Title: 5th Blog!
Image by Harriet from South Yorkshire | in writing, non-fiction, blogs
On the 1st of July, I went to the Ö÷²¥´óÐã TV Drama Writer's Festival at the Leeds College of Music. I went to four talks, given by industry professionals, and learnt so much. It was also a brilliant insight into the life of writers because it was such a good chance to talk to real writers and ask them how they got into writing. The first talk I went to was one by John Yorke, the Ö÷²¥´óÐã Controller of Drama. I learnt that a commercially successful TV series has a good format, compelling characters and a unique, but clear, world. I then went on to a talk given by the producer and writers of E20, a teenage spin-off of East Enders. They said that Internet shows have greater freedom than TV shows and for those people wishing to start something up, online is a good place to get a stage. Check out the website of Media Literacy if that interests you. I then learnt about low budget dramas from writers Jack Thorne, Toby Whithouse and Tony Roche, who have written for Cast-Offs, The Thick of It, Being Human and Shameless (which is my current obsession and I think everyone should watch it). When writing, think about cast size, costumes, stunts and a good night/day balance. Unfortunately, I didn't take notes for the last talk, which was called "The Alchemy of the First Episode". The first episode is very important – if it's rubbish, no one will come back. It needs to be attention grabbing and set up the story and characters. I can't remember much else, I'm afraid. Sorry – I wish I'd taken notes! Since then, I've snoozed my way through the last weeks of school and started actually writing. It's not going very smoothly – writing a longer piece of work is SO MUCH HARDER than a short film. So I'll stop writing this blog and carry on with the screenplay. Toodle-oo for now!
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