Channel 4 debuts 17 new TV drama writers


C4 debuts 17 new TV drama writers via its original talent schemes

As part of its long-standing commitment to support and nurture exciting new talent, Channel 4 Drama will this year be mentoring and supporting 17 new writers as part of its talent schemes 4Stories, The Northern Writers Scheme and 4Screenwriting.

With a focus on fresh and inspiring content, each scheme is individually tailored, allowing opportunities for writers with little or no previous TV experience access to some of the UK’s leading production companies, producers and talent.

Renowned for unearthing an impressive array of up and coming writers and directors, former alumni of Channel 4’s development schemes include Jack Thorne (National Treasure, This is England ‘88), Vinay Patel (Murdered by my Father), Regina Moriarty (Murdered by my Boyfriend), Charlie Covell (End of the F*cking World), Mahalia Belo (Ellen, Requiem), Tom Harper (This is England ‘86), Yann Demange (Top Boy, 71) and Wayne Yip and Alex Garcia (Utopia, Misfits).

Updates of the individual schemes are as follows:

4Stories

4Stories, a brand new talent scheme that will bring on the next generation of writers and directors, will debut with three female writers. Janice Okoh, Georgia Christou and Rose Lewenstein, have been selected to work on a themed anthology series of three half-hour dramas, which will be produced by Blacklight Television, a new production company owned by the Banijay group.

The scheme is aimed at encouraging talent currently under-represented in television drama – women, disabled people, BAME and people from disadvantaged backgrounds and three new directors are set to be selected, with pre-production scheduled to start in January 2018.

Produced by Blacklight Television, a Banijay Company, the aim is to create an eye-catching, original and bold series. Exec Producers will be Philip Trethowan and Ben Bickerton with Series Script Editor Marigold Joy.

The Northern Writer’s Scheme

Two new writers have been selected as part of Channel 4’s annual scheme in collaboration with writing development agency New Writing North and Northumbria University. The scheme offers aspiring writers from the north of England the chance to write for television.

The two writers, Alex Clarke and Andrew Turner, will each receive a £3,000 bursary as well as a bespoke nine-month package of training and development from staff at two independent production companies.

Alex Monroe will be paired with Bonafide Films (The Last Post, Undercover) where she will develop a new idea for a television drama series. Andrew Turner will work on Lime Pictures’ award-winning serial Hollyoaks. There he will shadow the process of script development, from first draft to broadcast script.

The Northern Writers’ Awards are the annual writing development programme run by New Writing North, which has supported more than 200 writers since 2000. The first recipients of the Channel 4/Northumbria University Writing for Television Awards were announced in June 2015. Both winners, Sharma Walfall and Nuzhat Ali, have recently been commissioned by Lime Pictures and RED Production Company, where they spent their placements.

4Screenwriting 

Now in its 7th year the Channel 4 screenwriting course identifies 12 talented writers (this year from over 1400 scripts entered), pairs them with an experienced script editor, and works with them to develop an idea from initial pitch to commercial one-hour script over a 5 month period. Book-ended by two weekends of talks, readings and feedback, the scheme runs from January to June and offers meeting with Channel 4’s Head of Development, Matthew Wilson, to discuss further development opportunities within the department.

This year’s writers are Brad Birch, Paul Clarkson, Adam Gard, Oliver Henderson, Charlene James, David Judge, Angelina Karpovich, Florence Keith-Roach, Ellie Kendrick, Grace Ofari-Attah, Sarah Page, Nathaniel Price. The course also trains four people on script editing, those this year selected are Ashiokai Omaboe, Dionne Farrell (Unigram), Max Park (Film4) and Charlie Whately-Smith (C4 Drama).

The scheme is run by Script Consultant Philip Shelley (Inspector Morse, Waking the Dead) with script editors Philip Shelley, Jamie Hewitt (Tandem Productions), Kim Varvell (New Pictures) and Lisa Walters (C4 Drama). Previous successes of 4Screenwriting include Melissa Bubnic writing on Shameless, Anna Symon writing on Indian Summers, Cat Jones writing on Youngers and Charlie Covell writing on Banana for E4. Most recently writers from last year’s course Theresa Ikoko and Ben Weatherill are both in development.

4Playwrights Scheme

Applications will open next month for the annual 4Playwrights Scheme, which awards bursaries of £10,000 to four new playwrights every year, with another £10,000 donated by the Peggy Ramsay Foundation.

This year, Channel 4 is delighted to announce a new partnership with Sonia Friedman Productions who will sponsor the prestigious Best Play Award. Last year’s recipient of the award was Francis Turnly whose winning entry “The Great Wave” has been announced as a major new production at the National Theatre as part of their 2018 season.

The scheme is open to any theatre in the UK, and later this month invitations will be sent to Artistic Directors inviting them to submit the work of any writer they consider to have promise. Currently, the five playwrights who are being supported by the scheme are Zia Ahmed, Kate Bowen, Theresa Ikoko, Charley Miles and Carmen Nasr. Throughout its history the scheme has supported writers including Peter Moffat, Jack Thorne and Lucy Prebble. The selection panel is chaired by Sir Richard Eyre CH CBE, and also includes Indu Rubasingham (Artistic Director of the Tricycle Theatre), Will Mortimer (Literary Manager of the Hampstead Theatre), Dinah Wood (Faber & Faber), Rosie Alison (Heyday Films), Julia Oh (Film4), Matthew Wilson (C4 drama) and playwright Nicholas Wright.

NOTES TO EDITORS

Channel 4 is a publicly-owned, commercially-funded, not-for-profit public service broadcaster and has a remit to be innovative, experimental and distinctive. Its public ownership and not-for-profit status ensure all profit generated by its commercial activity is directly reinvested back into the delivery of its public service remit. As a publisher-broadcaster, Channel 4 is also required to commission UK content from the independent production sector and currently works with around 400 creative companies across the UK every year. In addition to the main Channel 4 service, its portfolio includes: E4, More4, Film4, 4Music, 4seven, channel4.com, and digital service All 4.

July 7, 2017 5:29am ET by Channel 4  

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