Piers Beckley
Blog posts in total 153
Posts
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New Media
Some interesting things going on over at Radio 4 at the moment... Specifically The City Speaks, which bills itself as a film for radio based on an idea by Peter Ackroyd. The concept is that while the play's transmitting on Radio 4, you can press the red button on your TV, and you'll be del...
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Funk to Funky
The script of the first episode of Ashes to Ashes, written by Matthew Graham, is now available for you to read in our Script Archive. And if you want to compare and contrast, we've got the first episode of Life on Mars in there too. Same fella. All part of the service.
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Bits and Pieces
Some news bites for you. Lenny Henry says production companies are full of white middle class people in the Guardian. He's not wrong. Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ3 relaunches. The three-month-long Writers Guild of America strike is over.
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Dot's Monologue
Thanks to the kindnesses of Tony Jordan and those nice folks at EastEnders, we now have the script for Dot's Monologue (PDF) available from our script archive. The episode is actually called Pretty Baby, although you never see the title on screen. I read it in the office earlier when it ca...
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EastEnders Tonight
If you possibly can, watch EastEnders tonight on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ1 at 7:30pm. If you can't make it, watch it on the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ iPlayer. Why? Well, for starters it's written by Tony Jordan, and he's a bloody good writer. For mains, because it's one of the ballsiest pieces of drama you're likely to see. ...
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We don't just do the unsolicited scripts, you know
As well as reading unsolicited scripts Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ writersroom also keeps track of up-and-coming writers and helps them to meet and connect with producers within the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ. So it's always nice to hear when someone we helped earlier in their career does well. Ian Kershaw has a new series, Pick Ups, star...
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Interview with Alice Nutter
There's a good interview with Alice Nutter, formerly of Chumbawamba, up at the Channel 4 Talent site. She got some advice from Jimmy McGovern which bears repeating: If you want to succeed as a writer, just work four times as hard as anyone else.
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Send us your quotes...
We're going to be relaunching the site shortly... and we'd like you to help. Do you have a favourite quote about writing that you'd like other people to know about? If so, email it to us at new.writing@bbc.co.uk, and we'll add it to the list of inspiring quotes for the site.
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Wellcome
Can't really put this one in the opportunities page, as it's not primarily aimed at writers. But it's well worth knowing about. Fortunately we have a blog for just such an eventuality. The Wellcome Trust is an independent charity which funds research to improve human and animal health. It'...
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Spooks Script
Thanks to our pals at Kudos and writer Neil Cross , we now have the script for episode one of the new series in our script archive.
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Malkovich, Malkovich, Malkovich
John Malkovich has a new laptop. Whoopee. Where it gets interesting to readers of this blog, is that there's a writing competition attached. Kinda-sorta. If you visit the John's Funky Laptop website (or whatever they've called it) and choose "Online Script Project" on the top left, you'll get details of how to write the next couple of pages of a script, the first couple of pages of which were written by Mr Malkovich his own self. Then there's voting, and the winner each month gets feedback from Mister M. Er. That's it. Still, it's writing practice. And, hey! John Malkovich! I'd link there directly, only the marketing wretches who created the site built the competition-bit so that it can only be accessed via Flash. So I can't. But, y'know. Thought it was worth mentioning.
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Stand out. Be different.
Danny Stack has recently been reading a lot of scripts for the Red Planet screenwriting competition. And he's noticed that a lot of them start the same way. So if you want to stand out from the pack, go read his list of common ways to begin a spec script. And then do something different...
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Stephen Poliakoff event on 19th November
Stephen Poliakoff is one of the UK's most respected writers, with television plays including Friends and Crocodiles, Gideon's Daughter, Shooting the Past, and multiple Emmy-winner The Lost Prince. Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ writersroom in association with The Royal Court Theatre are holding an open and free event ...
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For Your Consideration...
If you don't read Variety or The Hollywood Reporter, you might not see these ads. Just before award season every year, the studios take out full-page ads in the trade magazines marked "For Your Consideration" - and then points out the film that they think has a chance of winning an Oscar, or ...
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Wordplay
Some of the best writing advice I've come across is available gratis on Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio's magnificent site Wordplay. If you don't know who they are, you certainly know the films they've written: Shrek 1 & 2, Aladdin, and the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy. So they know whereof t...
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Interview with Kate Rowland
The Writing Centre in the South West of England recently conducted an interview with the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's Creative Director of New Writing (and my boss) Kate Rowland. In it, she speaks about The Wire (experimental radio drama), why Radio 4 needs new writers, and the purpose of Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ writersroom. Interv...
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New Opportunity for writers at the UK Film Council
The UK Film Council has completely revamped applying for funding. Of particular interest to writers is the First Feature Development Programme, which offers up to Β£25,000 to develop a feature film. It's open to any writer who hasn't had a feature produced and screened in a cinema or on tel...
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The Fog Of War
If you put in an entry for the Red Planet prize last weekend, you may have received a bounceback. They were unprepared for the number of applications, and their mailbox filled up. Anyway, if you had a problem sending your entry and are worried it didn't get through, you can re-submit it. Deta...
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Hard-earned wisdom.
Tony Jordan came and gave a talk recently about creating a TV show. Here, thanks to our transcrib-o-matic linguistymachine, are his thoughts on creating Holby Blue, Hustle, and Life on Mars.
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How To Be Funny
Thing is, you can be funny electronically these days. It's a lot cheaper. Rob Manuel - your ginger overlord - has written a big long page all about being funny on the internets. It's got lots of good advice if you're thinking of making your own funny rather than just writing it and hoping tha...