麻豆约拍

This week the 麻豆约拍 Writersroom Wales Festival was held at National Museum Cardiff. With guest speakers such as - Russell T Davies, the creators of His Dark Materials - Bad Wolf Studios, Keeping Faith writer Matthew Hall, the legendary Andrew Davies, the hilarious Rob Brydon and Ruth Jones, and of course - Dippy the dinosaur.

Now, instead of giving you a blow by blow account of the day I thought I’d just hit you with my top five highlights -

1. The Effervescent Russell T Davies

Charismatic, funny and inspiring. The day kicked off in the Reardon Smith Theatre with a keynote speech by the Welsh TV scriptwriting genius Russell T Davies. There were many golden nuggets of advice for budding writers but the main ones that stood out for me were -

鈼� Keep practising. Write anything. Just write every day.
鈼� Watch lots of TV. Drama, comedy, soap. Everything.
鈼� Start every day on page one and cut as you go. Always tighten and aim to make your script as fast and pacy as possible.
鈼� Focus. Keep asking - what’s it about? Then make damn sure your script is about what you say it’s about.
鈼� Characters - make the characters cleverer than the writer and make the protagonist cleverer than anyone in the room. Use psychology to work out why characters do what they do.
鈼� Keep stage directions to a minimum. Let the actors work it out.

2. My interview with 麻豆约拍 Drama commissioner, Ben Irving

When Helen Perry at 麻豆约拍 Writersroom Wales asked me to interview Ben Irving I must admit I was quite nervous. I needn’t have worried. He was such a warm and personable guy. We talked about the commissioning process and the 麻豆约拍’s commissioning priorities. Some of which are - quality, targeting younger audiences and a push to represent the whole of the UK both geographically and demographically. Ben showed us clips of some of his recent commissions including - Dracula and Noughts and Crosses.

3. The New Welsh Comedy Session

After lunch we headed back to the Reardon Smith Theatre for a session with comedy writers/performers Gareth Gwynn, Steve Speirs and Beth Granville. We learnt that 麻豆约拍 Wales is currently investing in new Welsh comedy and that the genre is having a real moment with the creation of shows such as - Tourist Trap, Foiled and the soon to be aired The Tuckers. Some great pieces of advice were - comedy is all about character, make location a main character and get your comedy out there and test whether it’s funny or not. These comedy talents made it clear that success is no overnight thing. Getting commissioned takes tenacity, determination and hard graft.

4. The Q & A with Andrew Davies

I was pretty excited to be in the same room as the guy who wrote the screen version of Bridget Jones’ Diary. Those books and films hold a very special place in my ladette, chardonnay soaked past. Andrew Davies was a funny - little bit sweary - lovely, warm man with many an entertaining tale to tell about his long and successful career. I loved the way he has embraced adaptations because he self admittedly - is no good at making up stories. Two pieces of advice he gave; which he said originated from Robert McKee; that stuck with me were : never take the resolution out of the hands of the protagonist and always put sex at the spine of the story.

5. An Evening with Rob Brydon and Ruth Jones

What can I say… what a pair of absolute gems! The day ended with a ticketed event where Huw Stephens interviewed this pair of Welsh comedy giants and it was nothing short of brilliant. Everything that came out of Rob Brydon’s mouth got a laugh. He delivered quick one liners and drew the audience in with his silly voices and hilarious asides. The pair took us back to their first meeting in Porthcawl Comp where they trod the boards together in musicals under the guidance of their beloved drama teacher - Roger Burnell. Roger actually happened to be in the audience. Every time they referred to him as their inspiration and early champion you could feel the pride and warmth in the room. They showed us clips of Gavin & Stacey - old and new - sang an ‘off the cuff’ harmonised duet and Ruth gave us an insight into the process of writing the new Christmas special with James Corden in LA. The evening ended with the iconic - Islands in the Stream, Tom Jones, Comic Relief clip, which really was the best way to end an amazing day.

Thanks to all at 麻豆约拍 Writersroom Wales for a great festival. I learnt loads. Laughed lots. And met some amazing people.