New Idea

I have an idea for my next project. It's a tv drama, but veering towards comedy/drama, so maybe a black comedy? Heck, I dunno.

Anyhow, I have the idea, though not yet written notes, which is always my first job. But it got me thinking...do I know what i'm going to do with this at the end? I always like to be working towards something, writing to some purpose. So, first off, I'm going to scout around some of the deadlines calendars, and seek out an opportunity. Once I've found something that might be suitable to send the script to, I shall begin my noterly scribbles.

About My First Radio Play Entry For The Alfred Bradley Award

Well, my first entry should be sitting on a mat somewhere, deep in the bowels of the BBC. I wrote a fair few drafts, and quite a few times, when I thought all was finished, squeaky clean and sparkling, I placed the script in the envelope. Funnily enough I didn't seal it, so I must have had an idea I'd be taking it out again.

Yes, I had a few mind-blowing ideas and had to slip out the script, re-do bits and pieces, add on a little, then...finally...I felt I could let the script go.

My play is quite a simple idea, but I think I 've been a bit ambitious with it, too. It has twists and turns and there are a couple of, let's say, unusual elements in there.

I have no idea if this is what they're looking for/any good/playable on radio. That's because I've never written a radio script before, apart from the script I handed in at the Writersroom Roadshow. So it's all trial and error, and in a way that's how it has to be, until somebody sees something good in my work. I'll know, then, if I'm on the right track. I hope it'll be soooooooooooooooooon.

I've started my second comp entry. I did really well, with fifteen pages just flowing from...somewhere. I'm too tired to continue tonight but hope to write at least another fifteen pages tomorrow. It's all here, right inside my head, and completetly different to the first entry.

Right, Time To Get On And Write

I've had a few days rest. I love this in-between time, Christmas and New Year, because it's a quiet time, one to reflect and think about the drama swishing around my head.

I do want to get a lot of writing done over the next couple of days, and I aim to finish the first draft of the radio script for the Alfred Bradley Bursay Award by the end of this week.

My radio play has quite a dramatic start, setting the scene for the whole of the play. That is to say, the beginning, although only a couple of minutes in length, determines what happens throughout. I then cut to the family home, where the consequences of what happens at the beginning are revealed through dialogue and sound.

I'm excited about it because I think it's quite an original idea, and again, it's a bit of a black comedy, more drama than comedy, but there is a sprinkling thrown in.

More updates through the weekend and next week.

New Script

I wrote a sketch a few weeks ago and sent it in to Recorded For Training Purposes, which features sketches about communication. These sketches have been aired on BBC Radio 4 in the past, and will start up again soon. If they like what you've done, they could produce it. Haven't heard anything yet, but it only closed on 17th November.

My next script was a radio play I took along to the BBC Writersroom Roadshow a few weeks ago. I's called 'A quarter Of Iris' (formerly known as Uncovered). I was really, AM really excited about this one, and hope that it's picked up by the readers there. Optimism is my middle name, don't you know!

Another radio play I am working on is called (at the moment) 'Jesus Wants me For a Sunbeam'. I'm going to enter this into the Alfred Bradley Bursary Award comp, with fingers and toes and everything else crossed, because what you get from winning that comp is excellent. See under SCRIPTS.

At the moment, I've written the bones of it, and put quite a bit of flesh on it, but the idea and the themes are still germinating around my head, so I just keep adding to it.