In the run up to each Live event 1Xtra runs an outreach programme of workshops to engage young people called . In these workshops, you can learn how to produce, present, start your own business or become a star on social media.

We decided we wanted to make short films for social media inspired by a song from the 1Xtra Live Manchester playlist and the city of Manchester itself. 1Xtra DJ, , made which was posted on social media to help get the word out. We invited writers to apply for our workshop with a sample of their writing and set up a writing challenge on the platform which gave them the playlist, parameters, and pointers about how to write a one minute film. Here, they could practise this format and be ready to hit the ground running at the workshops.

Twenty-seven writers were invited to the workshop on Saturday 28th October at where we listened to songs, talked about what makes brilliant characters and how to give a story a beginning, middle and end in one minute. Most importantly: how can you hook your audience in the first few seconds of the film?

By the end of Saturday’s workshop, the writers submitted their scripts and we had some tough decisions to make about who to invite back for day two on the Sunday. We settled on nine writers who were given notes on their scripts and had the opportunity to hear them read by actors. While they redrafted again, we auditioned actors. By the Sunday evening, we were cast and had seven films we shot over two days at locations around Manchester.

With such a short timeline to include callout, workshop, script, shoot and edit, we were up against it, but the professionalism, grace and talent of all the writers and actors involved, made this a brilliant process. I suspect this isn’t the last we’ll hear from this amazingly talented bunch!

Watch the films and meet the writers

‘BLACK ‘ by

I saw the competition advertised on the but really only glanced at it. It wasn't until I saw 1xtra retweet it the night before the closing date did I take notice. I listened to all the songs and felt Black by Donae'o resonated with me the most.The themes of forgiveness and the sense of black power and pride are two very interesting concepts, especially in 2017.

The first workshop day was brilliant as all the writers helped each other and we read each other's work and said you know this may work better here etc. Waiting for the phone call on the Saturday night was nerve-wracking but when I got it I immediately felt a rush of calm flow over me.

On the second day, with help from members of the 主播大秀 Writersroom team, we all cut and chopped and changed and amended our monologues. We then had actors come and read them out around a table. The sense of pride watching the work you've written come to life for the first time is something you will never forget. Getting the phone call to tell me my monologue was one of the ones chosen and would be getting made was a mix of sheer adrenaline and pride. I know the actor in my monologue, , is amazing.

This has easily been one of the best experiences of my life and I am extremely grateful to 主播大秀 Writersroom and 1Xtra for giving northern talent a platform and for giving young new writers confidence, help and a writing credit.

You, Me & Her by

I really enjoyed the process of writing this monologue and seeing it performed. I thought the prompt was great, as I often write to music or take influence from particular genres in my work. Stefflon Don is making her mark and I love it, so there was no debate really - I just had to write a piece inspired by her music.

The whole process was wild, in a good way - like Supermarket Sweep but without the coloured tins and inflatables (well, maybe one of the latter...). Writing, editing, chopping and changing in such a short space of time was certainly challenging but really made me focus in on giving my character a strong voice, despite the limited amount of screen time for her to exist. I am very much a waffler so the time constraint encouraged me to be a ruthless editor of my own work - a skill that'll definitely come in handy in future.

Writing for screen is a completely different avenue for me (as I usually write for stage), but I'm really excited to see where the beginning of this writing adventure leads.

‘The Cheek of IT’ by

My monologue The Cheek of It was inspired by the Stefflon Don song Envious. I felt that the lyrics and themes of the song really inspired me to think about relationships and how men and women can view being in a relationship as giving them a sense of status and identity, especially in modern culture where millennials use social media as a platform to explore their identity within a relationship and using terms such as #relationshipgoals as a way of gaining validation for themselves. I really enjoyed exploring the opposite of this and creating a strong independent character, open to being themselves and single, and not envious of other people's relationships (as referred to in the song) and actually quite upbeat and happy. I connected to the sense of a young woman being liberated from these constraints and independent not only of her ex but also of societal views.

It was fun working with the 主播大秀 Writersroom team and just being inspired by the other writers on the project. I feel I have acquired valuable skills which I can take on in the way I write and create a narrative. It's so exciting to see my script be brought to life and it surprised me how powerful the words feel once they are being performed. It was quite emotional to see someone embody the character I had created. I feel very proud and hope others connect to the piece as well.

‘Catching Feelings’ by

Arriving at a 主播大秀 Writersroom masterclass was daunting to say the least. I had only moved to Manchester a mere 6 weeks previously, and was still new to the hustle and bustle of Manchester city centre. I had prepared myself for a very technical day and had practised my best posh voice (I’m Scottish). I was delighted to find that everyone was incredibly lovely, genuine and only wanted to push my writing into its best possible form. I was impressed by their sound judgement on each writer’s work, their ability to grasp the essential component of the piece that would improve it, and their care and attention to detail. When I found myself struggling with my monologue, there was always someone available for a chat.

I am honoured to have been part of such a collaborative process. To hear my words be read aloud by such a talented actress was incredible, and to hear people laugh at your own jokes will never get old. Thank you 主播大秀 Writersroom!

Grim Up North by

This is the first piece of writing I have shared with anyone but myself, I went to the first workshop and was inspired by the 主播大秀 Writersroom and 1Xtra team to really get my pen to paper and produce something that meant something.

I’m an actor myself, so it was great to see the other side of the table - as a writer. Through this project I am now able to see my monologue transported from my page to screen. This has ignited another creative spark which I didn’t know I had - all thanks to the 主播大秀 team!

The monologue is inspired by the song ‘Memory Lane’ - Bugzy Malone. It tells the story of a working class lad from Manchester who has a talent, a talent being ignored by the world which is more accommodating to the elite… but this isn’t just any lad from Manchester. He knows what he wants, and he’s going to get it.

A Date with Destiny by

Working with 主播大秀 Writersroom and 主播大秀 Radio 1Xtra granted me the opportunity to explore the fundamental steps of bringing something to life. I relished the experience of seeing something of original thought, shaped and reshaped into a piece of film. Not only that, but taking part in this opportunity has given me valuable insight into the professionalism and standard required in the industry. Watching the final product was rewarding of course, but it has left me as hungry as ever.

Morning After by

Hello! I’m Conor, writer of Morning After, inspired by Addison Lee by Not3s. I tend to write duologue plays for theatre, so the opportunity to not only write for screen, but in the form of a monologue really excited me, as it is completely out of my comfort zone.

The weekend, led by 主播大秀 Writersroom and 1xtra was fantastic, we were so well supported by the team and had the chance to have really open conversations about our work, from the initial idea right through to the structure – without which I know wouldn’t have led to the same film being possible.

I’m so excited to see my piece brought to life, and what I think is so great with this project is that the writers have a visual, final piece which we can use in future portfolios! It really emphasised to me that actually fundamentally writing for screen is rewriting. I was surprised how much of a story you can tell in just 60 seconds, and how much it can change the structure, as you don’t have time to establish the scene, you have to jump right in at the heart of the story. I can’t thank 主播大秀 Writersroom enough.

When you’re a brand new writer, trying to get something, anything, off the ground seems pretty daunting. My biggest piece of advice is to try a bit of DIY – do it yourself. That idea you’ve got burning inside – can it be turned into a webseries that showcases your ability to write on-going episodes, develop characters and write to cliff-hangers - all essential skills for TV writers.

My route into writing television was via short films, a stage play and webseries. My first short was produced in 2012, and my play followed hot on its heels. In 2013 I wrote and directed (careful when Googling that!) and a publisher picked up the play. That was where things started to gently snowball. I say ‘gently’, because it really was a slow process, more like a snail’s pace than an avalanche. We released the webseries to decent reviews and moderate views. One year on, the awards and festival season kicked in. Suddenly we were being nominated for, and winning, and being selected for festivals worldwide. We released the series on multiple platforms and watched the views creep up (across all our platforms we’re currently hovering around the 3.5 million mark). I won the 2014 Indie Series Award for Best Drama Writing, and soon there was press interest too. Then a few job offers came in and I signed to an agent. That made me eligible for the … and here we are.

Doing your own work doesn’t need to cost a lot of money – get a group of filmmakers together that are all at the same stage as you and collaborate. Don’t know anyone? Get in touch with local schools, colleges and universities. Find local clubs. Trawl social media. Find your tribe. They’re out there. When we made I worked with a mixed group of students and newcomers to the industry and we shot over weekends. Now most of our crew are out there doing awesome work and getting paid well for it (and we still get together when we can to collaborate for fun). Everyone has to start somewhere and for many people that’s on low budget projects. Bring together a team you trust, who will give you honest feedback, keep you grounded and kick you up the backside when you need it.

But before all that, it’s up to you, as the writer, to bring the script – something collaborators can’t say no to. Write it, write it well and don’t rush it. Yes, you’ll eventually need to learn to turn work around quickly, but your first few projects are not the time to worry about that. Craft your work, and hone it carefully before even thinking about shooting. Find other writers in your peer group to give you notes and listen to what they tell you – you might not agree with the note, but it indicates something hasn’t connected somewhere. If you get the same note more than three times, you’ve got something that needs fixing. If you are lucky enough to get an experienced reader or writer to give you notes – listen carefully to what they say. They’ve been around the block enough times to know how to make your script better.

With this in mind, write to what you can achieve. If you have no kit, write something you can shoot on a phone camera. If you’ve only got your house to shoot in, set it in your living room. If the script and acting are good enough, it will be compelling regardless. If you want to be a professional screenwriter you will have to write within restrictions and budgets – now’s the time to start. If it fails, that’s fine too. You’ll learn more from your failures than you will your successes. You don’t have to release it if it doesn’t work. Use it as a learning experience and do better next time.

In reality, it’s hard for new writers to get their scripts read, but if you’ve got something tangible to show, especially if that something has festivals and awards attached, it becomes a lot easier to get attention. It’s a big ask for someone to plough through a full length script from a new writer – even the first ten page read is quickly becoming the first couple of pages. But if it’s a four minute web episode they can watch while eating their lunchtime sandwich, it’s a much more reasonable ask. And, of course, you’re going to make your first episode so compelling that they have to watch to the end – aren’t you? And then they’re going to be fired up and request your work.

And here’s the caveat to all this. You MUST have a portfolio of writing ready as a back up before you release your series. I made this mistake in the early days. A few shorts are not enough; you need some solid TV scripts that showcase your best work ready to fire off at a moment’s notice, and some brilliant ideas for pitches in your back pocket. When you’ve got all this together, you’re in a strong position to move forward.

I did it. You can too. It was hard. It still is hard. I still make my own work. I shot a short film over a weekend last month and I’m currently raising finance for a feature film. No matter where my career goes, I can’t imagine giving up that ethos of doing my own thing alongside it, because it’s fun, it’s fulfilling and it means I get to work with my friends. There are no guarantees, but why not do something to give yourself an edge?

So what’s stopping you? See you at the web festivals.

 and find out more about Lisa on

Why did you choose this story

I was browsing through , when I saw mention of the ‘’. I had never heard of it, but it seemed extraordinary and counterintuitive. A secret mission was dispatched to the then neutral United States, to ostensibly give away all our top technological secrets for free. Technology such as atomic bombs, jet engines and aerial navigation, which would go on to change the shape of the post-war planet! I ordered the authoritative book on the subject, ‘Top Secret Exchange’ by David Zimmerman and started to research the individuals involved, and the unusual circumstances of the mission itself.

Why did you choose the graphic novel format?

I liked the idea that Sir Henry Tizard, a petroleum chemist from Kent, bespectacled and mild-mannered, would become the hero that would save Britain from invasion. He held very few of the trappings of a superhero - his results were achieved through quiet persistence, intelligent diplomacy and by engaging his American counterparts through the spirit of scientific collaboration. The secret mission reminded me of the counterfactual introduction of Alan Moore's graphic novel, ‘, where the US wins the Vietnam war in eight years and Richard Nixon stays in power till 1985. Imagine if the Tizard mission had turned out differently  - what alternate versions of our reality might we be experiencing?

Researching historical graphic novels, I discovered Daniel Burwen’s highly impressive re-telling of the 1959 Iranian coup, ‘. The tablet app version of this comic, while not allowing you to change the narrative, used subtle animation, an evocative and detailed soundtrack, plus comprehensive archive assets, all augmenting the gripping and complex storytelling. Additionally, graphic novel artwork is much easier to consume on the go than video – and any fantastical situation can be ‘artworked up’ – unlike video.

How did you storyline it? 

Having successfully pitched the concept of an interactive narrative, my team, story producer, Fiona Cleary, researcher Rosalind Hill and I began to develop the project. We recruited , author of ’Top Secret Exchange’ as our historical consultant. Together, we identified the important ‘acts’. First of all, we noted the mission set-up - the prologue – including the circumstances that made the mission so vital. We also felt the selection of the secrets was a key point of audience agency - where you could take the role of Tizard and be briefed on the technology by scientists. Then we knew the negotiations, which were often uncomfortable in real-life, could provide more choices and real drama; where Tizard and the British Empire that he represents, would come face to face with the New World’s emerging ambitions as a global power.

What research did you have to do?

We worked out the different outcomes the negotiations may have produced, and then reverse-engineered the meetings to provide these moments of decision for Tizard. We always tried to stick to factual comments from the real Mission’s notes, where possible - and we designed paths back to another outcome so you could try to 'read the room’ and change your mind, or stick to your guns - depending on what you thought was right to do.

Once we had settled on a structure of three items (therefore three meetings) and a rough template to structure the scenes, we went into production. By this time Fiona had moved onto another project, so Diarmuid Mitchell began to produce the interactive application with , our chosen agency.

We recruited artist Robert Nazeby Herzig and writer , who would turn our detailed story points into scintillating dialogue. Joe was very skilled at bringing to life a cast of slightly grey middle-age men, using the real-life accounts of their characters and temperaments.

Joe would write up scenes based on Rosalind’s extensive notes about the historical context, and Diarmuid and I would edit the scripts to get the required brevity and details to propel the story on.

What was the production process?  

We made a decision to not record narration for all the dialogue and text throughout the story. We felt this would stifle the natural reading pace and interactivity of the experience. However I wanted to bring in the subtle sound effects and shifting musical tones that Operation Ajax had employed to subtly suggest atmosphere and sense of place, in that particular globetrotting story.

Ross Tregenza, a games soundtrack composer, provided suitably sombre and portentous themes, along with extensive ‘foley’ effect details to help paint a vibrant picture from Robert’s early sketches. He contrasted the sense of foreboding in Europe with a brighter, more optimistic jazzy musical sound, once the Tizard mission reaches American shores. However, even in the neutral US, the music begins to reflect the darkness, about to engulf the planet.

I wanted to signal a ‘change of gears’ after the completion of the meetings, where the consequences of the mission would be illustrated to the reader. So we returned to our idea of a limited amount of narration, as we imagined a retired Sir Henry, in his dotage perhaps, recalling how his mission had affected the conflict and the wider world after the war.

We were very lucky to secure the services of , star of ‘’ to become the voice of Sir Henry Tizard. Of course the meetings created many different outcomes, all of which Anthony had to record – despite each audience member probably only hearing one ‘set’. 

Do you think telling the story in this way makes it more relatable and helps to reach a different audience?

I hope this approach opened up this fascinating story to a much wider audience than most military technology history stories normally reach. The aim was to make it reflective – ask people to think about how important partnerships were agreed over a cup of coffee and grew into something more important. Or how the judgment of one man, defying his orders on a hunch, led to a vast change in the course of the war. The counterfactual alternate histories may not be to the taste of everyone but I think it makes the audience think, by default, much more deeply about the way it really unfolded.

What kinds of original stories do you think would work well in this format?

I’m keen to pursue more stories in this format; I’ve considered other factual stories that could work in a similar way – using the choice & consequence mechanic – but I think the basis of a true-story is an important foundation. I would love to try a story, unconnected with war and definitely with a female protagonist. We tried extremely hard to find female characters for ‘Tell Me Your Secrets’ but they would have been totally fictional.

What have you learnt from the project – what were the pitfalls and what would you do differently in future?

Future versions of the format will need more thought for the mobile version. While the tablet version feels fantastic – it is an inherent challenge to make pictures and text visible on the same screen on small devices. I’d also like to make a ‘save progress’ function available so you can tackle the story in two or three chunks. Finally, as much as I love the prologue sequence, I’d probably shorten it so the audience can get into the action a little quicker.

But we’ve been delighted to celebrate Sir Henry’s remarkable achievements – and to shed light on the origin of Britain’s ‘special relationship’ with the United States of America. is unashamedly an immersive and engaging digital piece, requiring time and effort – but I see no reason why digital experiences can’t be serious and substantial – as long as the audience willingly subscribes to the commitment.

 (it takes about 20 minutes)

Taking a break from our brainstorming and cheese eating, a producer came down to share with us a short film he’d just made. It was good. I think. I wasn’t really watching. I recognized one of the actors in it straight away and then spent 15 minutes of the 20 minute film ’ing him to find out what else I knew him from. This is just standard to how I watch television now. One eye on the TV one eye on my phone. But what if we could make my short attention span work to push the story forward? What if we came across this 24 hour document and began Googling the brand name? What would come up if we typed in Saturneye? Were any of the characters on ? What could their twitter feed add to the story? Could it conflict with the visual story being told? She’s here kissing one person but her Facebook status clearly states she’s ‘in a relationship with…’ another.

And this is how came about.

It could have been the last hours of anyone, but we wanted to see a brilliant female character live on screen for 24 hours real time. (And this was decided before we knew I’d be playing her- promise) This was our project and we could do with it what we wanted. So for once let’s see the real London. Not the vague aspirational London where white men live on the Southbank and walk to work. The ethnicity of our lead was not important so we decided there and then they were going to be non-white. (If only more people did this.) And the sex? This was going to be a drama where a murder happened and then, due to a loop aspect, there’d be a rebirth and we’d go on to follow that person in real time to find out how and why they died. If our lead were female it already felt so different to other stories where girls are killed in order for us to merely find out about their male killers. We were going to have a detailed portrayal of a real Londoners life. Where they go, who they call, who they text and their own impression of it by how they document it on Instagram and Facebook etc. So why shouldn’t this all this be given to a girl? Why shouldn’t we have a brilliant female lead? Why shouldn’t we watch a real girl with complex needs and wants go about her life? So we did. And I couldn’t be more proud.

听

I continued to work with the R&D department as I built on the play and got to see the project evolve as they came up with new ideas for the technology as well as for the story itself.

Slotting in new variables as they were suggested became one of the most fun parts of the project. The goal was to hide the tailored parts of the script discreetly into the dialogue so the listener wouldn鈥檛 spot it, and hopefully there鈥檚 at least a few parts of the play where that鈥檚 worked nicely!

It was exciting to be given a new kind of challenge as a writer and to be involved with technology that has only been around for a matter of months! I love the idea of a story morphing itself to the listener and I hope more projects like this come up in the future.

I think the constraints of the project have also been a great learning experience for me, as in the past I tended to end up with sprawling plots and a large cast of characters. Being forced to stay in one location and on one conversation has taught me a lot about focusing on my characters when I write and letting their fears and desires - rather than set changes - move the plot along. The ideas I have come up with since writing the play have all been a lot simpler and more contained, which I think is a great improvement. One of them is still set in a cardboard box, though. Nothing wrong with that.

听

Sarah Glenister is the writer of Breaking Out for 主播大秀听Research & Development.听

An experiment into听a new editorial format, Breaking Out is an audio play that has been created in a rather novel way. Plug in your speakers or headphones and head over to to hear it.

The play uses a new audio standard, the Web Audio听API -听 the only browser to support听it fully at the moment is Chrome (Opera and Firefox will also support it a bit - but we recommend using Chrome). Make sure you allow it to access your location.

主播大秀 Research & Development's听Ian Forrester talks more about the听concept of Perceptive Media and its potential impact on traditional broadcasting on the .