Write Across Liverpool is a new eight-week development programme designed to offer writers and creatives at the start of their writing careers an insight into television writing, as well as support them in creating original series ideas.
These workshops are designed to give professionals the tools they need in order for their work be more successful. The BBC Writersroom and partner organisations have collaborated on this programme, which includes classes with Liverpool Film Office, Everyman and Playhouse Theatres, Royal Court Theatre, Unity Theatre, Writing On The Wall, 20 Stories High and DaDa.
This intensive workshop is designed for writers who want to grow their professional skills, learn the foundations of storytelling on screen and demystify writing in television. industry guests such as screenwriters will be present with insights from producers or commissioners about how they work; connecting peers within group memberships also come up during these sessions that allow participants can share ideas too.
The BBC Writersroom team is supporting a new generation of writers to take their careers into professional directions. The Write Across programme will give everyone involved with the opportunity for creative collaboration and active feedback, while also developing original ideas that could function as springboards into further work at stage one or beyond.
Up to 15 writers will be invited to take part in the programme which will run between May and June 2022 and will be primarily delivered over Zoom with some in-person sessions and workshops in Liverpool. There will be roughly one workshop session per week of around 90 mins to two hours in duration. If successful, we would expect participants to commit to attend all sessions; once we have selected our final group we will consult with participants to explore the best timings of sessions given people’s existing commitments. We will endeavour to give as much notice as possible re dates and times of sessions, but we might need to be flexible on occasion owing to speaker availability.
Writers should be over the age of 18 and currently live full-time in the Liverpool City region. This covers the local authority areas of Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral. You can find out if a particular postcode is in any of these areas at www.gov.uk/find-local-council
How do I apply?
Applications should be submitted via our online E-Submissions system (link below). The BBC will facilitate access and support participants through the process of application and interview stages. If you require support in making your application, please contact us at writersroom@bbc.co.uk.
Once you have clicked on the link for the opportunity, you will firstly be asked to confirm your eligibility before entering. (*Please note* If you do not meet the listed criteria, you cannot enter the opportunity. If you still proceed with your application, your submission will be flagged as ineligible and you are unlikely to hear that this is the case until after the deadline has passed.)
You will then need to log in to your E-submissions account (or create an account if this is the first time you have entered a BBC Writersroom opportunity) and fill in a simple application form along with uploading your script and supporting information.
As part of the application, you will be asked to provide:
Answers to the following questions:
- Your writing history
You do not need to have any credits, awards or professionally produced work. We just want to understand your passion for writing and a little bit of the journey you have been on up to this point.
- What do you hope to gain and/or what skills and contacts do you hope to develop by taking part in Write Across Liverpool?
We want to understand where you are in your development as a writer and your motivation for applying.
- What is your favourite TV programme from the past two years and why?
We want to know what you love to watch and how you engage with the current TV output, what has surprised/excited/entertained you.
- A sample of your previous dramatic writing. This should be an original written piece or a video/audio recording and can be submitted in the format of a video performance, performance poetry or a radio, theatre, television or film script.
- Creative task. Please pick one of the three scenarios below and use it as a springboard for a scene between characters. Please use it as a way into writing a scene of no more than three pages, interpret the scenario however you choose and have fun with the creative possibilities it presents:
1.) A is in a room. B enters, A stands… write
2.) A and B are sat. A laughs, B stays silent. A stops… write
3.) A and B enter a room to find C stood. B turns to leave. A stops them… write
Please upload your script sample and response to the creative task as a single, combined PDF file of no more than 10MB in size or link to recorded performance within the E-Submissions system.
You may also provide answers to the application questions as a video or audio recording if you prefer, please be sure to include the relevant links in the spaces provided.
PLEASE NOTE: We cannot accept late submissions under any circumstances. Please allow plenty of time to create an E-submissions profile, navigate the system and submit your entry before the deadline. Please note that the BBC Your Account at the top left of the web page is not the same as a BBC Writersroom E-submissions account. It is totally unrelated, so having a BBC Account (for BBC iPlayer etc) does not automatically sign you up to E-submissions.
Read the E-Submissions FAQs for further information.
Read the full Terms and Conditions of Entry for Write Across Liverpool
For further information visit www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/opportunities/write-across-liverpool/
