The Fellowship was created in partnership with the award-winning Leeds writer Kay Mellor in 2019 and was first awarded to Bradford writer Kat Rose Martin in 2020. It continues in memory of Kay, who passed away in 2022, with a new three year investment from the BBC, Leeds City Council, Rollem Productions and Leeds Playhouse.

Through her poetry and spoken word, Kirsty has always been a champion of her home city of Bradford, showcasing and giving voice to its unheard stories. Her work champions those traditionally underrepresented on stage and screen through humour, drama and exploring non-traditional form. She was part of the campaign which helped Bradford win the coveted Year of Culture for 2025. Her debut play Cashy C’s: The Musical was performed in a non-traditional theatre space – a former frozen food store in Bradford city centre – and was set in a recreated cash convertors, exploring the multiple lives of those who passed through the shop.

During her Fellowship, Kirsty will explore stories of adoption and severance from the perspective of birth families, working with local birth mother groups to research and develop both a play and TV pitch which tells the stories of how and why children get taken into care, with authenticity, intricacy and integrity.

Kirsty is the first of three Fellows over the next three years. Each will receive a bursary and spend their year on attachment with Leeds Playhouse and Rollem Productions to develop their own script and TV pitch, as well as receiving a place on the BBC Writers Voices writer development programme.

Kirsty Taylor said: "Being awarded this Fellowship feels like a massive and timely next step for me. The opportunity to develop my ideas through the legacy of Yorkshire's iconic Kay Mellor who properly championed people like me, where my background, voice and experience is not only welcomed but embraced feels really special. I'm passionate about telling authentic stories about real people, so the support this Fellowship offers will really allow me to explore how I go about doing that to bigger audiences, in new and different forms with the critique that's crucial in taking my work to the next level. Buzzing.”

Gaynor Mellor Creative Director of Rollem Productions said: “We are so excited to be announcing Kirsty as this years Kay Mellor Fellow. Her work shone through during the application process and her playwriting has the ability to portray often gritty and dark subject matters with warmth and humour, much like the work of Kay. We will be welcoming her into the Rollem family with open arms and can’t wait to transfer her incredible playwriting skills into the world of television."

Councillor Jonathan Pryor, Leeds City Council’s executive member for economy, culture and education, said: “This inspiring programme is the perfect tribute to the remarkable legacy of Kay Mellor and it’s wonderful to see her home county’s proud tradition of nurturing local talent and creativity continuing.

By working together and helping Yorkshire artists like Kirsty to bring their work to the stage, we can give these unique, northern stories a bigger voice and profile as we pass the torch to the next generation of Yorkshire playwrights.”

Head of New Writing for BBC Jessica Loveland said: "The BBC Writers team is thrilled to be partnering with Leeds Playhouse, Leeds City Council and Rollem Productions on the Kay Mellor Fellowship this year. We can’t wait to start work with Kirsty via our BBC Writers’ Voices writer development group, and we look forward to supporting her as she brings her unique voice to TV writing.”

Leeds Playhouse Artistic Director and CEO James Brining said: “Kirsty is a great champion of stories rooted in Yorkshire, and is particularly passionate about exploring working class lives and the perspectives of women, so it is fitting that she will follow in the footsteps of the brilliant Kay Mellor. Kirsty has great skill as a writer, crafting her work with much care, truth, humour and integrity. We can’t wait to welcome Kirsty to the Playhouse, to support in her development as a playwright and to learn from her unique artistic perspective. We look forward to seeing what she creates during her Fellowship year.”

In addition to the Fellowship, Leeds Playhouse launched The Kay Mellor Fund in 2023, to raise money to nurture local writers – something that was always very close to Kay’s heart – through its industry-leading Furnace Artist Development programme. This fund will support locally rooted writers through bespoke investment, mentoring and training opportunities.

Read a blog post by Kat Rose Martin, the first recipient of the Kay Mellor Fellowship

What encouraged you to apply for the Fellowship? How did you find the application process? What idea did you submit for your application?

When I saw that Leeds Playhouse and Kay Mellor were partnering up for a New Writing scheme, I knew that I had to apply. Leeds is my local producing theatre, and Kay Mellor had been such an influence in all the TV I watched growing up. She represented that female working class voice that so many of my stories are about. I remember watching Band of Gold and thinking there was nothing else like it on the screen.

There were a few stages to the application process, even at the interview stage, I learnt so much. I walked away with ideas and a plan of how to develop my idea further, and then later got the phone call – I felt like my insides had turned outsides, I was that excited.

I submitted my sample script which was a play called £1 THURSDAYS and a pitch for an idea about women who worked in adult services. It explored the nature of exploitation both in the arts industry and in online sex work.

What stood out to you during your time on the Fellowship? Was there anything that surprised you?

What surprised me most during the Fellowship was getting to peek behind the curtain at the day to day running of a big regional theatre and a TV production company. Getting to sit in on meetings and see how decisions get made, how development actually works. I had all these pre-conceptions about what the conversations in decision making rooms were like and it wasn’t at all as I imagined. That insider insight for TV and theatre is invaluable. It helped me to understand how rejection is more than likely not personal or about the idea but about lots of other moving parts and metrics that need to be aligned across a slate of work.

Did you discover/learn anything new during the experience?

Something that I learnt during the fellowship was how different writing for TV and theatre is and how to really lean into what is special about each medium. In the theatre you have the audience’s attention, and they are present in the space with the actors for a LIVE experience. What opportunities does this present? Then with TV, the audience have a hundred other distractions, so how can you draw them in, hold their attention, keep them glued to their screens. And then what is similar with both mediums – character, emotional heart.

I learnt a lot about what sort of writer I want to be. I’m still learning this, but a full year to really refine and focus my voice, helped to define the stories I was wanting to tell next.

How did you find working with Kay Mellor?

Working with Kay was incredible. Something I’ll cherish forever. Her feedback was blunt and to the point. I loved that. No messing about, she’d say, "but nothing happens, you have to make something happen!". She was gifted at story engine and seeing story potential in everything. How can we make things worse for our characters? She had brilliant anecdotes from her vast experience that always made me laugh. One thing that struck me was how much she supported new writers, not just myself. She would attend awards ceremonies and events and say people’s names. She would mention my name to people. I will never forget that. It’s so important to pay it forward and SAY A NAME whenever we can.

What work did you create as a result of the Fellowship?

During the fellowship, I developed a TV pitch – WHIPPED and a play CHEAP AS CHIPS. From the same seed of an idea – the women in adult services. The TV pitch introduced me and my voice to commissioners for the first time. The play is currently under commission with Leeds Playhouse. As I worked on the ideas, they became very different on a surface/plot level but they both had the same beating heart, themes, and knotty central argument.

What advice would you give to anyone who is hoping to apply/be selected for the Kay Mellor Fellowship?

If you’re thinking about applying, really consider what story YOU WANT TO TELL. Kay always spoke about how she loved fusing real life experience with fictional stories. So, think about a feeling or situation that feels true and relatable to you and then start spinning that story web and branching out from there. Be ready to learn, absorb everything, make mistakes, and really commit to the opportunity. The Fellowship opened so many doors for me. It was basically a fire-lighter for my career. And with the additional team-up this year with BBC Writersroom Voices, it’s basically the hottest ticket in town for a new writer. Embrace it.

Kay was and is an inspiration. She put Northern voices on the stage and screen and let down the ladder to support and nurture so many new writers. I’m proud to be a tiny part of her legacy, and thrilled that this scheme is continuing so go for it, grab the bull by the horns and apply. Kay paved the way, now it’s on us to keep those warm, complex, Northern characters coming down the pipeline.

The Kay Mellor Fellowship is a year-long paid opportunity for a writer based in Yorkshire and the Humber to develop their writing for stage and screen. Applications are open until Tuesday 29th August 2023, 10am.

Click here to find more information about the Fellowship

Stories have an analgesic, healing, and restorative effect on the orator and the listener. Yes, I’m a GP and a writer so this might sound contrived, but it’s still true. Patients and clinicians use idioms, metaphors, and other literary devices to tell the stories of their illnesses. Being a clinician and writer means working with stories. It doesn’t feel as though I’m balancing two different roles; conversely, there is a synergy between the two that improves my writing and enhances my ability to help patients.

Colleagues ask how I manage to meet deadlines while working as a GP. After all, aren’t GPs always moaning about being busy? Yes, on both counts. I still spend most of the week in general practice. At the start of the programme, I was also working as a clinical director for an NHS mental health trust, and I’ve recently left this position to devote more time to writing. I have always worked long hours and I know I’m privileged to have very understanding colleagues and most importantly, a very supportive wife. It’s also incredibly hard to complain about being busy when during the Thatcher years, my Mum juggled three jobs, alongside night school, as a single parent on a council estate.

Writing has always been my (neglected) passion. In 2019, I took the opportunity to write an episode of Four Thought on BBC Radio 4. There wasn’t any doubt that I would enjoy writing the script, but I grew up with a speech problem and undiagnosed dyslexia. Giving a talk in front of a live audience, to be heard by millions of listeners around the world, would risk career-ending mispronunciations and embarrassing mistakes. Fortunately, I worked with Sheila Cook, an experienced producer who patiently helped me to perform the talk.

The episode was well received, and I planned to do more writing but then came a shocking twist: I became quite unwell and was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease, and at the same time a bat met a pangolin, or a clumsy lab technician in Wuhan made a terrible mistake, (delete as applicable), and the world stopped spinning. In the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, as some of us began to restart our lives, I decided to start writing again.

One evening I saw a Tweet that advertised the BBC Writersroom Open Call. I had never entered a writing competition or open call, but for years I’d had a story called “Heartsink” stuck in my head. It’s about a locum GP’s first day in a strange village and the limits of his tolerance. The script got me through to the Voices shortlist and then the interview. It’s important to note that for Voices, the reviewers want to hear a writer’s voice in their work. Fortunately, I had no preconceived ideas of desirable styles, themes, or genres. “Heartsink” was a story I wanted to tell, and the Open Call was the excuse to write it.

Before my interview with Commissioning Executive, Alice Ramsey and Development Producer, Usman Mullan, I spent hours preparing my answers, googling my interviewers, re-reading emails from Emily Demol (Development Coordinator), and worrying that I was well outside of my comfort zone.

Had I prepared enough? Would my minimal experience rule me out? What the hell do writers wear to Zoom interviews? (I opted for a shirt and tie). Alice and Usman were brilliant and not the least bit intimidating. I tried to be as honest and authentic as possible while appearing normal and selectable.

Weeks later; still recovering from the shock of being selected, I travelled to Media City to meet the other North and Midlands Voices. I’m confident, sometimes loud and always opinionated, but once again my anxiety returned. How do writers act? What do writers talk about? What do writers wear? (I opted for jeans, a polo shirt, and fleece).

There were 12 members of our Voices group for the Midlands and North of England Hub, all of whom were wonderful, non-intimidating human beings. We were split into four groups of three. I was put in a group with Paul Jones and Makeda Matheson, supervised by Usman. Both writers were fun to be around and helpful. Paul is the humblest writer I’ve met, even though he wrote Patterdale, a brilliant audio drama. We enjoyed talks and interactive sessions with experienced writers, script editors, producers, and agents. By the end of Voices, we were expected to produce a fully worked series outline from which we could create a specimen script.

Since joining Voices, I have written a comedy-drama series outline and specimen script called “THE GOAT”. This is about a con man who becomes a televangelist with a plan to build Stoke-on-Trent’s first-ever Megachurch. It’s a story about the effect of losing faith, abusing faith, and then regaining faith in something; religion, family, or vocation. The Voices sessions helped me improve my characters/arcs plus pacing, and Usman’s advice during 1:1s was extremely helpful.

In the Voices groups, there were people younger than my walking boots, people with long careers in the industry, people doing completely unrelated day jobs, and people who found amazing success with their first script. With so many routes into this vocation, I think the best advice for other writers is to:

• Write because you want/have to write not just because you want to be a scriptwriter or novelist,
• Write truthfully, everyone has unique experiences, perspectives, and a unique voice,
• Make peace with the prospect of rejection or embarrassment, even established writers fail to win scriptwriting competitions or fail to get selected at Open Calls.

Most importantly, keep watching, reading, and writing. Cormac McCarthy said that “Books are made of books” and I reckon that statement also applies to TV and film.

To meet the selected writers for our Voices Development Group 2023, visit our blog

If you would like to be considered for our future development groups and would like to find out more about our work, read this blog post on ‘How we find and develop writers’ from Jess Loveland, Head of New Writing for BBC Writersroom and BBC Drama Commissioning.

Open Call will return for submissions towards the end of 2023. For further details and updates visit our the opportunity's page on our website.

If you've submitted to the recent Writers' Access Group open call out, you might now be wondering, 'What's Next?' Read on to find out what happens to your script now the deadline has passed and some advice on how to spend your time while you wait for an update from us.

First of all, if you submitted, give yourself some well-deserved praise! Completing and sending your work out into the world as a writer is no easy task.  You should be proud of this accomplishment, so take time to tell yourself that.

We want to thank everyone who submitted their script to this year’s Writers’ Access Group (WAGs) opportunity. We received over 650 submissions! So, what’s next?

We’ve started reading! This will follow the below process:

Stage One – 10 Page Sift

All eligible entries will be reviewed by professional experienced script readers.  Over 50% of our readers for WAGs identify as deaf, disabled and/or neurodiverse.  They will read at least the first ten pages of a script and assess and discuss the applications against the following criteria:

• Quality of writing;
• Strength of story and structure;
• Ability to write believable dialogue;
• Skill in inhabiting characters and developing convincing relationships between them;
• Ability to authentically bring the world to life; and
• Ability to portray the writer's ‘voice’ in their storytelling.

Stage Two – 30 Page Sift

Scripts which hook our reader’s attention will progress to a 30-page read by a second script reader, who will then consider if the script should proceed to Stage Three to be read in full by a third reader.

Stage Three – Full Read (Longlist)

Scripts which reach the full read stage will be read by a third reader who will also provide the writer with a script report once the process has concluded.  

Due to the volume of submissions we receive and the resources we have available, we’re not be able to provide any individual feedback to writers who have not progressed to this stage.

Stage Four – BBC Writersroom Team Read (Shortlist)

Following the Full Read stage the BBC Writersroom team will review the remaining scripts and undertake a fourth full read to create a final shortlist.

At least two producers will read each of the final shortlisted scripts and, following this, the BBC Writersroom will then invite shortlisted writers for an interview.

Selected writers

From the interviews, 10 writers will then be invited to take part in the Writers’ Access Group programme which will run for 18 months starting in October 2023 and running until April 2025.

How long will it take?

Please be aware that the careful processing and reading of these scripts can take a number of months and we will not make contact with any writers until we have made our final selection so please refrain from contacting us for an update. We aim to inform all writers of the outcome of their submission by the beginning of October 2023.

What now?

The next Writers’ Access Group programme will return and open for submissions in 2025. In the meantime, writers can also submit to our Open Call 2024 window which will accept entries towards the end of this year.  Exact dates are to be confirmed, but please check out our website and social media channels for updates which will be posted several months in advance.  

Also look out for opportunities coming up from BBC Comedy and BBC Studios ScriptWorks and our Opportunities page has details of organisations accepting submissions for a variety of mediums.

Most importantly, don’t wait until the next submission window to get writing! You should always be coming up with ideas and new scripts to submit to us and other opportunities across the industry.

For further advice and materials to help your development, please visit our Resources area where you can find useful writing tools in our Scriptwriting Essentials area, as well as an extensive Script Library for BBC shows across Film, Radio and TV.

Paul, Emilie and Alex - can you tell us a little bit about your writing careers and how much writing you'd actually done before you applied for the Alfred Bradley Bursary Award (ABBA)?

Paul Jones: I was writing fiction mainly. I'd kind of always written, but I didn't start to take it seriously until my forties, and then I always liked writing dialogue in particular. I had a couple of plays on, nothing major, you know, but I'd been stabbing away for a few years.

Alex Clarke: I had sort of come to writing sideways. I'd never really seen myself as a writer or that there was a career to be had.  I was mainly either on the dole, cleaning or a support worker. I was moving around all these different working class jobs and writing was something that I was doing mainly for my own mental and wellbeing so, I’d kind of come to it through a mental health route.

It was something that I used to figure out my own problems and things that happened to me in the past, and it was very much a cathartic practice for me. It was never really something that I saw could even become a career.  So I was probably writing for about 10 years for my own self and within different support groups that I was a member of.

Then I wrote a little piece about a crime that happened to me in my teens. I wrote this moment into a play and then sent it to the wonderful DYSPLA down in London.  The team there work with dyslexic writers and autistic writers, and they thought there was something in it. So from there, I wrote little pieces of fringe theatre and then I decided I wanted to write television because my first love is television. I'm quite a visual person.  I then entered the New Writing North screenwriting scheme and won it and went into development with Channel 4 with a piece that I’d written about childhood, autism and domestic violence.

As soon as that went into development, I was awarded the Alfred Bradley. At this point I’d been throwing a lot of things into the darkness with my writing and then within one year, 2 years, a lot of things kind of collided and came together for me.

Emilie Robson: Not an awful lot had been going on for me. I'd written a couple of plays with friends, and we put them on like a free fringe, but nothing professionally produced, nothing commissioned, and then I'd written a couple of solo things that I've gotten like shortlisted or long listed for prizes, but it was just always a bridesmaid situation.

In 2020 - what a great year that was! I threw everything at the wall with very little else to do and actually, just everything sort of started coming together, and ABBA was probably one of the first things that came through where I thought, ‘oh, my God!’ Like I was close to giving up. My script was long listed, shortlisted and then in the final 5. So I was basically a complete beginner and then it all started coming together.

Paul and Alex, what impact did winning the Alfred Bradley Bursary Award have on your writing career?

Alex: It changed everything, and I think it changed everything because it changed how I was viewing myself and my work, and that definitely came through the development process and working with Nadia Molinari (Audio Drama Producer) there in the team.  Starting to see myself as potentially a professional writer, and that there was something important that I had to lend to the world of writing.

That's definitely something that I think is really unique to the process of writing for Radio. I've not found that process anywhere else.  I got a BAFTA writing mentorship through it. I think the stamp of BBC and having a piece of work that been professionally made by the BBC was a beautiful calling card. It opened so many doors. The BAFTA writing mentorship were able to hear my writing and hear what I was able to do.  From there, I got a BFI writing commission and I got an ITV mentorship, too. Then I also went into development with the BBC and Dancing Ledge with a new TV series that I’m developing and Dancing Ledge contacted me because they had seen that I'd won the Alfred Bradley so, yeah, it changed everything.

Paul Jones:  I mean it's the pat on the back that you need, you know.  I suppose like any writer it's difficult to call yourself a writer, isn't it? Most of the time you're squirreling away alone and for it to be recognised it gives you that little confidence boost you need. Makes it easier to get a meeting or perhaps get a second play if not commissioned, looked at.

Emilie, you received a special commendation with your ABBA submission - what happened next for you?

Emilie: I sometimes forget I didn't win! Because, I feel like – bar the money and the prestige - there was very little difference between my experience afterwards.  It was a few months later, while I was in the middle of developing Pica for the BBC Writersroom’s Drama Room scheme that I got the message to say like we'd like to develop this for Radio 4 and I still got a full commission out of it.

That will still always be a highlight getting to do that when you kind of think ‘oh, second place, lovely. Thank you very much’. The process was just so much fun, even under COVID guidelines and restrictions.  Then also because of the Alfred Bradley and the BBC having departments all across the UK, the Northern department were aware of who I was, and Alice Ramsey (Assistant Commissioner for Drama Commissioning and BBC Writersroom North) must have mentioned my name in like 10,000 rooms by now, and it's only from skimming the top of the Alfred Bradley that she even knows who I am to put me forward for these other opportunities.  Still, I had a meeting last week where they said, ‘Alice Ramsey recommended you for this’.

So even when the commission's done, it still continues to sort of trickle and there's not really a limit to the impact it can have for you.

Gary, can you tell us a little bit about your role as an audio drama producer and how you work with writers?

Gary Brown: Audio is a writer's medium. Basically, when I get my budget, the biggest cost is the writer.  So we can't do it without the writer.  The words are everything. So we're here as Producers to facilitate the writer and ABBA is brilliant for bringing on new writers that maybe we wouldn't have been aware of.  I mean, obviously, we've got our tendrils out trying to find writers, but ABBA is a great resource for us, and we’ve picked up lots of writers over the years.  Everybody's probably seen that Lee Hall (Billy Elliot, War Horse), started with ABBA. A few years ago, we had Furquan Akhtar (The Bay, Wolfe) who's now a well-established TV writer.

My job is - I often work with established writers - but I also work with new writers and I guess the interesting thing is that it takes a year from idea to actual transmission. So we spend a long time with writers and that's the main joy of the job, because I basically take an idea that a writer’s come to me with and develop it over many drafts, and then get the joy of going into a studio with the actors, editing it and delivering it. So I go through all the processes. It's a really, really lovely job, but the writer is central.

I mentored Emilie last time for the Alfred Bradley, but she made my job really easy, because I got the script, and I thought, ‘Wow, there's not a lot I can do . I'm very happy with this.’ Sometimes you have to work quite intensively with the writer, but with Emilie I didn't have to work particularly hard, because I thought the script was excellent.  Often, as with Emilie, it isn't just the winner of ABBA that gets produced, often the runners up do as well.

What should the writers be thinking about when writing an audio play, Gary? Is there anything that they should avoid?

Gary:  Well, the most important thing is to listen to radio plays. You'd be surprised when you get some submissions, you think, ‘Gosh! Have you actually listened to a radio play recently?’ because they have changed from the old fashioned type.

The biggest mistake that writers new to radio make is that they think it's like a stage play and it isn't.  I'm looking for filmic scripts and things that move along, that are very visual, and I don’t like too many plays with just people talking in a room. I like to think of big landscapes and big ideas. For me, it's a sort of hybrid between the film and the novel, because sometimes, if you want to, you can get inside the minds of your characters.

What I would say is, be bold. Go for really bold ideas. We're looking for original stuff. We're looking for, obviously your voice, but be bold. Go for a big idea.

Paul, Emilie and Alex - writers that come through ABBA are new to writing for Audio. What did you learn about writing for the Medium? And were there any surprises for any of you?

Emilie: I very much agree with Gary that actually there's so much in common with the novel and that internal world, that you won't get to see done successfully, probably in Film and TV, and that it looks really trite in Theatre.  You actually have such artistic license within audio to get into that internal world.  Also, what initially feel like limitations where you're like, ‘Oh, I can't show a facial expression, or I can't tell them what the boat looks like’, there's so much fun to be had in thinking, ‘Well, how do you do that then?’ Embrace the limitations, I would say, because actually there's so much fun to be had within that remit of sound.

Then there's absolutely no limitation to where it can go, because if you need to be in space - brilliant. You're just going to achieve it with a soundscape.

Paul: I treated it filmically, but once that was down, just being really mindful of all of the audio opportunities. Just little things like a bird's wings, or you know, a car in the distance. You’re then able to sort of see them into the story. It's probably helpful just to close your eyes and just to kind of go through it and discover audio possibilities that you wouldn't if you were just walking around.

It's really concentrated.  I found that I really had to knuckle down in a different way, you know, and be very specific.

Alex: I think that what I learned was about that really lovely relationship between the listener and my words. It's almost like whispering into the imagination of the listener.  It just became like this really lovely, intimate thing where you're not speaking to lots of people, you speak to this one specific person. That might be, I don't know, someone boxing things up somewhere, at work or on the bus to work or lying down in bed, just having a chill.  Once I got my head around that relationship everything just became so much more easy and enjoyable for me than thinking that I had to speak to everybody. I was just speaking to this one specific listener.

It is so much like writing a novel, because when you're reading a novel, the images are coming to you, they’re specific to you and I just think that's like a special kind of magic that radio has too.

For the ABBA submission window we’re not only accepting scripts for Audio, but we’re also accepting TV, Film and Stage scripts as well and, if successful, those scripts will be taken forward for development.

With that in mind, Gary, what elements of those other mediums transfer well to audio, and which ones are perhaps better suited than others?

Gary: I think you can adapt most things to Audio. What I would say is, look at the structure.  Look at fast storytelling. When I see a new script, I always look at how many scenes there are.  If there's more than sort of 30 for a 45 minute play for example, I think, ‘Oh, good! This is going to be fast paced’.

Structure is everything with rising tension all the time.  Every scene needs to lead up to the next one. So you want to go, ‘What happens next?’

Don't worry about set up in scenes. My advice to all writers is get in late and get out early.  If you get people walking through doors at the beginning of the scene, it’s just unnecessary set up. Get to the meat of the scene.  The great thing for TV writing and for radio writing is the 2 words at the end, which is ‘CUT TO’ because then you’ve got to the meat and you’re then off to the next scene.

Those first 10 pages that you are sending to us, those have got to be brilliant, the best that you can do, because basically if you don't hook us, the readers, in those first 10 pages, we’re going to move on. It's the same principles for any great storytelling.

Alex, can you just tell us a little bit about that process of developing your submitted script? Were there any significant changes when you got to the point of developing it for Radio 4?

Alex:  There was a lot of changes, I mean the name changed (from 'Poundshop Vanilla Princess' to 'Waking Beauty'). That was one of the big ones. I think, like what Gary was saying - there was a story, and there was a seed, and there was potential because there was really good dialogue in what I'd sent in originally but the structure and the pace, and how we were going to tell this story was not really there. So I was working with Nadia Molinari (Audio Drama Producer), being mentored and getting the different drafts ready for the rest of the Alfred Bradley competition and throughout we were asking what is the best way of telling this story? Because you can tell one story a 1,000 different ways. But what's the best way to grab people's attention and keep their attention right through this 45 minutes because, the thing about radio as well as television is, you can turn over, find something else, flick through. We've got a plethora of stories out there.

It's not like theatre, because if you've paid £30 for a ticket, you’re going to stay till the end. It's the same with cinema as well. You know people are captive. So, unless it’s really bad, they're not going to get up and leave, but with radio they will. They will just go, ‘Oh, this isn't for me!’ They can do that so quickly.

So we went through many, many changes to try and get that pacing right and the vehicle for the story right.  It's like pruning a rose brush. You start cutting things back so other things can grow and come to the front and that process is lovely and really nourishing.

As Paul was saying before, a lot of times it's you writing in a room on your own, so to be able to engage with somebody else who is curious and inquisitive about your work just helps you grow. So it was so valuable that period with Nadia.

And Paul, how was that process for you?

Paul: Yeah, it was terrific, actually, I was with - and I'm working now with Jessica Mitic in developing a second Audio Drama.  It's just that kind of back and forth, and you know I'm always happy to take notes. I mean, I might not agree with them, and I might dismiss them. But for the most part it's a conversation, you know?  I'm sure everybody sends their work to a friend to say, ‘Look, have a look at this, and tell me what you think. Is this terrible or not?’ But you need somebody to bounce work off. And so, being in that relationship with somebody who is invested in it, and not frightened of telling you that's something’s no good, or that needs work, I found that tremendously beneficial, and I'm continuing to do so.

Emilie, Gary touched upon how brilliant you were to work with in the ABBA development process when you were paired up together. How did that work for you for you both?

Emilie: Well, I think Gary’s doing himself a disservice saying that he didn't do anything for a start! What I'd written was designed to have aesthetic possibilities, but it was very much the emphasis was on the dialogue, and it was on a sort of aural soundscape, if you like, so we didn't have lots of recalibrating to do, but there was plenty to be trimmed. There was plenty that needed to be clarified.  

Like Paul said, getting to hear anyone who's took the time to read your script, and who wants to back it, I think, is just invaluable. You've got to learn to love the notes.

What else is unique about Audio Drama?

Gary: For a start, and not a lot of people know this, but you've got a huge audience. There's nearly a million people who listen to the Radio 4 afternoon play, and when you say this, to maybe a younger audience, they go, ‘What?!’ And then after that, there's the life on BBC Sounds so you could probably add another 200,000 - 300,000 on that.  You are talking to a quite a large audience.

We’ve mentioned before that it is an intimate medium. You work collaboratively with the audience to conjure up images, and we try to do what's called, ‘lean forward radio’ where you, instead of it being sort of background, you so stop what you do, and you lean forward, and you listen to it.  When somebody says, ‘I was driving to the shops and I’d arrived and there was still 10 minutes of your play to finish, and I stayed, and I listened’. You think ‘Result: that's fantastic!’ because you've grabbed them.  I think - Alex made that point - you've really got to grab them, because there are so many other things that can go on.

Audio is a great medium and it's very important and the Alfred Bradley feeds into it all with new writers and that keeps it going.

Submissions for the Alfred Bradley Bursary Award 2023 close at 12 noon on Tuesday 11th April 2023.

Further details on how to submit your entry for the Alfred Bradley Bursary Award 2023 

Listen to Paul Jones' winning ABBA submission, 'Patterdale' on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds 

Read 'Patterdale' by Paul Jones in our Script Library

Listen to Alex Clarke's winning ABBA submission, ''Waking Beauty'' on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds

Read 'Waking Beauty' by Alex Clarke in our Script Library

Read 'Pica' by Emilie Robson in our Script Library

The Dos and Don'ts of Audio Drama - plus help, advice and top tips

You can read more about Alfred Bradley's life and work in this blog post by his son, Jez Bradley

From as long as I can remember, I have always wanted to write for TV. I was one of those nerdy kids who would watch the credits at the end of programmes. I began to notice which writers I particularly liked, writers whose work spoke to me. I was in awe of the fact that everything I’d watched had come out of one person’s head. But I couldn’t help but notice that it was rare to see a character who was disabled, and even rarer to see a character with cerebral palsy like me. I decided long ago that this was something I could help change.

So I was proud to finally have my first original pilot produced and broadcast last year. It was a long slog. I’d been writing TV pitches and scripts for the previous 13 years. I’d practically become an expert at getting rejected. I remember vividly going for a meeting with some BBC TV producers in 2009 about my first attempt at a comedy pilot script. They told me that, if you took away the fact that my main character was disabled, then the script didn’t have a USP. I asked why on earth would you want to take that away? Surely making the character disabled gave him a different home life situation and lived experience that would be unique and engaging to audiences? But at the time they did not agree.

Now I’m not for one minute claiming that first script was perfect, far from it in fact, which is somewhat ironic given that I gave it the title Perfect! Between then and finally getting produced, there have been a string of other failed pilots, script notes, mentoring schemes and training courses. I learnt that the only way to really get better at screenwriting is to pick yourself up after a rejection, dust yourself down, learn from your mistakes and have another go. As Jack Thorne once told me, 95% of this job is being told where you’ve gone wrong!

But also a lot has changed in terms of the screen industry’s attitude towards including disabled, deaf and neurodivergent people over the past few years, although undoubtedly there’s further to go. Significantly, there is a growing recognition that there are only a certain number of stories to tell, therefore a way of making those stories new, interesting and exciting is to include characters from a range of diverse backgrounds, drawing on lived experience. For example, a thriller about a single mum suddenly gets an added dimension if we make that character a wheelchair user who as to navigate all of the various attitudes, barriers and systems that come with that situation.

I’ve noticed, particularly in continuing drama, it feels like there’s a tendency to have disabled characters because they know they ought to, but the writers don’t really know what to do with them. So, these characters are present on screen but don’t get any of the juicy storylines. I put this down to two factors: a fear amongst non-disabled writers of getting it wrong; combined with a lack of disabled, deaf and neurodivergent writers up until now. Certainly, whenever I’ve done writers’ rooms, I’ve always put myself forward to write for the disabled characters, not least because it’s easier as I can draw upon my lived experience.

This is why it’s so important that BBC Writersroom are currently recruiting another cohort of disabled, deaf and neurodivergent writers for their Writers’ Access Group. As someone who did it last time, I can vouch for the fact that it gave me the knowledge and skills I needed to start earning a living from screenwriting. The more screenwriters like myself we have working in the industry, the more authentic, nuanced portrayals informed by lived experience we'll see on our screens.

And what did I call my pilot which was broadcast last year? Why what else but… Perfect! It was a completely different script to the one that was rejected in 2009, because I’m now a better writer, but it had the exact same themes. It just wasn’t dismissed as lacking a USP as the industry has moved on and learnt to value lived experience. And I figure, if you are going to plagiarise, probably best to plagiarise yourself!

Applications are currently open for the Writers' Access Group training programme for deaf, disabled and/or neurodivergent writers.

How would you describe Happy Valley?

Sally Wainwright: It is not a police show, it’s a show about Catherine, who happens to be a police officer. It’s not a police procedural, it’s not a crime show. It’s really about Catherine and about what happened to her in the past and this weird crooked relationship she has with this man who affected her life so badly.

How would you describe Catherine Cawood’s personality traits?

Catherine is very strong and very stubborn. I think she has got a very strong streak of irony and comedy. What I often think about Catherine is that she is a good person to whom something very tragic has happened. That informs the character that she is now. That she has got this streak of tragedy that strikes through her but she is somebody who prior to that was very amusing and entertaining and good fun. She is strong, I think police officers have to be strong.

Why do you think the audience loves Catherine so much?

I think it’s Sarah Lancashire’s performance. I think that she is an extraordinarily empathetic performer. I think she conveys the real subtleties of the tiny, tiny moment-by-moment thoughts in everything she does. The audience really engage with her.

Did you always have Sarah Lancashire in mind for the character of Catherine Cawood?

For Catherine yeah, because we had done Last Tango In Halifax where she played Caroline and she really captured my imagination. I thought she played Caroline so well, and again she just gets everything. She gets every little detail and she has that fantastic charisma and personality. So again, right from the first series, I had her in my head which really helped when I was creating the character. To be able to see her and have some pretty clear idea of how she would deliver the lines.

What originally inspired you to write Happy Valley?

I saw a documentary by Jez Lewis called Shed Your Tears and Walk Away and it was about drug and alcohol problems, specifically in Hebden Bridge. The other influence was that, when I was a kid, there was a series called Juliet Bravo, which I really, really liked. It was actually not filmed far from Hebden Bridge, it was filmed in Todmorden. It was about a female police inspector and it was a really good show. It’s kind of in my top ten TV shows from adolescence, so it was my attempt to re-visit that.

The other big thing that inspired me of course, which I’ve talked about a lot, was Nurse Jackie. I wanted to write my own Nurse Jackie, but obviously I couldn’t write about a nurse, so I wrote about a policewoman instead. When I wrote the first series that was very much in my head as an influence.

Can you tell us how you came up with the title, Happy Valley?

So Happy Valley... I always work closely with police advisors, who are old police officers who have worked in the area, and one of them told me that is what they call the Valley because of issues with drugs. For me it reflected the show. It’s dark, but it has also got a lot of humour in it. I think less so in season one, more so in season two. We want to continue that in the new season. It’s still very much about the dark side of life, but it’s also about how within that people always find ways of being funny and warm and human.

When writing the show, how do you determine the contrast between the dark and the light?

Balancing the dark and the light is usually done through the character of Catherine because she is so nice to write for. She is a fantastic character to write for, she has got a lot to her. The show is kind of a portrait of Catherine, a portrait of what she has gone through in life and what she is now, the kind of person she is now. And obviously I know I am writing for Sarah. Nothing will be wasted, she will get everything. She’ll push everything in the right way. She will get the humour across. I think that balance is encapsulated in that character.

Why do you think audiences love Happy Valley so much?

It’s odd with Happy Valley, so many people talk about it in such a way that I do now believe it’s pretty good! I did ask someone the other day, ‘what is it that you think?’, and she said ‘the characters and the performances and the stories’. You know the truth is it’s just an alchemy, just an alchemy that some shows somehow manage to press buttons with people. I guess it’s just one of those. You kind of hit a patch of gold, a seam of gold in it somehow. It does always seem to capture people’s imaginations when you are writing about things that are on the wrong side of the law. It’s about transgressive behaviour and I suppose humans are fascinated by transgressive behaviour. I guess that’s why people are so fascinated by crime. It’s a kind of vicarious thing, that we don’t indulge in ourselves but like to watch other people doing it, or we like to see them get caught, or we like to follow the people who sort things out.

Why have you waited so long to write series three?

I waited six years because I wanted to get to a point where Ryan would be old enough to start making choices about whether he wanted to have a relationship with his dad or not. And could he have a relationship with his dad, and how would Catherine feel about that? I really wanted to be able to explore that. It’s been great that we got Rhys back to play Ryan which has been fantastic, and he has done a really lovely job in that. That was always the intention, to have a gap and it has worked out just about right. Just the right period of time because he is now 16, so he can travel places by himself, he can make choices. He can do things behind Catherine’s back. The intention developed through conversations I had with Sarah to make it a three-parter, to make a trilogy. We always said this would be the final season and it is very definitely the final season.

Happy Valley series three begins at 9pm on 1 January, New Year’s Day, on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

Read all the scripts for Series 1 and 2 in the BBC Writersroom Script Library

Listen to our podcast, Inside the Writersroom with Sally Wainwright 

If you've submitted to Open Call 2023, you might now be wondering, 'What's Next?' Read on to find out what happens to your script now the deadline has passed and some advice on how to spend your time while you wait for an update from us.

First of all, if you submitted a script to our Open Call submission window, give yourself some well-deserved praise! Completing and sending your work out into the world as a writer is no easy task. You should be proud of this accomplishment, so take time to tell yourself that.

We want to thank everyone who submitted their script to this year’s Open Call opportunity. We’ve received over 4,000 submissions! So what’s next?

We start reading...

Stage One – 10 Page Sift

All eligible entries will be assigned to our group of professional experienced script readers and BBC Writersroom team who will read at least the first ten pages of every script.

The main factors that push scripts through to the second stage of our Open Call are:

• Originality of voice – the writer’s voice clearly shines through
• Originality of idea – unique stories that explore new territory, concepts, worlds, experiences, characters etc
• Storytelling ability – how you hook your reader/viewer/listener with the world and characters you have created

Stage Two – 30 Page Sift

Scripts which hook our reader’s attention will progress to a 30 page read by a second script reader, who will then consider if the script should proceed to Stage Three to be read in full by a third reader.

Sometimes, if applications reach this stage but do not progress further, then we may consider the writer as a candidate for our Voices 2024 programme.

For further information on our Development Groups, read this recent blog post

Stage Three – Full Read (Longlist)

Scripts which reach the full read stage will be read by a third reader who will also provide the writer with a script report once the process has concluded. It is our hope that this will help writers with their development.

Due to the high volume of submissions we receive and the resources we have available, we’re not be able to provide any individual feedback to writers who have not progressed to this stage.

Stage Four – BBC Writersroom Team Read (Shortlist)

Following the full read stage the BBC Writersroom team will review the remaining scripts and undertake a fourth full read to create a final shortlist. At least two members of staff will read each of the final shortlisted scripts.

Interviews

Following this, the BBC Writersroom will then invite at least half of the shortlisted writers for an interview with a view to being considered for suitable development opportunities including our Drama Room and Voices groups. Interviews will take place online over Zoom.

How long will it take?

Please be aware that the careful processing and reading of these thousands of scripts can take a number of months and we will not make contact with any writers until we have made our final selection so please refrain from contacting us for an update. We are hoping to let people know by June 2023.

What now?

Don’t wait until our next Open Call 2024 window to get writing! You should always be coming up with ideas and new scripts to submit to us and other opportunities across the industry.

Coming up: 

The Writers' Access Group is our development group for deaf, disabled and/or neurodivergent writers. The submission window opens on Tuesday 24th January 2023 and closes on Tuesday 18th April 2023. Further details will be published in due course.

Also look out for opportunities coming up from BBC Comedy and BBC Studios ScriptWorks 

Our Opportunities page has details of organisations accepting submissions for a variety of mediums – take a look and keep writing and working to those deadlines.

Our Open Call script submission opportunity is currently accepting submissions and, during the window, we've been hosting online drop-in sessions to give writers the opportunity to ask us their questions and receive some submission advice. 

These sessions have been popular and, while we've not been able to answer everyone's queries during that time, we've collated and answered some from our previous drop-in below. We hope this will help to fill writers in on what our annual script submission window is all about.

What are the most common mistakes writers make in their screenplays?

Definitely familiarity and submitting something which feels derivative. If it is a well-trodden territory – such as a detective show - give us a fresh take on it.

Also, if you’re going to submit to our Open Call, don't second guess what the BBC is looking for because that comes through in your writing. We'll be able to tell because it's going to feel self-consciously commercial and inauthentic and we often receive multiple versions of Fleabag or Line of Duty.

At the BBC Writersroom, we accept TV, Film, Theatre, Online or Radio scripts during our submission window. When choosing your medium, however, you have to ask yourself if your story is right for that particular medium. Why have you chosen for it to be Radio over a visual medium like TV or Film for example? When scripts feel like they have been written in the wrong medium it can have a negative effect and jar with the reader.

For further advice, read this recent blog post on What Makes a Great Spec Script

What are the first things you look for in a script / project / writer? How can we stand out in a good way?

When we read your work, we are looking out for the signs of a distinctive and compelling voice; characters that engage us, that make us laugh/cry/angry, that we can relate to via their complicated relationships with others.

We are excited to find story worlds and perspectives we haven’t seen on screen before, or maybe a fresh and surprising look at a world we are familiar with. We want to see all parts of our diverse nation represented, we want to speak to the universal human experiences of love, family, death, heartbreak etc in the local and specific. We are looking for writers who have something urgent to say about who and where we are as a society now. But most of all we are looking for talented writers who love television, are engaged viewers themselves and are excited about the potential of the medium to speak to audiences across the UK.

Could you talk a bit please about what you’re looking for in terms of Comedy Drama? (as opposed to sitcom etc which is what you’re not looking for?)

It is difficult to pinpoint exactly, but Comedy Dramas show the light and dark sides of life, often containing big emotional issues befitting a drama, which are then matched by a strong comedic elements.

Drama has progression; the characters are affected by the events and choices they make within the story and are changed for better or worse. Comedy sitcoms, however, are cyclic and no matter what has happened in the episode the characters will reset to their default for the next instalment.

If you want to read more on the topic, you may find the What is Comedy Drama? blog post of interest.

Does the story have to be set in the UK or it can be based in the USA or anywhere?

It can be set anywhere, even outer space! There are no limits, especially as the scripts you send us will not be produced so you should not be thinking of any production constraints when preparing your submission.  Just write what you want to write and write what best represents you and your work.

Once you have selected the successful applicants - do you find they're mainly writers with experience, or do you have newcomers as well?

Our groups often have a real mix of writers, not only from different disciplines such as performance poetry or short film but also in writing experience. Sometimes, writers have been selected and the script they have submitted is the first one they have ever written.

We also accommodate this through each of our tailored development groups which offer different opportunities to writers based on their level of experience.

For further details on our Groups and what they offer read this recent blog post.  

If accepted as writers, how does the development programme work?

We use Open Call to identify interesting new writers and then they may be invited to take part in either our Drama Room or Voices writer development groups.

Voices is a programme for emerging writers who have a strong creative track record in aligned creative fields (theatre, short film, comedy, spoken word etc) but are new to television writing.

Drama Room is for emerging writers who demonstrate a distinctive, original voice and an understanding of the fundamentals of writing for TV but who do not have a professional television credit.

For further details on what is included in each of our development groups' programmes read this recent blog post. 

Are Voices and Drama mutually exclusive? Can you be invited to further development opportunities?

Each of our development groups are aimed to provide writers with support and opportunities most suited to them and their level of experience in screenwriting. Once they have completed a group such as Voices for example, it is our hope that writers will return with the tools they have learned during their time with the BBC Writersroom and reapply for the next development scheme. In this case, Drama Room, which will open them and their career up to further opportunities.

Watch this video to hear more from previous writers and their graduation through our various Groups

Do writers who don't get shortlisted still get feedback?

No. Only the scripts which progress to the Full Read stage will receive feedback in the form of a Script Report on their submission. We do not have the resources to fully read and feedback on anything more than a small proportion of the thousands of scripts we receive.

The open call specifies “comedy-drama and drama” but is there room for scripts that use horror/supernatural elements? Similar to Wreck and In The Flesh, where the genre’s used to further the dramatic story?

Absolutely. If you want to write genre and you're really interested in genre, then absolutely write that and it will be eligible for Open Call as long as it falls under the Drama or Comedy/Drama umbrella.

If you are going to go for a genre twist, then ask yourself the question: ‘why am I doing it?’ You need to subvert expectation with it and not make a script supernatural (for example) just to make it feel a little bit different in the hope that it will stand out more.

The submission can be 2 x 15 page scripts, is that correct?

Yes. If submitting something which is short form, such as an Online/Children’s TV or Radio/Podcast script, then multiple episodes may be submitted as a single document provided the total length comes to at least 30 pages. You may also submit up to 2 short film scripts as long as the total exceeds 30 pages.

You may not, however, submit multiple scripts from different mediums. i.e. If you submit a short film script you cannot also add an episode for Online/Children’s TV or Radio/Podcast series as well. These will be seen as multiple submissions and marked as ineligible.

Visit our website for further details on the Open Call Terms and Conditions.

Can I send a play script that is less than 30 pages?

No. Submissions must be a minimum length of 30 pages excluding title and character pages. There are no exceptions and anything less will not be considered.

Visit our website for further details on what we can and cannot accept.

How can you find out what scripts I have already sent?

When you sign into your E-Submissions account there will be a list of all of your previous submissions and which opportunity they were sent to.

Is there anything that would make you pass on an applicant in terms of existing credits or awards? Asking for semi-pro writers who haven’t had a broadcast credit but might have had an option/development etc.

During the reading process for Open Call, we will only consider the script and nothing else.

As part of the application, we do ask for a paragraph on your Writing History. However, 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.

If your script is shortlisted and you are invited to an interview, the answers to the application questions can help us to decide whether you would be more suited in the Drama Room development group or the Voices if successful.

You understandably don't accept poetry, but would stage drama with verse elements / verse drama be looked upon less favourably than a screenplay?

No. Many of the successful writers who have made it through Open Call have entered scripts for the stage. If the use of verse within the script is essential to your unique voice and characters then it will not be looked on less favourably.

In the later stages of the process, when we look at the answers to the application questions, we do like to see that writers also demonstrate a passion for TV and desire to write for the screen.

You can find these questions in advance of submitting on this downloadable E-Submissions Application Preview .

I'm a children's book author - would I be allowed to submit a script based on one of my (published) books?

Yes. As long as the script is entirely the original work of the entrant then it is eligible for Open Call. The BBC Writersroom does not commission or produce television projects so the fact that the source material has been published is not an issue.

Is there a limit on how many scripts make it through the initial reading stage before progressing to the next round, or is it simply that the best ones will progress, regardless of how many of these there are?

The best ones will progress, regardless. This is one of the reasons why the processing and reading can take a number of months.

Just wondering where you would like us to write the logline - should this be on a separate page before the beginning of the script?

When you complete the application form in E-Submissions, there will be a designated box for you to type your logline into.

A logline is a one (sometimes two) sentence summary of your script or TV series. It captures all the key ingredients of your concept: Protagonist, Inciting Incident, Antagonist, World, Stakes.

For further advice, read this blog post on Writing Loglines

Does one need to form a production company to begin a formal dialogue with the Beeb? I have ideas beyond the screenplays I have already created, but I never know what avenue will get them brought to life.

The BBC Writersroom does not commission or produce television projects and the scripts sent to Open Call will not be made.

If you are interested in submitting a scripted television idea to the BBC for further development, then you need first to have a production company attached who will send the project directly to the BBC Drama Commissioning team for consideration.

Further details can be found on the BBC Commissioning website.

Is there a particular script format that is preferred?

The formatting of your script can be dependent on whichever Medium you are writing for (TV, Film, Theatre, Online or Radio).  We have some useful examples in our Medium and Format section of the website. In addition to this we have an extensive Script Library where you can read the scripts for BBC shows for TV, Film and Radio.

As long as your script is clearly formatted and legible, we will not penalise if they don’t adhere to industry standard formats.

If I submit the pilot and have a rough idea of the way I want the series to go, do I need to have every episode planned out for the BBC Writersroom's Open Call?

No, you should focus on the one script. We will only accept and read one script from each writer for Open Call and we will not consider any additional materials such as Treatments or Series Outlines.

Whatever you submit, treat it as calling card that showcases your talent, your ability and your voice and we want to see that you have put the work and planning into it.  We look for unique stories and enjoy it when the writer guides us through the world and characters they have created with confidence and authenticity.

May be a silly question, I'm very new to this. Do you have any guidance on how to turn a story into screenplay/script? I have a story, however I have limited experience in how to turn that into a script format for submission.

Our website has a number of valuable resources for writers at any stage of their scriptwriting careers. We have a Script Library of over 1,000 BBC shows from Film, Radio and TV.  Reading scripts is a valuable exercise for any writer. As you read, ask yourself: what works? What doesn't? Where do the key points of action come in?

You may be interested in our series of videos, Scriptwriting Essentials which advise on the key ingredients to write a successful script.

Visit our Resources page for more help and advice.

What age range of writers do you take?

The BBC Writersroom will work with any writer over the age of 18 as long as they are a resident of the UK and Republic of Ireland (including the Channel Islands and Isle of Man).

It says on the website that you don't want first drafts. I have sought feedback from various people and am adjusting my script accordingly. Is there a level of feedback I should have attained before I send it in? I've done several versions already.

This is hard to say and really, as the writer, it’s up to you as to when you think your work is ready to be sent out. It’s very common that you’ll never be completely happy with it, but if you've sent it out to people who you respect and got their feedback and then it sounds like you have made it the best it can be at this point.

If you get 5000 submissions, how many get through to stage 2?

On average, between 500-600 scripts will progress to Stage 2 - 30 Page Sift.

The main factors that push scripts through to the second stage of our Open Call are:

• Originality of voice – the writer’s voice clearly shines through
• Originality of idea – unique stories that explore new territory, concepts, worlds, experiences, characters etc
• Storytelling ability – how you hook your reader/viewer/listener with the world and characters you have created

A good portion of the 5,000 scripts are ineligible as they don’t adhere to the Open Call Terms and Conditions. Make sure you have read them before applying.

Many answers can be found on our website if they are not included above. If you still have questions about our Open Call opportunity, you can join one of our online drop-in sessions for Help and Advice.

Visit this page for drop-in times and registration details.

Once each drop-in has reached capacity, no further registrations will be accepted. You can also email your questions to the BBC Writersroom team on writersroom@bbc.co.uk

To submit your script, visit our Open Call Submission page

I grew up in Blackpool and Bread, Birds of a Feather, Bottom and Absolutely Fabulous were my favourite sit-coms and I loved crime drama Cracker - I remember holding my breath so I didn’t miss a word when there were episodes that featured stories about class, grief, race and mixed-race identity. Lots of people would be tuning in so what Jimmy McGovern’s characters were about to say really mattered. A thought stuck with me that I could have a go at writing for TV and years later I found the BBC Writersroom. This was in the days of sending in physical scripts at any time of the year, receiving an acknowledgement postcard, and then an outcome letter, of rejection in my case, because at that stage my scripts didn’t even make sense, there was no structure and no clear voice. An easy reject. So, for years I got smack bang nowhere.

Jumping forward a few years I was now working as police suspect interview typist and had decided to do a part-time Masters in Scriptwriting at Salford University. I continued working for the police, finished the Masters, became a police constable, later moved into teaching and my writing had fallen by the wayside. Realising one day that all I did was work, eat and sleep I joined a local writing group, Northants Writers’ Ink and being surrounded by writers again felt so good it awoke a determination in me. Despite the fact I was working as a teacher and not living in London, I decided to really go for it.

27th March 2017 was a turning point when I got an email to say one of my monologues had been selected for performance at an immersive theatre night called Under The Influence: 90s Britpop run by Not Too Tame Theatre who are based in Warrington. I had also entered a short play to a Director’s Cut Theatre competition. I didn’t get the gig but was invited to do a short course which led to a rehearsed reading at Pleasance, Islington. Both were opportunities I’d found on the BBC Writersroom website and once those credits were on my CV I was suddenly being accepted for more opportunities on BBC Writersroom such as writing for BBC Alba TV sketch show FUNC (I sold one sketch for series 1 and lots more for series 2) as well as Radio 4 sketch comedy Sketchtopia. Almost all of my work was over email and phone so my location never stood in the way. Doing any small project where no-one was getting paid was worthwhile, if a professional producer had made my work then it all added to the CV. Hunting online for production companies that had open submission policies also proved fruitful. I wrote two audio dramas for The Wireless Theatre Company just by emailing a pitch to them and fell in love with podcasts in the process.

When I had a good amount on my CV to demonstrate I’d already got my writing career a little off the ground and had made some (not a lot) of money from writing I sent it to Natasha Salter at The Salt Partnership with a cover letter, and in September this year she asked to represent me. Soon after I was accepted onto a Royal Court Introductory Playwriting Group that I’d applied for a few times, and I can’t wait to get started and meet the other writers. It’s taken me 13 years after graduating from Salford to get to this point.

For someone in my position BBC Writersroom was key because it offers lots of advice from diverse writers, a free script library and crucially an opportunities page of free-to-enter competitions, most of which were not looking for any sort of experience. It’s not easy to keep applying to opportunities when you have a busy job, plus you’re inviting regular rejection into your life. I dealt with this by reducing the amount of competitions I entered and just focussing on one or two at a time. I also did not write every single day like writers are supposed to and I didn’t beat myself up about it. Rejection played a big part in giving up in the early days but now I know a rejection is not an official notice from the universe that you should give up writing. Occasionally there’s a rejection that stings. I deal with it by contacting my small group of writing buddies who I’ve met on courses and grown with as a writer. We read for each other and we’re there to support and pick each other up when a painful rejection arrives because we know exactly how it feels. Plus, I am a complete telly addict so it’s in my own selfish interest to encourage others to keep writing.

Good advice I’ve heard over the years… Matilda Ibini described a few of her early scripts as being stink bombs (I bet they were pretty good) so it’s OK to just move on from early stinky scripts. Lucy Prebble described being in a theatre rehearsal for her play and not understanding a Shakespearean reference that was being discussed, so you don’t need to be an expert on anything other than your own work to exist in the industry. And I’ve heard countless times that honing your craft (structure!) and originality are what will get you through the door. If you’ve written a not so great script but the characters and the idea feels new, it will get you much more attention than a script that a reader picks up and is instantly reminded of Fleabag or Happy Valley. And enjoy imposter syndrome, it’s good to be different.

Let me end with this perspective. There are a huge (and growing) number of national and international platforms and production companies who are all trying to cater to a channel hopping diverse set of audiences by making original or continuing content. TV dramas, audio dramas, radio comedies, theatre, video gaming, comedy panel shows, drag shows, baking shows, to name a handful, will fill platforms like BBC Three, Netflix, Amazon Prime etc. On many shows there will be multiple writers, sometimes multiple writers per episode, and when the audience has consumed, say, the 6 or 12 hours of content you’ve just made, they instantly want the next series or the next new thing. Writers are not just wanted, they are most definitely needed.

Explore free to enter writing opportunities from the BBC and across the industry

Download and read scripts from our Script Library including Jimmy McGovern's Time, Broken and Hillsborough

I have been a lecturer in Performing Arts for many years. Happy, fulfilled and inspired by my students. So much so that one particular project devised with the students four years ago about a girl with multiple personalities developed into a feature script. I thought I had struck gold. I thought I would be grasping my statuette and thanking God and my parents the following March at the Dolby Theatre. Was I in for a shock!

Learning to write a script is like learning to land a space shuttle. The only way to learn is to drill down and study. So for the next two years I immersed myself in Three Act Structure, Field, Snyder, Vogler, outlines, log lines, character development, beat-sheets and so on. Slowly but surely I honed my craft. However, as I live deep in the Valleys there are not many opportunities to network. Until one day I met Roger Burnell. His production company, It’s My Shout Productions, gives people in the most deprived parts of Wales opportunities to train with industry experts in film production. This is done through a series of short films focusing on Wales and Welsh life. The series, ‘Made In Wales’ has been shown on BBC One and many other channels around the world, with two of the films winning Baftas. They were looking for writers as well as actors and technicians. I happened to be drafting a short about an autistic girl’s flight from a devastating event. I wanted to experiment with the narrative, ‘Memento’-style, to reflect the fractured nature of the girl’s mind. Out of over two hundred scripts, ‘Which Way Is Ireland?’ was chosen to be produced along with eight others.

Suddenly I was on the other side of the looking glass. The development process, the re-writes, the creative differences, casting, production meetings, location scouting, financing. I had read and read but never believed it would happen to me. I had to bring all that reading into sharp relief and act as though I knew what I was doing.

The first meeting was at BBC studios in Cardiff with the director, the producer, the location manager, the line producer and the advisor on script development, Gert Thomas, who is senior script editor on Casualty and Holby City.

No pressure.

The first thing that struck me was ownership. Again this is something I had read about time and time again. It’s my script therefore I should have control over the characters and the story. OR SHOULD I?! Within minutes it was clear that I had put my baby up for adoption and the new parents were going to raise it in a different way to how I saw it evolving. It was a feeling that no amount of reading could prepare me for. This was, of course, going to be my first film, my calling card. How much was I prepared to compromise? Do I risk alienating these nice people and therefore labelling myself as ‘difficult’? By the end of that first meeting, the structure of the story remained intact but the dramatic thrust was evolving. It was a case of grab onto the rail and hold on tight!

In the end I loved the version of the script that was shot. The biggest hurdles were budgetary. Day instead of night. No rain. No dog. And never, never write a car splashing a character with a big puddle of water! All these considerations forced my creative juices to flow around the problems. How to retain the same sentiment without a barking dog. And all under time constraints. Re-writing is a skill just like writing. If you can anticipate as much in your early drafts as humanly possible you can save so much time later.

General rule is that the writer does not go on set while filming. That was the rule with It’s My Shout. But I asked could I go on set and promised to behave myself.

The shoot took place in North Wales on location and in studio. I deliberately stood well away from the action and was graciously accepted by the director and producers. I never felt the urge to interfere. Seeing the choices that the director made during the rewrite stage come to fruition during the shoot, reinforced my belief that the writer is one small cog in a great machine, and that each cog has its place.

I loved every minute of the shoot and realized I didn’t need to go on a set again as a writer other than brief visits, as everyone knows what they are doing and there is no place for the writer. I strongly recommend every writer should go onto a set of some kind at least once, to see just how much work is involved and how hard all the fantastic people work in bringing to life a world which they all now share.

‘Which Way Is Ireland?’ aired on BBC Two Wales in November 2015 as part of the ‘Made In Wales’ series. I attended a red carpet premier and awards ceremony for the trainees in early November at the Wales Millennium Centre along with over two and a half thousand other people, including the first minister Carwyn Jones and stars of Welsh TV and film. It was wonderful watching my film on the big screen with my family and friends.

I am working on several other short films along with a six part drama serial based upon one of Wales’ most notorious and charismatic figures. As well as that, I am indulging in a low budget horror feature set in the Brecon Beacons, which is tremendous fun to write. From the connections I made through the BBC and It’s My Shout, I hope to have more work produced.

I am still teaching full time, with some of my students entering screenwriting competitions, inspired by It’s My Shout and the opportunities that the BBC Writersroom can offer.

Find out more about It's My Shout 2016 and enter before 31st March

Explore other writing opportunities from the BBC and other organisations

The e-submission system is new and the 2013-14 year was a pilot one for us as we tried a new approach, breaking the year down to genre based opportunities. In retrospect this was too much, alongside all the other targeted opportunities (Alfred Bradley Bursary Award, The Tony Doyle, The Wales Drama Award, The Writer’s Prize, Craic Off and Writersroom10). It gave us very little time, and you the writer little time to spend on your script. We wanted to create a system with more time for us to follow up on the really good scripts we receive, and look at how best we can support the writers who obviously demonstrate a real talent.

The simplest option was to break the year into two key windows Drama and Comedy and allow you the freedom to submit your script whether it’s for film or TV, Children’s TV or Radio to the appropriate window.

For those of you concerned about comedy drama we have very clear guidelines on this. No-one is going to be penalised for submitting the work into the wrong opportunity, but a clear rule of thumb is that a Comedy Drama in the Comedy window will be a 30 minute script- think Rev, The Wrong Mans (Series 1) a script going into the Drama window will be either 45 minutes (Radio) or 60 minutes (TV) in length. But really the debate in the industry is it’s either a great drama with funny moments in it or a great comedy proposition with a dramatic arc. There is no department in the BBC for comedy drama, the bottom line is if the script is good we are not going to ignore it, we will seek it out.

Read Kate's previous blog, including lots of useful advice on submitting to our Script Room

Find out the Script Room dates for 2015

Read the Terms & Conditions for Script Room

Medium & Format Guidelines

You’ve probably noticed by now that The Writer’s Prize has opened its doors to original drama and comedy scripts. Which made us think: are there writers out there who don’t know what a brilliant opportunity radio is?

So here’s a round-up of some of the very good reasons why any writer should want to write for radio:

• BBC radio is by far the biggest single commissioner of original drama and comedy in the world – full stop
• The vast majority of opportunities for drama writers on radio are highly individual single, authored pieces (even if you somehow managed to get your movie script made, you’d still struggle to get into the cinema the number of people who would hear it on radio)
• Many hugely popular and brilliantly original TV comedy shows started their life on the radio – Little Britain, Knowing Me Knowing You, Goodness Gracious Me, Miranda, The League of Gentlemen, The Mighty Boosh, Dead Ringers, That Mitchell and Webb Look, Hancock’s Half Hour, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, The Day Today
• A vast array of brilliant writers have worked in radio – from Tyrone Guthrie and Dylan Thomas, to Douglas Adams, Spike Milligan and Marty Feldman, to Tom Stoppard, Caryl Churchill, Anthony Minghella and Lee Hall, to Mike Bartlett, Roy Williams and Katie Hims
• You can get amazingly successful and celebrated actors to be in your radio play – and they don’t even need to shave/do make up/commit to weeks of filming
• Radio is the cinema of the airwaves – it’s all about the visual world conjured up in the listener’s head, and the ambition and scope the writer brings to it
• You can take your story, characters and listeners anywhere in the known (or unknown) universe without the budgetary constrictions you’d get with a film or TV shoot
• In radio, writers work very closely with producers and are intimately involved with the development and production

• In radio, writers can have an extremely intimate relationship with the listener – and therefore can tell stories in ways that just wouldn’t work in any other medium
  
  
  The Writer's Prize is a brand new opportunity for radio drama and comedy writers to write for BBC Radio.  We are looking for original, multi-character narrative scripts.The prize is the opportunity for a Radio 3 or Radio 4 Drama commission, or a pilot commission for a Radio 4 Comedy.  Find out more.
  
  Join us on Wednesday 7th November from 11.30pm - 12.30pm for a special Twitter Q&A on The Writer's Prize. Tweet your questions to @bbcwritersroom using the hashtag #WritersPrize.
  
  

Whenever we do live events – Q&As, masterclasses, workshops – writers always want to know about success stories. As we’re so busy beavering away making things happen for as many writers as we can, it’s sometimes easy to forget to make a fuss of those times when the magic really works. So here’s more info about some of those success stories – original shows that came out of our work, and BBC shows/strands for which writers have gone on to write.

At a glance, it’s well over 100 writers who have gone on to be commissioned and produced for TV and film, and well over 200 for radio - which by any standards is a very real success rate. We’ve had writers go on to be nominated for and win a BAFTA, we’ve had an OSCAR nomination, we’ve had Imison, Tinniswood and Sony award winners. But more importantly, we’ve had writers who have developed a long-standing relationship with the BBC - in some cases various parts of the BBC – and writers who are now some of the most sought-after talents and voices of their generation. And for each and every one of them, it all essentially started with a script.

Find out more about some of the writers who we have developed.

Explore opportunities for writers on our Opportunities page.

Congratulations! Out of over eight hundred entries into the BBC writersroom Laugh Track competition, your work has made it into the final nine scripts selected!  Would you be able to attend a week long residential writing course in June?

That was the gist of the email I received sometime in May. After meeting this news in a calm and collected manner (I jumped up and down until the asthma kicked in and forced me to have a little sit down) I considered my two options:

1. Don’t go on the course and spend another week on the sofa watching repeats of Man v Food
2. Attend an all expenses intensive writing course held in a beautiful and historic farmhouse  set in the Kent countryside where I would get the chance to meet loads of producers and commissioners from the BBC……..Tough call.

And so to Bore Place, Kent. Well what can I say? It was simply amazing, one of the best weeks of my life. I slept in the same room King Henry VIII did, I awoke every morning to the sounds of birds and the smell of flowers, I ate amazing food prepared by our very own chef and best of all I met eight other writers and we all got on like a house on fire, (a drunk house on fire).

But you probably don’t want to know that right? I’m guessing that you want to know the secret. You know the secret I’m on about - the secret of getting your script (say it in hushed tones) commissioned. Well, I did find that out, of course I did. I was on a week-long BBC writing course after all and that’s all we talked about, but there’s no way I’m telling you the secret– so you might as well stop reading now.

Oh go on then, I’ll tell you. It’s the main reason I went on the course to be honest, to find out how to get my ideas and scripts (that I just know are better than anything on the TV at the moment – we all do right?) made into actual programmes. Well the secret is this, there is no secret. How annoying is that ey? I couldn’t believe it myself at first to be honest with you but that’s the BBC for you isn’t it? What a let-down, classic bathos.

Every single person we met on the course without exception, be they a TV producer, a radio 4 comedy producer, the head of comedy, the head of commissioning, the head of development, the writer of Miranda, the woman that makes the tea for Homes under the hammer, they all said exactly the same thing – “There is no secret to getting a script commissioned.” I’ll be honest, I didn’t believe them at first but sometime around day three it finally sunk in, they are right, there is no secret.

Well actually that’s not true, they did have a couple of things in common and maybe this is the secret. Firstly not one of them had a preconception of what scripts they wanted apart from that it was original and funny and something that we were passionate about. This passion from a writer is very important as it is extremely difficult to get anything made at the bbc. If we were passionate then they could get passionate too and the script would have a fighting chance.

Now I think I’ve heard this before in the past from various other people who have rejected what I’ve written in the past. Upon reflection, maybe, just maybe in previous scripts I have tried to give the reader what I think he or she wants and maybe if you are a writer you have done this too. From now on I will be writing only what I want to write (which ironically is exactly what every producer at the BBC wants).

At the end of the course, we had to pitch our original idea to the head of commissioning. Whoever said the colour of adrenaline is brown was not wrong, it was extremely nerve wracking. What was interesting about all our pitches, was that our scripts had all grown tenfold from the scrip0ts we had on day one of the course. After spending a week focusing intently on our work and really getting to the core of our script we now knew it inside out. Maybe that is part of the secret too, keep working on it until it is no longer half arsed.

A month after the course finished I received another email to say that my script was one of three chosen to be performed in front of a live audience at this year’s Edinburgh Festival and would I like to go and watch it being performed. Get lost BBC I replied, you already made me miss a week’s worth of Man v Food, I’m not falling for that again.

In fact I left Adam Richman to his own devices and I went to Edinburgh. Was it as lovely as the Kent countryside and my Henry VIII bedroom and my own personal chef? No, it was nerve wracking and stressful and in all honesty it was the ultimate baptism of fire. Having your full script performed by actors in front of 120 people who don’t know you and don’t care to know you is beyond stressful. If your script is good enough, they will laugh, if it isn’t good enough, they will stare at the stage and you will sit cowering at the back of the auditorium squirming and wishing the ground would swallow you up. In short it was the most illuminating experience I have ever had as a writer.

I had spent hours and hours tapping away on my computer keyboard to get to what I thought was a final draft of the script, and that Edinburgh audience showed me that my work on that script had hardly even begun. My work did get laughs and it did get a nice round of applause at the end of the reading, but did I focus on that in the mocked up TV studio setting? Of course I didn’t, I focused on every joke that the audience didn’t laugh at, I focused on the relationship between my characters and how in some places it seemed to not quite ring true, I focused on every joke that the audience didn’t laugh at once again, I focused on the plots I had running and the fact that my “B” plot seemed to dominate the first section of the show (kind of like they do in the Simpsons – yeah in my dreams) but that it was maybe to the detriment of the main thrust and point of the story…… AND OH YEAH, I FOCUSED ON EVERY JOKE THAT THE AUDIENCE DIDN’T LAUGH AT.

In short it was brutal. At the time I hated the experience, an hour later I realised that I had absolutely loved it. What a ride!  Even now, two weeks later I would love to put myself through all that stress again (but not without a damn good re-write or three). Looking back I can see where the script was strong and flew of its own accord, more importantly I can now see where the script was weak and needed an overhaul. 

I probably learnt more about writing in Edinburgh at that 25 minute performance of my script than I have ever done before, and ironically, I didn’t write one single word of action or dialogue. Hopefully over the coming years my writing will progress to radio and television. If it does, I now know that once I have handed in a draft that both the production team and myself are happy with then my job as writer is not finished, it has actually barely even begun.

Alex Boardman  was one of the selected writers for the BBC writersroom Laugh Track comedy writing talent search which was launched earlier this year.