw her poem, Education For Leisure, from its syllabus after an examiner's complaint about its violent content, Carol Ann Duffy has written a poetic riposte, Mrs Schofield's GCSE, published in The Guardian.

The Mrs Schofield of the poem refers to Pat Schofield, an external examiner at Lutterworth College, Leicestershire, who complained about the poem and who welcomed the decision to ban a poem she described as "absolutely horrendous".

Contacted by the Guardian last night, Schofield said she felt "a bit gobsmacked" to have a verse named after her. She described the poem as "a bit weird. But having read her other poems I found they were all a little bit weird. But that's me".

The AQA said last night that schools were not being urged to pulp the anthology: "This is not about destroying books. They are allowed to continue teaching the poem, if they wish, but they are not going to be examined on it," it said.

A Scottish teacher's union has backed AQA, reports The Herald:

The Scottish Secondary Teachers' Association (SSTA) said the AQA exam board's decision to withdraw Glasgow-born Carol Ann Duffy's poem, Education for Leisure, from its GCSE English anthology was "common sense".

But Scotland's parent- teacher body branded the board's response censorship. A leading Scottish poetry expert said it was a "backward step".

The AQA maintained that it had been a difficult choice made in response to a complaint concerning the growing UK blade culture.

Jim Docherty, deputy general secretary of the Scottish Secondary Teachers' Association, said it was "common sense" and questioned why the poem had ever been studied in the first place.

The first line of the poem reads: "Today I am going to kill something. Anything."

A description follows of the disturbed thoughts of a disillusioned unemployed loner who kills a fly and then a goldfish. In the last verse he or she goes outside armed with a bread knife.

Update: There's lots of comment in the press, including from Richard Lea and Mark Lawson.

Poems are often brief and ambiguous. Exam boards might more easily tolerate a novel about an adolescent who considers stabbing someone, because 200 or so pages would probably encompass debate, payoff and a clear message distancing the author from their character. Duffy's dozen or so lines present a snapshot of someone about to snap, but the fact that the piece enters the mind of a violent person does not mean it's in favour of stabbing. And the perfect place to make this clear is the classroom. Any good English teacher would get the students talking about the situation Duffy depicts. Why does the narrator feel this way? Is he crazy? Isn't he going to end up dead or jailed? Have we ever felt like him - or, indeed, her? Interestingly, although most commentary has assumed that the narrator is male, Duffy never specifies this, which perhaps shows what a subtle form poetry can be.

Welsh Branch Event - “Theatre and Politics: A Playwright’s Agenda”

The Writers’ Guild would like to invite members in Wales to a Guild organised event at Sherman Cymru, Cardiff, at 4pm on Saturday 20th September 2008.

“Theatre and Politics: A Playwright’s Agenda” is a conversation between playwrights David Edgar (President of the Guild), Gary Owen (leading Welsh playwright), Phil Ralph (writer of Deep Cut) and others, about writing for the stage with a political voice. After a conversation between the panellists, writers will be invited to share their opinions from the floor.

Tea and coffee will be provided.

Our event is FREE but Sherman Cymru is also offering Guild Members one ticket at the reduced price of £10 for that evening’s performance of Deep Cut at 7.30pm subject to availability. Tickets can be reserved through the box office on 02920 646900. Please state that you are a member of the Writers’ Guild when booking.

If you are intending to come to the event, please RSVP to Erik Pohl in the Guild office at erik@writersguild.org.uk so that we can keep track of numbers.

Hoffai Undeb Yr Ysgrifennwyr eich gwahodd i ddigwyddiad arbennig yn Sherman Cymru, Caerdydd, am 4yh ar ddydd Sadwrn 20fed o Fedi 2008.

Sgwrs ar gyfer dramodwyr yw “Theatre and Politics: A Playwright’s Agenda” ar y testun o ysgrifennu ar gyfer y llwyfan a llais yr awdur. Bydd siaradwyr yn cynnwys David Edgar (Llywydd yr Undeb), Gary Owen (dramodydd Cymreig blaenllaw) a Phil Ralph (awdur “Deep Cut”) ynghyd ag eraill.

Bydd te a choffi ar gael.

Wrth eich gwahodd i’r digwyddiad rhad ac am ddim hwn hoffai Sherman Cymru gynnig ichi docyn am bris gostyngedig o £10 (o’i gymharu â’r pris llawn arferol, £14) ar gyfer perfformiad y noson honno o Deep Cut am 7.30yh.

Pe hoffech dderbyn y cynnig hwn ffoniwch y Swyddfa Docynnau ar 029 2064 6900. Dim ond pan fydd y taliad wedi ei dderbyn y bydd eich tocyn wedi ei sicrhau. Cofiwch ddweud eich bod chi’n aelod o’r undeb.

Ebostiwch erik@writersguild.org.uk os ydych am fynychu’r digwyddiad.

Gobeithio y cawn eich cwmni.

Deep Cut trailer

What Guild members are getting up to

Taken from the Guild's weekly e-bulletin.

SIMON ASHDOWN wrote the episode of EastEnders going out on BBC1 at 8:00pm on Friday 12th September.

IAN BROWN and JAMES HENDRIE wrote the episode of After You’ve Gone, School Of Hard Knocks, going out on BBC1 at 7:30pm on Monday 8th September.

MARK BURT wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 7:30pm on Monday 8th September.

LEN COLLIN wrote the episode of The Bill, Secret History, going out on ITV1 at 8:00pm on Wednesday 10th September.

DAVID CROFT co-wrote the episode of Dad’s Army, The Miser’s Hoard, going out on BBC2 at 8:00pm on Saturday 6th September.

SIMON CROWTHER wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 8:30pm on Monday 8th September.

DEBORAH DAVIS'S series, Balance of Power, is going out on Radio 4 at 7:45pm all week from on Monday 8th September.

MARTIN DAY wrote the episode of Doctors, The Horrors, going out on BBC1 at 1:45pm on Monday 8th September.

JIM ELDRIDGE has a new book out in the "My Story" series: Roman Invasion, a historical novel set along the line of Hadrian's Wall. Published by Scholastic on 1st September.

MARCUS GOODWIN wrote the episode of Doctors, True Colours, going out on BBC1 at 1:45pm on Thursday 11th September.

CAROLINE HARRINGTON wrote the episodes of The Archers going out on Radio 4 at 7:00pm from Sunday 7th until Friday 12th September with each episode being repeated at 2:00pm the day after its original broadcast.

NICHOLAS HICKS-BEACH wrote the episode of EastEnders going out on BBC1 at 7:30pm on Thursday 11th September.

For The Public Good by ALICE JOSEPHS and Celebritney by HEATHER JOHNSTON, both inspired by current news events, is the double bill of one-act plays on Tuesday, September 23rd – Sunday 28th, 7.30 pm, at Barons Court Theatre, Curtains Up Pub, 28a Comeragh Road, London W14 9HR £10 (£7 concession) 020 8932 4747

PETER KERRY wrote the episodes of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Monday 8th and Thursday 11th September.

ANDREW KIRK wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Wednesday 10th September.

JANE MARLOW wrote the episodes of Hollyoaks going out on C4 at 6:30pm on Wednesday 10th and Thursday 11th September.

JOHN MARTIN and J.C. WILSHER wrote the episode of New Tricks, Dockers, going out on BBC1 at 9:00pm on Monday 8th September.

JAN MCVERRY wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 7:30pm on Friday 12th September.

ALEX SHEARER’S novel Bootleg (made into a 3 part BAFTA winning children's drama by the BBC in 2003) has now been turned into an animation for mobile phones - under the title: Chocolate Underground - by the Japanese company Muse. The anime is in 13 parts, now running, to later be available as a full length DVD and cinematic release. It is also being published as a Manga comic.

CHRIS THOMPSON wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Friday 12th September.

J.C. WILSHER’S series Between the Lines is the subject of the episodic documentary Call The Cops going out on BBC4 on Tuesday 9th September. He also co-wrote the episode of New Tricks, Dockers, going out on BBC1 at 9:00pm on Monday 8th September.

COLIN WYATT wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 7:30pm on Wednesday 10th September. He also wrote the episode of EastEnders going out on BBC1 at 8:00pm on Monday 8th September.

Karen Lutz and Kirsten Smith interview

For the Writers Guild of America West, Shira Gotshalk speaks to screenwriters Karen Lutz and Kirsten Smith about their new hit film, The House Bunny, which opens in the UK next month.

Do you feel that you've been pigeonholed in some ways as “chick flick” writers?

Karen Lutz: No, we write romantic comedies, two-handers. Our last movie that just finished shooting a month ago, The Ugly Truth, is a romantic comedy. It was very much a two-hander with an equal male part. So I don't think we are pigeonholed as just “girl power” movie writers.

Kirsten Smith: I guess that we also like to write female characters that are underestimated or put in a box or, as Karen likes to say, defined by others. Then the journey of the movie is: Don't let other people define you. So if anyone were to do that to us, I think it would probably just inspire us to prove them wrong.

The House Bunny trailer

Guild members' blogs

Recent postings on Guild members' blogs include:

• Steve Turnbull on plot versus character
• Piers Beckley's TAPS experience
• Paul Campbell preparing to write for Holby
• Tony Ramsay considering 'letting the mermaid live'
• Stuart Perry reflecting on the meaning of innovation
• Paul Parkes on writing for Noddy
• David Bishop giving it some attitude
• David Lemon reflecting on life as a writer
• Sue Guiney on workshopping a new play:

I have been lucky enough to have convinced the director, John Wright, to spend the week with me and 4 actors, diving into the the text, playing with it in all sorts of imaginative ways, and seeing whether it is working or not.

John has his own unique way of approaching a text. He picks a scene in random, definitely out of the sequence of the play as written. He has the actors read it through a few times, then they record the reading. A set is "built" using whatever tables, props, chairs there are to hand, and then the recording is played back. But the actors don't "act" the words. If anything, they "play" against the words, using it as a framework, but loosely.

What arises is an "unlocking" of the text to see what is there, what isn't, what can be opened up between the characters and what new, unthought of ways the play can be moved forward.

Edinburgh virgin

On the Guild website, Jake Yapp recounts his experiences as a first-time stand-up at this year's Edinburgh Fringe.

So how do you make any kind of an impression? People had bigger leaflets than mine. Glossier. Ones they hadn't done on their crappy computer at home on free software they'd downloaded. People had paid, not just for the venue and accommodation, but for design, flyerers, PR, publicity... It was hard not to feel like the kid at school who'd forgotten his PE kit and was having to make do with the stinky old Lost Property shorts.

BBC plans to shift power to regions

From Katherine Rushton in Broadcast:

The BBC is to hand network commissioning power to the nations for the first time in what is being hailed as a "radical reshaping" of its structure.

Chief operating officer Caroline Thomson is planning to recruit at least five new commissioning executives across BBC Scotland, BBC Wales and BBC Northern Ireland. They will be responsible for ensuring that the amount of money the BBC spends on original content from the nations is proportional to the percentage of the UK population that lives there.

Is theatre going down the YouTube?

On The Guardian Theatre blog, Andrew Haydon considers the implications of the growing number of theatre clips online.

Looking beyond fan clips to promotional videos and viral advertising online, there is a real question whether artists featured in such videos should be paid some kind of royalties. Indeed, do these clips do the artists any favours? They are necessarily the translation of something that works in one medium into another where it might not look half as good. After all, acting for a camera is very different to acting for row H in the upper circle. All of these questions are very new and will doubtless resolve themselves over time, as new media becomes more and more a part of the way in which we experience the world. But they do raise the interesting issue of how we might usefully go about presenting theatre online or on video.

Scrippets plug-in

On his blog, screenwriter John August introduces the scrippet plug-in to enable script formatting online.

He's promising to make it available for download soon, but it will only work on WordPress. A Drupal version has also been created. Anyone able to do one for Blogger...?

Updike on William Maxwell

In The New Yorker, John Updike celebrates the centennial of writer and editor William Maxwell.

Novel after novel, the reconciliation of art and actuality continued to present stimulating difficulties for Maxwell. In describing, in this magazine, his friend the poet Louise Bogan, upon her death, in 1970, he said, “In whatever she wrote, the line of truth was exactly superimposed on the line of feeling”: such an exacting superimposition represented his ideal.

Andrew Davidson interview

In The Guardian, Alison Flood talks to Canadian author Andrew Davidson about his best-selling first novel The Gargoyle.

Some people might be overwhelmed by a $1.25m (£700,000) advance for their first novel, but for the Canadian author Andrew Davidson his startling success feels like a gradual journey.

"It's sort of a case of being an overnight success," he explains, "but I've been writing for 20 years, started this book in 2000, got an agent in 2006, and have been dealing with the publishing industry for the last 18 months."

Darren Star interview

In The New York Times, as part of a look back at hit TV series Beverly Hills 90210, Dave Itzkoff talks to the show's creator, Darren Star.

With "Sex and the City" I was very conscious of creating a group of friends that were going through a shared experience. In "90210," it was high school, and "Sex and the City" it was the shared experience of four single women in New York. And that they rely on each other, and depend on each other. Whereas "90210" you could say, "O.K., it's about Beverly Hills" - no, it's really about friendship. And with "Sex and the City," you can say, "It's really about sex" - no, it's really about friendship.

Geoffrey Perkins obituaries

Comedy producer Geoffrey Perkins was killed in a traffic accident last week.

Shows he worked on include The Hitchiker's Guide To The Galaxy, Drop The Dead Donkey, Father Ted, Have I Got News for You, The Fast Show and The Catherine Tate Show.

There are obituaries in The Times, The Telegraph and by Bob Chaundy in The Guardian.

One colleague recalled how Perkins was appalled when the then BBC director general John Birt announced that all departments in the BBC were to be in competition not only with other channels and independent companies, but also with each other. He chose to ignore the policy, believing that the only way to make comedy was to engender an atmosphere of good humour.

Why Caryl Churchill is the Top Girl

In The Times, Lucy Powell celebrates the career of playwright Caryl Churchill.

It's her uncanny ability to pull you up, flip you over, rewire your cosy assumptions that makes Churchill such an irreducible writer. On Wednesday she turns 70. And, to mark that birthday, this month the Royal Court will stage readings of her plays. They demonstrate a mastery of her medium. From her first full-length effort, Owners, in 1972, and in the 23 that followed, she has played dazzling games with form: centuries, genders and races collide on her increasingly surreal stage. Her works betray an unrelenting political inquiry, into feminism (Top Girls, 1982), capitalism (Serious Money, 1987), colonialism (Cloud Nine, 1979) or cloning (A Number, 2002).

North East Branch Meeting - Newcastle

The Guild's North East Branch will be meeting on Wednesday 1st October at 7:30pm at the Tyneside Irish Centre, 43-49 Gallowgate, Newcastle Upon Tyne.

This will be a preliminary meeting to plan for a large public event (or two) that could kick off a re-launch of the North East Branch of the Writers’ Guild. Another big question for consideration will be whether there should be two branches in the North East, one in Tyneside and one in Yorkshire.

All Guild members resident in the North East are welcome. David Morgan, Executive Council representative for the NE will be at this meeting, as will - schedule permitting - David Edgar, Writers’ Guild President.

London calling

Remember, the London and South East Branch of the Guild is also kick-starting and will be meeting at the Royal Festival Hall Bar on the South Bank (outside if it's sunny from 6.30pm on Monday 15th September

If you'd like to come along to either event, please contact erik@writersguild.org.uk. Feel free to bring any potential members, too.

What Guild members are getting up to

Taken from the Guild's weekly e-bulletin. Guild members wanting to be included should contact Erik in the Guild office.

CAREY ANDREWS wrote the episode of EastEnders going out on BBC1 at 7:30pm on Tuesday 2nd September.

JOHN CHAMBERS wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Tuesday 2nd September.

PAUL COATES wrote the episode of Hollyoaks going out on C4 at 6:30pm on Thursday 4th September.

DAVID CROFT co-wrote the episode of Dad’s Army, Knights of Madness, going out on BBC2 at 8:40pm on Saturday 30th August.

SARAH DANIELS wrote the episode of The Golden Notebook, adapted from Doris Lessing's novel, going out on Radio 4 at 7:45pm on Monday 1st September.

MARK EVANS wrote the episode of Bleak Expectations, Chapter The Fifth: An Already Bad Life Made Worse But Sort Of On Purpose, going out on Radio 4 at 6:30pm on Thursday 4th September.

LOL FLETCHER wrote the episode of Doctors, Number One Fan, going out on BBC1 at 1:45pm on Monday 1st September.

BILL GALLAGHER is working on a re-make of the 1960s classic TV cult thriller The Prisoner for ITV1. Ian McKellen will take the lead role of Number Two, the sinister head of The Village. Jim Caviezel will play Number Six, the hero who finds himself trapped in the mysterious Village with no memory of how he arrived, as played in the original by Patrick McGoohan, who also created the series.

JONATHAN HARVEY wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 7:30pm on Wednesday 3rd September.

LISA HOLDSWORTH wrote the episode of New Tricks, Lady’s Pleasure, going out on BBC1 at 9:00pm on Monday 1st September.

MARK ILLIS wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Monday 1st September.

JESSICA LEA wrote the episode of Hollyoaks going out on C4 at 6:30pm on Friday 5th September.

DAVID MCDERMOTT wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Wednesday 3rd September.

TOM NEEDHAM wrote the episdoe of The Bill, After the Fall, going out on ITV1 at 8:00pm on Wednesday 3rd September.

DEBBIE OATES wrote the episode of Coronation Street gonig out on ITV1 at 7:30pm on Sunday 31st August.

PHILIP PALMER wrote the episode of Heartbeat going out on ITV1 at 8:00pm on Sunday 31st August.

ANDREW PAYNE wrote the episode of Midsomer Murders, Country Matters, going out on ITV1 at 9:00pm on Friday 5th September.

GILLIAN RICHMOND wrote the episode of EastEnders going 0ut on BBC1 at 8:00pm on Monday 1st September.

MARTIN RILEY wrote the episode of Grange Hill going out on BBC1 at 4:35pm on Monday 1st September.

SIR ANTONY SHER is performing in the one off drama God On Trial going out on BBC2 at 9:00pm on Wednesday 3rd September.

JOHN SULLIVAN wrote the episode of The Green Green Grass, Hay Fever, going out on BBC1 at 7:30pm on Monday 1st September.

KATHARINE WAY wrote the episode of Doctors, Observation, going out on BBC1 at 1:45pm on Wednesday 3rd September.

TINA WALKER wrote the episode of Doctors, The Universe Provides, going out on BBC1 at 1:45pm on Friday 5th September.

ALAN WHITING wrote the episode of Kingdom going out on ITV1 at 10:35pm on Tuesday 2nd September.

KARIN YOUNG wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Thursday 4th September.