The Stage

BBC seeks scriptwriters for year-long pilot course

Published Tuesday 26 April 2005 at 12:35 by Liz Thomas

New scriptwriters are being sought by the BBC to take part in a year-long pilot course that the Corporation hopes will expand its pool of writing talent on long-running dramas.

Entitled the Writers’ Academy, it aims to train eight successful applicants in all aspects of creating scripts for shows such as EastEnders, Holby City and Casualty and is the brainchild of the Corporation’s controller of continuing drama series, John Yorke.

The first three months of the scheme are based in the classroom, where those chosen to take part will learn the basics of storytelling, character and plot development. A selection of tutors including Yorke and EastEnders story consultant Tony Jordan are to provide a guide to the process of production so that writers can understand what transfers well to screen.

At the end of the first quarter all the trainees are required to write an episode of daytime soap Doctors for broadcast. They will then spend the remainder of the course training on-the-job, producing scripts for Casualty, Holby City and EastEnders.

Yorke said: “In the last three years, the drama series department has expanded its output to such an extent that every year we now make more hours of drama than all the Hollywood studios combined. Although the expansion has been a great success, it is clear that without investing in new writing talent we will jeopardise the extraordinary gains we’ve made. Put simply, how can you have great drama without great scripts? With growing investment in drama as a whole it is vital we focus some of that money and effort on the writers that create them. The BBC’s new Writers’ Academy aims to do just that.”

He added that he was keen to use the scheme to find and develop talent of a similar calibre to Doctor Who and Casanova writer Russell T Davies or the Bafta-award winning Paul Abbott.

Assistant general secretary of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain Anne Hogben welcomed the training as a step in the right direction but said the opportunity should extend to script editors and storyline creators.

The scheme is the Corporation’s first course tailored for script writers of long-running drama and if the pilot proves successful it is likely to become an ongoing initiative. Its creation follows a difficult few years for the channel’s flagship soap, EastEnders, which has come under fire for its storylines, quality of scriptwriting and characterisation.

Applicants for the scheme should have already had at least one piece of their work performed, broadcast or transmitted professionally. Further information about the course can be found at www.bbc.co.uk/jobs