Our Friends on stage

In The Independent, Lynne Walker talks to Peter Flannery about putting his celebrated TV drama, Our Friends In The North, back to the stage.

Long before it came to the small screen, Jarrow-born Peter Flannery's epic story of four friends from the North-East was a stage-play. "When I was in my late twenties," says Flannery, "and resident writer with the RSC in London, I began to think of a play which might concern itself with the growing cynicism of my parents' generation about our political life. The research and execution of Our Friends began my own long journey towards the almost pitch-black scepticism with which I now observe our political culture. "

The play is being produced by Northern Stage, who have put a rehearsal diary on their website.

BBC's new multiplatform strategy

Simon Nelson, the BBC's 'Controller of Portfolio & Multimedia', has announced a new strategy for multiplatform commissioning.

"We can use the two-way nature of new media platforms to transform our relationship with licence fee payer ... collaborat[ing] with audiences in the creation of content and participative experiences."

Spooks online

Kudos, the production company behind BBC TV's Spooks, created by David Wolstencroft, has launched an online game to tie-in with the series. According to Robin Parker in Broadcast (subscription only):

A new mission will be added after each TV episode and the game storyline will stand alone while also rewarding users by offering extra insights for followers of the TV plot.

"Events in the episode will be referred to in the online experience, leaving users a little more in the know," [Kudos's digital content producer, Linda] Paalanne said. "It's designed so that people can join at any point, go back later to complete missions or play everything in sequence after the series has finished.

"We're very excited that the BBC has supported us in wanting to create a ground-breaking project of this scale."

ITV boosts drama department

From Metthew Hemley in The Stage:

ITV has boosted its in-house drama production team by hiring three new members of staff, including BBC senior producer Kate Lewis. Lewis, who has worked on shows such as Blackpool and The Alan Clarke Diaries, will join ITV Productions’ drama department as an executive producer. The department has also hired script editor Julia Walsh as the department’s new head of development.

Putting Precious on screen

In The New York Times, Michael Wines talks to Anthony Minghella about adapting Alexander McCall Smith's novel, The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, for the big screen.

Mr. Minghella, who writes the screenplays for all his films, said he regards himself as much as a screenwriter as a director. But for this movie he teamed with Richard Curtis, who wrote “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” and helped write the screen version of “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” to bring a light touch to the characters. The novel’s fans will recognize the cadence of Botwanan English, with its charming formality and and “ehs” and “izzists?” that punctuate everyday conversation.

But the screenplay is considerably funnier than the book, in a gentle, wry way, and Ms. Rose’s Grace Makutsi, in 1950s eyeglasses and fright-wig hair, takes on a major role as the comic anchor. Mr. Minghella also moves much of the action outdoors, where Botswana’s scenery and charms like a troupe of native dancers can be shown to best effect.

Davey to take over at Arts Council England

Alan Davey has been appointed as the new Chief Executive of Arts Council England.

Davey, currently Director of Culture at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, will take up his new appointment in early 2008 – succeeding Peter Hewitt, who will have been in post as Chief Executive for ten years.

Meanwhile, according to Michael White in The Guardian, word at the Labour Party Conference is that arts funding cuts seem likely to be avoided.

The kind of folk loutishly referred to as "luvvies" are greatly relieved, the National Theatre's Nicholas Hytner admitted at the Arts Council's fringe meeting. They had expected their budgets to be clobbered. But no, the Calvinist from the North has been quietly going round the arts circuit saying he loves them really. They expect an inflation-proofed deal.

Lynda La Plante interview

In The Independent, Danuta Kean meets Lynda La Plante, whose new novel, Clean Cut, has just been published.

Lynda La Plante is raging. She is furious, her temper as fiery as her flame red hair. "How many Romanians are in? How many Polish are in?" she splutters in the midst of a diatribe about the NHS, over-crowded prisons and illegal immigration. "They are congregating like cockroaches into our major city centres, which are unable to deal with the crime that they bring."

She doesn't see me flinch. My name is Polish but I am too shocked to say anything: the woman who showed us that there is more to female cops than Cagney & Lacey has turned into Alf Garnet. Her pint-sized body – small even in precarious high heels – shakes with all the indignation of a Daily Mail editorial.

Brian Way Award 2008

Applications are invited for the Brian Way Award 2008, funded by Theatre Centre.

Submitted plays should be suitable for young people up to the age of eighteen and be at least forty-five minutes long. They must have been produced professionally between 1 July 2006 and 31 August 2007. This may be a first, second or third production of a play written within the past ten years. The playwright must either be resident in the UK or Republic of Ireland or have had a writing association with a theatre company or group based in the UK or Republic of Ireland. Previously submitted plays will not be considered.

The first prize is £6,000. Thanks to BBC Writersroom for the link.

Writers' Circle Networking Event

The Writers’ Guild of Great Britain is pleased to announce that the first ever WGGB Writers’ Circle will begin on Monday 8th October 2007 at 7pm with a networking session. The event will be held at The Writers’ Guild Centre, 17 Britannia Street, London WC1X 9JN (Nearest station: King’s Cross). Meetings for all groups will be held every other Monday from this date onward. Candidate Members' sessions will be held at 7pm and Full Members' sessions in the afternoon.

If you are interested in joining up for a future group then you are also welcome to attend this event. Please book by sending a cheque for £5 to : WGGB Writers' Circle event, ’ Writers' Guild of Great Britain, 15-17 Britannia Street, London, WC1X 9JN.

The Guild is still inviting applications for the first round of this initiative which is being set up to provide Guild members with a forum to discuss and develop their work. There will be two groups available for applicants to join: one for Full Members and one for Candidate/Student Members. Writers in these groups will also be separated according to genre: TV/ Film and Theatre/Radio. Please specify when you apply which genre you are interested in.

At each group meeting writers will be given feedback about their work from their fellow participants. After six months two writers from each circle will be selected by a panel of judges to present their work at a showcase. Following this event, each group will be disbanded and new applicants will be invited to form a new Circle.

Applicants will be asked to pay £60 for 6 months in advance. (This works out as £5 per session and will cover the administrative costs of the meetings.) If you are interested in joining please send a cheque payable to the Writers' Guild, to ‘WGGB Writers' Circle ’, Writers' Guild of Great Britain, 15-17 Britannia Street, London, WC1X 9JN. Please remember to include your contact details so we can get in touch with you!

The Guild is keen to have WGGB Writers ' Circles set up all over the U.K , so if you are interested in establishing one outside London then please get in touch with Moe Owoborode: moe@writersguild.org.uk

Laverty on It's A Free World

Kierston Wareing in It's A Free World, written by Paul Laverty and directed by Ken Loach (photo: Channel 4)

In The Guardian, Guild member Paul Laverty talks about the issues behind It's A Free World, the film that he scripted and Ken Loach directed, about migrant workers in the UK. It's A Free World is on Channel 4 tonight at 9pm.

We tell our story from the viewpoint of Kierston Wareing's Angie, who opens an employment agency in the hinterland of "illegality lite". Despite their "deep concern", our supermarkets depend on the Angies of this world to lubricate the long lines of subcontracts until brutality is safely over the horizon. Ken Loach, the director, imagined that Angie might one day be businesswoman of the year.

PFD crisis rumbles on

As the crisis at PFD rumbles forward, the media world watches on in fascination, report Gavin Knight in Media Guardian:

While the nation talks about the McCanns and Jose Mourinho, in publishing and media circles there is only one story - the mass resignation of the leading agents at PFD, the UK's largest talent and literary agency. "We are all gripped," one publishing director tells me. "We can't talk about anything else," says an excited rival agent. When the departing agents set up their as yet un-named agency after Christmas in new premises, they could take with them a glittering conga of British talent ranging from Keira Knightley to Richard Curtis, Kate Winslet to Tom Stoppard, Ricky Gervais to Alan Bennett. A conga worth 75% of PFD's income.

In The Financial Times, Jan Dalley also provides an interesting insight into the affair.

Meanwhile, in The Guardian, Martin Wagner says that, whoever their agent is, for a writer the relationship can often be a let-down.

Most young writers, keen for their first break, accept any offer from an agent, no questions asked. But right from the beginning the odds are stacked against them. An agent has many writers to look after - of course, how could an agency be profitable otherwise? - but a writer has only one career. So for a writer to be with the wrong agent can be lethal, while the agent has not much to lose, apart from a few wasted phone calls and stamps, and maybe a minor dent in his or her reputation. But like a bad marriage, a poor match between an author and agent can result in a lifetime of disappointment - for the author, at least.

Guild Awards shortlists announced

The shortlists for the first Guild Awards in ten years have been announced.

The Awards will be presented at a ceremony on 18 November, hosted by Jeremy Hardy. Thanks to generous sponsorship from BBC, ITV and Working Title, the Awards will now be held at BAFTA (David Lean room) 195 Piccadilly, London W1J 9LN.

The support provided from sponsors has also enabled ticket priced to be reduced to £25 for members and £50 for non-members. There is an early bird offer on group bookings available until Monday 1st October: buy a pair of members’ tickets for £40 or non-members’ for £75. Only 100 tickets are available for sale so early booking is recommended.

If you wish to book, please send a cheque with your name and membership number (if applicable) written on the back. Please make the cheque payable to the Writers' Guild, and address it to the 'Writers’ Guild Awards Tickets ', Writers' Guild of Great Britain, 15-17 Britannia Street, King’s Cross, London, WC1X 9JN. " You should also include a covering letter detailing any special requirements you might have for the event.

If you miss out on the 100 tickets for sale but still wish to attend, you will be added you to the waiting list for spare tickets. In this case, priority will be given to Guild members.

Gallagher's Eleventh Hour bought by CBS

Eleventh Hour, the series written for ITV by Guild member and blogger, Stephen Gallagher, has been bought by CBS and will be produced in America by Jerry Bruckheimer.

When I contacted Stephen yesterday he said:

I'm really pleased at this news, as you can imagine. Not least because when I was laying out the template for Eleventh Hour I made a close study of the way that stories in the Bruckheimer science-based procedurals were developed and put together. Research driving story, not merely embellishing it. I've yet to find out what the new team intend to take from the original and what they plan to change, but in the meantime I'm just enjoying the coverage. Not that any of it has managed to mention the show creator's name...

Authors' blogs

On her blog, journalist Danuta Kean offers advice to publishers about authors' blogging.

A blog is about branding. The brand is not the host publication or publisher, it is the individual. You are attempting to market the individual as an authentic voice. Beware: the net community hates inauthenticity, and if you set up a blog cynically, then it will generate bad word-of-mouth and will have a long term negative effect - netheads do not forget or forgive. They also hate anything that looks blatantly commercial.

Tanya Lees: Often Bemused

Guild member Tanya Lees has started a blog: Often Bemused. Tanya recently secured a bursary from Screen West Midlands to help develop her feature film script Translations, a romantic tragedy set during the 1941 occupation of Ethiopia.

I wrote my first book when I was two and a half.

I have since mislaid it, but I seem to remember that it was a single sheet of paper, folded and carefully filled with random letters in imitation of the mysterious and wonderful volumes around me.

Coventry's new Belgrade

In The Guardian, Alfred Hickling reports on the re-opening of Coventry's Belgrade theatre, under the leadership of artistic director Hamish Glen.

He admits that 14 productions in as many months of mostly unfamiliar work is quite a gamble. "The Arts Council heavily advised me against it," he says. "But it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to establish a theatre with a completely new identity. It's like spraying urine - we're staking a claim and marking out our patch."

Emmy for Frank Deasy

Tucked away beneath the news in the British press that Helen Mirren and Ricky Gervais won acting prizes at the American Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday was the briefest of mentions for the winner of the Emmy for "Outstanding Writing For A Miniseries, Movie Or A Dramatic Special".

Step forward Guild member Frank Deasy, who won with his script for Prime Suspect: The Final Act.

Writers on film

Californication trailer

In The Telegraph, Matt Thorne questions the accuracy of Hollywood's depiction of writers. The latest novelist on screen is played by David Duchovny in TV series Californication (which starts in the UK on Five from 11 October).

As he struggles to write a blog for a magazine, he makes up for his lack of inspiration by pursuing an endless stream of LA women (four in the first episode alone) all of whom think having sex with a novelist is the most desirable prospect imaginable.

Not all male novelists look like Duchovny, but even attractive ones might blanch at his seduction technique: going into Borders and reading his own novel.

Instead of being jeered at by passing customers, it's not long before a beautiful 16-year-old comes up to him and goes back to his place for violent sex.

The lad-lit novelist Mike Gayle, who once got fan mail from the Broadway Showgirls strip club in San Francisco promising him a free lapdance, doubts this pick-up technique would work: "I can barely look my books in the eye, let alone stand by them."

Crisis looms at PFD

There appears to be a growing crisis at top literary (and entertainment) agency, PFD, with reports in The Independent that top authors are set to seek alternative representation following the appointment of Caroline Michel, previously of William Morris.

There are now concerns that...authors and actors will follow agents including Pat Kavanagh and Anthony Jones... to set up a rival agency. Last week Caroline Michel, a successful and charismatic force in entertainment and publishing, was appointed chief executive of PFD. Directors at the firm had been trying to push through a £4m management buy-out after it was bought by CSS Stellar in 2001. But the appointment of Ms Michel was taken as a sign that this sale is no longer possible.

Now that a tranche of agents has resigned, authors are beginning to express their doubts about the changes at PFD.

Hunt leads Five drama push

From Jessica Rogers for Broadcastnow:

Five's new director of programmes Jay Hunt has been given the task of finding a long running UK drama for the channel.

Hunt, who officially starts her new job today (Monday 17 September), will be tasked with commissioning a cost-effective high volume soap or drama by the end of next year.

The move is a direct result of Five managing director of content Lisa Opie's strategy to no longer commission short-runs of drama for the channel.