We're very pleased to announce the thirteen writers selected to be part of our Drama Room writer development group for 2022/23. They were selected following our Open Call submission window which closed in January 2022.
Across the first six months of the programme, the writers attended targeted training and development, including craft workshops (with practical writing exercises), masterclasses, introductions and networking events. For the latter half of the programme, the focus is on writing, for which they receive the support of a Script Editor for a further six months to develop their original spec' scripts.
Our overall aim for Drama Room is to develop and prepare talented emerging writers for the television drama industry by equipping them with the core skills, industry knowledge and connections to set them on the right track to gain 麻豆约拍 broadcast commissions.
We鈥檙e excited to see all the amazing things this talented bunch will go on to do! Find out more about them below.
Would you like to be part of the next Drama Room writer development group? To be considered you must enter a script into our Open Call script submission window. This year the window is open between 12 noon on Tuesday 7th November and 12 noon on Tuesday 5th December.
Find out full details of the Open Call
Drama Room 2022/23 writer Amy Arnold reflects on being part of the group
Amy Arnold
Amy is a Macclesfield-based writer. She spent several years wandering all over the UK and beyond, working a variety of weird and wonderful jobs (including a brief, surreal stint milking cows), before settling by the Peak District so she could pursue her passion for stories, scriptwriting, and owning a golden retriever.
Amy loves to explore social power imbalances and family dynamics in her writing. In 2021 she made the final shortlist from over 5000 entries for the 麻豆约拍 Drama Script Room with her TV drama pilot VOID, and was selected as part of the 麻豆约拍 Northern Voices cohort for that year. Amy's environmental thriller BONE AND FEATHERS earned her a place on the Drama Script Room for 2022/23, and earlier this year her short radio play KISSING WITH TONGUES was broadcast on Radio 3's The Verb programme.
Amy is also a script editor at a Manchester-based production company, where over the past year she has been involved in the development and production of a variety of shows for Netflix, ITV, Amazon and UKTV.
Adam Bennett-Lea
Adam is a Manchester based script writer and editor who uses comedy and genre-mashing to tell stories of queer, Northern and working-class joy. Adam鈥檚 comedy-drama DRAGGED UP won New Writing North鈥檚 鈥楥hannel 4 Writing for TV award鈥� in 2019, and the show is now in development with Bonafide Films and Channel 4.
Adam was a member of the writers room for WATERLOO ROAD, and currently works as a Storyliner on HOLLYOAKS as well as a freelance script reader. His BFI funded short film I KNOW A PLACE is now doing its festival run and he鈥檚 working towards his first comedy feature. Being from Warrington, Adam is passionate about championing the places and people we don鈥檛 often see represented on screen.
Represented by Independent Talent.
Rhiannon Boyle
Rhiannon was awarded the inaugural 麻豆约拍 NTW Wales Writer in Residence 2019. Her winning script, SAFE FROM HARM, was commissioned for broadcast on 麻豆约拍 Radio 4. In the same year Rhiannon was also chosen to be part of the 麻豆约拍 Welsh Voices scheme.
Her theatre work includes KILL ME NOW for Dirty Protest, which had a successful digital run at the 2021 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and her one-woman show ANFAMOL (UNMOTHERLY) with Theatr Genedlaethol, which was the first Welsh-language production to be staged following the re-opening of theatres in 2021. The play received heralded plaudits, including a beautiful four-star Guardian Review. ANFAMOL was commissioned by S4C to be a five-part TV drama produced by 麻豆约拍 STUDIOS in 2022. It aired in September and has so far been a huge success. ANFAMOL series two is now officially in development.
Rhiannon was also commissioned to write an adaptation of Caradog Pritchard鈥檚 classic Welsh novel ONE MOONLIT NIGHT (UN NOS OLA LEUAD) broadcast in English on 麻豆约拍 Radio 4, 麻豆约拍 Radio Wales and on 麻豆约拍 Radio Cymru in Welsh. Welsh language screenwriting credits include S4C鈥檚 GWAITH CARTREF, POBOL Y CWM and STAD. Rhiannon鈥檚 pilot script for 麻豆约拍 Drama Room, MS I LOVE YOU, is a semi-autobiographical comedy drama based on her own experience of begrudgingly forgiving her dad for past behaviours when he was diagnosed with the debilitating illness MS.
Represented by United Agents
Sophia Chetin-Leuner
Sophia is a writer and teacher from London. Her first play, SAVE+QUIT, toured the UK and Ireland, becoming an Irish Times Pick of the Week and ending up at the Vaults Festival, where it was published by Nick Hern Books as part of their Best of the Vaults in 2017.
Sophia received the Dalio Foundation Scholarship to study at NYU Tisch鈥檚 Dramatic Writing MFA (2016-8). On returning to London, Sophia was in the Bush Theatre鈥檚 Emerging Writers鈥� Group (2019). While there she developed THIS MIGHT NOT BE IT, which was shortlisted for the Women鈥檚 Prize for Playwriting and longlisted for the Verity Bargate Award (2020). It will receive a full run at the Bush Theatre in February 2024 and will be published by Nick Hern Books.
Her other play, PORN PLAY, was also shortlisted for the Women鈥檚 Prize and was a finalist for the Verity Bargate Award (2022). It received a week-long workshop at Soho Theatre in May 2023, directed by Milli Bhatia. Sophia also loves writing for TV and Film. She is currently working with production companies in the UK, including Two Brothers and Mam Tor, USA and Scandinavia to develop her original ideas for the screen. Her TV pilot FIX was shortlisted for the C21 Drama Script competition (2021).
Sophia is represented by United Agents.
Mohamed-Zain Dada
Mohamed-Zain, goes by the name Zain, is a playwright and cultural producer. His first writing credit, EMILY (GLITCHED) IN PARIS was for the Royal Court Theatre鈥檚 Living Newspaper series in March 2021. Zain鈥檚 producing and directing credits include 2019 Outspoken Prize winning short visual poem, THE MOON IS A MEME and 2020 Outspoken Prize-nominated animation short, OTHERSTANI. Zain is an alumnus of Soho Theatre Writers Lab 19/20, Royal Court鈥檚 Introduction to playwriting 19/20 and the School of High Tide programme 20/21. Zain was also part of 麻豆约拍 London Voices 21/22 and most recently, he was part of the Tamasha Playwrights Collective 21/22.
In March 2022, Zain wrote a short play, LOOT as part of the Royal Court's SW1 project for local sixth form students in Westminster, the play was performed in the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs. Zain's debut play, BLUE MIST is currently running at the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs at the Royal Court Theatre until 18 November 2023.
Represented by Casarotto Ramsay & Associates.
Samuel Evans
Samuel is an east-end-born queer support worker. Sam started writing short stories as a teenager about the nocturnal strangers he would meet on the top deck of London buses in the middle of the night when he couldn鈥檛 sleep. His first play TOMORROW got him an agent and he started writing plays with the National Youth Theatre, Arcola, and Almeida鈥檚 community groups absorbing the voices of others whilst maintaining his own.
Whilst working as a drag queen door host in Soho he was awarded a scholarship to NYU in New York for Dramatic Writing. There, he quickly discovered a passion for TV writing when Spike Lee, his professor, told him he had a work ethic that was bananas and a unique voice, whilst calling an agent to recommend Sam to them. When Sam submitted a script I WILL SURVIVE, INNIT about a young man becoming a drag queen to survive a sexual assault and get people to believe him, he landed himself in London Voices. This script also got him nominated for the Brit List by 麻豆约拍 Studios. Sam is currently participating in the EastEnders Shadow Scheme.
Alan Flanagan
Alan Flanagan is a writer and actor from the Irish countryside who鈥檚 worked in London for the past decade. He鈥檚 written over 50 episodes of Channel 4 continuing drama HOLLYOAKS, including two hour-long specials and an episode which won him Scene Of The Year at the 2022 British Soap Awards. His original thriller PAPERTRAIL has been optioned by 麻豆约拍 Studios, cosy crime show REP optioned by Lime Pictures, and sci-fi drama SHUFFLE is currently in development with a production company in the USA.
Theatre credits include rural horror EYES TEETH SOIL, sci-fi romance THE SILVER BELL, and sexual health comedy BINGO, which he is currently adapting for television. He has a radio short in production with 麻豆约拍 Radio 3鈥檚 The Verb, and has written over 30 episodes of horror audio drama DARK SHADOWS鈥� as well as writing for the DOCTOR WHO and DORIAN GRAY audio series.
Awards include Best Actor and Best Writer at the Dublin Gay Theatre Festival, while he鈥檚 lectured screenwriting at Brighton and Sussex universities.
Represented by Phil Adie at Nick Turner Management.
Daniel Katanchian
Daniel is a British screenwriter from London. Earlier this year Daniel was a participant on Channel 4鈥檚 4screenwriting 2023 programme, selected from thousands of entrants to develop a new pilot script from scratch. Daniel is developing drama series and feature film projects with several production companies across Britain.
Daniel currently works in non-scripted TV where he develops documentary films and series. He has developed shows commissioned by Netflix, Amazon Prime, the 麻豆约拍 and Channel 4 over the past four years
Represented by Alex Bloch and Doorie Lee at 42 Management.
William Mager
William, also known as Billy, is a British writer originally from Sheffield. William is passionate about authentic onscreen representation, creating compelling and diverse characters that reflect his own lived experience. He is currently developing his original spec script, REUNION, with Warp Films and 麻豆约拍 Drama.
Prior to 麻豆约拍 Writers Room, William was one of 12 writers on 4Screenwriting 2022. The resulting script, LOVE DAY, is in development with Pure Fiction and Channel 4.
William has also written for Children's TV including CBeebies, CITV and Channel 5 Milkshake!.
Represented by Christine Glover at Casarotto Ramsay.
Tom Mair
Tom Mair is a screenwriter from the Scottish Highlands currently based in London. He wrote the multiple award-winning short film DELOPING (yes, two wins counts as 'multiple' - he checked), which premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in 2022 and was screened worldwide.
Tom is currently writing a new, original drama series for Sky Atlantic and 麻豆约拍 Scotland, in addition to developing several other projects with independent production companies like STV, Two Rivers, The Lighthouse, and FilmNation.
When not writing, Tom works as a script editor and recently finished collaborating with Andrea Gibb for her soon-to-be-announced, four-part television adaptation of a Sunday Times' best-seller.
Represented by Julia Tyrell at JTM.
Nk鈥檌ru. Njoku
Nk鈥檌ru. is a Nigerian writer-director based in London and represented by Sarah Williams at Independent. She was in the 麻豆约拍 London Voices 2021 cohort. In 2022 she got into The Writers Lab UK & Ireland where she developed her comedy-drama pilot, BIG SHOES.
Nk鈥檌ru.鈥檚 writing career is over 16 years old and was established in Nigeria, where she lived until 2018. For nearly 8 years she was the head writer of long-running continuing drama, TINSEL. She wrote for several other Nigerian series and was episode writer, script doctor, head writer, director, and consultant showrunner on various country-specific seasons of MTV鈥檚 drama series, SHUGA. For 8 years she moonlit in non-fiction as a content director then head of content of PROJECT FAME WEST AFRICA, an Endemol music-based reality franchise produced in Nigeria by Ultima Studios. She also has credits on FAR FROM HOME a Netflix Original produced in Nigeria in 2022.
In 2019 Nk鈥檌ru.鈥檚 short filmOR脥K脤 written and directed by her, won the award for Women in Film at the Black Star International Film Festival, Ghana. It screened at Cannes Pan African International Film Festival, AFRIFF (African International Film Festival), and Female Eye Film Festival鈥檚 International Women鈥檚 Day Program, TIFF BELL Lightbox, amongst others.
Represented by Independent Talent.
Michael Lee Richardson
Michael Lee Richardson is a writer and filmmaker based in Glasgow. They are passionate about telling rich, authentic stories about queer and working class lives and culture. They have film and television projects in development with a range of different production companies including their first feature, A GOOD SPELL, with Bombito. They have also written prose and poetry, radio drama and children鈥檚 nonfiction. Michael is an Edinburgh Television Festival Ones to Watch and an alumni of Young Film Foundation, Torino Film Lab and EIFF Talent Lab.
Michael鈥檚 first short film as a director, JUST JACKIE, is currently in post-production. Michael鈥檚 first short film as a writer, MY LONELINESS IS KILLING ME, won a BAFTA Scotland Award in 2018. It鈥檚 been shown on 麻豆约拍 Scotland, and at film festivals around the world. Michael鈥檚 most recent short, WHO I AM NOW 鈥� directed by Jack Goessens 鈥� debuted at EIFF 2022 and is currently on its festival run. Outside of writing, Michael likes 80s makeover montages, witches and having a little look around the shops.
Represented by Louisa Minghella at Revolution Talent.
Lily Seriki
Lily is a screenwriter. London born, bred and based. A recent graduate of the National Film and Television School鈥檚 Screenwriting MA, her graduation pilot won the NFTS popcorn award and is now in development with Popcorn Group.
She likes to write genre-bending stories centring the empowerment, joy, and friendships of girls and women who don鈥檛 fit in.
She鈥檚 addicted to cuteness and social justice and hopes that by finding the recipe for irresistibly adorable characters, she will be able to indoctrinate many unsuspecting viewers with her militant woke agenda.