Channel 4 opens the door to aspiring soap and children's drama writers

12 January 2016

New Writing North, in partnership with Channel 4, Northumbria University and Lime Pictures, is on the look out for talented new writers whose work offers a fresh perspective on life in 21st century Britain.

Three aspiring television writers from the North of England will be selected as part of the Northern Writers’ Awards to receive a bespoke 12-month package of training and development from staff at the independent production company, Lime Pictures.

Two new writers will be on attachment to Hollyoaks, while the third writer will be based in Lime Pictures’ children’s drama department, where The Evermoor Chronicles (Disney), House of Anubis (Nickelodeon) and Rocket’s Island (CBBC) were all produced.

These exclusive opportunities have been created as part of the Northern Writers’ Awards, the annual talent development programme run by New Writing North, which has supported 197 writers since 2000.

As part of Channel 4’s 360° Diversity Charter, entries are particularly encouraged from writers who are currently under-represented in the industry, including Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic, LGBT and disabled writers.

The three winning writers will each receive bursaries of £3,000 to support their time at the studios, where they will receive mentoring from Lime Pictures staff. Each writer will shadow the process of script development, from story conference through to broadcast script, and at the end of the development period may have the opportunity to undertake a paid commission for an episode of a Lime Pictures serial.

The Channel 4/Northumbria University Writing for Television Awards were launched in 2014, with the first winners announced in June 2015. Winners Nuzhat Ali, from Bradford, and Sharma Walfall, from Manchester, are currently undertaking development periods with RED Production Company and Lime Pictures respectively.

Claire Malcolm, Chief Executive of New Writing North, said: “New Writing North and Channel 4 share a commitment to increasing the diversity of writers who are engaged with creating the stories that we see on television. Re-balancing who is writing TV drama helps to better reflect the world that we all represent and opens the doors to exciting new writing that will bring new ideas and energy into the landscape. This fantastic project allows us to place writers at the heart of TV, both in popular drama and this year in children’s fiction development, an important and fundamental part of TV drama. It’s both a fast-track process and an unrivalled opportunity to support new writers into the often difficult-to-enter world of writing for television.”

Lucy Winskell OBE, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Business and Engagement) at Northumbria University, said: “We’re thrilled to continue our partnership with Channel 4 and New Writing North to support the Writing for Television categories in the Northern Writers’ Awards 2016. These exclusive awards are a fantastic opportunity for new writers to work with established production companies and launch a successful career in television.

“Northumbria University is committed to supporting new writing and creating unique opportunities to enable emerging talent to see their work in production.”

Lee Mason, Channel 4 Commissioning Editor, said: “At Channel 4 we are committed to finding and nurturing new talent, particularly from people who are under-represented in the broadcast industry. We know there is a wealth of writing talent in the north of England and I hope writers will take up this fantastic opportunity to launch their careers. We’re really thrilled to be partnering Northumbria University and New Writing North and we’re delighted that Lime Pictures are committed to this fantastic development opportunity.”

Di Burrows, Producer at Lime Pictures, said: “Lime Pictures is very pleased and proud to be involved in this award for a second year. Our aim is to provide new writers with the chance to develop their skills through working alongside the Hollyoaks and the children’s drama editorial teams. With our full support, this is a fantastic opportunity for writers to immerse themselves in the high-pressure, fast-paced environment of writing for television and experience first-hand the special challenges involved.”

Writers based in the North of England have until Wednesday 3 February to enter the awards. Entrants should be new to television writing, but may be published in another form. Enter online at www.northernwritersawards.com

 

NOTES TO EDITORS

• New Writing North is the reading and writing development agency for the north of England, and is an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation www.newwritingnorth.com. The Northern Writers’ Awards are its central platform for discovering and developing new writers from across the region, and were founded in 2000. More information about the Northern Writers’ Awards is available at www.northernwritersawards.com. New Writing North works with writers to develop career opportunities, new commissions, projects, residencies, publications and live events.
• Northumbria University, Newcastle is a research-rich, business-focused, professional university with a global reputation for academic excellence.Northumbria is one of the largest universities in the UK with almost 34,000 students from 131 countries. The University has over 186,000 alumni worldwide. Northumbria has invested more than £200 million in our estate since 2005 to improve the student experience. Northumbria is ranked top 50 in the UK for research power and had the 4th largest increase in quality research funding (REF 2014). According to Times Higher Education, Northumbria had the biggest rise in research power of any university in the UK. Northumbria is ranked 3rd in the UK for international student satisfaction in the International Student Barometer survey 2015, a rise of 26 places on the previous year. Northumbria University’s cultural partners include New Writing North, Live Theatre, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Tyneside Cinema and Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums.
• Lime Pictures is the home of the UK’s most talked about television – from cutting-edge formats to multi award winning, long-running drama. Lime is at the forefront of today’s popular culture – both as a content creator and the producer of TV shows that stand the test of time. Lime produces world class, cutting edge content.  From the very first steps in development through to full scale production, Lime delivers the very best in UK TV programming along with the very latest in digital content, allied social media and ground breaking commercial partnerships. With a stable of quality writers and exciting directing talent, Lime has gained a reputation as a first class production house. The company works with big talent to deliver distinctive, ground-breaking projects. Already responsible for defining the genre of Reality Drama with multi-award winning shows like The Only Way is Essex (ITVBe), Geordie Shore (MTV) and Educating Joey Essex (ITV2) Lime is constantly working on new ideas that will push the boundaries of Childrens (recent credits include Disney’s Evermoor, Rocket’s Island for CBBC and House of Anubis for Nickelodeon), Drama including 2014’s Best British Soap Hollyoaks (C4) and Entertainment production.
• Channel 4 is a publicly-owned, commercially-funded, not-for-profit public service broadcaster and has a remit to be innovative, experimental and distinctive. Its public ownership and not-for-profit status ensure all profit generated by its commercial activity is directly reinvested back into the delivery of its public service remit. As a publisher-broadcaster, Channel 4 is also required to commission UK content from the independent production sector and currently works with around 400 creative companies across the UK every year. In addition to the main Channel 4 service, its portfolio includes: E4, More4, Film4, 4Music, 4seven, channel4.com, and digital service All 4.
• The independent production company RED continues to play a key role in the award and has extended its commitment by another year to Nuzhat Ali, one of the winners of last year’s award.