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.

John Esmonde obituaries

Comedy writer John Esmonde, who, with Bob Larbey, created and wrote sitcoms including The Good Life, Please Sir! and Ever Decreasing Circles died earlier this month.

There are obituaries in The Times, The Guardian and by Anthony Hayward in The Independent.

Having decided that Down To Earth (1995) would be their last series together, Esmonde and Larbey went their separate ways. Esmonde retired to the coastal village of La Herradura, in the Granada province of Spain, and concentrated on writing novels. "I haven't had one published yet, but being rejected makes me feel young again," he said.

David Hare on the state of TV drama

In The Times, David Hare lays into what he sees as the poverty of the BBC's ambition for drama.

The revival of Doctor Who sends the BBC into a well-merited orgy of delight, precisely because it inherits a known form and succeeds in regenerating it. It conforms, if you like, to the Trojan Horse model of drama, by taking something already familiar and cleverly smuggling in some exciting new ideas.

But with very few exceptions - inevitably, you think of Paul Abbott, the author of State of Play and Shameless - it is very hard to see the same commitment being brought to bear on wholly original work. The Wire and Heimat remain in their scale and ambition the two global television series the corporation seems least keen to emulate.

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.

DAVID CROFT co-wrote the episode of Dad’s Army, The Making of Private Pike, going out on BBC2 at 7:00pm on Saturday 23rd August.

SARAH DANIELS’S adaptation of Doris Lessing's The Golden Notebook is going out on Radio 4 at 7:45pm on Monday 25th August.

PETER GIBBS wrote the episode of Heartbeat, Bully Boys, going out on ITV1 at 8:00pm on Sunday 24th August.

JULIE JONES wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 7:30pm on Wednesday 27th August.

ROY MITCHELL co-wrote the episode of New Tricks, Mad Dogs, going out on BBC1 at 9:00pm on Monday 25th August.

TOM NEEDHAM wrote the episode of The Bill, Before the Fall, going out on ITV1 at 8:00pm on Thursday 28th August.

CHRIS PARKER wrote the episodes of EastEnders going out on BBC1 at 8:00pm on Monday 25th and at 7:30pm on Tuesday 26th August.

JULIE PARSONS wrote the episode of Emmerdale: Unhappy Birthday going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Tuesday 26th August.

HEATHER ROBSON wrote the episode of Hollyoaks going out on C4 at 6:30pm on Monday 25th August.

CAROLE SIMPSON SOLAZZO wrote the episodes of The Archers going out on Radio 4 at 7:00pm from Sunday 24th until Friday 29th August. Each episode will be repeated at 2:00pm the day after its original broadcast.


JOHN SULLIVAN wrote the episode of The Green Green Grass, The Country Wife, going out on BBC1 at 7:30pm on Friday 29th August.


BILL TAYLOR wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Monday 25th August.

Arts Council England Theatre Assessment 2008

Arts Council England is inviting contributions for its Theatre Assessment 2008, a study into the impact of the additional £25 million of public spending secured for theatre since 2003.

The Assessment will cover a wide range of theatre practice, including text-based work, experimental theatre, physical theatre, puppetry, musical theatre, street arts and circus; building based and touring organisations, work for children and young people, including youth theatre, participatory theatre and diversity.

It will be carried out by independent consultants Anne Millman and Jodi Myers, with the support of their advisors, Pippa Bailey, Patrick O'Kane and Kully Thiarai. They are working closely with Barbara Matthews and Isobel Hawson from Arts Council England's Theatre Strategy team.

Open meetings

There will be a number of meetings held to discuss these questions, which anyone is welcome to attend and for which no reservations are necessary. If you have access requirements you should email access@theatreassessment.org.uk

Manchester
Thursday 4 September 2008
10.30 – 1.30 Doors open 10.00
John Thaw Studio, Martin Harris Centre, University of Manchester
Bridgeford Street, Manchester M13 9PL

London
Monday 8 September 2008
2.00 – 5.00 Doors open 1.30
Young Vic, 66 The Cut, Waterloo, London SE1 8LZ

Bristol
Wednesday 1 October 2008
2.00 – 5.00 Doors open 1.30
Circomedia, St Paul's Church, Portland Square. Bristol. BS2 8SJ
Please note Portland Square location

Written responses
You can also send responses to the consultation questions, using the response form, at any time up until 31 October 2008.

Guild Members' blogs

Highlights from Members' blogs this week include:

• David Lemon reveals a longer trailer for his upcoming feature, Faintheart
• Danny Stack announces the August Script Liberation
• Stephen Gallagher offers a free downloand of his short-story In Gethsemane
• Piers Beckley learns lessons about making short films
  

Record your sound separately

Seriously, this is the most important thing I learned. Always have a separate soundtrack.

I knew one sound guy, and he's no longer working in the business. I tried a couple of other leads, but time was getting short, and the DP swore blind that we could just run the sound from the boom mike into the camera and it would be fine.

Not having a separate sound guy is the worst mistake you can have.

Hamlet 2

The The L.A. Times, Mark Olsen talks to Andrew Fleming and Pam Brady the co-writers of Hamlet 2 (released in the UK at the end of November).

Having grown frustrated by the limitations being put on them by executives and the like, the newfound friends decided to just go for it on their own. The traditional limits of good taste would simply have to be moved aside. "We had been doing TV pilots together," said Fleming, "that's how we met each other, we worked on two pilots together. And there were so many rules, so many people saying, 'Oh, that makes us uncomfortable.' "

" 'It's too far; you'll alienate the audience,' " chimed in Brady, mimicking an overly cautious exec.

"Smoothing it out, we said, 'Let's just do this on our own,' " Fleming continued. "It's for us; it will make us laugh. So we didn't censor ourselves at all."

Sadie Jones interview

In The Guardian, Alison Flood talks to Sadie Jones about her journey from unsuccessful screenwriter to bestselling novelist.

It's possible that Sadie Jones just wasn't a very good screenwriter. After "clawing away" (her words) at the profession for 15 years, things weren't looking good – a "lovely romantic comedy", a thriller, and a "really nice coming of age story" all came to nothing. Then along came The Outcast, the film script of which became a bestselling novel, which in a twist of fate is now becoming a film script again.

"I often thought that if I could have given up, and done something else, I would have done," says Jones. "Retrospectively, I can see that I was learning all the time, but it was often difficult. I was employed sometimes, and I had things in development, but there were a lot of disappointments. It was not so much stubbornness, or even belief, I just carried on writing. To deal with disappointment, I had to write for the sake of writing, not some imaginary reward."

Is writing a form of self-help?

On her blog, Charlotte Higgins opens a debate as to whether writing is a form of self-help.

Speaking about his new novel, Deaf Sentence, he [David Lodge] said, "I find most writing therapeutic," adding that Graham Greene had once expressed bafflement that most people did not write, or paint, or do creative work of some kind as an outlet for anxiety.

Julian Barnes, on the other hand, expressed nothing but disdain about the writing-as-therapy notion when he spoke at the festival on Sunday. "In certain areas of misery-lit it might work," he told the audience. "You have a horrible life, you write about it, you make a lot of money; people start to love you; your life gets better. But it's just as likely to have the opposite effect. You have a miserable life; you write about it; nobody wants to publish it; you end up even more miserable."

YouTube developments

Whilst online window shopping recently, I happened across a couple of interesting articles on Camcorder.info

The first, YouTube and the Death of Short-Form Video, looks at developments at the online video site that allow for longer films to be uploaded, and links to various discussions about prospects for 'monetizing' YouTube films.

Even if you are a huge fan of YouTube shorts, you have to admit that Google is going to have to make lots of tweaks if it is ever going to make YouTube profitable. Google understands this and is working on the transformation. Screening Room is a reasonable first step to start competing with products like Hulu. YouTube Annotations provides new capabilities that will make YouTube a more viable business tool. I expect more changes soon.

The second article is about [Title Of Show], a new musical that built an audience on YouTube.

The [Title of Show] show never became a huge Internet hit, but with five to twenty four thousand viewers per episode it kept the musical fresh and built up a sizable base of new fans. Eventually a Broadway producer figured they would give Bowen and Bell what they were asking for. Last week [Title of Show] made its debut on Broadway at the Lyceum Theater.

Imison Award shortlist

In addition to the shortlist for the Tinniswood Award, announced earlier this month, the shortlist has also been announced for the Imison Award for the best original radio drama by a writer new to radio. It's judged by the Society of Author's Broadcasting Committee.

The shortlist is:

• The Magician's Daughter by Adam Beeson
  
• Chameleon by Vicky Meer
  
• The Birth And Death Of Daylight by Stephen Riley
  
• Excluded by Michael Stewart
  
• Left At The Angel by Jack Thorne
• Tin Man by Laurence Wilson
  

Both the Imison and the Tinniswood Awards will be presented at a ceremony at the British Academy in London on 21st October 2008.

Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy

In The New York Times, Brooke Barnes looks forward to the launch of a new online venture from Seth MacFarlane, creator of Family Guy, an animated variety show that will be distributed solely through Google.

The Internet giant will syndicate the new program using its AdSense advertising system to thousands of Web sites that are predetermined to be gathering spots for Mr. MacFarlane’s target audience, typically young men. Instead of placing a static ad on a Web page, Google will place a “Cavalcade” video clip. YouTube will also devote a channel to the material.

Marketing messages will be incorporated into the clips largely through “preroll” ads, but Burger King took its involvement a step further. In a rare example of one of Hollywood’s top creative powers working hand-in-glove with a marketer, Mr. MacFarlane created and animated Burger King ads to play ahead of “Cavalcade” clips.

London and South East Branch Social

Who: All Guild members resident in London and the South East

What: A drink and a chat

Why: To meet fellow Guild members...and to discuss what events the London & SE Branch might want to organise

Where: Royal Festival Hall Bar, on the South Bank (or outside if it's sunny)

When: From 6.30pm on Monday 15th September

If you'd like to come along, please contact erik@writersguild.org.uk so that we have an idea of numbers. All welcome. 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.

MARTIN ALLEN wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 7:30pm on Monday 18th August.

SARAH BAGSHAW wrote the episode of Emmerdale: Trial by Fire going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on 19th August.

RICHARD BURKE wrote the episode of Hollyoaks going out on C4 at 6:30pm on Thursday 21st August.

MARK BURT wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 8:30pm on Monday 18th August.

STEPHEN BUTCHARD co-wrote the episode of House of Saddam going out on BBC2 at 9:00pm on Wednesday 20th August.

PAUL COATES wrote the episode of Hollyoaks going out on C4 at 6:30pm on Friday 22nd August.

MARK EVANS’S radio comedy Bleak Expectations continues with the episode “Chapter the Third: a Recovery All Made” going out at 6:30pm on Thursday 21st August

MATTHEW EVANS wrote the episodes of EastEnders going out on BBC1 at 8:00pm on Monday 18th August.

LISA HOLDSWORTH wrote the episode of New Tricks, Communal Living, going out on BBC1 at 9:00pm on Monday 18th and Tuesday 19th August.

ALEX JONES’s play, I’m A Minger! will be at the 503 theatre 25th August - 30th August following the launch at the Arts Theatre, London and sell out performances at the Latitude Festival:

IAN KERSHAW wrote the radio play Alan and Jean’s Incredible Journey going out on Radio 4 at 2:15pm on Tuesday 19th August.

ANDREW KIRK wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Monday 17th August.

DAVID LANE wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 7:30pm on Wednesday 20th August.

Congratulations to STEVEN MOFFAT who has won the Hugo award for his episode of Dr Who called Blink. The international Hugo awards are for excellence in fantasy and science fiction. It is his third time winning the best short-form drama Hugo award. He won it in 2006 and 2007 for his Dr Who episodes The Empty Child and The Girl in the Fireplace.

JULIAN PERKINS wrote the episode of The Bill, Game Plan, the first part of which goes out on ITV1 at 8:00pm on Tuesday 19th August. The second part goes out at the same time on Wednesday 20th August.

NICK SALTRESE wrote the episode of Hollyoaks going out on C4 at 6:30pm 18th Monday August.

JOANNA TOYE wrote the episodes of The Archers which will go out on Radio 4 at 7:00pm from 17th - 22nd August, with an omnibus edition on Sunday 24th.

JOE TURNER wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 7:30pm on Friday 22nd August.

PETER WHALLEY wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 7:30pm on Friday 22nd August.

SUSAN WILKINS wrote the episode of Heartbeat, Big Chill, going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Sunday 17th August.

VALERIE WINDSOR wrote the episode of The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, Deception In His Mind, going out on BBC1 at 8:20pm on Saturday 16th August.

KARIN YOUNG wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Wednesday 20th August.

What's the point of literary agents?

On The Guardian Books Blog, Mark Liam Piggott wonders whether literary agents might be more of a hinderance than a help.

Aspiring writers are frequently told that the quickest route to getting published is via an agent. Having been on the books of two, neither of whom got my book on the shelves, and then secured a contract with a publisher myself, I wonder if that's really true.

Radio drama rates 2008

Last year, the Writers' Guild and Society of Authors agreed a two-year deal with the BBC for increases to the Radio Drama rates.

In 2007, there was an increase of 4% and this year there has been an increase of 2% in line with the deal for the BBC staff.

Details of the new rates can be downloaded from the Rates and Agreements section of the Guild's website.

If you have any queries about these, or any other Writers' Guild minimum terms agreements and rates, please contact the office.

The history of Mills and Boon

For BBC News, Samanthi Dissanayake explores the 100-year history of romantic fiction publishers Mills and Boon.

Nowadays, Italians and Spaniards remain popular heroes and at least one sheikh romance a month is published. Even Russian oligarchs have made an appearance.

"As the world has become more globalised our settings have had to become more exotic, more luxurious and exciting. Where our heroes were once millionaires, now they have to be billionaires," says Clare Somerville, marketing director for Mills and Boon.

There's also a video guide to writing a Mills and Boon novel.

New Guild Members' blogs

Well, new to me at least:

• Sue Guiney
• Tony Klinger
  
• Tony Ramsay
• Steve Turnbull
  

Stolen stories

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

Many writers submit unsolicited storylines to television companies in the hope of getting work. It's a time honoured tradition, but a disquieting practice recently has sprung up. Writers are regularly receiving replies along the lines of, “What a wonderful storyline! We love it. But we just want you to know, in an amazing co-inky dinky, that our producer/ researcher/ Peruvian intern came up with almost an identical storyline, so we won’t be able to use yours.”

Allow me to translate: “Yes your story was good; so good in fact, we’re going to nick it and not pay for it.”

This appropriation of storylines by production personnel is being noticed all over the industry. A well-known agent observed, “They tell the lie before they steal the story.”

Of course certain ideas are in the ether and very much a part of our zeitgeist. Some of us do have similar ideas at the same time. I for one still haven’t forgiven Richard Curtis for writing Blackadder, Four Weddings and A Funeral, and Notting Hill, all of which were on the tip of my pen. But the number of times this is happening to writers now is getting worrying.

If you’ve received one of these letters or e-mails lately, we’d like to see it. Could you please alert the Guild office: erik@writersguild.org.uk

The rule is if someone likes your original storyline enough to use it, he/she must pay for it.

The Guild be launching our new Television Good Practice Guide shortly. But here’s a preview:

“Unsolicited storylines come free. So, too, do brief outlines which put down on paper the gist of an idea in which you have expressed an interest. If, after discussion, you ask a writer to prepare a full storyline to test the development of an idea, this is a storyline commission and you are bound by Writers’ Guild Agreements to pay for it.”

And hold the “coincidences.”

Hugo Award for Moffat

Guild member Steven Moffat has another trophy to put on his mantelpiece after his episode of Doctor Who, Blink, won the 2008 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form.

Saturday Night Live talent online

From Crackle: The Line, Ep 1: The FutureSpace Showdown Begins

In The New York Times, Brian Stelter reports on how the writer-performers of American show Saturday Night Live created online comedy series The Line during the recent writers' strike.

The ability of “The Line” to attract name-brand talent reflects the increasing number of writers and actors who are showing interest in original Web video. “The Line” was the first straight-to-Internet series to be produced and financed by Broadway Video, the production company founded by the “SNL” executive producer, Lorne Michaels. But it won’t be its last: the company says it will produce other Web series created by and starring “SNL” cast members, and Mr. Michaels also intends to produce Web performances by Jimmy Fallon this fall, as that former “SNL” cast member prepares to replace Conan O’Brien on “Late Night” next year.

For the writers and stars of “The Line,” the Web was a proving ground. “We wanted to have an experience of shooting something on our own,” Mr. Hader said in an interview. “This is a good medium to do it in because it’s a very low-stakes medium.”

In praise of New Tricks

In The Guardian, Stephen Armstrong sings the praises of BBC TV drama series New Tricks (created by Roy Mitchell and Nigel McCrery).

...as New Tricks has tottered to its fifth series, adding roughly one million viewers each time - with most of the newcomers in their 30s or younger - it has become correspondingly darker and more unsettling. Lane has obsessive-compulsive disorder and is a recovering alcoholic. Halford spent series one to four pursuing the man who murdered his wife only to see the crook walk free. Plots have revolved around pension-fund rip-offs, incest, corruption and MI5 assassinations of 1970s trade-union leaders. And this can upset commissioners. A forthcoming episode exploring racism was nearly canned by a nervous BBC until the cast mutinied.

Executive producer Tom Sherry says the show is designed to subvert expectations, pricking the conscience of viewers through drama where documentaries might struggle. It may not have CSI's $3m-an-hour budget, but New Tricks isn't just our most popular show - it's proper genre-mashing cutting-edge Brit TV. Of the old school.

The writers' doctor

For the Writers Guild of America West, Denis Faye speaks to cardiologist D.P. Lyle who has a second career as an advisor to writers.

What gaffs do you see in movies and on the TV that you roll your eyes at?

Several. One of them, I call the “instant death.” It's very hard to kill someone instantly, especially with a gun or a knife -- especially the guy who throws the knife across the room and it sticks the guy in the chest, and he falls down dead. Not going to happen. It's going to take hours, if not days, to die from a knife wound unless it hits something really, really vital and that's not likely. Same with a gun. Brain, heart or upper part of spinal cord, yeah, you can drop someone like a sack of potatoes. Short of that, they're going to bleed to death, or they're going to die of an infection.

How many times have you seen the guy shot, and he's written out of the script? Actually, what's going to happen is that he's going to be angry, and he's going to come after you. He's going to be bleeding, but now, he's going to take you with him.

The other thing is the “knockout punch.” You knock someone out, and they're written out of the script. In real life, think about the boxing matches you've seen. Guy gets knocked out and two minutes later, he's sitting on the stool in the corner saying it was a lucky punch. That's real life. If you knock someone out, they're unconscious for seconds or a very few minutes. They might be groggy for a few minutes, but after that, they're upset, and they're going to come after you. That doesn't happen in movies.

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.

SIMON ASHDOWN wrote the episode of EastEnders going out on BBC1 at 8:00pm on Monday 11th August.

MICHAEL CHAPLIN’S two-part radio drama Two-Pipe Problems begins on Radio 4 with A Streetcar Named Revenge going out on Radio 4 at 2:15pm on Monday 11th August. The second part, The Trusty Valet and the Crusty Butler, goes out at the same time on Tuesday 12th August at the same time.

MARY CUTLER wrote the episodes of The Archers going out on Radio 4 at 7:00pm from Sunday 10th until Friday 15th August, with each episode being repeated at 2:00pm the day after its original broadcast.

RICHARD DAVIDSON wrote the episode of EastEnders going out on BBC1 at 8:00pm on Friday 15th August.

ANGHARAD DEVONALD and OTHNIEL SMITH are two of the writers of The Exquisite Corpse, being performed by the True/Fiction Theatre Company at C Venue 34, Chambers Street, Edinburgh, until 25th August

TIM DYNEVOR wrote the episode of Emmerdale: Better the Devil You Know going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Tuesday 12th August.

STEVEN FAY wrote the episode of Hollyoaks going out on C4 at 6:30pm on Monday 11th August.

CHRIS FEWTRELL wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 8:30pm on Monday 11th August.

ALISON FISHER wrote the episode of EastEnders going out on BBC1 at 8:00pm on Thursday 14th August.

JONATHAN HARVEY wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 7:30pm on Wednesday 13th August.

SEAMUS HILLEY wrote Coming Up: And Kill Them going out on C4 at 11:35pm on Wednesday 12th August.

TONY GREEN wrote the episode of Hollyoaks going out on C4 on Friday 15th August.

ANTHONY HOROWITZ wrote the episode of Foyle’s War, Bad Blood, going out on ITV1 at 8:00pm on Saturday 9th August.

PETER KERRY wrote the episodes of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Wednesday 13th and Thursday 14th August.

ANDREW KIRK wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Friday 15th August.

ANDREW MCCULLOCH co-wrote the episode of Heartbeat, Taking Stock, going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Sunday 10th August.


PAUL MENDELSON’S radio play Dover And The Unkindest Cut Of All is going out on Radio 4 at 2:30pm on Saturday 9th August.

Congratulations to GARETH MILES who won the Wales book of the year award for a book in the Welsh language for his book Y Proffwyd a’i Ddwy Jesebel (Gwasg Carreg Gwalch).

DOMINIC MINGHELLA co-wrote the episode of Doc Martin, Erotomania, going out on ITV1 at 9:00pm on Tuesday 12th August.

STUART MORRIS wrote the episode of The Bill, Getting Personal, going out on ITV1 at 8:00pm on Wednesday 13th August.

DEBBIE O’MALLEY wrote the episode of Holby City, The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, going out on BBC1 at 8:00pm on Tuesday 12th August.

HOWARD OVERMAN wrote the episode of Harley Street going out on ITV1 at 9:00pm on Thursday 14th August.

LYN PAPADOPOULOS wrote the episode of Hollyoaks going out on C4 at 6:30pm on Wednesday 13th August.

JULIAN PERKINS wrote the episode of The Bill, Game Plan, the first half of which is going out on ITV1 at 8:00pm on Thursday 14th August.

TONY READ is appearing at the Edinburgh International Books Festival on Wednesday 13 August, to talk about his last adult non-fiction book The World On Fire: 1919 And The Battle With Bolshevism. He will also be reading from the work of Russian poet Anna Akhmatova in Scottish PEN's session for Imprisoned Writers that day.

DAMON ROCHEFORT wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 7:30pm on Monday 11th August.

MARK TAVENER’S comedy High Table, Lower Orders will be concluding on Radio 4 at 11:30am on Friday 15th August.

BILL TAYLOR wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Monday 11th August.

ITV threatens children's programming

From Dan Sabbagh in The Times:

Michael Grade, the chairman of ITV, said yesterday that it was prepared to abandon its obligations to show regional news and children’s programmes.

ITV also wants the right to transmit more adverts per hour and to introduce product placement and Mr Grade said that if the rules were not eased by regulators he would do so unilaterally. “I want to retain our status as a public service broadcaster, but not at any price,” Mr Grade said. “I’m not sure that the regulator understands the urgency of the need for reform.”

Simon Gray obituaries

Playwright (and memoirist) Simon Gray died this week, and there are obituaries in all the major newspapers, including The Times, The Telegraph, The Independent and by Lyn Gardner in The Guardian.

Perhaps more than any other modern British playwright, other than his great friend and champion Harold Pinter, Gray was a chronicler of what is unsaid. His plays are full of highly educated, highly literate, professional people who find that words fail them and retreat into irony as a defence.

Members' blogs

In the sometimes weird and sometimes wonderful (and sometimes both) world of Guild Members this week:

• Helen Smith has been having disturbing dreams
• Danny Stack is getting all emotional about films
• Dave Cohen has rejoined the Labour Party
  
• Stephen Gallagher reveals a trailer for Crusoe, the series on which he is lead writer.
  

(If you've got a blog that's not listed in our 'Members' blogs' (right), let me know.)

Tinniswood Award 2008 Shortlist

The Writers' Guild of Great Britain and the Society of Authors have announced the shortlist for this year's Tinniswood Award for radio drama:

• Love Contract by Mike Bartlett
• Yesterday An Incident Occurred by Mark Ravenhill
• Wasted by Shelagh Stephenson
• Glass Houses by Colin Teevan
• Avoid London by Mike Walker
• Memorials To The Missing by Stephen Wyatt
  

The Tinniswood Award honours the best original radio drama script broadcast in the UK during the period 1 January – 31 December 2007. A prize of £1500 will be awarded to the winner.

The judges for this year's Tinniswood Award are:

• Jane Anderson, Radio Editor of the Radio Times
• Shelley Silas, whose radio plays include, The Sound of Silence, Ink, Calcutta Kosher, The Magpie Stories, Collective Fascination, as well as adaptations of Hanan Al-Shaykh’s novel Only in London and a co-adaptation with John Harvey of Paul Scott’s The Raj Quartet
• John Tydeman, who played a key role in BBC radio drama for nearly four decades, as producer, Assistant Head and then Head of Radio Drama.
  

The Tinniswood Award will be presented at a ceremony in London on Tuesday 21st October 2008.

Last year's winners were Rachel Joyce for To Be A Pilgrim, produced by Tracey Neale (BBC) and Mike Bartlett for Not Talking, directed by Steve Canny and produced by Claire Grove (BBC).

Gannon attacks BBC commissioning

By Matthew Hemley for The Stage:

Peak Practice and Soldier Soldier creator Lucy Gannon has launched a scathing attack on the BBC, claiming that the Corporation’s drawn-out commissioning process is threatening the livelihoods of writers and independent drama producers.

Gannon, whose BBC credits include the series Servants, said the period between an idea being developed for the Corporation and then either commissioned or rejected was often as long as two years.

She said that this overlong process made it difficult for writers and companies relying on commissions to cope financially, and claimed the situation was being compounded by clauses in BBC contracts which prevent scripts being taken to other broadcasters for a certain period.

The 5-2 draft

On his blog, comedy writer Ken Levine explain s the principles of the 5-2 draft.

So my partner and I have written the script. We’re very happy with it. Been over it several times. It’s ready to turn in.

But first –

The 5-2 draft.

We always make one final pass and do the following – add 5 great jokes, take out 2 pages.

Wales book win for Gareth Miles

Congratulations to Guild member Gareth Miles who won the Welsh-language category in the Wales Book Of The Year award last month with his novel Y Proffwyd a’i Ddwy Jesebel.

Dannie Abse, pictured (right) with Gareth, won the English language category for his book, The Presence.

US novelist sells shares in next book

By Matthew Moore in The Daily Telegraph:

A young novelist is selling shares in his next book, to allow him to quit work and concentrate on his writing.

Investors can pay $2,000 (£1,000) in return for a 10 per cent share of the royalties of Tao Lin’s as-yet-unfinished second novel.

Tao posted details of his “initial public offering” on his popular literary blog last week and claims to have already lined up buyers for five of the six shares.