Vamps, Vixens and Feminists

By Tracy Brabin

A big thank you to the Sphinx Theatre Company who put in place a fantastic conference yesterday at The National Theatre - ‘Vamps, Vixens and Feminists’, to discuss the Gender Equality Duty that came into force April 07.

A feisty full house of women and men discussed the issues around the biggest change in sex equality legislation since the Equal Pay Act.

The Equality Duty has two main responsibilities:

• to promote equality of opportunity between men and women
• to eliminate unlawful sex discrimination and harassment, including against transsexual people.

Giving due regard to proactive promotion of gender equality within their organisations, public bodies now have a legal obligation to promote equality between men and woman. Something we know – as writers, actors, directors, cinematographers and choreographers etc just doesn’t seem to be happening on the ground.

And there we some galling statistics. Sphinx crunched the numbers and discovered that...

Out of 140 theatre productions, 98 were written by men, 13 by women and the rest mixed collaborations. Of these 140 productions, 97 were directed by men. Out of 1100 roles for actors over the same period, 677 were for men and 423 were for women. And out of the films produced in one year – 250 - 12% were by women writers with only 9% directing them.

However, the most shocking statistic came from Dr Katherine Rake, the Director of the Fawcett Society. She explained that the pay gap between men and women is still so great that compared to men’s salaries, on average, women are, over a year actually working for free from October 31st . If you’re a part-time worker, it’s even worse and you can expect to work ‘for free’ from the end of June.

The Writers' Guild TV Committee added their numbers. Looking at one month’s Radio Times, they discovered out of 179 programmes listed, 129 were written by men and 50 by women - 28% female and 72% male. In radio it was even worse with 37 male writers and 12 female writers – 24% women, 72% men.

To examine how we change this status quo, Baroness Prosser of Battersea OBE (Deputy chair of the Equality and Human Rights Committee) introduced the event with Oona King (ex MP and Head of Diversity for Channel 4) chairing.

There we several exciting sessions, broken down into disciplines.

Director Lucy Pitman-Wallace (Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in 2003) was in a director’s discussion with Giles Croft, (Artistic Director of Nottingham Theatre) and Janet Suzman (award winning actor and director).

Dr Katherine Rake talked to Beatrix Campbell (the acclaimed journalist and playwright), Kate Kinninmont (Chief Executive of Women in Film and Television) and Jean Rogers (Equity’s Vice President).

Dr Viv Rogers (Professor in Theatre Studies at University of Manchester) also talked to Bea Campbell about female stereotyping and much lauded actor Kate Buffery discussed the lack of complex roles for women.

Commissioning drama from women writers, ensuring complex, exciting and challenging parts for women was discussed by BBC Executive Producer Hilary Salmon and Head of Drama at ITV Laura Mackie.

Myself, Tanika Gupta (White Boy, Sugar Mummies) and Colin Teevan ( How Many Miles to Basra, The Seven Pomegranate Seeds) talked to David Edgar about the difficulties that writing for women can entail.

The whole event was at turns depressing, uplifting, empowering and hilarious and I really hope something positive will come from the fabulous energy created by so many intelligent and sparky women and men who know the only way to change anything is to shout out and be heard.

And looking around the packed theatre, thinking of all the experience and talent in the room, I wondered why we didn’t just all collaborate to make shows we want to watch with people we want to work with. As the old saying goes…if the lobster was smarter, she’d know that if she collaborated with the other lobsters in the pot, they might all stand a chance of getting out alive.

Norman Lear on the state of sitcom

For the Writers Guild of America West, Denis Faye talks to Norman Lear, creator of influential American sitcom All In The Family (based on Johnny Speight's Till Death Us Do Part).

Did you ever reach a point with your shows that the networks said, “He’s Norman Lear, just let him do whatever he wants?”

It was much more “Nobody fucks with success.” That’s an old American adage.

Big grant for Perfect Pitch Musicals

From Arts Council England (ACE):

Arts Council is pleased to announce that it is investing in the infrastructure and grassroots of musical theatre, most recently with an award of £188,860 to producers Perfect Pitch Musicals...

Perfect Pitch Musicals is an organisation committed to developing contemporary British musicals by working with writers to develop and showcase their work. Initially the organisation started as a one-off showcase event organised by Andy Barnes, then he received a small Arts Council grant which helped take the project further. This has now developed to an organisation managing a professional network that works with and develops writers and their work, as well as providing performance showcases.

There's some discussion about the grant on The Guardian Theatre Blog, with one comment querying the wisdom of putting so much of the ACE funding for new musicals in the hands of one producer.

Digital Britain report published

The government has published The Digital Britain Report, its "strategic vision for ensuring that the UK is at the leading edge of the global digital economy."

There don't seem to be too many surprises, but I'd not heard before about the plan to switch off switch off existing analogue radio stations by 2015 (pdf). The idea is that everything and everyone will have migrated to digital, making room for new local radio services, but I'd expect some opposition.

Digital Britain measures include:

• A three-year National Plan to improve Digital Participation
• Universal Access to today's broadband services by 2012
• Next Generation fund for investment in tomorrow's broadband services
• Digital radio upgrade by the end of 2015
• Mobile spectrum liberalisation, enhancing 3G coverage and accelerating Next Generation mobile services
• Robust legal and regulatory framework to combat Digital Piracy
• Support for public service content partnerships
• A revised digital remit for Channel 4
• Consultation on funding options for national, regional and local news

Comedy College winners announced

From the BBC Press Office:

Following last year's successful College of Comedy scheme, the BBC has recruited six brand new writers to take part in its development programme over the next ten months.

Once again the writers will be mentored to produce original work, attend a residential workshop where they will explore technique and craft with established writers and producers, and be attached to a current series to learn how production works...

The six candidates selected are:

Donna Harle, based in London, who has contributed to a forthcoming BBC Three sketch show pilot;

Gerry Howell, a London-based comedian and writer, who was a finalist in Channel 4's The Play's The Thing competition and is preparing his first Edinburgh fringe show;

Rosemary Jenkinson from Belfast, an experienced theatre writer, who has published short stories and poems, as well as receiving a number of writing bursaries;

Colin McQuaid from Scotland, who is on the writing team of BBC Scotland's Ellis & Clarke Show, and has written comedy for BBC Radio Ulster;

Dale C Phillips, from Hull, a novelist, screen and sketch writer, and a finalist in the BBC Bang! Theatre Play writing competition for new generation Asian writers;

Henry White, from London, who has won a number of animation awards, and contributed to several sketch shows. His pilot, The Site, was transmitted on BBC Three in 2008.

ScreenLit

Further to last week's post about the ScreenLit Film, TV and Writing Festival in Nottingham 29th June - 5th July, on the Guild website Andrew Cooper gives more details about what's on offer.

Broadway Cinema in Nottingham is hosting its first ever ScreenLit Festival - dedicated to Film, TV and Writing - from 29 June to 5 July this year.

Conscious of the strong relationship which has long existed between writing and film in Nottingham - exemplified by Alan Sillitoe’s masterpieces on page and screen Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner – as well as the currently very strong colony of screen and other writers living and working in the city, Broadway very deliberately set out to create a Festival which privileges the role of writers in film and TV.

ITV to focus on post-watershed drama

From Kate McMahon in Broadcast:

ITV has axed Impossible Pictures’ dinosaur drama Primeval [created by Tim Haines and Adrian Hodges] to focus on drama aired after 9pm.

An ITV spokesman confirmed there were no further plans for a fourth series as the broadcaster looked to extract “maximum value” from its programming budget.

“Our current focus is on post-watershed dramas,” he said, although it is understood that ITV will not rule out commissioning or airing pre-watershed dramas entirely.

Zoë Heller: from columnist to novelist

In The Independent, Christina Patterson talks to Zoë Heller about her transition from newspaper columnist to bestselling novelist.

"Nobody talks any more about that Victorian sense of the edifying purpose of literature, but I think it does exist, and it is precisely that, to broaden our moral imagination. A trend in modern popular fiction is big-heartedness on the part of the author, and I think it's fair to say I think there is a heart somewhere about my person, but it's not necessarily on my sleeve."

OBE for Kay Mellor

Congratulations to Guild member Kay Mellor who has received an OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List (pdf) for services to drama.

Kay's TV series include Band Of Gold, Fat Friends, Playing The Field and The Chase.

Former poet laureate Andrew Motion has also been honoured, receiving a knighthood for services to literature.

British screenwriting dream team for new Bond film

It's only a rumour...but I like it. Apparently Peter Morgan (Frost/Nixon, The Queen, Last King Of Scotland) is teaming up with top duo Neal Purvis and Robert Wade (Quantum Of Solace, Casion Royale, Jonny English) to write the next Bond film.

Their challenge, of course, is not just to come up with a great story, vivid characters and cracking dialogue, but to create those memorable Bond moments (preferably involving swimwear).





Update: Apparently it's true.

What Guild members are getting up to

Congratulations to ALAN AYCKBOURN who won Best Revival of a Play a the 63rd Tony Awards in New York this week for his comedy The Norman Conquests.

KAREN BROWN's powerful drama, The Rain Has Stopped, part of the Moving On series originally shown on daytime TV gets an evening screening on BBC1 on Monday 15 June from 10.35 - 11.20 pm.

MARK BURTON dramatised the episode of May Contain Nuts, based on the satirical novel by JOHN O'FARRELL. It goes out on ITV1 on Thursday 18 June at 9.00 pm.

RUPERT CREED's new play 'Every Time it Rains' about the Hull 2007 floods will be premiering at Hull Truck's new theatre from Thursday June 18th to Saturday July 4th. Based on over 150 local people's flood stories and experiences, it tells the story of what happened on the day of the great deluge and the longer term impact on the community.

DAVID CROFT and JIMMY PERRY wrote Dad's Army. The episode The Recruit goes out on BBC2 on Saturday 13 June at 7.

KEVIN DYER's new play ‘The Monster Under The Bed’, a play about friendship and facing your fears is on at Polka Theatre, London SW19 from 6th June to 25th July. Info @ www.polkatheatre.com

TIM DYNEVOR wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 on Tuesday 16 June at 7.00 pm.

MATTHEW EVANS wrote the episodes of EastEnders going out on BBC1 on Tuesday 16, Thursday 18 and Friday 19 June at 7.30 pm.

MARTHA HILLIER wrote the episode of Holby City going out on BBC1 on Tuesday 16 June at 8.00 pm.

PETER KERRY wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 on Wednesday 17 June at 7.00 pm.

JONATHAN HARVEY is THRILLED that his Beautiful People won Best Comedy at the BANFF Television Festival last weekend. Bodes well for series 2... Well done, Jonathan!

STEVE HUGHES wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 on Friday 19 June at 7.00 pm.

LINDA M JAMES has had three books published this year: How To Write Great Screenplays. [How To Books] ISBN: 9781845283070; The Invisible Piper [Pegasus Elliot Mackenzie.] ISBN: 9781843865087; Tempting The Stars [ Pegasus Elliot Mackenzie.] ISBN: 9781843865094

How To Write Great Screenplays was published in January and is already on the reading list of a couple of Universities, is being sold at Film Festivals and has some great reviews. [An extract from it can be seen on the screenwriters' festival website]

Her two historical novels are being published this month.

More information about Linda's writing can be seen on her website

CHARLES McKEOWN co-wrote the screenplay of The Imaginarium Of Dr Parnassus with Terry Gilliam, which will shortly be on general release. He has also co-written, with Joe Ainsworth, the episode of New Tricks called Buried Treasure going out on BBC1 on Monday 15 June at 9.00 pm

DAVID IAN NEVILLE wrote the afternoon play, Desperate Measures, going out on BBC Radio 4 on Thursday 18 June at 2.15 pm. In an old warehouse by the River Clyde Paul and Mhairi Blaze have built a successful design company. But as the downturn bites they need more than grand designs to save their business - and their relationship.

CHRIS PARKE wrote the episode of EastEnders going out on BBC1 on Monday 15 June at 8.00 pm.

TIMOTHY PRAGER wrote the episode of Robin Hood called The Enemy of My Enemy going out on BBC1 on Saturday 13 June from 6.45 to 7.30 pm. The series was created by fellow Guild member, DOMINIC MINGHELLA.

HEATHER ROBSON wrote the episode of Hollyoaks going out on Channel 4 at 6.30 pm on Tuesday 16 June.

ALISTAIR RUTHERFORD has a new full-length play, called Homecoming, in the Leith Festival. It will run from Wed 10th June to Sat 13th June, at 7.30, in South Leith Church Halls, Edinburgh. The show is being produced by BigVillage Theatre Company.

RICHARD STONEMAN wrote the episode of Doc Martin, going out on ITV1 on Friday 19th June at 9.00 pm. Louisa has some new and most annoying neigbours, while Mrs Averill, who's just moved out, decides she doesn't want to leave at all. Doc Martin, now in its third series, was created by fellow Guild member, DOMINIC MINGHELLA.

NICK WARBURTON's four-part radio play, On Mardle Fen continues on Friday 19th June at 2.15 pm on BBC Radio 4. In Episode 3, Old Boggle, chef Warwick Hedges is invited to lunch in a remote part of the Fens and discovers treasure guarded by a ghost-dog.

VICTORIA WOOD joins panellists Barry Cryer, Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke-Taylor for the return of the famous antidote to panel games, I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, with Stephen Fry in the Chair. The new series begins on BBC Radio 4 on Monday 15th June and repeated on Sunday morning 21st June at 12.04 pm.

Screenwriters' Festival launch

There was a good deal of gloom at the Screenwriters' Festival launch at BAFTA in London last night. Two up-and-coming writers selected for the Festival's Scriptmarket told of their decade long struggle to get their first films made, agents spoke of the collapse in UK TV drama production and even star speaker Christopher Hampton recounted how three of his favourite scripts never made it to production.

But...

It was a thoroughly enjoyable and positive event. Writers know that the odds are stacked against them. Hearing about other people's trials and tribulations is rarely off-putting. More often it's both cathartic and inspiring.

The speakers last night were all excellent and Christopher Hampton lived up to his reputation with an insightful and amusing talk about working in the industry.

If the idea of the evening was to give people a taste of the Festival then it certainly made a good case for heading to Cheltenham in October.

WGGB Find A Writer

We're looking at ways to improve the Find A Writer database on the WGGB website.

It's a database of Full members of the Guild - who can log-in to add credits, agent information, web links etc.

There were more than 1,000 page views of Find A Writer results last month, so it's certainly being used - either by people looking for writers or for information about a particular writer.

The question is, how might it be improved? What additional functionality or categories would you like to see? It's a real benefit of Full membership, so do have your say in the comments below.

Screenwriters and the European Film Academy

A message from Christina Kallas, President of the Federation of Screenwriters in Europe:

As you are certainly aware, screenwriters in Europe tend to be conspicuously absent from the limelight, sometimes so generously pointed at the film and TV industry. Indeed, the focus of the media is generally the stars and the directors and the focus of European policy when it comes to film and TV is firmly on the producers.

One of the most positive things to evolve within the realm of the European filmmaking community in recent times is The European Film Academy, founded in 1988 to promote European film culture.

As you can see on their website, europeanfilmacademy.org, the EFA initiates and participates in a series of activities every year, “…dealing with film politics as well as economic, artistic, and training aspects. The programme includes conferences, seminars and workshops, and a common goal is to build a bridge between creativity and the industry. These activities culminate in the annual presentation of the European Film Awards.”

The EFA now has 1800 members representing various aspects of the European film community. It has come to our attention that the number of screenwriters in the academy is symptomatically low. Judging from the members list on the website, only about 40 people who view themselves primarily or solely as screenwriters are members of the EFA. By counting all members who include the term “writer” or “screenwriter” in their description of their profession, the number rises considerably, but only to about 120.

We would like to use this opportunity to encourage our colleagues all around Europe to examine the possibilities of joining the EFA, in order to give the presence of screenwriters in Europe a highly justified boost.

Information on criteria (3 film credits) and cost (€180 pr. year) can be found on the EFA website. You will also need two patrons from the EFA membership to support your application – in case you cannot find these among your country’s members please let us know and we will help. It is worth mentioning, that as a member of the EFA you then receive a copy of almost all the European films nominated for the European Film Awards each year in every category, which is an invaluable way to keep abreast of what’s happening in European film.

Stan Lee's new approach

If you set up your own production company, what would you call it? Whatever you come up with, you'd do well to beat Stan Lee, whose company is called Purveyors of Wonder, or POW! for short.

As an article in The Economist points out, Lee's Marvel Comics superheroes have dominated the box office in the past ten years or so but it's proving difficult for Lee or anyone else to create new characters with similar appeal.

Take Alan Moore, a revered writer of comic books. His works have inspired five ambitious films (the most recent is “Watchmen”), none of them hugely successful. And what goes for comic books also goes for television shows, computer games and other fodder for summer blockbusters. As audiences fragment, there is simply less mass content to throw into the Hollywood recycling machine.

It may be that a more modest approach works better. Next month another creation of Mr Lee’s will be unveiled at Comic-con, a huge San Diego convention that has become an important marketing platform for films. “Time Jumper”, an animated comic about a boy who can travel in time using his mobile phone, will be released in stages on the internet and mobile phones, free of charge. This is a relatively cheap way of testing an audience’s response to a new character. If it is hard to ram a new tale into public consciousness, it might just be possible to sneak it in.

Craig Mazin asks: Is spoof dead?

On his Artful Writer blog, Craig Mazin considers what makes a successful spoof film...

Spoof movies are not satires. They do not use comedy or mockery to comment on social problems, politics or any other serious issues of the day. South Park (and the excellent South Park films) is a satire that often uses parody (a humorous reimagining of something serious) to make a point.

Spoof movies, however, have no point. They do not have any perspective on anything important at all. They are, in a word, silly. They employ parody to make you laugh. There is no other goal.

...and asks whether the genre can recover from its current slump.

Michael Rosen on being Children's Laureate

In The Guardian, outgoing Children's Laureate, Michael Rosen, reflects on his experience working with school-children.

My father dies. He was 89. There seem to be so many layers to his life. To me and my brother he was the bloke on camping holidays singing French folk songs, telling rude jokes, or back home getting in a state about our homework not being done. But as the letters and obituaries are written, we are reminded of him as schoolteacher, as teacher-trainer, as storyteller, as "animator" of study groups.

An issue of the English teachers' journal Changing English appears that is entirely devoted to him and his work. Simon, one of his colleagues at Walworth comprehensive school in south London, has unearthed the English syllabus that my father helped to devise in 1958. I read: "Whatever language the pupils possess, it is this which must be built on rather than driven underground. However narrow the experience of our pupils may be (and it is often wider than we think), it is this experience alone which has given their language meaning. The starting point for English work must be the ability to handle effectively their own experience. Oral work, written work and the discussion of literature must create an atmosphere in which the pupils become confident of the full acceptability of the material of their own experience. Only in this way can they advance to the next stage."

I am overcome with feelings of admiration, sadness, regret and anger. I start to scribble a letter to the editor of Changing English, Jane Miller. How did the Thatcher and Blair governments succeed so quickly to wipe out years of such thought, theory and practice? Did my father, my mother and everyone else struggling to figure out how to give every single child the right to speak, write and read not lay out these kinds of theories clearly enough?

Update: And it has been announced today that the new Children's Laureate is Anthony Browne.

It's a great honour to be the Children's Laureate for 2009-11. I know all about the amazing things the five previous Laureates have done, and I'm in awe of their hard work. I hope to encourage more children to discover and love reading, but I would like people to think especially about picture books, and the reading of both pictures and words.

I believe picture books are for everybody at any age, not books to be left behind as we grow older. What excites me about them is how often the pictures can tell us so much more than the words. I like the way they can reveal clues as to what a character is thinking or feeling. Picture books are special – they're not like anything else. Sometimes I hear parents encouraging their children to read what they call "proper books" (books without pictures), at an earlier and earlier age. This makes me sad, as picture books are perfect for sharing, and not just with the youngest children. We have in Britain some of the best picture book makers in the world, and I want to see their books appreciated for what they are – works of art.

Newsjack's open call for submissions

Newsjack, the new topical comedy show on BBC Radio 7 presented by Miles Jupp (above), has issued an open call for sketch submissions.

Newsjack is BBC Radio 7's new topical sketch show, which seeks to comically scrutinise the news, views and issues of the day.

It is a showcase for new comedy writing. 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.

The Pilot of Newsjack was broadcast on BBC Radio 7 on 4th June and will be available on iPlayer and Listen Again until Sunday 14th June.

If you are planning to write for Newsjack please listen to the pilot.

Don't feel you have to make all your sketches about the main news story or Westminster politics.

As well as the main news, you might have a great sketch about Advertising, Glastonbury or The Wire, things that people are aware of culturally but don't necessarily make for "hard news".

We'd love to include these zeitgeisty topics in the show too. They're all fair game.

Full submission details are on the Newsjack website.

Guild AGM 5th June 2009

Robert Taylor was named as the Guild's new Chair at the AGM on Friday 5th June in London. Robert, who is standing down as Treasurer, replaces Katharine Way who has completed her term of office. Andy Walsh and Roger Williams were elected as Deputy Chairs, while Rupert Creed takes on the role of Treasurer.

The main decision taken at the meeting was to increase the subscriptions rate for Full Members to £180 and 1.2% of earnings from writing over £15,000.

Introducing the proposed increase, Robert Taylor, still in the role of Treasurer, argued that though Guild membership is at record levels, subscription income has still been falling as fewer members were paying the highest rates. Exceptional payments had supported income in the past two years but this could not be relied upon, so a rate increase, the first for Full Members for seven years, was essential.

The increase in the percentage levy on earnings over £15,000 would, Robert continued, ensure that all Full Members made an additional contribution. A new online system will be introduced to help with calculations and to provide a variety of payment methods.

Robert also noted that the Guild's Welfare Fund was open to applications from existing members facing financial difficulties – including any sudden difficulties in affording subscriptions.

Several Guild members spoke from the floor in support of the motion, while also noting that the recruitment drive should continue.

All three motions relating to the subscriptions increase were carried unanimously.

There were no other motions at the AGM but the Craft Committees and National and Regional Committees spoke to their reports in the Annual Report.

Neil Gerrard MP, Secretary to the Performers' Alliance Parliamentary Group, was the guest speaker. The Group, he explained, was set up to provide a voice within parliament for the Performers' Alliance (of which the Guild is a member).

Current issues of concern include Arts Council England funding - there was a satisfactory increase for three years in 2007 but there's bound to be pressure on all public spending in coming years.

Public Service Broadcasting is another area that the Group has been concerned with. The Carter Report is due out later this month and, Neil Gerrard said, while many things are still to be decided there will definitely be some big changes. The state of children's TV was a cause of particular concern, he added, with new UK programming being cut back dramatically. The Parliamentary Group had been trying to persuade government to take urgent action, such as introducing tax credits as used in film industry, but so far without progress.

Guild member Julian Friedmann has an account of the meeting on his blog.

Writing by committee

Further to the discussions on this blog (also here) about whether TV writers in the UK are, as Stephen Fry suggested, "treated like dirt" (still time to vote in the poll, right), on the WGGB website I've put up the article Guild TV Committee Chair, Gail Renard, wrote in the most recent issue of UK Writer.

Speaking with experienced writers, all agree that writing an episode for a series today means roughly nine or ten times more work than ten years ago; often for worse results.

Doing an episode for a telly series used to involve delivering your script to the producer or, if there was one, the series’ script editor, who would usually be a writer with an impressive track record, if not the actual creator of the series. Believe it or not, these highly experienced professionals would give you one set of notes for each draft. It was rare that a writer would have to go beyond three drafts; the third of which would be tweaking.

Today we have countless layers of management who, in the past, never existed and weren’t needed. The job of script editor is often seen as a way into production as opposed to being a career end in itself. Many production personnel are no longer staff, and are on short term contracts without the experience or continuity that staffers often ensured. Aside from needlessly bumping up the cost of series, suddenly more people have a say in the script than ever before.

As Gail explains, the Guild will soon be publishing a TV Good Practice Guide that will be circulated to broadcasters and production companies across the industry. I'll post a link when it's online.

Billy Elliot sweeps Tony Awards

Billy Elliot, The Musical (book and lyrics by Lee Hall from his film of the same name, music by Elton John) won 10 awards at the American Tony Awards last night including Best Musical and Best Book.

Another British winner was The Norman Conquests by Guild member Alan Ayckbourn which won the award for Best Revival.

A conversation with John Irving

For The New York Times, Sam Tanenhaus talks to novelist John Irving about his new book Last Night In Twisted River, his working method and how he always starts with the last sentence.

Paul Laverty on Looking For Eric

On the Route publishing website, Guild member Paul Laverty talks about writing Looking For Eric (directed by Ken Loach).

Q. Sounds like you talk to lots of people before writing a script?

A. Some writers spend most of their times in their rooms. Each to their own. I spent my formative years in seminary taught by priests where the ‘outside’ world was painted boldly in black and white. It has left me with an incurable curiosity for other worlds, and other ways of looking at it. Grey is the most fascinating colour of all. I love getting out and digging around. A lot of the ground work is investigative - a time of constant dialogue with Ken too, before the very private part, writing the script itself. But you can’t copy a script from the street, and you must be loyal to your characters, as they emerge, even though they are just ephemeral creatures, full of contradictions, fighting for space in the mind.

ScreenLit Film TV & Writing Festival

This month sees the first ever ScreenLit Film, TV & Writing Festival in Nottingham (29 June - 5 July). According to the website:

The festival was inspired by the rich, continuing heritage of writing from Nottingham and the East Midlands, but our scope is international and across artforms. Each year ScreenLit will celebrate the writers’ seminal contribution to 21st century culture through the narratives of film, TV, books and the ever expanding range and forms of new media.

Guest speakers will include Paul Schrader and Guy Hibbert, and there's a variety of screenings and events.

Full details are in the Festival brochure (pdf).

Guild members' blogs

Following my post last week, here's a selection of Guild members' blogs now added to the list (right):

• Myles McLeod (with his brother Greg)
• Richard Conlon
• Stella Duffy
• Rachael Howard

Update: And another, Jared Kelly

And one more: Julian Friedmann

What Guild members are getting up to

MARTIN ALLEN wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 7:30pm on Friday 12th June.

MARK BURTON'S dramatization of May Contain Nuts is going out in two parts on ITV1 at 9:00pm on Thursday 11th June.

JADEN CLARK wrote the episode of EastEnders going out on BBC1 at 8:00pm on Monday 8th June.

ANNA CLEMENTS wrote the episode of Hollyoaks going out on C4 at 6:30pm on Monday 8th June.

KEVIN DYER’S new play ‘The Monster Under The Bed’, a play about friendship and facing your fears is on at Polka Theatre, London SW19 from 6th June to 25th July. Info @ www.polkatheatre.com

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

ROB GITTINS has written the screenplay for the feature film, BLUE MONDAY, which has just begun principal photography. The film, a loose updating of Under Milk Wood, follows four sets of characters over the course of one single night. Bafta Award winner Suzanne Phillips is directing.

JONATHAN R. HALL wrote the episode of Doctors "The Lodger" going out on BBC1 at 1:45pm on Tuesday 9th June.

LISA HOLDSWORTH wrote the episode of Robin Hood "Bad Blood" going out on BBC1 at 6:45pm on Saturday 6th June.

PAUL LAVERTY has been interviewed about his new film with Ken Loach Looking For Eric.

JESSICA LEA wrote the episode of Hollyoaks going out on C4 at 6:30pm on Tuesday 9th June.

BILL LYONS wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Friday 12th June.

LYNDON MALLET'S The Hare Lane Diaries will be broadcast in six parts starting Friday July 17TH at 10.30 pm on BBC Radio 7.

TONY MCHALE wrote the episode of Holby City "Proceed with Caution" going out on BBC1 at 8:00pm on Tuesday 9th June.

JOHN MILNE wrote the episode of Heartbeat "The Runaways" going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Sunday 7th June.

JESSE O'MAHONEY wrote the episode of Hollyoaks going out on C4 at 6:30pm on Wednesday 10th June.

DOMINIQUE MOLONEY wrote the episode of Doctors "The Real Me" going out on BBC1 at 1:45pm on Friday 12th June.

ALISTAIR RUTHERFORD has a new full-length play, called HOMECOMING, in the Leith Festival. It will run from Wed 10th June to Sat 13th June, at 7.30, in South Leith Church Halls, Edinburgh. The show is being produced by BigVillage Theatre Company and full details are here.

BILL TAYLOR wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Monday 8th June.

NICK WARBURTON'S radio drama On Mardle Fen continues with the second episode A Water Baby going out on Radio 4 at 2:15pm on Friday 12th June.

PETER WHALLEY wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 7:30pm on Monday 8th June.

Written By online

I'm not sure how long this has been the case, but I've noticed that the Writers Guild of America West magazine, Written By, is now available in full online.

Well worth a look.

For example, in the latest issue there's an interview with the writers of the international Disney hit, Hannah Montana.

David Eddings 1931-2009

Best-selling fantasy author David Eddings has died at the age of 77.

As Mark Wilson writes on his About.com blog, Eddings was hugely influential in his field.

Eddings is best known for The Belgariad series, the first installment of which, The Pawn of Prophecy (1982), prompted Lester del Rey to tell him, "You've written a classic." The series introduced many to fantasy, and inspired some to write themselves (including Stephen Hunt, whose tribute to Eddings is here). Eddings was himself inspired by the success of The Lord of the Rings, which he was startled to discover was in its 78th printing when he encountered a display copy in a bookstore.

There's also a report about Eddings' death by Alison Flood in The Guardian.

[His publisher, Jane] Johnson said he would be missed "tremendously" at HarperCollins, which published his last title, The Elder Gods, in 2006. "He was a towering force of modern commercial fiction, a master of the epic, and a delight to work with," she said.

Estate agents sue CSI

From Harriet Ryan for The LA Times:

When married real estate agents Scott and Melinda Tamkin read about an episode of the hit crime drama "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" that featured dirty-dealing, S&M-loving real estate agents named Scott and Melinda Tamkin, they didn't need to consult a forensic expert for an explanation.

A house sale involving the Tamkins and a "CSI" producer had fallen apart four years before, and the producer was listed, in the same online description, as the co-writer of the episode.

On Friday the Tamkins filed a $6-million defamation and invasion of privacy suit against the producer, Sarah Goldfinger, saying she humiliated them and cost them potential business "by creating from whole cloth characters engaged in a reckless lifestyle of sexual bondage, pornography, drunkenness, marital discord, depression, financial straits and possibly even murder."

Here's some analysis of the legal precedents from law professor Jonathan Turley.

YouTube XL and beeTV

News of two new developments in online TV this week, both courtesy of TechCrunch.

First there's YouTube XL, a new version of the Google-owned online video player that is designed to run on large screens, including TVs. Linking and embedding doesn't seem to be possible without signing in at the moment, but there's currently a Brothers McLeod video on the homepage and since Myles McLeod is a Guild member, that's got to be good.

Jason Kincaid for TechCrunch says:

One of the most appealing aspects of XL is that it will work on nearly any device that has a browser and can connect to the TV. That means you’ll be able to use it though your PS3 (though it sounds like there are some limitations - for example, the PS3 doesn’t support HD YouTube videos yet). Likewise the Wii will be able to use the new site, but because of its lower hardware capabilities it outputs at at a lower resolution.

Then there's beeTV, which has just secured some significant funding. Robin Wauters for TechCrunch says:

BeeTV aims to use the capital to ‘change the way we watch TV’ by pioneering what it calls a Personal Content Channel (PPC), a personal TV suggestion engine that helps you find your way in the ocean of VOD titles and channels out there by surfacing the best choice for you based on your profile and even the mood you’re in.

Much as Last.fm does for music, presumably.

Jason Arnopp's Bloggery Pokery

A new addition to the list of Guild Member's blogs - Jason Arnopp's Bloggery Pokery. Not a new blog, but a new member.

Always a good read - see this account of Tony Jordan's advice at the recent Red Planet Workshop.

Don't get sucked in by the idea of craft, and the industry which poses as gatekeeper to some Great Big Secret Of Successful Writing. Tony's never pretended to be Robert McKee's greatest advocate. He illustrated just how simple storytelling is, by putting two tea cups a fair distance apart on the table, representing Your Character and Their Dramatic Goal. He then put a few random objects between them - including a cafetiere and a sugar bowl, fact fans - representing Obstacles. He picked up the first Obstacle and allowed, "You can call this the Inciting Incident, if it makes you feel happy and all warm inside!". Whatever works. But in a nutshell, that line-up of objects encapsulated Storytelling: The Tony Jordan Method. Wouldn't make much of a book, or even fill out a pamphlet, but it's all you need.

(If you're a Guild member and your blog isn't listed below, right, post a comment with the details)

Guild AGM

A reminder that the Writers' Guild AGM will be on Friday 5th June 2009 10.30 am to 5pm.

Venue: The Old Sessions House, Clerkenwell Green, London EC1R ONA.

All members welcome. Free lunch will be provided. Please contact the Guild office if you are planning to attend.

The 2008 AGM minutes are now available to download (pdf).

Update: A reminder that the Rule Book is also online (pdf) .

John August self-publishes The Variant

Pretty much every time American writer and blogger John August posts to his blog I'm tempted to put up a link - he always seems to have something interesting to say. But most of you probably follow it anyway, so I try to refrain.

However, here's another must-read and this time it's not about screenwriting but self-publishing.

He's just self-published a short story, The Variant, as a downloadable pdf and using Amazon for Kindle (US only).

The blog posts start here, continue here, and the rest are archived here. If you're interested in electronic self-publishing (including details about sales figures) they are highly recommended.

And there's an article about his experience The New York Times as well.

FSE ask academies to recognise writers

The Federation of Scriptwriters in Europe (FSE), of which the Guild is a member, has written to European Screen Academies, including BAFTA, to ask them to formally commit to crediting scriptwriters when discussing or publicising films.

Here's an extract from the letter:

Screenwriters and the scripts that they write for European films and television hold a singularly paradoxical position within the film and television community.

While this community keeps touting the essential necessity and paramount importance of the script as a centrepiece and springboard of any cinematic endeavour, screenwriters and their work are the most consistently overlooked actors in the cinematic arena, when it comes to media coverage, academic debate, policy making or indeed any discussion of filmmaking in general.

In order to change this the FSE actively seeks the help and understanding of other players in the field of film and television.

An excellent example has been set by the European Film Academy, which listened to our plea and discussed the matter on board level - a discussion which resulted in the almost immediate decision by the board of the EFA to henceforth always mention the writers of the films selected and nominated by the Academy in their future publications and press releases, alongside the directors and production companies.

The purpose of this letter is to ask you to follow the example of the EFA and formally commit to crediting the writers of the films and television projects you deal with in your own important organizations.

Louis Menand on creative writing courses

If you thought creative writing courses were booming in this country, then take a look at America. According to Louis Menand in The New Yorker there are currently 822 degree courses in the subject (up from around 79 in the mid-1980s).

The debate about the point of such courses, however, shows no sign of abating - especially, says Menand, when it comes to the writing workshop.

Creative-writing programs are designed on the theory that students who have never published a poem can teach other students who have never published a poem how to write a publishable poem. The fruit of the theory is the writing workshop, a combination of ritual scarring and twelve-on-one group therapy where aspiring writers offer their views of the efforts of other aspiring writers.

But Menand's article is not, in fact, an attack on teaching creative writing. It's partly a review of an interesting-sounding book The Program Era by Mark McGurl, which looks at postwar American literature in relation to the rise of mass higher education in general and creative writing programmes in particular. And it's also an entertaining meditation on various aspects of the subject.

Writing teachers may ...cultivate their own legends. Once, on the first day of class, Angela Carter, who taught at Brown, was asked by a student what her own writing was like. She carefully answered as follows: “My work cuts like a steel blade at the base of a man’s penis.” The course turned out not to be oversubscribed.

In conclusion Menand looks back at his own experience studying poetry and concedes that, while it didn't make him a poet, it was certainly worthwhile.

I stopped writing poetry after I graduated, and I never published a poem—which places me with the majority of people who have taken a creative-writing class. But I’m sure that the experience of being caught up in this small and fragile enterprise, contemporary poetry, among other people who were caught up in it, too, affected choices I made in life long after I left college. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Are TV writers treated like dirt?

Last week we reported on Stephen Fry's assertion in The Stage that TV writers "are treated like dirt".

Several people posted comments in agreement, but let's put it to the poll (above, right). It's a simple yes or no, but feel free to add further thoughts below.

[See also Stephen Gallagher's blog post about getting an episode commissioned for US TV and the subsequent debate about how it differs from the process in the UK.]

Copycats

Apparently, a couple of years ago a record company boss finally got the message about the prevalence of illegal downloads when, after an informal market research session with a group of teenagers, he offered them the pick of soon-to-be-released CDs. The kids weren't interested. They'd downloaded them all for free already.

Of course, since then, the record industry has developed various ways to monetise downloads but, as a new research report Copycats? Digital Consumers in the Online Age points out, the culture of copying persists - and not just for music.

The UK film industry told us in interview that there were just under 100 million illegal downloads of DVDs in 2007, and globally the film industry is said to lose around $6 billion (or just over £4 billion) per year, and some research (Henning-Thurau et al., 2007) appears to demonstrate evidence that consumers’ intention to pirate movies “cause them to forego theatre visits and legal DVD rentals and/or purchases.”

The report identifies several key difficulties in addressing this, including that consumers find it difficult to distinguish between legal and illegal services and that there is a culture of getting things for free online.

The report suggests that legal redress seems impossible - but questions whether sufficient income can be generated from legitimate free downloads.

If all who undertake unauthorised downloading, uploading and sharing were prosecuted, up to seven million Britons would have a criminal record. If all content online was instead “free” and downloading was de-criminalized could new business models such as sponsorship, advertising and the bundling of access with content pay for the variety, depth and quality of the content we current enjoy?

Little in the report is really new, but it does provide a useful overview of the challenges facing those who create content professionally or attempt, like the Guild, to protect the rights of those who do so.

There's more debate on the report on the BBC dot.life blog.

What Guild members are getting up to

PERRIE BALTHAZAR wrote the episode of Hollyoaks going out on C4 at 6:30pm on Wednesday 3rd June.

SONALI BHATTACHARYYA wrote the episode of EastEnders going out on BBC1 at 8:00pm on Friday 5th June.

LUCY BLINCOE wrote the episode of Doctors "Musical Bumps" going out on BBC1 at 1:45pm on Tuesday 2nd June.

MICHAEL CHAPLIN wrote the episode of Robin Hood "A Dangerous Deal" going out on BBC1 at 7:25pm on Saturday 30th May.

PAUL COATES wrote the episode of Hollyoaks going out on C4 at 6:30pm on Tuesday 2nd June.

ADRIAN FLYNN'S dramatisation of the late Siobhan Dowd's novel for young adults, 'Bog Child' has just been published by the Oxford University Press.

MARCELLA FORSTER'S Daddy's Girl won the award for Best UK Short at the British Film Festival in Los Angeles.

SIMON FRITH wrote the episodes of The Archers going out on Radio 4 at 7:00pm from Sunday 31st May till Friday 5th June.

PETER GIBBS wrote the episode of Heartbeat "School of Hard Knocks" going out on ITV1 at 8:00pm on Sunday 31st May.

ROB GITTINS wrote the episodes of EastEnders going out on BBC1 at 8:00pm on Monday 1st and at 7:30pm on Tuesday 2nd June.

TOM GREEN'S radio drama The Tent will be broadcast on Radio 4 at 2.15pm on Monday 1st June. It can also be heard on BBC iPlayer.

MARK GREIG wrote the episode of Ashes to Ashes going out on BBC1 at 9:00pm on Monday 1st June.

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

JANE MARLOW wrote the episode of Hollyoaks going out on C4 at 6:30pm on Thursday 4th June.

MAEVE MURPHY who wrote and directed Beyond The Fire, a love story dealing with an Irish man in London coming to terms with religious sexual abuse. Beyond The Fire won the BEST UK Feature at the London Independent Film Festival and will open in the ICA on the 17th June as part of the New British Cinema Season and run in the ICA and the Roxy in London until June 22nd and the selected dates across the UK.

DAVID NOBBS co-wrote the episode of Reggie Perrin going out on BBC1 at 9:10pm on Saturday 30th May.

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

MARTIN RILEY wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV12 at 7:00pm on Thursday 4th June.

BILL TAYLOR wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Friday 5th June.

MARK WADLOW wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 7:30pm on Friday 5th June.

NICK WARBURTON'S radio play On Mardle Fen will be going out on Radio 4 in four parts. The first (Top Dog) will be going out at 2:15pm on Friday 5th June.

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

CG WILSON'S new stage play Mary Slessor: Great White Ma has just been published by New Theatre Publications ISBN 9781840947182. It is a true dramatization of the life of the unconventional tiny Scottish missionary, Mary Slessor, who lived and died in Africa (1870-1915) (Calibar, Nigeria) promoting women's rights.

Alan Burnett on Green Lantern: First Flight

It's always interesting to see how a script got commissioned. Here's screenwriter Alan Burnett's tale of how Green Lantern: First Flight came into being:

“[Warner Bros. Animation] had been going through some ideas for Green Lantern stories and none of them were quite working out,” said screenwriter Alan Burnett. “So, I just pitched it to them in one line, ‘Have you ever done Green Lantern as Training Day?’ with the idea of the Denzel Washington role being Sinestro. They said, ‘That sounds pretty good — start writing.’ And that’s how it began.”

If only all pitch meetings were like that.

Green Lantern: First Light will be released on DVD and Blu-ray in America in July. No information about a UK release yet.

Script competition overviews

If you enter writing competitions its often hard to get any feedback about your entry. However, in the past couple of weeks both Danny Stack (for the Red Planet Prize) and Ceri Meyrick (for the BBC Writers' Academy) have posted overviews of entries that make for interesting reading.

I was particularly struck by this comment from Ceri Meyrick:

Again, as last year, it was often the theatre play scripts that stood out for their originality, maybe because writers felt they had more freedom with the format. There were certainly many technically competent television screenplays, but some of these told rather boring stories, or that simply wallowed in depression.

It would be interesting to know how many of the successful Writers' Academy applicants have come from a theatre background. Would aspiring screenwriters be wise to spend as much time writing stage plays as scripts?

Martina Cole interview

In Broadcast, Robert Shpeherd talks to novelist Martina Cole about the upcoming adaptation of her novel, The Take, and her production company 2 Queens.

“I am an addict,” she says, before grabbing my hand. “I love watching crime drama and supernatural stuff on TV, darling. Some of it is fantastic, like Prime Suspect.” She pauses, appearing to choose her words carefully. “But a lot of it is shit. I don’t see why people in this country feel as though they have to spend lots of money on period dramas in order to make a good drama. Why not just use a good script?"

The Take, adapted by Neil Biswas, will be on on Sky 1 next month.

Lucy Allan at Hollyoaks

When producer Bryan Kirkwood left Hollyoaks at the start of the year, his deputy, Lucy Allan, took over after three years as his deputy. Now, as the first episodes shot with her at the helm reach the screen, she tells Kris Green on Digital Spy about her plans for the series.

What were your visions for the show when you took the reins?
"I know I've said it on numerous occasions, but I think it was a show that was in brilliant shape when I inherited it, so therefore you don't want to make big, key changes to something that works. However, I think there are things coming up over the course of the summer and into the rest of the year that show certain changes in terms of style and the way we perhaps tell stories."

Meanwhile, on The Guardian TV blog, Daniel Martin pays tribute to what Kirkwood achieved.

His combination of lightning-fast storytelling, genuinely ambivalent lead characters and absurdist fantasy has made it more than a soap. He even made a decent fist of the feared Late Night spin-offs. Skins had a better press campaign, but Nu-Hollyoaks broke more ground, and in more compelling style.

Sky Arts to broadcast six live plays

Sky Arts has announced a new season of single plays to be broadcast live this summer.

Sky Arts Theatre Live! will see six highly successful authors make their debuts as playwrights collaborating with lauded directors and high-profile actors to create original plays, performed to a live audience in the purpose built Sky Arts Theatre Live! studio. The Sky Arts Theatre Live! company is led by artistic director Sandi Toksvig, and includes author Kate Mosse, actress Pauline Collins and director John Alderton.

Blogging for The Guardian, theatre critic Michael Billington welcomes the initiative but wonders why none of the writers are playwrights.

I'm all for widening the pool of dramatic talent, but writing a 30-minute play is a special skill that even hardened practitioners find difficult. And, while it's good to encourage novelists to write plays, there are surprisingly few notable precedents. It was one of George Devine's aims, when he set up the Royal Court in 1956, to get writers such as Angus Wilson, Nigel Dennis and Doris Lessing to turn their hand to drama. But it never quite worked. And if I were Toksvig, who seems to be the brains behind the current enterprise, I'd have turned to some of the abundant young talent knocking around the British theatre, such as Laura Wade or Alia Bano, as a source of supply.

The job of a book publicist

It's not just writers who feel hard done by. Here's book publicist Evan Munday for Canada.com

The job of a book publicist is a thankless one. If a book does well, the author gets the credit. If it fails to get attention, it’s the publicist’s fault. The publicist’s job is the opposite of the editor’s. The editor’s role is to be invisible. For the publicist, the more visibility, the better. That means connecting with writers, broadcasters, bloggers, critics, editors — right down to readers.

David Nicholls blog

On his new blog for The Independent, screenwriter and novelist David Nicholls, considers the different status of these two types of writing.

In just under a month’s time the new novel will be published. The finished copies arrive from the printers this week, and then I’ll be invited to actually leave the house and promote.

In the four years since the publication of my last book I’ve been writing screenplays, and it seems that I very rarely get invited to anything. Screenwriters are famously held in low-regard in the industry and, equally famously, never stop moaning about the fact.

Unless he or she is one of a very select group, the screenwriter will wait in vain for their invitation to Sundance or Toronto or Cannes. On the rare instances that I’ve attended press junkets, I’ve sat entirely mute at the end of the table. At the premiere of my first ever produced screenplay a publicist asked if I wouldn’t mind stepping away from Sharon Stone. Instead I was placed at the very end of a long line while the photographs were taken. I smiled of course, delighted and surprised to be there, but unless that was a very, very wide-angle lens, I’m pretty sure I wasn’t in the picture.

Equity to launch on-screen credits campaign

From Alistair Smith at the Equity Annual Representative Conference for The Stage:

Actors are to launch a “high profile campaign” in a bid to make performers’ credits more clearly legible after TV shows and on internet broadcasts and computer games.

While motions regarding the broadcast of credits have been raised before, this will be the first time Equity has launched a public campaign to “publicise the damage this is doing” to actors.

Mei Feng wins in Cannes

Chinese screenwriter Mei Feng won the Best Screenplay award at the Cannes Film Festival on Sunday for Spring Fever.

The film is directed by Lou Ye, who worked in defiance of a five-year ban imposed by the Chinese authorities.

Taking Franco to France

On the Guild website, Edward Windus recounts the experience of taking a script to the 32nd éQuinoxe screenwriters’ workshop.

In October there’s a ping on my computer and I discover I have been selected as one of the eight elite in the advanced section. Another bonus is it is totally free: flights and accommodation in a five-star hotel in Evian, on the French side of Lake Geneva, are generously met by the organisation.

Established, like Moonstone, on the model of the Sundance screenwriters’ labs, the structure of the week-long programme is simplicity itself: each writer gets a one-to-one morning or afternoon session with around half-dozen of the advisors. I’ve worked with a maximum of three story editors on a screenplay, which I found fried my head, so six (or more) diverse points of view is going to be tough; this is why the programme requests second draft scripts. Luckily there’s a lot of champagne, good food, a sauna, Jacuzzi and steam room - in a complex that has hosted Bush, Blair and Zidane - to act as punctuation to the sessions.

Applications are currently open for the 2009 workshops - closing date 15th June 2009. Full details: www.equinoxetbc.fr

Stephen Fry: TV writers "treated like dirt"

By Matthew Hemley for The Stage:

Stephen Fry has criticised the handling of television writers during filming of their scripts, claiming they are “treated like dirt” and excluded from a large part of the production process.

Fry described writers as “passed-over creatures” when work starts on a drama they have penned, and said directors in particular tend to forget how integral the script is to the drama they are working on.

“They [writers] are often not welcome on set, not invited to screenings and are treated like dirt. Once they have finished their script it is not theirs anymore. It’s taken away from them and a huge group of people make what they have written, so they are kind of forgotten and a director will forget that he didn’t write it,” he said.

Terminator Salvation writers

For the Writers Guild of America West, Dylan Callaghan talks to the writers of Terminator Salvation, John D. Brancato and Michael Ferris.

John D. Brancato: I think we needed a whole new way in -- a whole new franchise character and a whole different approach to telling the story. We wanted to take a character from our world, the present day, and deposit him in this post-apocalyptic nightmare. We wanted him waking up to this and not knowing where he is -- if he’s alive or in hell -- and then reveal the world through his eyes.

That’s really what enables this story to unfold -- that we have this character that starts out on death row, about to receive a lethal injection and then wakes up in a new world 20 years later and tries to make heads or tales of it.

Michael Ferris: From there the fun thing to think about is what is Skynet’s ultimate agenda? Beyond just wanting to destroy man, what is this sentient computer network ultimately after? That’s something that really wasn’t addressed in any of the first three movies.

What Guild members are getting up to

MARTIN ALLEN wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 8:00pm on Thursday 28th May.

MARK BURT wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 7:30pm on Friday 29th May.

PAUL COATES wrote the episode of Hollyoaks going out on C4 at 6:30pm on Tuesday 27th May.

SIMON CROWTHER wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 8:00pm on Tuesday 26th May.

MARY CUTLER wrote the episode of Falco: Poseidon's Gold going out on Radio 4 at 7:45pm on Monday 25th May.

TIM DYNEVOR wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Friday 29th May.

DAVID EDGAR'S new radio play, Something Wrong about the Mouth, was last Saturday's Play on BBC Radio 4. There is one more day when it can be heard on the Listen Again section of the BBC website.

JIM ELDRIDGE'S new comedy children's novel DISGUSTING DAVE AND THE FARTING DOG is now in the shops. Published by Hodder Children's Books at £4.99. Prepare to be grossed out.

PAUL FARRELL wrote the episode of Primeval going out on ITV1 at 7:20pm on Saturday 23rd May.

RACHEL FLOWERDAY wrote the episodes of EastEnders going out on BBC1 at 7:30pm on Thursday 28th and at 8:00pm on Friday 29th May.

SIMON FRITH wrote the episodes of The Archers going out on Radio 4 at 7:00pm from Sunday 24th till Friday 29th May with each episode being repeated the day following its original release.

JAYNE HOLLINSON wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 7:30pm on Monday 25th May.

MARK ILLIS wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Monday 25th May.

MARTIN JAMES and ALICE NUTTER co-wrote the episode of Casualty "With This Ring" going out on BBC1 at 9:05pm on Saturday 23rd May.

PETER KERRY wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Thursday 28th May.

PAUL LAVERTY wrote the screenplay for Waiting for Eric, his latest collaboration with the director Ken Loach.

RIK MAYALL has started shooting a new comedy film called Just For The Record alongside former A-Team star Dirk Benedict.

DAVID NOBBS co-wrote the episode of Reggie Perrin going out on BBC1 at 9:30pm on Friday 29th May.

MARY RENSTEN'S play, My Very Own Antiques Roadshow, has its premiere at the Society of Women Writers and Journalists Summer Festival on June 4th.

PAUL ROUNDELL wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Tuesday 26th May.

SHELAGH STEPHENSON'S dramatisation of The Siege of Krishnapur concludes on Radio 4 at 9:00pm on Saturday 23rd May.

TOM STOPPARD's play Arcadia opens at the Duke of York's Theatre, St. Martin's Lane, next Wednesday 27 May and runs until 12 September.

JOE TURNER wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 8:30pm on Monday 25th May.

COLIN WYATT wrote the episodes of EastEnders going out on BBC1 at 8:00pm on Monday 25th and at 7:30pm on Tuesday 26th May.

BBC Worldwide in YouTube talks

From Emma Barnett and Urmee Khan in The Daily Telegraph:

Talks are underway between YouTube and BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the corporation, that could see shows like Top Gear and Torchwood become available on the site in their entirety.

If the new highly anticipated deal is struck, viewers will be able to for the first time access former BBC shows in full, as opposed to short clips, for an open ended period.

It's not clear how realistic this prospect is, however. Surely the BBC would start by putting content for an open-ended period on its own iPlayer - and even that would, I believe, require new agreements with rights-holders (including writers, c/o the Guild).

Update: see comments below from Gail Renard, Chair of the Guild's TV Committee

Google Books Settlement

The Writers' Guild has been asked by the Court-approved notice provider to circulate information about the settlement agreed by Google with US authors' representatives over out-of-print books.

Full details can be found on the Guild website.

Caryl Phillips interview

In The Guardian, Stephen Moss talks to Caryl Phillips about his new novel, In the Falling Snow.

A visit to London a couple of years ago, and the sight of the vast Westfield shopping centre obliterating bits of Shepherd's Bush that he knew well, made him want to reconnect with the country that remains at the centre of his imagination. "I wanted to re-engage with a London that I felt I was drifting away from," he says.

The result is a portrait of three generations of Britons - his parents', his own, and that of the children he never had; a book at once intimate and broad; small lives on a big canvas. "I could see an older generation who had grown up with one conception of what Britain was. That generation's - both black and white - conception of Britain is very different from my generation's conception of Britain, and in turn the new generation of kids have an entirely different conception of Britain and a different conception of self as a result. It was an interesting moment to be able to see three different ideas of Britain trying to grapple with each other and occupy the same space."

Sherry Jones on Jewel Of Medina

On her blog, author Sherry Jones reflects on the continuing failure of publishers to bring out her book, Jewel Of Medina, in Britain despite the fact that the men who conspired to set fire to the home office of Gibson Square publishers (who had been due to publish the book last year) have now been convicted.

Whether or not my book is respectful, however, has little to do with the real issue here. For, although the extremists lost in court, they have apparently won where it really counts — in the UK’s book stores.

After Gibson Square’s publisher announced, a couple of weeks after the arson attempt, that he was indefinitely postponing publication of “The Jewel of Medina” — following in the footsteps of Random House in the U.S. — I awarded world English publication rights to Beaufort Books, my U.S. publishing house whose publisher and small staff have supported my book unwaveringly, despite hate mail, lawsuit threats, and Mr. Choudary’s own assertion that not only I, but my publishers, might deserve to die.

Beaufort publisher Eric Kampmann and associate publisher Margot Atwell headed to the London Book Fair in April with a full display of “The Jewel of Medina” and confidence that they would find the right distributor to supply stores in the U.K. with the book. But — no. Everyone, it seems, is too afraid.

She calls for public support similar to that offered in Serbia where the book has now been published.

"Use it, or lose it,” the saying goes. Extremists are using — abusing, even — their right to free speech. Now it’s time for the rest of us, including moderate Muslims and the press, who cherish our culture and our freedom, to raise a cry louder than that of radicals, so we don’t lose that most precious, and crucial, of freedoms.

State aid for screenwriting

The Federation for European Screenwriters (FSE) has published a leaflet entitled Effective State Aid for Screenwriting and Development (pdf).

The leaflet argues that "There is an urgent need for state funding agencies and related government policies to put in place structures – legal and administrative as much as financial – which will support the development and expression of creative talent, which will promote writing and writers."

The FSE leaflet points to campaigns in Ireland and Germany for writers gaining more access to development funding and concludes with the following recommendations:

1) Each country or region which provides financial support for film or television production should also have an active and appropriately funded policy of support for script and project development.

2) Where such a policy is being introduced, reviewed or amended writers should be consulted and their views taken into account through their representative organisations.

3) Taking account of the particular situation of individual countries or regions it is the view of the FSE that funding agencies should be prepared to provide support to the writer at a minimum of €15,000 per draft of a feature film screenplay.

4) Taking account of the particular situation of individual countries the size of the support system in each funding agency should be calculated on the basis that at least three to ten times the number of projects should be in development relative to the number of films which it is anticipated will go in to production.

5) Where development support is provided as a loan it should only be repayable from the production budget of any resulting film. Where not, it should be seen as a subsidy to the writer and not deducted from the writer’s fee.

6) Funding development exclusively through producers has not produced the beneficial results hoped for. FSE is strongly of the view that development funding should as a general rule be channelled directly to writers.

7) Where development funding is provided through production companies the companies should only have to provide evidence that they own or can acquire (option agreement or letter of intent) sufficient rights from the author to produce the film or television programme. Buyouts of all rights or concluded contracts are inappropriate and should not be a requirement for application for support.

8) The application system should be transparent and writers should be entitled to receive copies of readers reports or other written assessments of their work as well as financial and budget information even when the application is made by a producer.

9) Writers should be entitled to apply for support on the basis of a treatment for a film rather than necessarily a full first draft as well as on the basis of a short description for a treatment.

10) Where standard contracts are not in force funding agencies should not provide producers with financial support to cover legal costs of negotiating writers’ contracts without providing countervailing financial support for legal costs to writers. Where development support schemes are being introduced, reviewed or amended the FSE will be available to provide advice and support to member organisations or indeed also directly to funding agencies, especially on the international level, on the experience of other countries as well as on the best practice of effective state aid for screenwriting and development. Success in one country creates the possibility of success in another. Let us use our combined experience and efforts to better the environment for writers across Europe.

CBBC: New Stories for the Next Generation

From BBC Writersroom:

Do you have stories to tell that we've never seen before?

Can you create characters the audience will fall in love with?

We want to find the next generation of CBBC writers with fresh perspectives, original voices, and the ability to create unforgettable characters.

This opportunity is open to any writer who wants to write Children's drama. We are looking for 30-minute original TV scripts of unmissable and infectious storytelling, offering fresh cultural perspectives, tales combining authenticity with hope and joy, stories from a child's point of view, characters that will engage and surprise the audience, scripts that are powerful, emotional, and contemporary, shows that will work for the CBBC audience and channel but can dare to take risks.

They might be action-adventures, comedy-dramas, modern takes on age-old morality, tales shot through with fantasy, magic and wonder, real stories with substance and edge, animated ideas or a combination of animation and live-action - but they must be new stories that will get under the skin of a new generation, the kind of stories they will still talk about in years to come.

Process

A shortlist of 15-20 writers will be invited to a masterclass in July 2009. The final 8-10 shortlisted writers will then be selected and spend an intensive residential week developing their work, improving their craft and pitching to CBBC in September/October 2009. The final shortlist will receive CBBC mentoring from the development team and a £300 bursary.

Deadline: 5pm, Wednesday 1 July 2009

Mario Benedetti 1920-2009

From BBC News:

Uruguayan writer Mario Benedetti, whose novels were widely translated and poems set to music, has died at the age of 88 at his home in Montevideo.

Benedetti's work chronicled the life of Uruguay's middle-class and was popular throughout the Spanish-speaking world.

He lived in exile from 1973 to 1983 during military rule in Uruguay and was well-known as a supporter of the Cuban government.

More information about Benedetti from Wikipedia.

Update (20th May 2009): Some more obituaries and tributes: El Habanreo, The New York Times and The LA Times.

Moffat wins best TV writer BAFTA

Sadly relegated several years ago from the main BAFTA awards, the best TV writer BAFTA was last night presented to Peter Moffat for Criminal Justice at the BAFTA Craft Awards.

There's a post-award video interview with Peter Moffat on the BAFTA site.

Moffat is emerging as one of British TV's most successful screenwriters, with another series of Criminal Justice to come and last year's Einstein and Eddington also winning critical plaudits.

Such a shame that Channel 4 cancelled his first legal show, the brilliant North Square, after just one series.

Short is beautiful

On the Writers' Guild website, Elizabeth Baines charts the return of the short story.

Stories need to be read in a different way from novels, with a different, more studied kind of concentration. For this reason I think it’s a mistake – one I admit I made myself when I was publishing the short story magazine Metropolitan – to try and sell short stories as suitable for a rushed age. Most short story authors I have talked to recently believe that it’s that very rushed nature of our contemporary world, along with the superficiality of its commercial orientation, which has militated against the kind of focused attention which it takes to both write a story and to appreciate it as a reader.

Screenwriters who are helping themselves

On ScreenDaily.com, David Pearson, director of the Screenwriters’ Festival (SWF), argues that British writers are becoming more entrepreneurial.

As the development puddle in the UK dries up, writers are behaving like producers — if not actually being producers. They do this to protect their investment in scripts they have written but not yet been paid for. It follows a trend of TV writers setting up production companies. The reduction in paid gigs for writers may also embolden them to go forward with their pet project. Bill Nicholson, screenwriter and SWF regular, is optimistic: “It could be a period of creative development, maybe a new golden age for scripts.”

What Guild members are getting up to

PERRIE BALTHAZAR wrote the episode of Hollyoaks going out on C4 at 6:30pm on Thursday 21st May.

KAREN BROWN wrote the episode of Moving On - The Rain Has Stopped going out on BBC1 at 2:15pm on Monday 18th May.

RHIANNON COUSINS has written the first and fifth episodes of the new online drama Break Free.

DAVID CROFT and JIMMY PERRY co-wrote the episode of Dad's Army "The Royal Train" going out on BBC1 at 7:50pm on Saturday 16th May.

MARY CUTLER'S dramatisation of Falco: Poseidon's Gold begins on Radio 4 at 7:45pm on Monday 18th May.

DAVID EDGAR'S radio play Something Wrong About the Mouth is going out on Radio 4 at 2:30pm on Saturday 16th May.

PETER FLANNERY wrote the episode of Inspector George Gently "Gently in the Blood" going out on BBC1 at 8:30pm on Sunday 17th May.

LOL FLETCHER wrote the episode of Doctors "Sound of Silence" going out on BBC1 at 1:45pm on Wednesday 20th May.

JEREMY FRONT wrote the episode of Murder Unprompted: a Charles Paris Mystery going out on Radio 4 at 11:30pm on Wednesday 20th May.

CAROLINE HARRINGTON wrote the episodes of The Archers going out on Radio 4 at 7:00pm from Sunday 17th till Friday 22nd May with each episode being repeated at 2:00pm the day following its original broadcast.

DAWN HARRISON wrote the episode of Doctors "A Kind Of Hush" that won Best Single Episode at the British Soap Awards.

JONATHAN HARVEY wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 7:30pm on Monday 18th May.

LISA HOLDSWORTH wrote the episode of Waterloo Road going out on BBC1 at 8:00pm on Wednesday 20th May.

BILL LYONS wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Friday 22nd May.

SUE MOONEY wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Tuesday 19th May.

DAVID NOBBS co-wrote the episode of Reggie Perrin going out on BBC1 at 22nd May.

DEBBIE OATES wrote the episode of Coronation Street going out on ITV1 at 7:30pm on Friday 22nd May.

JESSE O'MAHONEY wrote the episode of Hollyoaks going out on C4 at 6:30pm on Tuesday 19th May.

LYN PAPADOPOULOS wrote the episode of Hollyoaks going out on C4 at 6:30pm on Wednesday 20th May.

JAMES PAYNE wrote the episodes of EastEnders going out on BBC1 at 7:30pm on Thursday 21st and at 8:00pm on Friday 22nd May.

ALAN PLATER has a revival of Confessions Of A City Supporter starting on May 21st at the new Hull Truck Theatre.

MARC PYE wrote the episode of Moving On - Bully going out on BBC1 at 2:15pm on Tuesday 19th May.

HEATHER ROBSON wrote the episode of Hollyoaks going out on C4 at 6:30pm on Friday 22nd May.

JULIE RUTHERFORD wrote the episode of Ashes to Ashes going out on BBC1 at 9:00pm on Monday 18th May.

DANNY STACK wrote the episode of EastEnders going out on BBC1 at 7:30pm on Monday 18th May.

SHELAGH STEPHENSON'S dramatisation of JG Farrell's novel The Siege Of Krishnapur concludes on Radio 4 at 9:00pm on Saturday 16th May (repeated 4pm Sunday 17th).

DAN TETSELL co-wrote the episode of Rudy's Rare Records "The Heart of Saturday Night" going out on Radio 4 at 11:30am on Monday 18th May.

CHRIS THOMPSON wrote the episodes of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Wednesday 20th and Thursday 21st May.

KATHARINE WAY wrote the episode of Doctors "Out of Control" going out on BBC1 at 1:45pm on Monday 18th May.

JC WILSHER wrote the episode of New Tricks "Powerhouse" going out on BBC1 at 9:00pm on Tuesday 19th May.

ESTHER WILSON wrote the episode of Moving On - Butterfly Effect going out on BBC1 at 2:15pm on Friday 22nd May.

STEVE WOOD'S latest book, The Angels of Mona Terrace, was published by Priory Press on 2nd May. Set in Manchester and the Isle of Man in 1971, it's a crossover title aimed at older children and adults.

KARIN YOUNG wrote the episode of Emmerdale going out on ITV1 at 7:00pm on Monday 18th May.