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Theatre writers and directors

The secrets of a successful working relationship between theatre writers and directors will be explored in a Writers' Guild event at RADA in London on 17 May. Full details are on the Writers' Guild website.

Will the government back amateur theatre?

Charles Vance in The Stage asks whether the next government will take up the recommendations of a DCMS select committee report stating that:

“We believe that, as in sport, consideration should be given to the public policy gains that can be demonstrated as a result of participation in drama and a strategic approach to the funding of grassroots, or community theatre should be developed. This should take place as a partnership between the amateur sector, Arts Council England, regional theatres, local government and schools.

“As a first step, proposals for a National Drama Association - with public funding - to bring the amateur sector together should be properly formulated and given serious consideration. A further initiative might be the development of local arts forums, including theatre and amateur theatre, aimed at maximising the use of local arts expertise and facilities for the benefit of the community.”

Reviews or readers?

Steve Stern's latest book, The Angel of Forgetfulness, has received rave reviews, reports Peter Edidin in the New York Times but sales are slow. So what's it like to be loved by critics but ignored by readers?

Mr. Stern said he would love to have a best seller. But having had the good fortune to find his life's work in Memphis many years ago, he doesn't really want to press his luck. "I just want to get away with it," he said. "I just want to get my next book published, and my next."

John Yorke's plans for EastEnders

John Yorke, controller of continuing drama series and head of independent drama, tells Stuart Jefferies in Media Guardian (free registration required) why, having returned to the BBC from Challen 4, he still believes in EastEnders.

For the past three months, Yorke has had EastEnders back on his viewing schedule (he reckons to watch 340 hours of TV a year). What went wrong with it while you were away? "Soaps have to be character-led. It became a bit too plot-led. It was the Brookside syndrome - just pursuing sensationalism. That's very dangerous. Audiences just don't believe you after a while." Why then not kill off EastEnders, just as Brookside was terminated while you were at Channel 4? "You couldn't do that! EastEnders saved the BBC." But that was 20 years ago. "No, it is part of the BBC1's DNA now, it's vital to the channel.

BBC to spend an extra £21m on TV shows

The BBC will spend an extra £61m on programmes, including £21m on television shows, it has announced in its annual statement. The corporation's programme budget will increase to £2.178bn this year, with extra drama and comedy on BBC TV.

It will air fewer repeats, makeover and lifestyle shows in BBC One's peak time.

The full story is on BBC News.

Soaps and illness

Next time you write a medical storyline for a soap, spare a thought for the GPs. As BBC News reports, in a new survey more than nine out of 10 GPs claimed to have seen patients reporting symptoms based on what they had seen on TV or read in newspapers and magazines.

Pam Prentice, joint chief executive of Developing Patient Partnerships, said: "These results may be bad news for GPs right now, but they show soaps' enormous potential for influencing people's health behaviour in a positive way."

Channel 4 comedy writing competition

Channel 4 have announced that they will launch a brand new comedy writing initiative in mid-May.

The new scheme will offer fresh writing talent the chance to win a one-year contract with the channel worth £20,000 and the opportunity to write for a range of Channel 4 comedy and entertainment shows.

Entrants will be required to submit a three minute topical monologue for a quintessential C4 show of their choice and three non-topical sketches of no more than three minutes each in length.

We'll post full details as soon as they are announced.

Update (19/05/05): Details have now been announced.

Johnathan Young moves to Talkback

Talkback Thames’ incoming chief executive Lorraine Heggessey has hired Johnathan Young as head of drama following Paul Marquess’ departure.

Young, a former Channel 4 drama commissioner responsible for shows such as Hollyoaks, Brookside and Teachers, is already working at Talkback producing a second series of Murder Investigation Team and is due to begin filming hospital drama Golden Hour, both for ITV1.

Having directed and produced on EastEnders in the mid-nineties he has built up significant experience in long-running drama series. He later worked on the BBC’s Casualty and played a role in setting up its spin-off Holby City. He was executive producer on Jimmy McGovern’s controversial Channel 4 drama tackling the events of Bloody Sunday as well as Trust with Robson Green for BBC1 - both made by Cracker co-creator Gub Neal’s independent production company, Box TV.

More from The Stage.

BAFTA (part 2)

There were in fact three big awards for Guild members at the BAFTA TV Awards on Sunday.

Paul Abbott (Shameless) won the Best Drama Series, and Guy Hibbert (Omagh) won the best Single Drama.

In addition, Alan Plater was presented with the Dennis Potter Award for writing.

Children's writers over-50

Saga magazine is looking for new writers aged 50 or over who can write for older children. The winner of their competition will have their book published by HarperCollins.

Completed manuscripts of a minimum of 20,000 words and a maximum of 60,000 words in length should be presented with a synopsis of 500 words and sent to the address which will be published in the September issue of Saga magazine together with the official entry form.

The closing date for entries will be January 31, 2006. the winner will be notified by the end of March 2006 and announced in the May 2006 issue of Saga Magazine. The winner’s book will be published in spring 2007.

First-time novelists

Today's new writers lack life experience, argues Robert McCrum in The Observer.

Once upon a time, the writing of books was part of a crowded and vigorous life producing sturdy, oak-like prose. Now, it it often performed by writers for whom it is an end in itself, and for whom the novel has become a strange kind of obsession. No harm in that for the best, of course, but for the majority, the exclusion of everyday concerns yields balsa-wood prose that's detached from the stuff of existence.

First novels used to be a cause for celebration. Now, more likely, it is the third, or even the fifth novel that signals the arrival of a new writer of consequence, someone whose creative stamina will stay the course.

Guild's website back up

The Guild's website is back up.

The hosting company suffered a major technical failure at the end of last week but everything is now restored. Apologies for the inconvenience.

The new compressionism

An ugly phrase, I know, but its what Michael Billington in The Guardian calls the fashion for ever-shorter plays. Is the trend for 90-minute theatre hurting theatre?

I am not asking for a standard structure or a return to the days of the two-interval play. But what I miss is the polyphonic richness of which drama is capable, or the complexities of character revealed by an unfolding narrative. One reason why people are flocking to Don Carlos is that it provides exactly the kind of stimulus so much modern drama lacks: exploration of ideas through character, examination of the manifold selves that make up individuals, the thrilling collision of private and public worlds.

Orange Prize shortlist

The shortlist has been announced for the Orange Prize for fiction.

The nominations for the award, which is open to novels in English written by women, are:

• Billie Morgan by Joolz Denby
  
• Old Filth by Jane Gardam
  
• The Mammoth Cheese by Sheri Holman
  
• A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka
  
• Liars and Saintsby Maile Meloy
  
• We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
  

BAFTA winners

Paul Abbott's Shameless continued its domination of award ceremonies on Sunday, winning the BAFTA for best drama series.

Sex Traffic, by Abi Morgan, won the best drama serial. Coronation Street was crowned best continuing drama.

Is British film dead?

Screenwriter and Guild member Jonathan Gems argues in The Independent that a once prolific industry is being strangled by Hollywood and apathetic UK governments.

When the UK Film Council boasted recently about the amazing success of British films, most of us felt like committing suicide. None of the films the UK Film Council was bragging about were British! Most of them were made by four foreign studios: Pathé, Warner Bros, Disney and Universal - all companies adept at exploiting British grants to subsidise their movies.

Writers' Guild website

We've had a serious technical problem with the Writers' Guild website (www.writersguild.org.uk)

We're working on getting it fixed but I'm afraid that for the moment it is out of action.

Writers' Nexus

Writers' Nexus is a site where writers can post work (for a fee of £35) to be read by agents and publishers, who can browse for free.

I've no idea if it's worth the money, but they do have a very good links page. (As recommended by Jack Schofield in The Guardian)

Bertha the Earth Truck

Guild member Mark Gamon has created what he's calling a blook - a cross between a blog and a book, Bertha the Earth Truck. The modern version of Dickens-style serialisations? The one thing you must remember is to start reading from the bottom.