Sunday, January 31, 2010

Save scripted television content

By Gail Renard

This week the WGGB once again lobbied at Westminster, along with our Performers’ Alliance colleagues, Equity and the Musicians’ Union. The Guild met with MPs, Lords and Baronesses to talk about the problems facing writers in Britain today. Amongst other topics, we talked about maintaining the output of quality scripted television programmes, so vital to our culture. Ben Bradshaw, Ed Vaizey et al listened... now let’s see what they’ll do. Here’s the paper we delivered.

The Guild's lobbying paper
(by Gail Renard and Ming Ho)

The decline in commissioning of quality scripted television content grows more alarming with the increase in reality shows on all channels. This is to the detriment of not just professional writers and performers, but also the viewers, who are offered less choice and depth of material, and indeed the production companies - non-scripted content might be cheaper to make in the first instance, but has a limited shelf-life and export value.

Ultimately, there is long-term damage to the wider economy through lost revenue and reduced cultural repute.

Scripted content, such as Doctor Who, Cranford, Poirot, The Office and Morse can be repeated on TV and digital platforms internationally for decades. It brings millions of pounds into Britain from overseas sales and related industries, including tourism. Lifestyle and entertainment television may spawn a few big brands, which can be reformatted for local markets, but the majority of reality shows offer no such ongoing benefits.

Commercial broadcasters are fighting for survival, and are understandably looking for quick fixes. But where will the premium content of Britain’s future come from, if original scripted output is allowed to shrink? Where will the next generation of distinctive, top-class British programme-makers be able to cut their teeth? It is vital that we safeguard a significant proportion of air-time for original scripted content now, before that potential for investment is lost forever.

The BBC, as a public service broadcaster, does not face the same commercial pressure as its competitors, but works in a climate of finite income, stretched more thinly across an ever-expanding range of "services". A report published recently by the Policy Exchange think tank has questioned the determination to offer iPlayer, Freesat, and Project Canvas on non-commercial terms, which not only stretch the BBC’s own resources, but damage the open market. It’s time to prioritise the licence fee for programme-making and genuinely original content, which has traditionally made the BBC and British television distinctive and worthy of preferential funding.

It needn’t be expensive. BBC4 is a model of low-budget, original programming, admirably upholding the Reithian ideals of both entertainment and education. This channel shows what can be done with talent and a will.

With proper investment, Britain’s original comedies and dramas can be the envy of the world; individual writing voices and diversity of subject matter - vital to our nation’s culture, education, and entertainment – should be encouraged. Do not allow our unique heritage and identity to be eroded. For the sake of both our cultural and financial future, save scripted television content.

Gail (right) with fellow Guild member Jayne Kirkham and actor David Tennant at the Performers' Alliance parliamentary lobby

Friday, January 29, 2010

What Guild members are getting up to

DAVID ASHTON'S radio play Dr. Johnson's Dictionary of Crime: A for Assassin is going out on Radio 4 at 2:30pm on Saturday 30th January.

STEVE BAILIE wrote the episode of The Bill "Time Bomb" going out on ITV1 at 9:00pm on Thursday 4th February.

TRACEY BLACK wrote the episode of Doctors "Hasta la Vista" going out on BBC1 at 1:45pm on Monday 1st February.

RAY BROOKING wrote the episode of Doctors "Three Go Wild" going out on BBC1 at 1:45pm on Wednesday 3rd February.

GABY CHIAPPE wrote the episode of Lark Rise to Candleford going out on BBC1 at 8:00pm on Sunday 31st January.

MATTHEW EVANS wrote the episode of Wild at Heart going out on ITV1 at 8:30pm on Sunday 31st January.

CHRIS FEWTRELL wrote the episodes of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 7:30pm and 8:30pm on Monday 1st February.

PETER FLANNERY wrote the episode of Inspector George Gently "Gently in the Night" going out on BBC1 at 8:30pm on Wednesday 3rd February.

ADRIAN FLYNN wrote the episodes of The Archers going out on Radio 4 from Sunday 31st January till Friday 5th February with each episode being repeated at 2:00pm the day following its original broadcast.

JEREMY FRONT'S dramatisation of Simon Brett's A Charles Paris Mystery: Cast in Order of Disappearance" continues on Radio 4 at 11:30am on Friday 5th February.

MARK ILLIS wrote the episodes of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm and 8:00pm on Thursday 4th February.

JULIE JONES wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 8:30pm on Thursday 4th February.

TONY JORDAN wrote the episode of Hustle going out on BBC1 at 9:00pm on Monday 1st February.

NEIL MCKAY wrote the drama Mo staring Julie Walters, Emma Cambridge and David Haig amongst others. It will be going out on C4 at 9:00pm on Sunday 31st January.

SUE MOONEY wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Friday 5th February.

DALE OVERTON wrote the episode of Doctors "Mr Donormight" going out on BBC1 at 1:45pm on Tuesday 2nd February.

JULIE PARSONS wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Wednesday 3rd February.

MARK RAVENHILLL will be on stage at the Soho Theatre from 8th to 27th February with Bette Bourne and Mark Ravenill: A Life in Three Acts. Previously in three parts, the piece reveals a portrait of an amazing individual and a celebration of the momentous struggles and achievements of gay liberation.

CHRISTOPHER REASON wrote the episodes of EastEnders going out on BBC1 at 7:30pm on Thursday 4th and at 8:oopm on Friday 5th February.

JULIET GILKES ROMERO, winner of the WGGB Award for Best Theatre Play, has written a short play about her experiences working in Haiti in the 1990's that contributed to part of an Evening For Haiti at Hampstead Theatre.

SHELAGH STEPHENSON wrote the first episode of How Does That Make You Feel? (Ordinary's Not Enough) going out on Radio 4 at 10:45am on Monday 1st February.

RICHARD STEVENS wrote the episode of Doctors "Coming to Get You" going out on BBC1 at 1:45pm on Friday 5th February.

JOE TURNER wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 7:30pm on Friday 5th February.

JOY WILKINSON'S dramatisation of Towards Zero concludes on Radio 4 at 11:30am on Wednesday 3rd February.

JD Salinger 1919-2010

American author JD Salinger has died at the age of 91. There are numerous appreciations and obituaries, including a series of articles in the New York Times. Charles McGrath writes:
In 1974 Philip Roth wrote, “The response of college students to the work of J. D. Salinger indicates that he, more than anyone else, has not turned his back on the times but, instead, has managed to put his finger on whatever struggle of significance is going on today between self and culture.”
In the Guardian, three prominent American authors, including Joyce Carol Oates, pay tribute to Salinger.
Salinger's great, obsessive theme was the moral rootlessness of contemporary American materialism and its corrosive effect upon precocious, highly sensitive children and adolescents whose religious yearnings were both esoteric (eastern, mystic) and sentimental (narcissistic, naively self-regarding).

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Apple launches iPad and iBooks

Apple today unveiled its new iPad, a device somewhere between a mobile phone and a laptop. While the web is full of assessments of the hardware, there's also analysis of the implications for content creators. Indeed, even before the launch, TechCrunch predicted it could lead to a media revolution.

And, as Doug Aamoth reports, Apple are also launching an e-books store.
Apple’s hoping to recreate the magic of what iTunes did for music with the addition of a vast selection of electronic books. Announced at Apple’s event today, the iBook store.

Book pricing has been set similarly to what’s offered on Amazon.com’s Kindle platform — the first book will be $14.99, a Ted Kennedy book (available on Kindle for $14.78). It works just like the App Store with a simple tap to purchase the book.
The iPad will start shipping in America in late March and, apparently, will be available the UK at the same time .

The John Brabourne Awards

The John Brabourne Awards, run by the Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund, are now open for applications.
The John Brabourne Awards are a stepping stone for up and coming talent driven to further their experiences and careers in all aspects of film and television. The awards also seek to help those disadvantaged in some way, either through lack of funds or set-backs due to illness or accident.

There are two types of award, the CTBF Awards and the Sponsored Awards.

The CTBF Awards provide cash sums of between £1,000 and £5,000 to assist with training, rental of equipment, or the costs of travel, rent, bills or childcare.

The Sponsored Awards offer new talent direct access to essential industry experience, through paid work experience at leading companies and/or access to training, equipment or materials, and in some cases a mentor.

Since the May 2007 launch of the awards the CTBF has been able to secure substantial support from the film and television industry, with companies such as Kodak, Arri Media, ITV, Endemol UK and Turner Classic Movies all contributing to the awards. The scheme has a total of 13 corporate sponsors offering 12 different awards, with an overall value of around £200,000.
As part of the Sponsored Awards, they are running the Big 5 Comedy Award:
We are looking for a talented individual to write a 10 minute comedy short that has the potential to be made into a short film. The CTBF in conjunction with the UK Film Council will provide the funding to help finance this production as well as taking advantage of the BIG 5 Sponsors who are all offering the following services.
Scripts for the Big 5 Comedy Award must be received by February 28th 2010.

Link via Screen Daily on Twitter.

Sir Tom Stoppard interview

An interesting interview with Guild member Tom Stoppard by Nigel Farndale in the Telegraph. In reply to a question about students and academics wanting to speak to him about his work, Stoppard says:
‘The whole thing derives from a misapprehension about creative writing, which is that the writer is working from a set of principles or a thesis and the play is the end product of that predisposition, but, actually, the idea turns out to be the end product of the play, and the less I know about this play I am trying to write, the better.

'The more doors there are for you to open, the better the play. Take Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, if the metaphor had been specific, the play would not have had the freedom to go where it wanted. Some students don’t see it as a metaphor but a puzzle to which I have the answer, and if only I would impart it they would get an alpha.’

Arts Council England appoints 152 artistic assessors

From the Arts Council England press office:
Arts Council England today (26 January 2009) announced the appointment of 152 people to write assessments on the artistic work of its regularly funded organisations.

The appointments follow a fantastic response to the Arts Council’s recruitment campaign which saw over 1,100 people apply for the roles.
The full list of assessors can be viewed on their website.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

At Sundance, new routes to finding an audience

By Brooks Barnes in the New York Times:
Standard operating procedure over the years at Sundance, the cinematic bazaar now under way in this resort town, has been simple: show your film and hope it plays well enough to attract a theatrical distributor or, if the movie is particularly small and arty, a video-on-demand deal.

If no deal happens — and this is where more than 75 percent of Sundance offerings landed last year — you go home and try Internet downloads, DVD and foreign television sales.

But even that risky blueprint is being redrafted. With more art-house theaters closing and most of the big studios no longer interested in distributing specialty films, a theatrical release is becoming increasingly hard to secure. So some filmmakers are trying to turn that system on its head, using Sundance not just as a sales tool but also as a platform for immediate digital delivery.
As the article points out, YouTube has just launched a Sundance channel, although the rentals option ($3.99 per movie) appears only to be available in America.

Might British film festivals seek a similar partnership?

Last chance to opt out of Google Book Settlement

From Pamela Samuelson in the Huffington Post:
January 28 is the last day on which owners of copyrights in books published in the U.S., UK, Canada, and Australia can opt out or object to the proposed settlement of the Google Book Search (GBS) class action lawsuit initiated in 2005 by the Authors Guild.

There is a huge difference between opting out and objecting, and copyright owners who dislike the settlement must choose between them.
The deadline for making claims has now been extended to 31 March 2011.

All the information is on the Google Book Search Settlement website. And here's a reminder of the information on the Settlement provided by the Guild last year.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Writers' Lab @ Bolton

A new scheme from the University of Bolton:
The University of Bolton is developing a writer's programme in association with a number of production companies in the North West (AbbottVision, Red Productions, Lime Pictures, BBC writersroom, LA Productions, Made In Manchester, R.S.J. Productions). This is a scheme for writers that want to develop their skills working in an industry context. Writers will develop an original script as well as learn about team writing and producing.

In order to develop the scheme effectively we are offering free places to 16 new writers from the North West. This pilot scheme will put writers into direct contact with the best TV, radio and web producers in the region. In return for helping us develop this training programme we are offering writers the opportunity to develop their skills in a commercial context. You will attend workshops at AbbottVision, The Arvon Foundation and at the University of Bolton. Throughout the programme, you will work on a team written project with industry mentors. You will have direct and sustained contact with industry professionals through the best work experience placements around.

This scheme is designed to give writers the best start possible and is an opportunity you can't afford to miss.

Who can apply for this scheme?

The scheme is open to writers based within the North West region who have already had a script commissioned or had a professional reading of their work (for any platform, film, radio, stage, TV or the web) or had material published. You will be expected to be able to work effectively on scripted material from the start of the project. This is not a scheme for beginners.

Applicants must be over 18 and not in full-time education.
Full details are on the University of Bolton website.

Link via Tom Murphy on Twitter.

Hollywood age discrimination case settled

From Richard Verrier in the LA Times comes news of a settlement in major legal case about alleged age discrimination in Hollywood.
A long and winding legal battle that raised uncomfortable questions about Hollywood's treatment of middle-aged and older TV writers was settled Friday, a decade after a class-action lawsuit alleged they were the victims of widespread age discrimination.

Under the settlement, 17 major networks and production studios, along with seven talent agencies, agreed to pay $70 million to thousands of writers to resolve 19 claims.
Although, as Verrier reports, the Writers Guild of America, West was not a party to the dispute its research provided crucial evidence in winning the money - although the networks and studios continue to deny any wrongdoing.

Tesco moves into film production

High street retailer Tesco has announced a move into straight-to-DVD film adaptations of best-selling books in partnership with Amber Entertainment, reports Sarah Cooper for Screen Daily:
The first film to come out of the partnership will Paris Connections, which is due to start shooting in France later this month and has been specially adapted by author Jackie Collins from her 1999 bestseller LA Connections...

Also in line for production will be titles by other best selling authors including Dick Francis, Jacqueline Wilson, Philip Pullman and Judy Blume as well as three more “Connections” films with Jackie Collins.

Lords committee wants tax breaks for children's TV

By Katherine Rushton for Broadcast:
The campaign for tax credits for children’s programming has received a shot in the arm after a House of Lords select committee called for film tax credits to be extended to kids TV.

The culture select committee, led by Lord Fowler, called for the 18% tax relief for UK films to be applied to all children’s and animated television productions on a pilot basis. If successful, it could be extended to other hard-pressed genres like regional news and documentaries.
You can read the full report on the Parliament website - the tax credits recommendation comes in Chapter 6:
We recommend the extension of the film tax credit, on a pilot basis, to children's programmes and animation productions made for television. This pilot, if successful, might be extended to other genres.

Friday, January 22, 2010

What Guild members are getting up to

MARK BURT wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 7:30pm on Monday 25th January.

MICHAEL CHAPLIN's two-part radio play "Two-Pipe Problems" is concluding on Radio 4 with the second half "The Trusty Valet and the Crusty Butter" going out at 2:15pm on Thursday 28th January.

GABY CHIAPPE wrote the episode of Lark Rise to Candleford going out on BBC1 at 8:00pm on Sunday 24th January. She also wrote the episode of Survivors going out on BBC1 at 9:00pm on Tuesday 26th January.

SIMON CROWTHER wrote the episodes of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 7:30pm and 8:30pm on Friday 29th January.

STEVEN FAY wrote the episode of Hollyoaks going out on C4 at 6:30pm on Monday 25th January.

IAIN FINLAY MACLEOD's radio dramatisation of Ann Cleeve's Raven Black goes out on Radio 4 at 2:30pm on Saturday 23rd January.

ALISON FISHER wrote the episode of EastEnders going out on BBC1 at 8:00pm on Monday 25th January.

JEREMY FRONT wrote the episode of the new series of A Charles Paris Mystery: Cast in Order of Disappearance going out on Radio 4 at 11:30pm on Friday 29th January.

ROB GITTINS wrote the episodes of EastEnders going out on BBC1 at 7:30pm on Thursday 28th and at 8:00pm on Friday 29th January.

DAWN HARRISON wrote the episode of Doctors "Master of the Universe" which goes out over 5 parts on BBC1 at 1:45pm from Monday 25th till Friday 29th January.

ROB JOHNSTON wrote Fencing for Losers, which is on at The Lowry, Salford on 29th-31st Jan at 7:45pm, with a Saturday matinee at 2:30pm.

JOHN KERR wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 8:30pm on Monday 25th January.

JONNY KURZMAN wrote the episode of MI High going out on BBC1 at 4:35pm on Monday 25th January.

BILL LYONS wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Tuesday 26th January.

RICHARD MONK's radio play The Journey is going out on Radio 4 at 2:15pm on Wednesday 27th January.

TOM NEEDHAM wrote the episode of The Bill "New Beginnings" going out on ITV1 at 9:00pm on Thursday 28th January.

JOANNA TOYE wrote the episodes of The Archers going out on Radio 4 at 7:00pm from Monday 25th till Friday 29th January with each episode being repeated at 2:00pm the day following its original broadcast.

JOY WILKINSON's radio dramatisation of Agatha Christie's Towards Zero continues on Radio 4 at 11:30am on Wednesday 27th January.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Robert B Parker 1932-2010

American novelist Robert B Parker has died at the age of 77. Best known for creating the private detective Spenser, he wrote more than 60 books for adults and children.

There are many obituaries online, including in the New York Times, the Washington Post and by Dennis McLellan in the LA Times:
"In the line of great American hard-boiled writers that went from Dashiell Hammett to Raymond Chandler to Ross Macdonald, Robert B. Parker is the next great one in that line," said Otto Penzler, owner of the Mysterious Bookshop in New York City and a publisher of crime fiction.

Parker, he said, "had a spare style that made his books entertaining and readable consistently. His protagonist, Spenser, was a real hero, and I think people love heroes."

Reminder: Writing For Publication event

The West Midlands branch of the Writers’ Guild presents: Writing For Publication

When: Friday 22nd January, 7.30pm
Where: Centenary Suite, Birmingham Rep Theatre
Cost: Free to Writers’ Guild Members; £5 for non-members, payable at the door
Please email WMidWritersGuild@aol.com to confirm your attendance.

The panel comprises:

Laura Longrigg, director of MBA Literary Agents. Laura has worked in publishing for nearly 25 years. As an editor, mostly in the genre of popular fiction, she worked for HarperCollins, Heinemann and Penguin. She became an agent in 1994, working first with Jennifer Kavanagh, and in 1997 she joined MBA. Since becoming an agent, her interests have broadened to include literary fiction and non-fiction, including history, biography, travel, self-help, health and parenting. She has also worked with children’s authors.

Alan Mahar, publishing director of Tindall Street Press, an independent publisher of regional literary fiction with a national reputation for excellence and a prize-listing record that is the envy of many established imprints (including three Booker nominations and two Costa first novel awards - its 2010 award just announced). Based in Birmingham, Tindal Street Press aims to find writers of national and international significance from places other than London and the South East.

Jane Commane, the co-director of Nine Arches Press, an independent and innovative poetry publisher based in the West Midlands that aims to bring you the best in contemporary British poetry. It publishes Under The Radar magazine as well as poetry books and pamphlets.

Jacqui Rowe, the Co-Director of Flarestack Poets, a new venture under the Flarestack imprint. Following its launch anthology in November 2009 it will be publishing six poetry titles in 2010. Flarestack pamphlets have a reputation for quality and diversity, and for encouraging work from new and established voices.

Dave Reeves, the director of Radio Wildfire, which broadcasts from the West Midlands via the internet live on the first Monday of each month. It focuses on live literature, spoken word performances and oral art.

The panel will be chaired by Helen Cross, the author of three novels: The Secrets She Keeps, My Summer of Love (which won a Betty Trask Prize and was made into an award-winning film) and Spilt Milk, Black Coffee, published by Bloomsbury in May 2009.

UK Writer magazine now online

We've put the most recent issue of the Guild's magazine, UK Writer, online.

Subjects covered include writing for The Archers, writing short films and taking poetry into schools.

Let us know what you think.

Paul Marquess to take Hollyoaks helm

From How-Do:
Lime Pictures has announced that Paul Marquess will be the new series producer of Hollyoaks when Lucy Allan steps down at the end of January.

Marquess’ production credits come from primetime ITV1, where he’s been executive producer of The Bill and creator of Footballer’s Wives.
As Doug Lambert points out for ATV News Network, Marquess has been a controversial figure, especially when presiding over the demise of numerous long-established characters (and writers)on The Bill.
The Bill moved away from being about cops and robbers as it shifted its focus towards the personal lives of the officers and a series of sensationalist storylines were introduced; serial killer, serial rapist, serial sniper, rape, murder, suicide and incest were on the menu under Marquess reign.
However, quoted in the Liverpool Daily Post, Tony Wood, executive producer of Hollyoaks, said:
“It’s very exciting to be working with Paul Marquess again. He’s one of the best show-runners in the business. This is a brilliant appointment for Hollyoaks.”

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Amazon ebook deal offers 70% royalty

As Publishers Weekly reports, Amazon has announced plans to offer publishers a royalty of 70% when they use the company’s self-publishing Kindle Digital Text Platform, subject to certain restrictions.
Delivery costs will be based on file size and Amazon said that new program will enable authors and publishers to make more money on the sale of e-books. In Amazon’s example, on an $8.99 book an author would make $3.15 with the standard option, and $6.25 with the new 70% option. To qualify for the new rate, however, e-books must meet a set of requirements that includes carrying a price between $2.99 and $9.99, a price that must be at least 20% below the lowest physical list price for the physical book.
As Lance Ulanoff reports for PCmag.com, the move could be seen as a way of persuading publishers to release high profile books on the Kindle (at a lower price) at the same time as a paper book is released.

Patrick Spence, BBC's Northern Ireland drama head, steps down from post

By Tara Conlon for Media Guardian:
The BBC's head of drama in Northern Ireland, Patrick Spence, is stepping down from his post.

Spence, who is responsible for overseeing BBC4's eagerly anticipated drama about the MPs' expenses scandal, Bringing Down the House, is in negotiations for a new role, which may be within the corporation.

According to a BBC Northern Ireland spokeswoman, the Northern Ireland drama department will now be restructured and a "new post will be created".

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Writing sketches for radio

If you're interested in topical sketch writing, take a look at the BBC Writersroom blog where members of the Newsjack team, including Dan Tetsall, are dishing out advice and observations.
Beware the 'And finally...' news stories. Beware anything in a tabloid that's less than two inches in length - and beware anything that sounds like a set-up to a penis joke. Beware the Most Emailed on the BBC website, where comedy news never dies - that goat was still getting married last year. It might sound pretentious, but a sketch has to have tension and drama like any other script, just in miniature. OK, it did sound pretentious, but it's still true.
Newsjack, on BBC Radio 7, is accepting unsolicited sketches for its current series.

Phillip Gross wins TS Eliot poetry prize

From BBC News:
Philip Gross has won the 2009 TS Eliot Poetry Prize for his collection The Water Table, it has been announced.

The 57-year-old, who was born in Cornwall, will receive a £15,000 cash prize, the largest in British poetry.

The Water Table was inspired by the Bristol Channel, drawing out connections with mystery, depth, and the man-made world.

Matthew Weiner on creating Mad Men

The new series of Mad Men comes to BBC Four later this month, and in the Telegraph its creator, Matthew Weiner, talks to Neil Midgley
Mad Men is a labour not just of love but of passion: his office is furnished with a period buttonback sofa and chairs that could have come straight from the series and, in his assistant’s anteroom, there’s a wall covered in all sorts of print advertisements from the Sixties. But, Weiner says, he was prompted to write the pilot script by much more recent events.

“It was inspired by a friend who was going through a divorce and worked in Manhattan in finance during 9/11,” he says. “Two or three days afterwards I said: ‘How’s it going? What’s New York like?’ He said: ‘What can I tell you? I’m still getting divorced.’ The most stimulating thing, intellectually and creatively, about Mad Men is that I’ve been able to write about how we experience history.”

BBC Cymru Wales confirms plans for drama centre

From the BBC Press Office:
BBC Cymru Wales has confirmed that construction on a new drama production centre will start within months, if planning consent is granted.

Menna Richards, Director of BBC Cymru Wales, also confirmed that a site at Roath Basin in Cardiff Bay has been identified for the new production base which will bring together a range of BBC dramas, including Doctor Who, Casualty and the BBC's longest-running TV soap Pobol y Cwm.

"The BBC has confirmed it is to build a drama centre at Roath Basin in Cardiff Bay and has reached agreement with key partners to complete the site, subject to planning consent," she said.

"This is a fantastic opportunity to build on the success of BBC Wales drama production and the wider creative industries in Wales.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Book writers in Bandit Country

A guest post by Leo Aylen

The Guild is rightly pleased with the recent work by the Film Committee which has resulted in a pamphlet aimed at standardising practice in the industry and protecting writers. Similar work has been done by the Television Committee also resulting in a useful pamphlet.

Book writers are likely to feel less protected. Publishing, the book trade, and therefore relationships between writers and publishers, writers and agents, are in a difficult state. Book writers nowadays are working in ‘bandit country’ where established rules no longer apply.

Robert Adams, the Chair of the Guild's Books Committee, has asked the members of the Books Committee to suggest topics which we, in the Books Committee, should examine. As the Books representative on the Executive Council, I should like to invite any Guild member who writes books to take part in the discussion.

Many writers are now self-publishing with success. The Guild hopes to help this along with the Co-operative which is about to be launched. Self-publishing is no longer despised. This is perhaps the most pivotal change in the books industry, but there are other things to consider as well.

If you have had experiences - good or bad - which could help other book writers, do please tell us about them on this blog. (You do not have to be a blog-writer; merely conact the blog editor Tom Green c/o the Guild office, and he can turn your email into a blog item.) Or you can post a comment below.

What could be useful?

1.Technical advice about the technology of publishing: even if they are not self-publishers, more and more writers are needing to know about the production of their books.

2. Experiences with new kinds of contract.

3. Experiences in public presentations – in schools, libraries, community groups, hospitals, prisons, etc.

4. General thoughts about bookselling and libraries.

As I understand the general feeling in the Books Committee, it seems unlikely that we would have any success with the kind of general coding of practice which the film and television writers have succeeded – to an extent – in establishing. With books nowadays, it seems more practical to collect individual experiences from which the lessons learnt can help others.

Let us make use of the blog as a forum for discussion.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Bollywood writers seek a better deal

For Reuters, Shilpa Jamkhandikar explains why Bollywood scriptwriters are seeking to improve their terms and conditions.
The Film Writers Association of India is now coming up with a "model contract" to ensure writers get a fair deal.

"Within the industry, there are many examples of writers who have gone to a big producer with a script, been rejected and then realised that the same film was made two years later," says an industry insider.

"Unfortunately, it's their word against the producers."
The difficulties facing film writers in India have been highlighted by the recent case of the film 3 Idiots, based on Five Point Someone, a book by Chetan Bhagat. As Rhys Blakely reports for the Times.
...the film’s success [it took £41 million in 18 days] has been overshadowed by allegations of double dealing and backstabbing among its creators. Bhagat has alleged that the film-makers have sought to hide the fact that the movie is based on his work. He reacted furiously after he learnt that the storyline was credited in the opening titles to Abhijat Joshi, a scriptwriter, and Rajkumar Hirani, the director. The promotional campaign gives the author no mention and statements released to publicise the film’s success have failed to give him any credit.
Bhagat gives his side of the story on his blog (the fact that his post has more than 2,200 comments shows how big an issue this has become).
The case is as simple as the makers claiming the story as their own, and clearly it is not. Pre-release, the makers made press statements like the movie is only ‘very loosely’, ‘2%-5% inspired by the book’. After release, those who have read the book and seen the movie (and frankly, I think those are the only people who have the right to comment) find the film to be an adaptation of Five Point Someone. The setting, characters, plotline, dramatic twists and turns, one-liners, theme, message – almost all aspects that make up the story are from FPS. Yes, there are some changes, any adaptation requires that – but it is no way an original story. Leading movie critics have privately admitted to me that the film is 70% the book. Still, don’t take my word for it – go read the book, watch the film.
Best of luck to all Indian writers as they organise to assert and defend their rights.

Hollywood credits disputes

In the LA Times, Steven Zeitchik explains the significance of credit disputes for writers.
The issue cuts to the heart of contemporary Hollywood, where screenwriters are abundant but successes are rare, leaving a lot of people to scramble for a little bit of glory.

To those removed from the rituals of Hollywood, the fierce debate over credit can seem like arguing over who rides shotgun on a weekend road trip — arbitrary and, in the end, not very consequential. But for writers, credit can mean the difference between getting and not getting future gigs, higher paychecks and the acclaim and envy of peers.
Link via Danny Stack on Twitter.

The death of the slush pile

In the Wall Street Journal, Katherine Rosman says that in America unsolicited scripts are remaining unread in TV, film and publishing.
Now, slush is dead, or close to extinction. Film and television producers won't read anything not certified by an agent because producers are afraid of being accused of stealing ideas and material. Most book publishers have stopped accepting book proposals that are not submitted by agents. Magazines say they can scarcely afford the manpower to cull through the piles looking for the Next Big Thing.

It wasn't supposed to be this way. The Web was supposed to be a great democratizer of media. Anyone with a Flip and Final Cut Pro could be a filmmaker; anyone with a blog a memoirist. But rather than empowering unknown artists, the Web is often considered by talent-seeking executives to be an unnavigable morass.

Friday, January 15, 2010

What Guild members are getting up to

JESSE ARMSTRONG was a co-writer on series three of The Thick of It, .which begins a rerun on BBC4 on Saturday 16th January at 11.30pm.

SEBASTIAN BACZKIEWICZ wrote The Friday Play: The Accountant of Solyanka Square going out on BBC Radio 4 on Friday 22nd January at 9pm.

MARK CATLEY wrote the episode of Casualty: Leave Me Alone going out on BBC1 on Saturday 16th January at 8.50pm.

MICHAEL CHAPLIN wrote the two part Afternoon Play: Two-Pipe Problems going out on BBC Radio4 on Thursday 21st January at 2.15pm. The first episode is A Streetcar Named Revenge.

NAZRIN CHOUDHURY wrote the episode of Doctors: Letting Go going out on BBC1 on Friday 22nd January at 1.45pm.

ANNA CLEMENTS wrote the episode of Hollyoaks going out on Channel 4 on Wednesday 20th January at 6.30pm.

DAVE COHEN will have three more preview dates before his stand-up show My Life As a Footnote runs for ten nights in London at the end of March and a week at the Brighton Festival in May. On Tuesday 19th January he'll be performing the show at the Alexandra Park Library Poetry Society in Bounds Green. And it's free entry. And there's a free glass of wine. Doors open at 7.30pm, show will probably begin around 8ish. Full details of all gigs on his website: http://davecohen.squarespace.com/

HUGH COSTELLO wrote The Afternoon Play: Some Secluded Glade going out on BBC Radio 4 on Monday 18th January at 2:15pm.

KRIS DYER and DAVE MARKS wrote the episode of On the Blog going out on BBC Radio 2 at 10.00pm on Thursday 21 January.

TIM DYNEVOR wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 on Tuesday 19th January at 7pm.

JIM ELDRIDGE's latest book in Scholastic's My Story series is published this month is The Sweep's Boy, about a Victorian chimney boy who is forced into burglary.

BILL GALLAGHER wrote Lark Rise to Candleford going out on BBC1 on Sunday 17th January at 8pm.

ANDREW HOLDEN wrote the episodes of Silent Witness going out on BBC1 on Thursday 21st and Friday 22nd January at 9pm.

PATRICK HOMES wrote the episode of The Bill going out on ITV1 on Thursday January 21st at 9pm.

MARK ILLIS wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 on Monday 18th January at 7pm.

ROB KINSMAN wrote the episode of Doctors: Divide and Conquer going out on BBC1 on Wednesday 20th January at 1.45pm.

JOYCE LEE has written episode 11 of the BBC's new online drama, EastEnders: E20, going out on Sunday 24th at 8.30pm at www.bbc.co.uk/eastenders/e20/.

DARAN LITTLE wrote the episodes of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 on Monday 18th January at 7.30 and 8.30pm.

JANE MARLOW wrote the episode of Hollyoaks going out on Channel 4 on Monday 18th January at 6.30pm.

PAUL MENDELSON adapted The Saturday Play: Dover and the Sleeping Beauty going out on BBC Radio 4 on Saturday 16th January at 2.30pm.

STEVEN MOFFAT wrote the episode of Doctor Who: The Girl in the Fireplace being rebroadcast on BBC1 on Friday 22nd January at 8.10pm.

DEBBIE OATES wrote the episodes of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 on Thursday 21st and Friday 22nd January at 8.30pm and 7.30pm.

PHILIP QIZILBASH wrote next week's episodes of the BBC Asian Network's daily radio soap, Silver Street being broadcast from Monday 18th January to Friday 22nd January at 12.15pm, with an omnibus edition on Sunday 24th January 4.35pm. DARREN RAPIER wrote this week's episodes. http://www.bbc.co.uk/asiannetwork/silverstreet/

GILLIAN RICHMOND wrote the episode of EastEnders going out on Friday 22nd January at 8pm.

PAUL ROUNDELL wrote the episodes of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 on Thursday 21st January at 7pm and 8pm.

TIM STIMPSON wrote the week's episodes of The Archers going out on BBC Radio 4 from Monday 18th to Friday 22nd January at 2pm and 7pm. The omnibus edition is on Sunday at 10am.

BILL TAYLOR wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 on Wednesday 20th January at 7pm.

JOANNA TOYE has written The Archers Miscellany, a must-have for all fans of the long-running radio soap. Published by BBC Books, priced £9.99

PETER WHALLEY wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 on Friday 22nd January at 8.30pm.

Writers' Guild Award winner TOBY WHITHOUSE wrote Being Human, which goes out on BBC3 on Sunday 17th January at 9pm.

JOY WILKINSON adapted Agatha Christie's Towards Zero, part two of which is going out on BBC Radio 4 on Wednesday 20th January at 11.30am.

COLIN WYATT wrote the episodes of EastEnders going out on BBC1 on Monday 18th January at 8pm and Tuesday 19th January at 7.30pm.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

BAFTA sidelines TV writers... continued

Top TV writer (and Guild member), Tony Jordan, has added his voice to the criticism of BAFTA for not including even a single award for writers in its main TV awards show.

Quoted in an article by Matthew Hemley in the Stage, Jordan says:
“I do think that the writer’s role is somewhat played down by the BAFTA awards. After all, everything begins with the word. As they are so frequently gushing about an actor finding his or her character and performing all the complexity and depth of that character, surely they should be equally gushing about the person who created that character in the first place.”
Hemley's article also quotes Danny Stack who, along with fellow Guild member Martin Day, began campaigning last year to get BAFTA to include writers in the main awards.

The Guild has also been trying to get BAFTA to upgrade the writing award. As Guild Deputy General Secretary, Anne Hogben, says in Hemley's article:
“Most writers feel very disgruntled indeed about how they are airbrushed out of the picture. BAFTA is obsessed with glamorous starlets.
John Willis, chairman of BAFTA’s television committee, tells Hemley that there is limited space for awards.
Willis added that writers are often highlighted in the Television Awards as one of four people who have made the most creative contribution to a show nominated in drama categories.
How kind.

Update (16.01.10): The story has also been picked up by the Independent.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

BBC 'to axe several long-running dramas'

By Maggie Brown for Media Guardian:
Ben Stephenson, the controller of BBC drama commissioning, is poised to cull a number of BBC1's long-running dramas in order to free funds and airtime to commission new shows.

Speaking as he unveiled the BBC's winter and spring drama lineup, Stephenson said the strategy was a "huge risk ... a bloody terrifying decision" but it was the only way to change what was considered mainstream.

Though the BBC was unwilling to be drawn on what might be cut, Holby City, Casualty, Waterloo Road and New Tricks are thought to be safe.
Stephenson also said that audience size was not the sole judge of success for BBC drama.

Tributes to Angharad Jones

From Wales Online:
Tributes were last night paid to the woman behind some of Wales’ most popular Welsh-language dramas after her body was recovered from the waters off Penarth.

The coastguard discovered the body of former S4C commissioning editor Angharad Jones in the sea near to Penarth Pier in the early hours of yesterday morning...

Ms Jones was commissioning editor for drama and film at S4C between 1996 and 2007, commissioning Welsh language hits such as Caerdydd, the multi-award winning feature film Eldra and acclaimed political drama Llafur Cariad.

UNI-MEI campaign against digital theft

UNI-MEI, the global media, entertainment and arts union to which the Writers' Guild of Great Britain is affiliated, has launched a 'campaign against digital theft' (pdf).
UNI MEI believes that the world’s creative industries need adequate protection against digital theft in order to protect creativity, support existing and grow new jobs and ensure fair revenues to all right holders and compensation to all other media and entertainment workers. We know that technology is not static; it will change in many ways – including greater penetration, faster service and inexpensive memory which will potentially increase the problem of digital piracy. We also believe that new ways to address digital theft are evolving rapidly as are ways to make creative works easily and legally available to consumers. That makes the need to address this problem - before it overwhelms all efforts to adapt to an ever-changing digital environment - all the more pressing.

As part of the campaign, UNI-MEI has contacted members of the European Parliament (pdf) to lobby them on the issue.

The regeneration of Doctor Who

Via, the Stage, a video of a BAFTA event featuring outgoing Doctor Who executive producers Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner discussing the show's return in 2004/5.



The video is also available from BAFTA on YouTube.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Guild awards eligibility

Yesterday the Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) announced nominations for its 2010 screenwriting awards. It's an impressive list but, as Dave McNary reports in Variety, the nominations were drawn from a smaller field than in recent years.

Part of the reason for the reduction in numbers is a more formal submission procedure that studios are still getting used to, but as McNary's article makes clear, a tightening up of eligibility for writers based outside the USA has also had an impact.
Previous language said the scripts had to be "under the jurisdiction" of one of the affiliate guilds; the revamped language specifies that the motion picture screenplays must have been written under "a bona fide collective bargaining agreement" of the Australian Writers Guild, Writers Guild of Canada, Writers Guild of Great Britain, Irish Playwrights & Screenwriters Guild or the New Zealand Writers Guild.

We felt that the meaning of 'under the jurisdiction' was unclear," [WGAW assistant exec director Jeff] Hermanson explained. "So the six guilds, collectively operating as the Intl. Affiliation of Writers Guilds, agreed to the new language as part of establishing the organization's priority as encouraging collective bargaining."
So British writers, for example, who aren't members of the WGGB, the WGAW or another affiliate Guild are not eligible for the WGAW awards.

Commenting on the new eligibility criteria, Writers' Guild of Great Britain General Secretary, Bernie Corbett, said: “I salute the WGAW for ditching the fake chumminess of Hollywood and telling it straight: If you won’t join the Guild, or you won’t operate the Guild contract, why should you expect to receive Guild honours? In my view this new thinking has its roots in the great writers’ strike two years ago – in a fight like that you learn the hard way who your friends are and where your loyalty should lie.

“More than that, in the light of this example I shall be recommending the WGGB Executive to adopt similar guidelines for our own awards, starting this year. Our request for a modernised UK film writers’ agreement has been in the producers’ in-tray since 2002 and I found out recently that BBC Films – part of the corporation we have done so much to defend – has taken to putting a non-union clause in its screenwriting contracts.

“There is plenty of time before the 2010 WGGB Awards and the 2011 WGAW Awards to negotiate a new UK film agreement – and for writers who would like to be honoured by their peers to join them in their Guild.”

The Archers Miscellany

On the Writers' Guild website, Archers writer Jo Toye explains how her passion for the programme led her to write the first ever ‘Miscellany’ of the show.
In 2001, I co-wrote The Archers Encyclopaedia. As we edited and compressed a vast amount of information to fit the word count, the value of the archive impressed itself on me again.

What grieved me was the neglect of this potential Tutankhamun’s tomb of information. Some of its treasures do, it’s true, make it on air – everything from the reason for Shula and Usha’s latent mutual resentment, to Lynda’s previous battles over footpaths. But thousands more little gems are buried away: unless I excavated them they might simply be forgotten.

Perhaps you could have lived without knowing that Bert and Freda Fry bought their Ewbank carpet sweeper together when Argos first opened in Felpersham, but as the Howard Carter of The Archers, I feel I have a duty to bring it to your attention. Want to know the design of the floral carpet that graced St Stephen’s one year? It’s in the book, complete with a sort of ‘paint-by-numbers’ illustration of the red cow of St Modwena. Interested in the varieties of soup served at Brookfield harvest picnics? See Page 111.

Monday, January 11, 2010

US Guild enters product placement debate

The Writers Guild of America West (WGAW) has entered the debate about product placement on UK television by writing to the Culture Secretary, Ben Bradshaw, urging him to learn the lessons from the American experience.

You can read the letter by WGAW Executive Director, David J Young, here (pdf - hosted with permission from the WGAW).

Last week, the Writers' Guild of Great Britain submitted its response to the government's consultation.

The rise of self-publishing

Another article about the rise of self-publishing, this time by Helen Brown in the Telegraph.
Although there is no way of breaking down the types of book being self-published, [Jane] Rowland [editor of The Self Publishing Magazine] estimates that it’s 60 per cent fiction and 40 per cent non-fiction. With the growing number of self-publishers comes a new public respect for self-published authors. So commentators who once derided “vanity published” writers are now beginning to acknowledge an empowered DIY culture. It’s no longer publishing for rejects, but “alternative publishing”; a bold stance outside the homogenised mainstream.

Amir Nizar interview

In the Guardian, Rory McCarthy meets Palestinian playwright Amir Nizar ahead of the London opening of Nizar's play, I Am Yusuf And This Is My Brother.
Zuabi's writing is...far from polemical. The Jews who fought to create their state are almost absent; never named, they appear only in the background. "We saw them first in January, then all the time," says one brother. "They invaded our dreams, our conversation." Zuabi simply wanted to tell a Palestinian story about Palestinians. "Our narrative is the less known one – history is written by the victors," he says, but adds: "There is no spite. I find the blame game futile. It's not like I do theatre to crush Israeli propaganda. I don't hear Israeli propaganda. I don't care about it."
I Am Yusuf And This Is My Brother opens at the Young Vic in London on 19 January.

Saturday, January 09, 2010

West Midlands Writers’ Guild presents Writing For Publication

The West Midlands branch of the Writers’ Guild presents: Writing For Publication

When: Friday 22nd January, 7.30pm
Where: Centenary Suite, Birmingham Rep Theatre
Cost: Free to Writers’ Guild Members; £5 for non-members, payable at the door
Please email WMidWritersGuild@aol.com to confirm your attendance.

The panel comprises:

Laura Longrigg, director of MBA Literary Agents. Laura has worked in publishing for nearly 25 years. As an editor, mostly in the genre of popular fiction, she worked for HarperCollins, Heinemann and Penguin. She became an agent in 1994, working first with Jennifer Kavanagh, and in 1997 she joined MBA. Since becoming an agent, her interests have broadened to include literary fiction and non-fiction, including history, biography, travel, self-help, health and parenting. She has also worked with children’s authors.

Alan Mahar, publishing director of Tindall Street Press, an independent publisher of regional literary fiction with a national reputation for excellence and a prize-listing record that is the envy of many established imprints (including three Booker nominations and two Costa first novel awards - its 2010 award just announced). Based in Birmingham, Tindal Street Press aims to find writers of national and international significance from places other than London and the South East.

Jane Commane, the co-director of Nine Arches Press, an independent and innovative poetry publisher based in the West Midlands that aims to bring you the best in contemporary British poetry. It publishes Under The Radar magazine as well as poetry books and pamphlets.

Jacqui Rowe, the Co-Director of Flarestack Poets, a new venture under the Flarestack imprint. Following its launch anthology in November 2009 it will be publishing six poetry titles in 2010. Flarestack pamphlets have a reputation for quality and diversity, and for encouraging work from new and established voices.

Dave Reeves, the director of Radio Wildfire, which broadcasts from the West Midlands via the internet live on the first Monday of each month. It focuses on live literature, spoken word performances and oral art.

The panel will be chaired by Helen Cross, the author of three novels: The Secrets She Keeps, My Summer of Love (which won a Betty Trask Prize and was made into an award-winning film) and Spilt Milk, Black Coffee, published by Bloomsbury in May 2009.

What Guild members are getting up to

MARTIN ALLEN wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 on Friday 15th January at 8.30pm.

DAVID ASHTON wrote the last instalment of McLevy going out on BBC Radio 4 at 2.15pm.

ALAN AYCKBOURN's 1977 play Just Between Ourselves has been adapted by Gordon House for the Saturday 9th January Afternoon Play, going out on BBC Radio 4 at 2.30pm.

SARAH BAGSHAW wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 on Wednesday 13th January at 7pm.

CHRIS CHIBNALL wrote the episode of Law & Order UK going out on ITV1 on Monday 11th January at 9pm.

SARAH DANIELS wrote the abridged version of The Jonestown Letters going out on BBC Radio 4 at 2.15pm.

KRIS DYER and DAVE MARKS wrote the episode of On the Blog going out on BBC Radio 2 at 10pm on Thursday 14 th January.

ANDREA EARL wrote the Afternoon Play: Solace going out on BBC Radio 4 at 2.15pm.

JAN ETHERINGTON's first Comedy Writing Course for 2010 takes place on 30th/31st January. Limited numbers/special guest/great lunch . . . Details: www.comedycourse.biz, or call 0788 7907713.

PETER FLANNERY wrote the episode of Inspector George Gently going out on BBC1 on Wednesday 13th January at 8.30pm.

SIMON FRITH wrote next week's episodes of The Archers going out on BBC Radio 4. On Friday 15th January at 7pm, Mike dances his way out of trouble.

BILL GALLAGHER wrote the first episode of the new series of Lark Rise to Candleford, going out on BBC1 on Sunday 10th January at 8pm.

JULIA GILBERT wrote the episode of EastEnders going out on BBC1 on Monday 11th January at 8pm.

MARCUS GOODWIN wrote the episode of Doctors going out on BBC1 on Tuesday 12th January at 1.45pm.

HENRIETTA HARDY wrote the episode of Doctors going out on BBC1 on Thursday 14th January at 1.45pm.

ADRIAN HODGES wrote the episode of Survivors going out on BBC1 on Tuesday 12th January at 9pm.

JAN McVERRY wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 on Monday 11th January at 7.30pm.

GRAHAM MITCHELL wrote the episode of Holby City going out on BBC1 on Tuesday 12th January at 8pm.

SUE MOONEY wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 on Tuesday 12th January at 7pm.

OLLY PERKIN wrote the episode of Doctors going out on BBC1 on Friday 15th January at 1.45pm.

DAVID RENWICK is the subject of a British Film Institute season throughout January. There will be screenings at the BFI Southbank of episodes from Agatha Christie's Poirot, Jonathan Creek, One Foot in the Grave, One Foot in the Algarve and Whoops Apocalypse. In addition, he will give an illustrated career interview before the screening of Love Soup: There Must Be Some Way Out Of Here.

Part Two of VICTOR SCHONFELD's series One Planet: Animals & Us will be broadcast on the BBC World Service from Thursday 7th January and is also on ‘Listen Again’ . Part One - which looks at the use of animals for food and turns to experts in fields such as psychology, history, language and neurology to find out why humans seem so attracted to eating meat - can be found on ‘Listen Again’. Part Two focuses on the scientific establishment's attachment to using animals, and also concludes the series by considering the future: might ending the suffering of animals at human hands greatly benefit people, too? Both programmes will be permanently available from the BBC World Service Science page.

JOE TURNER wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 on Thursday 14th January at 8.30pm.

MARK WADLOW wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 on Monday 11th January at 8.30pm.

ED WHITMORE wrote the episode of Silent Witness going out on BBC1 on Thursday 14th January at 9pm.

JOY WILKINSON wrote the dramatisation of Towards Zero by Agatha Christie going out on BBC Radio 4 at 11.30am.

Friday, January 08, 2010

WGGB response to product placement consultation

Today is the closing date for the Departmet for Culture Media and Sport consultation on product placement on television. You can read the Guild's response to the consultation here (pdf). It has been written by Edel Brosnan on behalf of the Guild's TV Committee.

The introduction reads:
In an ideal world, the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain would retain the ban on product placement (PP). However, the Guild recognises that income from traditional advertising revenue and programme sponsorship is in a state of flux. Scripted drama and comedy is being squeezed from the schedules by reality television formats, including shows like the X Factor, which is in practice an advertorial for artists on a particular record label. Viewers are already exposed to PP in shows imported from the United States, in feature films (including British-made films) and in numerous boxed and online videogames. PP is also permitted on online drama: this anomaly will become more apparent as online and digital content platforms converge.

British television is hugely important, not just as a commercial enterprise, but as a vibrant and vital part of British life and culture. We do not foresee any circumstances where PP aimed at children would be acceptable and we welcome the decision to retain the ban on PP in children’s television.

But television production in this country is facing an unprecedented funding crisis; writers, producers and writer-producers are forced to compete on an unlevel playing field with overseas and online competitors. In this climate, the option of product placement in programmes for adults needs to be considered pragmatically. To quote Gail Renard, former chair of the WGGB and a BAFTA-winning screenwriter: “I'm not against product placement under carefully considered and controlled circumstances… but it can neither be a knee-jerk reaction nor miracle cure for poor network management and/or programming.”

In principle, the WGGB remains cautious about the advisability and workability of PP. In practice, we hope that clear guidelines and robust regulation will ensure that the benefits of PP outweigh the disadvantages.

C4 expands drama commissioning team

By Robin Parker in Broadcast:
Channel 4 has expanded its drama commissioning team, making two appointments as it gears up to spend its post-Big Brother windfall.

Prime Suspect script editor Roberto Troni will be one of two commissioning editors reporting to new head of drama Camilla Campbell...

Troni will be joined by Robert Wulff-Cochrane, who is promoted from head of development

Thursday, January 07, 2010

David Selzer's poems

A new (ish) blog by Guild member, David Selzer.

Not really a blog in a conventional sense, in fact, but his latest poems published in a blogging format.

WGGB Awards videos

Better late than never - we've uploaded a few videos taken at the 2009 Writers' Guild of Great Britain Awards, including Andrew Davies winning the Lifetime Achievement Award.


You can read David Edgar's tribute to Andrew Davies on the WGGB website.

Sky Arts to broadcast new single dramas by playwrights

An exclusive by Matthew Hemley in the Stage:
Sky Arts is set to follow its acclaimed Theatre Live! series with a brand-new show that is being viewed as a modern successor to the BBC’s Play for Today strand, The Stage can reveal.

Sandi Toksvig, who was the founder and artistic director of Theatre Live!, is again working with the broadcaster on the new programme, which will feature dramas screened live that have been written by established playwrights.
Theatre Live!, broadcast last summer, featured work by writers new to playwriting.

Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Joe Penhall on adapting The Road

In the Guardian, Joe Penhall recounts his experience of adapting Cormac McCarthy's The Road, including the time the author came to a special preview screening.
The first thing he said he liked about the film was the voiceover. This had been a source of consternation for some time. Initially, I wanted to write one to fully capture McCarthy's coruscating lilt – but Hillcoat didn't want it. Then, once it was filmed, the producers wanted the voiceover. Hillcoat reluctantly agreed but our star, Viggo Mortensen, was dead against it. Nick Cave, who was scoring the film, was all for it. Meanwhile, Robert Duvall, who is in arguably the best scene in the film, had taken to improvising his own extraordinary dialogue, which some of us thought might make a fine voiceover. When I finally sat down in my Sunset Strip hotel room to finish writing it, with eight worried people on a conference call chewing over every word, the voiceover was beginning to look doomed. Now we had it from the horse's mouth: "It's very successful. It really works." I wanted to lift McCarthy off his feet and give him a bear hug.
The Road opens in the UK on 8th January.

Harry Venning on writing radio comedy

In the Stage, Harry Venning, creator of the Clare In The Community radio sitcom, offers some advice for aspiring radio comedy writers.
Anyone considering a career writing comedy for radio should first find a writing partner. A good writing partner provides company, confidence, inspiration and Father Ted DVDs for when you can’t be arsed to do any writing. But, I hear you say, won’t a partner mean sharing the money? Yes, but here is the joy of radio - the pay is so miniscule you can easily cut it in half and not notice.

With David Ramsden, I have written five series of Clare in the Community, starring Sally Phillips, about a social worker whose insensitivity is matched only by her lack of awareness. With Neil Brand, I have just finished writing Sneakiepeeks, starring Nina Conti, following the adventures of an inept secret service surveillance unit. Radio 4 did not like the title originally, but warmed to it when we threatened to re-name the show The Buggers.

Tweeting comedians

In the Times, Tom Cox looks at how comics are using Twitter to hone their wit.
“Brevity is the soul of wit,” [Graham] Linehan says when asked to give six words on exactly why Twitter has proved such a successful forum for comic expression. Linehan tweets even more than [Peter] Serafinowicz — he says he likes to have a “river of conversation going on nearby” when he writes, and tends “to submerge, rather than dip in” — but many of his messages actually involve spreading the word about the work of others, adding to the sense of Twitter as a support group for housebound comedy writers. One fellow scribe Linehan turned on to the site is the comic-book artist Michael Kupperman. “I’ve never really enjoyed any form of online interaction before, and frankly I assumed Twitter represented another great step downward in terms of people’s ability to communicate.

I was wrong,” Kupperman says. “There are so many funny, clever people, and their responses to me are so sly that it pushes me to try my best.”

Monday, January 04, 2010

David Edgar on new theatre writing

On the Writers' Guild website, David Edgar, who helped research and write The British Theatre Consortium's recent report for Arts Council England (Writ Large: New Writing on the English Stage 2003-2009) reflects on its findings and those of two other major ACE theatre studies.
There are some problems to address: all three of the recent ACE reports on theatre point out that many playwrights are concerned with changes in developmental practice - notably, an increase in the role and power of dramaturgs - and there is a widespread concern that playwrights are finding it harder to sustain a life-long career (a conclusion confirmed in the Writers' Guild Theatre Committee's evidence to Writ Large). In particular, theatres seem less inclined than ever to present second productions of successful new plays.

Nonetheless, the expansion of new writing - and, in particular, its breaking out of the studio ghetto - represents a triumph for the Arts Council, for which new writing was a priority for most of the last 30 years, and for artistic directors, literary managers and dramaturgs who refused to accept the widely-held presumption that new work empties theatres.

There is, however, the obvious paradox that news of this triumph comes at a point when fashionable opinion has turned its back on the written play, in favour of work by devising, performance-based companies. For 10 years, it's been assumed that text-based theatre in general, and new writing in particular, was on the way out. In fact, it is thriving as never before.

Sunday, January 03, 2010

Sir Tom Stoppard on Andrew Marr show

Guild member Sir Tom Stoppard was interviewed by Andrew Marr on BBC One this morning. Here's his analysis of the continuing significance of theatre in this country:
'Theatre, partly for traditional reasons, is still the place where the text starts everything off and the text is what one is trying to honour... [that's why] young writers still want to write for the British theatre.'
You can watch the entire interview on the BBC iPlayer (until Sunday 10th January 2010).

Saturday, January 02, 2010

Newsjack call for material

From the BBC:
Series 2 of Newsjack begins broadcasting on Thursday 07th January for six weeks. If you would like to submit comedy material to the show, please follow this Writer’s Guide.

Newsjack is BBC Radio 7’s topical sketch show which seeks to comically scrutinise the news, views and issues of the day. It looks to be irreverent and satirical, a kind of younger brother to the more "grown up" Radio 4 topical shows like The Now Show and The News Quiz.

It is a showcase for new comedy writing so anyone can submit material. We accept sketches and short jokes every week of the six week run. The best submissions will make it into the 28 minute show. All submissions will be read but sadly, due to the overwhelming number of entries, we do not have time to give feedback to most people.

We very much recommend you listen to the show before you submit material. This will help you get the right tone, write for the cast, get an idea of the length of sketches etc. The new series will be available on iPlayer for a week after broadcast. It will also be available as a podcast so please subscribe.