Writersroom Blog - Charlotte Riches

ABBA Results!

Charlotte Riches Charlotte Riches — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:14:16 +0000

After weeks of agonising waiting, we were finally able to put the nine shortlisted ABBA writers out of their misery, when last night, at the prize giving ceremony, we announced who had won the award. So, I'm incredibly pleased to tell you that Chris Wilson, with his play 'Playing the Game' is the winner of the 2009 Alfred Bradley Bursary Award. 'Playing the Game' is a play about a teenage boy who has to negotiate his dad's growing relationship with his aunt after his mother's death, his ambitions to be a footballer, school bullies and his acne. The Radio Drama Commissioner Jeremy Howe called it 'an extraordinary rites of passage play' before presenting Chris with a bursary for £3000. Chris later that evening said that winning the award was a 'huge honour' and that he would never normally have thought about writing for radio drama, but 'ABBA gave me the incentive to send in my play and see what happened'. What has happened is that 'Playing the Game' has now been put forward for a radio drama commission, Chris has received a bursary and will also receive a years mentorship with a Radio Drama North Producer. We very much look forward to working with Chris and developing his ideas. So watch this space!

Chris was not the only ABBA winner though. Two scripts came joint second in the award. These scripts were 'God and That' by Tom Wells and 'White Horses' by Ben Ayrton. Both Tom and Ben received £1000 bursary money and will receive a years mentorship with a Producer. One script was highly commended by the judges, 'Maine Road' by Sarah McDonald Hughes and two scripts were commended, 'Faith' by Alexandra Denye and 'Driftwood Something Something' by Paul Buie. Sarah, Alexandra and Paul will all receive mentorship and have the chance to develop their scripts and further ideas for the Radio 4 offers round.

We in Radio Drama North are absolutely thrilled by the high level of talent which has come through the award this year, and we know that these very talented writers, most of whom are at the very beginning of their writing careers, have bright and brilliant futures in front of them, and it will be a pleasure to help them on their way.

Alfred Bradley Bursary Award Update

Charlotte Riches Charlotte Riches — Thu, 07 May 2009 16:39:15 +0000

For all those who applied for this year's Alfred Bradley Bursary Award 2009, here's an update on how the Award is progressing. Firstly, we received an amazing 417 entries this year. From this, 67 of the scripts were longlisted, 22 were shortlisted and 9 were sent to the judges. The shortlisted scripts are below (in no particular order):

Driftwood Something Something by Paul Buie
The Call by Sophie Walsh-Harrington
Playing the Game by Chris Wilson
Faith by Alexandra Denye
Dai Hard by Terry David Jones
Maine Road by Sarah McDonald Hughes
God and That by Tom Wells
White Horses by Ben Ayrton
Bad Blood by Mark Foster

The winning script(s) will be announced at a prize giving ceremony on Wednesday 8th July 2009.

All writers who reached the judging longlist have been notified and also given feedback on their entries from a Writersroom reader. If you have not been contacted by now then I'm afraid you have been unsuccessful on this occasion.

Thank you very much to everyone who applied. It's been a pleasure reading such a varied and interesting bunch of scripts and the best of luck in your future writing to all those who didn't reach the final 9.

2 days to go to ABBA deadline!

Charlotte Riches Charlotte Riches — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 14:12:36 +0000

With only 2 days left to the Alfred Bradley Bursary Award deadline, I thought I'd share some closing thoughts on writing for radio drama as you pen your final words. Formatting - we are not completely rigorous when it comes to formatting. You won't be penalised for the wrongly placed word, or the odd straggly sentence, but you do need to present your work so that it is in a clear and readable script format. Use the Writersroom script formatting tool, or look at the radio drama scripts on the website and copy how they are formatted.
Sound effects and music - Sound effects are not stage directions, so keep them to a minimum. If they are essential e.g. a telephone ringing, then keep them in, but if, for example, your scene is set in a café, then we don't need to know what the two old ladies sat at the table behind your characters are saying, instead the sound directions 'a busy café' would be sufficient. Our team of fantastic sound designers will create the sound world for you, so keep the focus on your story.
If you want to specify certain music for your script then you can do, although ultimately the soundtrack of a play is up to the Producer, so you need to be aware that your suggestions are subject to change. Also don't worry about music copyright issues, this is something we sort out in production.
Cast of characters - Generally we never cast more than six actors in a single afternoon play, quite often it's less than that, so make sure that up to six actors could play your parts without having to play three or four characters each. As you put your finishing touches to your play it may be worth counting up your characters and cutting those who are not essential to the plot. Small parts especially add up, so check that you haven't got too many characters with just one or two lines.
Opening - Make sure you start your script in the right place. Throw us right into the heart of a scene, place us in the middle of a conversation or sentence, grab us straight away with your story. The first ten pages are crucial, hook us in, make us ask questions and pull us along with a strong narrative thread.
Last of all GOOD LUCK to everyone who enters, we look forward to reading your scripts!

Christmas creative wishes

Charlotte Riches Charlotte Riches — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 16:16:56 +0000

For those of you who will be scribbling away at your ABBA entries over the Christmas period, I thought I'd address a couple of questions which keep cropping up in the comments from the blogs and in the radio drama masterclasses.

The big question I keep being asked is does your script have to be set in the North?
The answer to this is no. We don't want plays simply set in the North. We just want good, original, strong writing which reflects, gives voice to and comments on all the richness of life and thought that's going on in this part of the world in contemporary Britain. Even in the area we've outlined there's huge diversity of culture, landscape, voice - so you can't possibly identify what the Northern voice is because it is so diverse. The fact that we are looking for a Northern voice shouldn't be a limitation or something to try and write within the boundaries of, in fact, it should be the other way around. Just having roots in the area or living here now will inform that voice naturally.

As to whether your play should be happy or sad, again that depends on the writer and the writing. The ending of your play should be truthful to your story and your character's journeys. Quite recently a drama-documentary went out in the afternoon play slot which focused on suicide and the emotional impact a suicide has on loved ones left behind. It was quite hard hitting and extremely sad, but it was engrossing drama, which we received lots of positive listener feedback on, showing that a difficult subject matter, if dealt with effectively by a writer, can work extremely well in the afternoon play slot. Life doesn't always have a happy ending, and as drama makers it is really important that we reflect this (as well as the happy endings).

I also mention at the masterclasses a couple of subject matters which I suggest writers should give a wide berth to - one of them is talking animals, another is guardian angels - this is entirely my personal opinion and I would love people to prove me wrong by writing an ABBA winning play with a talking animal as the lead character who is also a guardian angel. There are always exceptions to any rule, so it would be great if writers take my 'I probably wouldn't write about' list as a challenge!

For those of you who are in the process of writing a radio drama for ABBA, then I wish you a very productive festive period. I've got quite a few masterclasses coming up in January, so I look forward to meeting those of you who will be coming along to them. We still have places for the Keswick and Hull masterclasses if you haven't yet had a chance to book on. Until that time, have a very merry Christmas and a happy and creative new year.

Newcastle masterclass

Charlotte Riches Charlotte Riches — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 13:04:38 +0000

I'm now back in the office after spending Wednesday evening at Live Theatre running my first masterclass with Katherine Beacon. Thanks to everyone who attended, especially those who braved the snow to get there and a big thanks to Gez at Live for letting us host the event. Katherine and I stayed behind a bit in the bar after the masterclass to let people pitch to us potential ideas for ABBA and it was really exciting to hear some fantastic pitches which I'm sure will make really interesting and fresh sounding radio dramas. I just hope those writers do write their plays and send them in.

As part of the masterclass I played the opening of the 2006 winning play Abigail Adams by Mark Shand and it was great to see how much everyone seemed to really enjoy it. Katherine and I talked a lot about the openings of radio dramas and how crucial the first ten pages of a script are in really gripping an audience and bringing them into the world you have created. This is incredibly important in radio drama as if you don't hook your listener in the first four minutes or so they won't keep listening - they will turn off the radio or switch to another channel, so you need something to pull them in from the beginning. If you want to read the opening of Abigail Adams, or indeed the whole script, then it is up on the Writersroom website in their script section, along with some other stand out radio dramas. They are well worth a look.

We have confirmed a couple more of the masterclasses now so if you would like to attend any of them then all the details are on the opportunities page. Places are limited so you will need to book. Hope to see you there!

Alfred Bradley Bursary Award Launches

Charlotte Riches Charlotte Riches — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 12:14:17 +0000

Hello! I'm Charlotte Riches the Development Producer for BBC Radio Drama North. For the next three months or so I'm going to be writing a blog to coincide with the running of the Alfred Bradley Bursary Award (or ABBA as we like to call it), which
was launched yesterday. I've been planning ABBA for a while now, so it's great to see all the info on the Writersroom website, inviting submissions. It's great as well to have the Writersroom collaborating with us again this year, so thanks to all the team who have been working on it and thanks to the readers who are standing by, ready to receive the hundreds and hundreds of submissions (I hope) which are going to come flooding through their letter box very soon.

For me, what is so brilliant about this award is that it encourages people who have never even thought about writing for radio before to pick up their pen or turn on their computer and have a go. The majority of winners in our past ABBAs, the 2006 winner Mark Shand included, had never written anything before, let alone an afternoon play, so there is definitely something about ABBA which inspires people to dig deep down into their imaginative grey matter and find their radio drama voice. The other great thing about the award is that it continues Alfred Bradley's fantastic legacy by developing Northern voices, which is why the award is only open to people living or who were born in the North.

If you do need a little help finding your voice, then Katherine Beacon, the Project Manager of Writersroom North and I, will be running a series of writing for radio drama masterclasses across the North. We can't teach you how to write, but we can help by giving you some hints and tips about how to improve your writing and also, very importantly, tell you what not to do when writing a radio drama (you wouldn't believe how many people get it badly wrong). Our first workshop is tomorrow at Live Theatre in Newcastle 6pm - 7.30pm. Short notice I know, but if you would like to attend then please email sophia.rashid@bbc.co.uk. Places are limited so you will need to book in. Other masterclasses will take place in Liverpool, Leeds, Manchester, Kendal and Hull, so watch this space for further details. I'll let you know how the Newcastle masterclass goes in my next instalment.