Today we're announcing the names of the 12 writers who were part of our Scottish Voices development group for 2022. In total 69 writers were part of our Voices groups this year and we're delighted to be announcing them all this week.
"麻豆约拍 Writersroom Scotland are incredibly excited to announce the 12 Scottish Voices we鈥檝e been working with over the past few months. It鈥檚 been a real pleasure getting to know this lovely bunch, and we have loved helping each one hone their craft and work towards an authored TV idea that showcases their unique voice. Watch this space, Scotland!"
Stephanie Fyfe (Assistant Commissioner for Scotland, 麻豆约拍 Writersroom and 麻豆约拍 Drama)
Tiarna Armstrong is a 25-year old queer, black screenwriter from Northern Ireland. Having experimented with fiction as well as writing music articles for local websites and blogs, Armstrong studied French with Creative Writing at Bangor University, where she discovered her love of screenwriting. Having completed her undergraduate degree, Armstrong went onto study MA Screenwriting at the prestigious Screen Academy Scotland in Edinburgh and quickly signed with an agent soon after. 鈥嬧��
Armstrong is currently in the process of adapting one of her screenplays into a novel and is one of the participants for 麻豆约拍 Writersroom - Scottish Voices for this year. With such a varied background, Tiarna is a proud and passionate activist in every aspect of her life, but especially in her screenwriting where she creates stories predominantly centred around marginalised people and underrepresented groups. 鈥�
Alice Clark writes drama for stage and screen. Most recently she worked in a writers' room for STV Drama and her first short film 鈥楳y Name Is Beth鈥� was selected for Glasgow Short Film Festival 2023 (winner, Best Young Filmmaker). In 2022 she was commissioned to write 鈥楳ade In China鈥� by Play Pie Pint, which enjoyed a sell-out run at The Traverse (**** Scotsman). Alice was selected for The Writers Lab UK&I 2021, with Screen Scotland and Cate Blanchett鈥檚 Dirty Films supporting her place on the six-month script development scheme. She recently completed an MA in Screenwriting and graduated with distinction.
Originally from Bristol, Alice worked in story and drama facilitation in Newcastle and then China where she lived for twelve years before moving to Scotland with her family. She is currently developing new film, tv, and theatre projects and works as a script reader. Alice writes stories that focus on marginalised voices and social issues that resonate, provoke, and give hope.
Craig Stewart Ferguson is a screenwriter & playwright from Glasgow who writes across drama & comedy. Often character-driven, darkly sardonic & emotionally thrilling stories, his work is centred around relatable misfits, grappling with the challenges of the modern world.鈥�
His first comedy pilot 鈥楤awbag鈥� reached the top 2% of submissions to the 麻豆约拍 Comedy Writersroom 2018, showcasing a 鈥渂old voice鈥� and 鈥渞aucously, rudely funny writer鈥�. His follow up 鈥楾he Right Honourable Member鈥�, a political, trans-rights drama, made the top 15% in鈥� 麻豆约拍 Drama Writersroom 2019 & top 20% of 2020鈥檚 Red Planet Prize respectively. Craig鈥檚 latest drama comedy spec 鈥楾he Politician鈥檚 Keelie鈥� placed in the top 10% of 麻豆约拍 Writersroom 2021. His futuristic, sci-fi animation sitcom treatment 鈥楥lan Robotica鈥� was longlisted for 麻豆约拍 Ignite opportunity, also in 2021, and 鈥楽leaze鈥�, his latest drama spec, a 鈥榮tate of the nation鈥� piece, made the top 12% of 麻豆约拍 Writersroom鈥檚 Open Call 2022.鈥�
Craig has written educational stage plays for young people with additional learning needs, alongside jokes & material for TV, Radio & Digital. His recent BDSM play proposal 鈥楰inkhole鈥� was shortlisted for Tron Theatre & Playwright Studio Scotland鈥檚 鈥榃riter Lab鈥� 2022.鈥�
One of the twelve 麻豆约拍 Writersroom Scottish Voices 2022 cohort, Craig is currently developing a high-end drama treatment for a comedic, romantic crime-thriller, based in Glasgow, entitled: 鈥楲ove Heist鈥�.鈥�
Jack Gemmell is a Glaswegian writer and producer, for both stage and screen. 鈥嬧��
His sophomore short film '12th Man' premiered at Glasgow Short Film Festival in 2021 and was screened in Berlin, Norwich, and across the UK. At present, he is producing 'Black Wool' through Sharp Shorts with director Eubha Akilade. 鈥嬧��
For the stage, he was chosen to be part of the Traverse Young Writers cohort in 2021 and has since been in artistic development with Traverse Theatre with his full-length play 鈥楾obojo鈥� (Boris Johnson is Toast)'. This was staged as part of First Stages Festival in March 2022.鈥�
Georgina Love is an Australian screenwriter based in Glasgow since 2020. In recognition of her writing, Love has been awarded a partial scholarship by Final Draft, was the first international recipient of the Screencraft Fellowship, awarded the John Hinde prize by the Australian Writers Guild and selected for the Blacklist 鈥淎ussie List鈥�. She was also one of the recipients of the Smart For A Girl initiative run by Endemol Shine in conjunction with Screen Australia.鈥嬧��
Georgina has worked as a Writer, Script Editor, Script Executive and Development Executive in scripted television and as a casting producer in unscripted TV. She writes offbeat character-driven genre, usually sci-fi, and is developing several projects for film and TV. Georgina is currently in development with her original TV series 鈥楶ig鈥� with Longboat Pictures and working on the second season of the animated children鈥檚 show 鈥楽pace Nova鈥�. 鈥嬧��
In 2020, Georgina signed with Christine Glover at Casarotto Ramsay & Associates. In the short term, she is looking forward to continuing to work in writers rooms and develop her own shows. In the future, Love hopes to couple her writing chops with her development experience and work in a development role on a returning series.鈥�
Felix O鈥橞rien is a screenwriter and theatre practitioner based in Inverclyde, Scotland. He has an MA with Distinction in Writing for Television from Glasgow Caledonian, which he attained after securing a scholarship from 麻豆约拍 Scotland. 鈥嬧��
He has attended invitational writers' groups at the Royal Court, Theatre503 and Soho Theatre. To date, his work has been presented at The Beacon, Southwark Playhouse, The Finborough, The Bunker, Theatre503, The Old Red Lion, The Cockpit, The Charing Cross Theatre, The Union, Latitude Festival and Paines Ploughs Roundabout at the Edinburgh Fringe, among others. 鈥嬧��
In 2017 and 2019 he was shortlisted for Channel 4鈥檚 4Screenwriting attachment, making the top 40 from over 1,500 submissions. He also has extensive experience as a performer, director, reader, deviser and workshop facilitator.
David O. Gray is an award winning screenwriter and director, born in Bonnybridge. He specialises in genre filmmaking with a specific interest in horror, comedy and thriller-y things with a working class spin. He began making sketch comedy five years ago as part of the comedy duo - Kris and Dave - and has accrued over 25 million views, working with online platforms such as 麻豆约拍 The Social and 麻豆约拍 Scotland鈥檚 Short Stuff. Many shorts were collated for broadcast on television, including a sketch made for 'Socially Distanced with Susan Calman'.鈥嬧��
Subsequently, he developed two short form series for 麻豆约拍 iPlayer. Firstly, he developed and co-directed three episodes of 鈥楬ings鈥�, which was nominated for a RTS Scotland - Short Form Award.鈥�
The second short form series was 'Tales from the Pub鈥�, a pitch-black horror comedy which went on to win GMAC鈥檚 Big Flick of the Year Award. He has been shortlisted in the top 1% of the 麻豆约拍 Writersroom Drama Room and has been shortlisted for the 4Stories writers scheme.鈥嬧��
David recently wrote and presented 鈥楥lose Encounters of the Bonnybridge Kind鈥�, a radio documentary about the history of UFOs in Bonnybridge. He currently has several projects in development with production companies.鈥�
Michael John O鈥橬eill is a Northern Irish playwright, dramaturg and theatre producer based in Scotland. In 2019 Michael won the Bruntwood Prize鈥檚 Original New Voice Award for his play 鈥楢kedah鈥�. In 2020 his short monologue 鈥楽ore Afraid鈥� was produced as a digital project by the National Theatre of Scotland, the Citizens Theatre, and 麻豆约拍 Scotland. In 2021 his play 鈥楾his is Paradise鈥� was produced by the Traverse Theatre for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where it won the Popcorn Writing Award. 鈥嬧��
Michael is currently on writing attachments with National Theatre of Scotland and Hampstead Theatre and is under commission with the Almeida Theatre as one of the Genesis Almeida New Playwrights, Big Plays writers for 2021/22. 鈥嬧��
His work as a theatre producer includes Artistic Producer of the Tron Theatre (2014-2020), where he founded the Tron Theatre鈥檚 new work department, and commissioned and produced new writing including Isobel McArthur鈥檚 鈥楶ride and Prejudice鈥�* (*Sort of).鈥�
Rachel O鈥橰egan is an award-winning playwright based in Edinburgh, Scotland. She began playwriting at Australian Theatre for Young Peoples National Studio, and was selected for their 2016 production 鈥楾he Voices Project: All Good Things鈥�. She soon moved to the UK and was accepted to Edinburgh Napier Universitys鈥� MFA Playwriting programme, where she graduated with Distinction. Rachels first full-length play 鈥楬ungerland鈥� won the Bread and Roses Playwriting Award in 2019.鈥嬧��
Her most recent play, 鈥楢fterparty鈥�, was produced by womens theatre company F-Bomb Theatre and sold out its entire run at Edinburgh Fringe 2021. F-Bomb will return this year鈥檚 Fringe with Rachel鈥檚 upcoming play 鈥淭he Beatles Were A Boyband鈥�, which explores the impacts of misogyny and violence on women. The project was one of 20 to receive support from Creative Scotland Crowdmatch. 鈥嬧��
Rachel is interested in writing stories about women, social inequality and urgent issues all with an accessible sprinkle of comedy and pop culture. 鈥�
Megan Shandley is a writer and performer from Edinburgh and a graduate of LAMDA. She gained a certificate in screenwriting from NFTS Scotland last year and was selected as a participant on Short Circuit's 2022 Convergence programme. She is currently writing 鈥楶addington Marmalade Messiness鈥� an immersive theatre show running at Dalkeith Palace this summer. Having spent five years gigging on the UK comedy circuit, Megan has brought several stand-up shows to major UK festivals, has performed several times on the 麻豆约拍, and was a 2017 Scottish Variety Award Nominee and a 2018 Funny Women Grand Finalist. 鈥嬧��
Megan is keen to bring both her classical drama and comedy experience into her work, and likes to deal with themes of identity, self acceptance and belonging. She is drawn to vulnerable yet resilient characters who are trying to make sense of the world around them.鈥�
Martin Smith is a BAFTA winning filmmaker whose short 鈥楾racks鈥� won the BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Short Film. He relishes drama rich in moral complexity, and is currently directing 2nd unit on Jack Thorne's latest drama 鈥楤est Interests鈥� with Chapter One Pictures and Endeavor Content for 麻豆约拍 One. He is developing original feature 鈥楾arantula鈥� with First Features and 104 Films, plus several original drama series.鈥� 鈥�
鈥楢rmchair Detectives鈥�, the crime drama hybrid Martin directed for Tiger Aspect and 麻豆约拍 One, won the BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Entertainment. Martin directed two episodes of 鈥楬olby City鈥� for 麻豆约拍 One, which was Nominated for Best Continuing Drama at the 2022 BAFTA TV Awards.鈥� 鈥�
Martin is a member of the Directors UK Disability Working Group, and 2021 saw him selected for 麻豆约拍 Elevate. He is represented by Jennifer Thomas at United Agents.鈥�
JD Stewart is a gay playwright, TV writer, screenwriter, performer, and digital content creator from the Scottish Borders. He holds an MFA in Dramatic Writing from New York University and an MSc in Playwriting from The University of Edinburgh.鈥嬧��
His work includes: 鈥楪ay Boy鈥� (Frigid Festival, New York, 2018), 鈥楥ompression鈥� (Theatre Uncut Finalist, 2019), 鈥極ne Twenty-One鈥� (Verity Bargate Top 100, 2020), 鈥楾he Birthday, Engagement, Funeral Party鈥� (Hope Mill Theatre Prize Shortlist, 2021), 鈥楨lastic鈥� (Platform Presents Play Prize Finalist, 2021), 鈥楶inkface鈥� with Olivia Fischer (Vanishing Point: Everyone is Creative Award, 2021) and 鈥楧aniel Getting Married鈥� (dir. Kenny Miller, Play, Pie & a Pint 2022). In 2021 he was commissioned by the National Library of Scotland and 1623 Theatre. 鈥嬧��
Alongside Frazer Flintham, JD is co-host and co-creator of the UK LGBTQ+ History Podcast, The One Fifty Marchers, which charts the first LGBTQ march on November 27th, 1970.鈥�