We’re delighted to announce Coventry Voices 2021 – a writers’ development group which will offer an accessible opportunity to Coventry's year as UK City of Culture, while supporting writing talent to develop skills in screenwriting.
These 13 talented up-and-coming writers are embarking on a development programme designed to offer insight into TV and how the industry works, with expert masterclasses that provide the tools and knowledge to write for broadcast television. The writers will attend weekly sessions hosted by top talent from across the industry with a focus on craft skills including story, structure, character and how these can be applied to the development of an original TV drama idea. Writers will be working towards delivering a TV drama / comedy drama pitch which will be reviewed by 主播大秀 Writersroom and industry experts.
The writers have all been carefully identified through 主播大秀 Writersroom open call opportunities, talent scouting and nominations from our partnerships with new writing organisations and theatres in Coventry and the West Midlands including: , , and .
If you would like further information about any of the writers, please feel free to contact writersroom@bbc.co.uk or their agent if applicable.
The Coventry Voices are the first part of 主播大秀 Writersroom’s contribution to . Meet them below.
Find out more about Coventry City of Culture across the 主播大秀
Coventry Voices: l-r top row: Daniel Anderson, Katie Arnstein, Samir Bhamra, Tal Davies, Erinn Dhesi l-r middle row: Sophia Griffin, Paven Kaur Virk, Amaan Kayla, Rae Mainwaring, Anna Mawn l-r bottom row: Sabiha Mank, Zita Sattar, CJ Webley
Daniel Anderson
Daniel Anderson is an exciting and passionate UK based actor, award-winning filmmaker and an emerging writer. He is also the co-founder and Artistic director of Rites of Passage productions, an award-winning creative production house based in Coventry, that specialises in Drama, Theatre, and Film. After graduating from Drama school, Daniel has worked in TV, Film, Theatre and Radio. It’s only within the last 4 years where he has really developed his love for writing and creating stories that are grounded in truth and relevance.
Daniel's ‘Docu-drama’ INSIDE OUT won the Best festival film at the Black International Film Festival in 2014 which looked into the realities of resettlement for ex-prisoners. He wrote the award-winning Short film ‘From Noya’ in 2017, which also picked up various awards internationally. Daniel has not so long ago finished working as one of the writers on '', an original digital series, in conjunction with Coventry's City of Culture, which has been developed by Strictly Arts Theatre Company and Belgrade Film and Digital Ltd. Developing characters, and actualising worlds that connect with people are what get Daniel up in the morning. He is excited and ready to be a part of this awesome opportunity and hopes it will lead him towards being able to continually share his unique and thoughtful voice with the world.
Katie Arnstein
Katie Arnstein is a multi-award-winning writer and performer from the West Midlands. Her feminist, storytelling trilogy It’s a Girl! is made up of Bicycles and Fish, Sexy Lamp and Sticky Door. It’s a Girl! is directed by Ellen Havard and creatively produced by Beccy D’Souza. Arnstein’s work has won Pleasance Pick of VAULT Festival, Show of the Week at VAULT Festival twice, an Offie Commendation and has been featured in The Guardian’s Top 15 Edinburgh shows now touring. She has been shortlisted for The Future of Theatre Award by The Evening Standard in association with TikTok and The Popcorn Award.
Other writing includes Half Acre as part of Popelei’s Press Play season which has been nominated for a 2020 Offie and Embarrassed for Popelei’s Women in Lockdown which was included in The Guardian’s Best 8 monologues of lockdown.
Arnstein also did her Gold Duke of Edinburgh at school and that was so hard she is still telling people about it. The Guardian wrote “Arnstein is a performer primed for greatness” whilst her Grandad Ron said she is “daft as a brush.”
Samir Bhamra
Samir Bhamra is the Artistic Director of Phizzical Productions, the Creative Director of the and the 2021 Senior Producer at . He is currently producing the digital TV series Seaview as part of the UK City of Culture 2021.
His theatre writing credits include Stardust, Bring on the Bollywood, Ticket 2 Bollywood, Ram Lila and Precious Bazaar.
Directing credits include Stardust, Bring on the Bollywood and Cymbeline for theatre, and the award winning short Mad About The Boy which has been screened at film festivals globally. In 2021, he received the Olwyn Waymark Award from the Writers Guild of Great Britain.
Tal Davies
Tal Davies is an emerging comedian and writer based in central Birmingham. With several years of experience as a professional copywriter and editor under her belt, Tal recently decided to branch out and pursue more creative endeavours – in particular, stand-up comedy and script writing. Her first script, WAFFNACKY, was longlisted for the 主播大秀 Writersroom Comedy Script Room in 2020, and since her stand-up debut in 2019, Tal has rapidly established herself as a regular feature on the West Midlands comedy circuit and beyond. She was a runner-up and finalist in the Best Newcomer and Rising Star categories at the 2019 Midlands Comedy Awards, and has performed at various comedy festivals around the UK.
Erinn Dhesi
Erinn Dhesi is a writer and performer based in the West Midlands. Her work focuses on the effects of social media in everyday life.
Her award-winning one woman show Wigs Snatched, Perceptions Destroyed' premiered at Vault Festival 2020, earning 4 Star reviews (A Younger Theatre & Broadwayworld.com). Her short plays Sesh (2019) and The Walk (2019) premiered at the Curve Theatre and her first full-length play #Adjustment received a rehearsed reading at the Belgrade Theatre (2017).
She has previously been a part of the Soho Theatre Writers Lab, the Tamasha Theatre Playwrights group (Year 5), the Kali Theatre Discovery Programme, and the Belgrade Theatre's Critical Mass writers group.
You can follow her on Instagram at
Sophia Griffin
Sophia Griffin is a writer, theatre maker and proud Brummy. She uses art to connect to herself and connect to others and is particularly interested in telling stories not usually seen in the mainstream.
In 2019 Sophia wrote and performed her first solo show ‘F*ckboys' with support from Birmingham Repertory Theatre. Recent projects include 'SeaView', a new digital series in collaboration with The Belgrade Theatre and Strictly Arts Theatre Company and ‘Reunion’, a research and development project with Bush Theatre.
Paven Kaur Virk
Paven Kaur Virk is a British Asian writer from Coventry. At 16, whilst still part of the Belgrade Youth Theatre and feeling like an outsider, she channelled all her angst in to writing two coming of age plays and she realised then, that there was an audience for her stories. After, she led drama workshops targeting hard-to-reach community groups who rarely have a platform to share their stories, as well as writing and performing in various comedy sketches because comedy was her way out of most tough situations.
Paven began writing full time in 2010 after her extremely dark girl gang tale, ENGLANDS LANE NW3 did the rounds and gained her industry recognition. Paven was named one of Screen International ‘STARS OF TOMORROW’ and invited to take part in WORKING TITLE'S Hay Festival screen residency. She also took part in NATIONAL THEATRE STUDIO'S Writing attachment leading to her first NT CONNECTIONS play.
In 2012, Paven took a break to have her son, and care for her mother who has vascular dementia. She returned to writing in 2018. She's proud to be part of the 主播大秀 Writersroom Coventry Voices the year Coventry is the City of Culture and excited to share fresh urgent stories with a mainstream audience.
Amman Kayla
Amman has been specialising in screenwriting for the last few years, with a particular interest in drama and comedy.
Recently graduating from the University For The Creative Arts, her passion and drive is geared to begin a professional career as a screenwriter, working in short films, as well as larger forms. In addition to this, she has shown a passion for writing through a variety of forms - blog writing, comic writing and short stories.
The meaning of writing changed for her when she realised it could be used as a tool to address important topics. She now tries to utilise her platform to tell the stories of unheard voices.
Her short film "Closed Doors" was RTS nominated for Best Student Drama and has been screened at Aesthetica Short Film Festival. Her TV Drama Pilot “Jatt Girl” recently reached the Producer Read stage (top 1%) for 主播大秀 Writersroom’s Script Room 2021.
Rae Mainwaring
Rae Mainwaring is a writer and theatre maker from the West Midlands. She studied at the University of Birmingham and worked as a drama practitioner delivering community engagement projects.
Her recent writing credits include- Fat Cat/Confessions@Coventry Shop Front, Primetime-Women&Theatre @Bham Rep/Podcast, Bright Places @ Birmingham Rep/China Plate Bite Size Festival, The Last (Plastic) Straw @Theatre Iolo, A Beginners Guide to Widowhood (ACE supported RnD).
She is an alumni of Birmingham Rep’s Foundry Program. More recently, she has become an associate of Graeae Theatre company’s Beyond program. She is connected with Northern stage as part of their Supported Artists scheme ‘21. She is currently developing several pieces for stage, as well as being chosen for the 主播大秀 Writersroom/Coventry Voices.
Rae is developing her auto biographical play Bright Places, for television with Left Bank Pictures.
Anna Mawn
"I'm an actor and writer and have just graduated from LAMDA where I trained as an actor. While at drama school my final year was interrupted by the pandemic and during the sudden unexpected downtime I decided to enter the 主播大秀 Writersroom Interconnected competition to write a short film which could take place over a video call. The 主播大秀 Writersroom ended up making the film I wrote which was the most incredible experience and such a buzz to watch my work being performed.
Watch the InterConnected short dramas including 'A Month of Sundays' written by Anna Mawn
I especially love writing comedy. Growing up in Coventry has massively influenced me creatively. The people and places that I grew up around are my biggest inspiration. To me, they represent everything that is extraordinary, hilarious and brilliant about everyday life. My writing is very character driven and I love to create characters that challenge stereotypes and preconceived ideas. I'm so ready to see fresh stories and unexpected characters in TV and film, and I want to be a part of telling those stories."
Sabiha Mank
A playwright, screenwriter and facilitator, Sabiha has been a part of various artist development programmes including Discovery Programme 2018/19 with Birmingham Repertory Theatre and Kali Theatre, Critical Mass 2018/19 with Belgrade Theatre, Talkback 2017/18 with Kali Theatre, and Write Away 2015 with Birmingham Repertory Theatre. She has had work shared at the Belgrade, The REP, Shakespeare's Globe and 主播大秀 Writersroom.
Zita Sattar
Zita trained at Rose Bruford college and has been an actor for nearly 30 years. She has been lucky enough to have had many roles over that time; a regular in 主播大秀’s Casualty for 3 years, as well as The Worst Witch and ground breaking shows such as Years and Years written by Russel T Davies. Zita was in the original theatre production of East is East, and has also been lucky enough to play Juliet in Romeo and Juliet at Leicester Haymarket.
Zita was recently diagnosed with ADHD and autism, and since this revelation many things in her life have suddenly made sense. She is keen to represent and write about people (especially females) with hidden disabilities as she feels that they are still very much underrepresented, although things are improving - many people’s perception of what autism is, is still quite binary and traditional.
CJ Webley
CJ Lloyd Webley is a socially-minded writer and business activist. He majored in Theatre and Performance at The University of Warwick and received a Master of Arts in Creative Writing (Playwrighting & Screenwriting) from City University of London.
His first play, Shadows received 4 & 5-star reviews and was regarded “smart as hell” by London City Nights. CJ has written and produced plays at esteemed theatre venues like, Soho, Leicester Square, Brockley Jack Studio, and The REP. His career spans creative arts, business and social justice initiatives. As the Founder of Sorrel Park Theatrical Limited, CJ has delivered staff training and creative writing workshops to pupils with learning and behavioural difficulties. CJ has completed the prestigious Regional Theatre Young Director Scheme and the Common Purpose leadership programme. He is part of the Tamasha Playwrights alumni, shortlisted for the Adopt a Playwright Award; selected for Criterion Theatre’s New Writing Programme and most recently 主播大秀 Writersroom. CJ has also been nominated for the Acumen Global Leaders Fellowship and awarded a place on the SSE Black Social Entrepreneurs Futures programme.