15 February 2012
Posted in Theatre

Guild President David Edgar was a speaker at the Arts Council's annual State of the Arts conference, held on 14 February at the Lowry Theatre in Salford.

(Photo: David Edgar being interviewed during the State of the Arts Conference)

The State of the Arts conference was chaired by TV presenter Kirsty Wark and began with addresses by Arts Council chair Liz Forgan, who announced a new intrernational ars development fund set up in partnership with the British Council, and Culture Minister Ed Vaizey MP, who outlined new plans for cultural education in schools.

During a panel discussion, David Edgar pointed out that the recent £40m increase in the budget for the Olympics opening and closing ceremonies is twice the amount necessary to reinstate all the arts bodies whose grants were cut off last March. He attacked a prevailing wisdom that that these cuts were inevitable or somehow beneficial.

After workshops on the relationship of the arts with audiences, the creative economy, fundraising and the environment, the BBC's Will Gompertz interviewed choreographer Arlene Phillips about the need to increase arts broadcasting on television.

David Edgar delivered the closing keynote address, which argued that the arts will need to make a stronger case for funding than ever before. However, artists shouldn't forget their oppositional role, to challenge as well as to comfort and entertain.

Video from the event will be available online from 17 February 2012

15 February 2012
Posted in Film

Tony Auguste reports back from the Berlinale

(Photo: UK Films @Berlinale 2012 reception)

‘Oh,’ said my Swedish film distributor neighbour from the hotel room next door to mine, upon hearing I was a writer. His perma-smile slips but recovers. ‘That’s interesting.’ He suddenly finds he needs to go in a different direction to me. I offer my card. ‘Sorry I’ve forgotten mine in my room,’ he says. ‘I’ll slip one under your door later.’ Suffice to say he doesn’t.

This particular scene was played out on day one of the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival, otherwise known as the Berlinale. Over 20,000 film professionals and journalists from all over the world congregate for ten days in Germany every February to buy, sell and pitch. A public facing event, more than 300,000 tickets are sold for screenings of all kinds, day and night, as distributors (those folk again) seek buyers for their acquisitions, drama or documentary, long or short form. But where does the writer fit into this rugby scrum of activity? Despite dozens of debates and workshops about everything from crowd funding to post-production processes and workflow, there is curiously little, officially, on offer. There is the sidebar of the Berlinale Talent Campus but even here there’s only one ‘Meet the Expert’ event that is specific to writers and writing.

‘It’s about relationships,’ says Anthony Alleyne, a writer from London. Here for another sidebar event, The European Film Market, he thinks that despite the lack of official presentations or workshops writers should attend — as long as they are prepared. ‘Do your research,’ he advises. ‘Know who’s attending. Target producers and film funds and pre-arrange meetings before you go. The more focused you are, the more you’ll get out of it.’ A lecturer at The Met Film School in Ealing, he’s raising finance for Borderline, a feature length thriller set in Italy which he will also direct and produce. I mention that I’d met Guild member Sam Snape at an event in November last year and I asked Anthony what he thought of Sam’s view that writers must consider themselves producers and position themselves as such, at the very least until someone else can come in to take the project to a higher level. ‘I think that’s absolutely right,’ Anthony says. ‘Especially at the lower-budget end (Borderline’s estimated budget is £500,000), writers for film are remiss not to. It’s your baby: no-one will care more about the project than you. It’s also a means to protect your ideas and sensibility more effectively.’

Rodney Charles agrees. Born in London but resident in Los Angeles for the past 12 years, Rodney has been a member of the Guild since 1991 and is here to raise finance for his second feature. ‘I would say almost every aspect of the Berlinale has something to offer a writer,’ he tells me. ‘One of the things that can happen is that we can be terribly isolated. What you have here is the opportunity to interact with many high level individuals from all over the world in all positions in the production chain. Whether it’s attending lectures on different aspects of filmmaking or just simply meeting people, this kind of immersive experience can really enhance your understanding and knowledge of the industry as a whole. You’re able to pick up on trends and identify where your work fits in, and even find producers who may be looking for writers to work on pre-existing projects. Be open to all possibilities.' He also agrees with Sam Snape’s view regarding writers as producers: 'Especially in LA, where filmmakers are conditioned to be more entrepreneurial, it’s pretty much imperative that writers adopt that position. You need to generate activity around the script: even if you have an agent you cannot rely on them to raise awareness. You have to be pro-active. Nothing happens without writing and writers. Learn to negotiate and leverage your power.’

Betty Leirner, a Brazilian author, filmmaker, painter and curator thinks the Berlinale is perfect for writers — but you must have experience. ‘If you come here as a newcomer you may be overwhelmed,’ Betty says. ‘There are so many films, projects and people that you can get lost in it all. It’s only really for accredited filmmakers, but if you are at a sufficient level it is a worthwhile experience. I’ve attended for seven years and whilst it’s a more commercial event now, it’s still useful for all kinds of projects. The Books at Berlinale event (where 12 novels are chosen to be presented to producers for adaptation) is a new opportunity for writers too.’

For me the event was undoubtedly worthwhile. I have three feature-length projects with international locations and was able to speak with producers, directors and national and regional film funds — all of whom took an interest. There certainly are people there that it’s pointless speaking to as a writer, and one or two were quite blatant about having no interest in talking to writers at all; time being money. It is a market interested in the here and now, in what can be bought and sold today, not in what might be made in the future. But there is nuance, and if you’re clear about what you want Berlin will provide.

I’ll leave it to Betty Leirner to sum it all up: ‘The Berlinale is like a sky with many stars: some are big, some are small but there is room for everybody.’ I wholeheartedly agree.  

For enquiries about my film projects or more info about The Berlinale please email tony@westway.tv 

13 February 2012
Posted in Film

The Submission Deadline for the 11th éQuinoxe Germany International Screenwriters´ Workshop & Master Class is 18 May 2012. The workshop will be held late the second week of October.

The International Screenwriters´ Workshops are geared towards writers with minimum one feature film script produced. The workshops only deal with screenplays for the cinema.

Scripts should be at an advanced stage of development (recommended is at least third Draft) in order to get the full advantage out of the one-on-one meetings with the advisors. 

• EU/EEC Writers who have had at least one script produced are eligible to apply 
• Screenplays for cinema (first Drafts are not accepted) 
• There are no fees for the selection process. 
• Producer should be attached 
• Scripts may be submitted in German or English 
• Scripts submitted in industry -standard format and pagination 
• If project is pre-selected, an English translation for the international jury must be provided in 14 days
• If your project is invited, the workshop assumes travel, food and lodging for the writers
• If your project is accepted, producers are obliged to attend the end of the workshop. Travel costs are not covered for producers, however, food and lodging costs are assumed 
• The workshop is held in the English language

Application Process: Online application available on the website. To apply:

1. Go to www.equinoxegermany.de, click on 'application', complete application, and up-load requested files
2. Send files per email directly to: selection@equinoxegermany.de 
3. Aend all materials and signed application per normal post. Postal stamp is the valid entry date.

Deadline for submissions is 18. May 2012. (Postal stamp)

More information: info@equinoxegermany.de

13 February 2012
Posted in Film

Neil Hunter on a English-language screenwriting workshop in Germany

(Photo: Writers and tutors relaxing during the éQuinoxe Germany screenwriting workshop)

I remember having a coffee by an Alpine lake in Germany with a young Austrian screenwriter, hearing quite a splash, noticing vaguely that of the two children playing on the jetty only one was currently visible, and then returning to the matter in hand, namely, why her story of redemption through industrial espionage was somehow failing to carry the reader, and then hearing a scream and a chair falling over and seeing a father flashing past us on to the jetty to rescue his boy from the shallow, freezing water. And I remember thinking: ‘This screenwriting business, it certainly takes you out of yourself.’

We were in the German Alps courtesy of éQuinoxe Germany, an English-language screenwriting workshop that follows the Sundance template in which each writer enjoys, or suffers, five sessions with five different advisers. When I advised for the French-run, now-defunct Moonstone programme, I remember someone suggesting that the first two sessions were needed to break the resistance of the writer; the final three to rebuild on sounder foundations.

If that makes it sound daunting (and rather more deliberate than the reality) it should. To have one’s writing subjected to such intense scrutiny, to have nowhere to hide, is not for the faint-hearted; however, the scrutiny will never again be so friendly, or so purely well-intentioned, or so pure.

It can also be daunting for the advisers. Although they convene a day early to discuss the scripts, and keep each other informed of the scripts’ progress over the week, each session with the writer remains surprisingly unpredictable. I have gone into sessions with closely-reasoned arguments as to why, say, the sister has to become a brother, only to receive the reply: ‘Oh, her. She’s gone.’

I think of these sessions, which can last three hours, as a type of jamming: a dual enquiry into the problems of a script, and a dual attempt to solve them. What does the writer really want to say? Where is the heart of the story? What does the writer really believe, or not believe, to be true? Any sense of hierarchy is dissolved in the heat of the problem at hand, and in any case, the writers are no beginners: they have to have had at least one script produced, and they need a producer attached to the project they bring.

All the screenplays accepted by the programme are flawed. I was surprised, on the éQuinoxe Germany workshops I have advised on, by the degree of consensus among the advisers (to the extent that writers sometimes suspect there is a stitch-up, although a moment’s introspection would banish such an idea). Not only is there usually full agreement on the flaws, there is usually a strong consensus about the most likely diagnosis and most fruitful areas to rethink and explore. Needless to say, individual advisers will disagree on details. But éQuinoxe Germany goes so some lengths to ensure that writers are not assailed from all sides with contradictory opinions. The intention is that scripts, and writers, are nursed and somehow carried through the five days; tested, but not to destruction.

So what sort of scripts, and what sort of writers, are likely to benefit most from the workshop? First of all, the writer needs to know there is a problem – though not necessarily what or where the problem is. Everyone naturally hopes their script can be solved with sticking plaster, but over the years I’ve noticed that there are some fairly consistent reasons why scripts fail to cross the finishing line in peak condition. And usually, annoyingly, it’s necessary to rebuild from the beginning.

The producer Christine Vachon has said that she relies on her writer/directors not only to have the flexibility to be able to cut when the budget squeeze kicks in – but also to know where their red lines where. To know what is essential, and what cuts would be fatal…and then to say ‘no’. Similarly, writers will benefit most if they have lived with the script for long enough to have an idea what it is they want to say, and where the heart of the story should be. There will always be room for discovery, but the borders are clear. For this reason, the scripts éQuinoxe Germany accepts are often quite developed,

I have written about scripts, rather than writers. But beyond the super-boosted development of a script, there is the growth of a writer. Beyond the intense exposure to five advisers, and the stimulation of all the other selected writers, there are screenings, masterclasses and discussions. It would be odd to emerge from the experience unchanged.

See the call for submissions for éQuinoxe 2012

11 February 2012
Posted in Events

The next West Midlands Branch of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain event will take place at 7.30pm on Thursday 22nd March at the Zellig Bulding, the Custard factory, Digbeth Birmingham.

Wendy Bevan-Mogg of Creative England in conversation with representatives of the screen industry in the midlands.

Creative England took over from Screen West Midlands and other regional screen development agencies in October 2011.

Creative England’s first objective is to establish a new infrastructure for film in the English regions, laying foundations for the development of a vibrant film culture outside London. As Talent Manager, Wendy Bevan-Mogg is responsible for supporting regional film making talent.  

 Free for WGGB members, £5 for non-members. Email WMidWritersGuild@aol.com to book a place.

06 February 2012
Posted in Books and Poetry

Andrew S. Walsh says: help the Guild help you

Have you worked in comics, cartoon strips, single panel cartoons, graphic novels, or any other form of illustrated narrative? Then the Writers' Guild would like to hear from you, whether or not you are a Guild member.

When the Guild was formed over 50 years ago, the writers involved recognised not only the need for strength in numbers, but the obvious weakness that comes from ignorance of how an industry functions. It is incredibly difficult for a writer to negotiate a fair agreement without knowing what their peers are being paid, or what standard conditions appear in other contracts. For writers new to an industry, or moving between industries, it is imperative that they learn not just how their craft can be applied to this fresh medium, but also the anatomy of the industry they have entered. Who should a writer be talking to? How should they be paid? What will this industry expect of them?

No matter the quality of the writing, many a creator has come unstuck by producing a screenplay in the wrong format. Television writers have found themselves barred from radio through a failure to understand the commissioning process. Novelists have seen their bid to write a videogame rejected because they tried to negotiate their pay in a way that industry does not understand.

Where overall agreements have not yet been put into place the Guild is, instead, able to produce guidelines aimed at lifting the veil on how an industry operates, giving those working in it and those hoping to move into it much needed visibility on how companies and writers are operating there.

This is where you can help the Guild (whether you are a member or not), by responding to a questionnaire that will help confirm or inform the conclusions they have drawn from several months of consultation with writers working across illustrative narrative.

These new guidelines are designed to tackle key areas - · Defining the medium - what work is available and what form does it take? · The writer’s role – how does a writer fit into this industry structure? · Standard terms – what should a writer expect when working in the various forms of writing that fit within this bracket of writing? · Rates and royalties – the all-important question of payment and the forms that payment takes.

While the guidelines have now reached a first draft form that has been sent to the writers involved in the consultation period it will be another month or two before the guidelines are ready for publication. During this time it is important for the Guild to continue to receive feedback that ensures the accuracy of the guidelines and to be able to add any additional information to them. If you have worked anywhere in this area, be it the sale of one cartoon panel, or a thousand ongoing series, we would like to have your thoughts. Be it information on comic strips for newspapers, cartoon panels, comicbooks, graphic novels or any other form of illustrated narrative then please contact Erik at the office - Erik@writersguild.org.uk so the Guild can send you a short set of questions that will help us complete these guidelines.

03 February 2012
Posted in TV

In response to popular demand, the Writers' Guild of Great Britain will be holding an event to discuss BBC long-running TV series. It will be at the Free Word Centre 60 Farringdon Road, London EC1R 3GA on Monday Feb 20th from 3 - 6 PM.

This event is open to any writers who have written for a BBC long-running series in the past two years; Guild members and non-members welcome. Please note this is not an event for people who aspire to write for long-running series or last wrote one before 2009. It's also for writers only.

The event is likely to be heavily subscribed and space is limited. Please let the Guild know if you wish to attend ASAP

Please contact erik@writersguild.org.uk

01 February 2012
Posted in Theatre

Actor Sam West (left), Guild President David Edgar (middle) and Equity President Malcolm Sinclair handed in a statement to the Hungarian Embassy earlier this week, protesting at the imposition of a supporter of a far-right party as director of the New Theatre in Budapest.

Gyorgy Dorner backs the anti-Roma, anti-gay and anti-semitic party Jobbik. His policy is to stop producing 'foreign garbage' and concentrate on Hungarian plays, including those by his friend and advisor Istvan Csurka, an open anti-semite and president of the Hungarian Justice and Life Party.

The imposed change at the New Theatre has provoked protests from theatre-makers throughout Europe and beyond.

The text of the Equity/Guild statement was published as a letter in the Guardian on Friday, signed by 68 actors, playwrights and directors. Actor signatories included Henry Goodman, Martin Jarvis, Antony Sher, Janet Suzman and Zoe Wanamaker; among the writers were Howard Brenton, Michael Frayn, David Hare, Mark Ravenhill and Arnold Wesker, and the letter was also signed by the artistic directors of the National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Court.

Photo: Marcus Clackson

30 January 2012
Posted in Radio

Stephen Wyatt wins Tinniswood Prize for best script

The winners of the first ever BBC Audio Drama Awards were announced last night at a ceremony hosted by actor David Tennant in the Radio Theatre at BBC Broadcasting House, London.

The awards aim to celebrate and recognise the cultural importance of audio drama, on air and online, and to give recognition to the actors, writers, producers, sound designers, and others who work in the genre.

In conjunction with the Society of Authors and The Writers’ Guild of Great Britain, the winners of the Imison and Tinniswood Awards were also announced and presented by playwright and Guild President, David Edgar.

The winners were:

Tinniswood Award for Best Radio Drama Script 

Gerontius by Stephen Wyatt

Imison Award for Best Radio Drama Script by a writer new to radio

Amazing Grace by Michelle Lipton

Best Audio Drama

Lost Property - The Year My Mother Went Missing by Katie Hims (Producer: Jessica Dromgoole, BBC Radio Drama for Radio 4P)

Best Actor in an Audio Drama

David Tennant, Kafka: The Musical by Murray Gold (Producer: Jeremy Mortimer, BBC Radio Drama for Radio 3)

Best Actress in an Audio Drama

Rosie Cavaliero, Lost Property: A Telegram From The Queen by Katie Hims (Producer: Jessica Dromgoole, BBC Radio Drama for Radio 4)

Best Supporting Actor/Actress in an Audio Drama

Andrew Scott, Referee by Nick Perry (Producer: Sasha Yevtushenko, BBC Radio Drama for Radio 4)

Best Scripted Comedy Drama

Floating by Hugh Hughes (Producer: James Robinson, BBC Radio Drama for Radio 4)

Best Online Only Audio Drama

Rock by Tim Fountain (Producer: Iain Mackness, Made in Manchester for The Independent Online)

Best Adaptation

The History of Titus Groan dramatised by Brian Sibley (Producers: David Hunter, Gemma Jenkins and Jeremy Mortimer, BBC Radio Drama for Radio 4)

Best Use of Sound in an Audio Drama

Bad Memories by Julian Simpson (Producer: Karen Rose, Sweet Talk Productions for Radio 4)

Innovation Award

The Unfortunates adapted by Graham White (Producer: Mary Peate, BBC Radio Drama for Radio 3)

Read the full shortlists for the Awards

27 January 2012
Posted in Books and Poetry

Off the Shelf at Black’s is a literature collaboration between Black’s members’ club and the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain books committee that organises a series of monthly, one-day residencies for fiction writers, held on the last Monday of the month.

The next writer-in-residence on Monday 30 January is Carol Topolski (pictured left, and author of Monster Love and  Do No Harm) and will be followed by:

• Lucinda Hawksley (Lizzie Siddal, 50 British Artists You Should Know), 27 February
• Owen Sheers (Resistance – from novel to movie), 19 March
• Alan Franks (Going Over, The Sins Of The Sons), 30 April

The writer will read from published work as well as works in progress. The audience will then discuss the work and writing processes, chaired by Jan Woolf of the WGGB books committee. After lunch, there will be an open mic session during which participants can read short extracts from their own work. This is an opportunity for established authors to receive mature critical feedback and for the audience to get some guidance.

The event will run from 11am-4pm. The cost is £25. This includes coffee, two-course lunch, and all-day and evening membership of Black’s. You will also get an automatic reference for club membership.

To book a place at the latest event, email daisy@blacksclub.com. For more information, email Jan Wolf (janwoolf@hotmail.com) but hurry – there are only 23 places for the event.

27 January 2012
Posted in Theatre

A statement from the Writers' Guild of Great Britain

The Writers' Guild is alarmed by the Hungarian government's imposition of a far-right director on one of Budapest's leading theatres, and supports the campaign for a statement to be made in support of tolerance in theatre on 1 February, the day when the theatre changes hands.

Following the election of the right-wing Fidesz Party, the Mayor of Budapest sacked the director of the New Theatre, and appointed actor Gyorgy Dorner in his place. Dorner is a supporter of the anti-Roma, anti-gay and anti-semitic party Jobbik. Jobbik's militia, the Hungarian Guard, was recently forced to disband but its presidential candidate recently stated that Jews were 'liice-infested dirty murderers'. The party has 47 members of the Hungarian parliamentn and one of its members is president of the Cultural and Media Committee.

The New Theatre presents both Hungarian plays and the international canon, from Schiller to Shakespeare. Dorner's policy is to stop the production of 'foreign garbage'entirely and present only Hungarian work. He is proposing presenting the plays of his friend and advisor Istvan Csurka, of the Hungarian Truth and Life Party. A number of Hungarian writers have withdrawn their plays from the theatre in protest.

The change imposed on the New Theatre may not be the last. Jobbik is campaigning and demonstrating against the Hungarian National Theatre, calling its work "obscene, pornographic, gay, anti-national and anti-Hungarian".

There is an international campaign for actors to read out a statement condemning the appointment and resserting the importance of tolerance and diversity in the arts, which the Writers' Guild supports.

Guild President David Edgar commented: 'The forced imposition of a far-right nationalist as director of a major theatre in a contemporary European capital is a highly sinister development. We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Hungarian theatre-makers in opposing this decision and calling for it to be reversed'.

See also a letter in The Guardian from a wide range ofUK theatre-practitioners.

25 January 2012
Posted in Books and Poetry

Kirsten Ellis explains how her book Star of the Morning, The Extraordinary Life Of Lady Hester Stanhope came to be adapted by Oscar-winner David Seidler

Writers often feel that their books are their mythical, and in some cases actual, children; creations that spring from and are woven into their DNA. Whatever you might, in hindsight, wish to have written differently, there is no way to relinquish your progeny’s claim on you. For better or worse, your book, like your child, is part of you, and always will be. 

So when your book is optioned for adaptation to the screen, it creates an immediate form of separation anxiety. Suddenly your child is no longer yours, but a creature that belongs to other people too. You hope they will do well out there in the world, but you can’t control the outcome. You have to trust and let go, always remembering that, unlike a child, your book will always remain the way it was when it finally saw life; movies or television may well transmute your story into something you barely recognise, but your book will always be your book.

It was always hard not to imagine that the subject of my book, Lady Hester Stanhope, was obvious material for a film. Her life was packed with more drama, adventure, romance and exoticism than that experienced by most mortals. Noted equally for being headstrong, witty and beautiful, Hester went from living at 10 Downing Street with her uncle, the unmarried Prime Minister William Pitt (for whom she acted as both unofficial hostess and confidante), to a life in Syria so remarkable that it might have been invented by Rider Haggard. Her charisma and horsemanship so impressed the Bedouin that they made her an honorary emir, naming her for the Arab goddess, ul-Huzza, ‘Star of the Morning.’ A hundred years before T.E. Lawrence, she hoped to help unite the Arabs against the Ottomans, backed by the British, but her dream – and her hope to be a power-broker in the Middle East – put her too far ahead of her time.

Hester was an almost exact contemporary of Jane Austen – born three months apart - and the two could not be more opposite creatures of the same age.

Bedlam Productions optioned the film rights to my book part-way through filming their feature The King’s Speech, and well in advance of that film’s spectacular critical and commercial success. Indeed, I first met producer Gareth Unwin between takes on set in Portland Place on the day Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush filmed their famous f-word scene. I came away with a strong feeling that something truly magic was happening and with (The King’s Speech screenwriter) David Seidler writing the screenplay, I trusted that my book, which would now become The Lady Who Went Too Far, was most definitely in the best hands possible. The Bedlam team continue to impress me at every step with their commitment to remain true to the spirit of the book, and most importantly, to Hester herself.