Episodes (BBC2)

Episodes (written by David Crane of Friends fame and Joey shame, Jeffrey Klarik - I think Tamsin Greig and Stephen Mangan were also involved in the writing) is now up to its third episode on the BBC. After watching the first episode it was a tough one to call; it was an interesting idea and flowed nicely, but not many laughs. By the second I was laughing out loud but the story development seemed to have slowed down a bit too much. Happily by the third episode all the elements seem to have come together at once and are making for a really enjoyable show. Mangan and Greig are really likable actors anyway, and the premise of seeting them against the infuriating 'character' of Matt LeBlanc really emphasises their British sense of humour that we're all so proud of.

It's also nothing like Extras, which I originally thought it might. Whole different feel, and so far so funny.

Application saturation

That's right - the HR department at the BBC can rest easy for a while: I think I've done my fill of application forms. Over this weekend I aimed to fill in forms for all three jobs and my will has slowly whittled away to just one. The job that appeals to me the most is the Holby City trainee script editor. In fact, it's pretty much ideal. I haven't seen a trainee role come up on Holby before, and in this case they've asked for only minimal script report/ editing experience. However this is balanced out by the fact you have to have worked on one of their continuing dramas before in order to even fill out the application form - I've blagged it by using my work placement to fulfil that requirement.

The level of experience required for a trainee role is frustrating enough, but the main application question asks you to answer in reference to the job description. This wouldn't usually be an issue as it's a winning application formula: respond to each point on the job description giving an example of how you fulfil the criteria. However the job descriptions for BBC roles are about 3 and a half A4 pages long. There's so much information there it's hard to see the wood for the trees. I finally whittled the categories down to: creative ability, communication skills, admin and organisational skills and a deep love for the BBC and for the show. I sweep the board on all fronts, and am finally happy with my application form. However there's always the nagging and depressing knowldge at the back of my mind that it won't lead anywhere. The BBC are in the difficult position of making hundreds of redundancies and having to try and re-absorb those made redundant into a different part of the business. Made redundant from the research team? Here's a job as a trainee script editor! I understand they have to be fair to current employees, but a system like that only feels fair if you're one of the people benefitting from it. I love the BBC and want more than anything to work for them right now, but don't think I'll be filling in any more application forms for a while - it's just too depressing.

Jobs, jobs, jobs

Just when I thought BBC jobs were internal applicants only three relevant ones appear on their jobs website:

Script researcher, Holby City
Trainee script editor, Holby City
Assistant script editor, Holby City

However the BBC are really being firm on their request for experience; I've had to use some elastic truths. But luckily I have been freelancing for almost a year (though only one day a week!) so am able to tick the box almost guilt free. It is frustrating when you think about getting that first bit of experience. The advice used to be to get work experience, but my placement at Holby City counts for nothing nowadays. It's really beyond me how anyone gets a break. I just have to cross all my fingers and toes - by now they should have seen my name crop up on applications a few times so they might start to get the message. The job of choice from the above would be the trainee script editor on Holby - pretty much an ideal way in. Hopefully the fact that I've applied to all three won't harm my chances.

I'm not feeling particularly positive - a year of rejections will do that to a girl - but as ol' George Michael advises: have faith.

Sex and the City 2

Yeah, yeah - I know I'm a bit behind on the times here, but last night I watched the SATC sequel. It was awful. Some of you might think that doesn't come as much of a surprise, but I enjoyed the TV shows. They were hardly Shakespeare, but they were funny, light-hearted and sometimes quite pertinent. They even made attempts to show that some opions aren't typical to a gender; Samantha is a strong advocat of no strings sex, Miranda is a strong and successful business woman. At the end of the series only two of the four had children, and three of the four were married. Thus demonstrating that there's no direct path to happiness, and a woman can be perfectly fulfilled without children. But...

...the second film is without doubt one of the most offensive, tedious, craftless things I've ever seen. Even without the borderline racism, misogyny and cultural ignorance the script is frankly just crap. From scene one there's more signposting than the M6 -

I can't believe Stanford and Anthony are getting married.
I know - I thought they hated each other.
Well, they did but not anymore!

Yawn. The storyline was so cliched it read like a GCSE drama project. It's a shame, because there was some geniunely touching, interesting stuff hidden in there. Sadly this was masked by the lazy script-writing and the lack of someone on the team willing to step up and say 'Hey, why don't we make that a bit more subtle...'

Bridport Prize

"International Creative Writing Competition for Poems, Short Stories and Flash Fiction - the Bridport Prize 2011 website is now open for entries.

The Bridport Prize is the richest open writing competition in the English language - with £5000 first prize for a short story (of up to 5000 words); and £5000 first prize for a poem (of up to 42 lines).
The new category of Flash Fiction attracts £1,000 to be won for the best short, short story of under 250 words.

The Bridport is also known as a tremendous literary stepping stone - the first step n the careers of writers such as: Kate Atkinson, Tobias Hill, Carol Ann Duffy and Helen Dunmore.

Anyone can enter - so long as the work is previously unpublished. It costs £7 per story, £6 per poem or £5 per flash fiction and the closing date is 30th June 2011

Each year the prize is judged by well known writers - this year we are delighted to announce that Carol Ann Duffy will be judging the poetry, and AL Kennedy, the short stories and flash fiction

The 2010 anthology of winning entries is available for just £12 or £15 overseas (including postage and packing). The 2009 and 2008 anthologies are available in limited numbers for £7 and £5 (£10 and £8 overseas)

Enter online at: www.bridportprize.org.ukOr download an entry form: www.bridportprize.org.uk/entryform.pdf
Or email for a pdf entry form: frances@bridportprize.org.uk
Or send an SAE for an entry form to be posted to you

The Bridport Prize
PO Box 6910
Dorset
DT6 9BQ
UK"

Definitely something I'll be doing. Just need to get writing!

I heart reading

I love books. I love buying them, reading them, lending them. I could spend hours browsing book shops and always come away with something I want to buy. When we were kids books were the only request that was always allowed. At Christmas my sister and me were dropped outside the Waterstones in Manchester and picked up an hour later where mum would pay for the pile of books we chose. It would drive me mad on Christmas day when my sister whizzed through all her books and started on mine, while I savoured each word and the fresh, unspoilt pages. I'm much less obsessive now about corner-folders and spine-crackers and just love the look of a well-thumbed tome. I have built in bookshelves on either side of my fireplace in my little south London flat and the books on there make me smile. I miss the remainder of my collection, uni books and a few special children's books preserved for posterity.

There's a brilliant website (and by that I mean brilliantly nerdy) where you can track your reading and share reviews with other people. I like the look of it, seeing books all lined up like that. It's helpful to remember which books you loved and which you wouldn't recommend to a friend. You can see my Shelfari shelf to the right of this web page, or you can make your own here

There's also another little treasure of a site called Bookshelf Porn, sent to me by a friend who 'saw this an thought of you'. Obviously that's very thoughtful of her, and so true, but there was a mild disappointment that she didn't see something a little cooler and think of me. Ah, well - if she hadn't recognised my bookshelf geekery I never would have seen this lovely shelf.



Reading is the best way of getting an insight into the world, of learning the nuances of grammar and to thoroughly escape.

And now I'm off to bed, with some lovely Roald Dahl short stories to take with me.

Literary agents

Please forgive me, for I have sinned; it has been two months since my last blog post. Although seeing as though my blog is supposed to be a diary of my activities and work then this is a fairly accurate representation of the work I have done. Nothing – zilch, nada, zip. They say December is a quiet month in TV, but that gives me little excuse for November. Like many blogs I’ve been reading lately I’m still feeling a little disheartened. I know you have to think positive, and the more I practise the luckier I’ll get, but it’s been almost a year and jobs are still thin on the ground. Even those with years of experience on me are struggling. I hate being a cop out and blaming the situation, I know it’s easy to moan and grumble about recessions and closed doors but I can’t help feeling that an already tough to break industry has gotten even tougher.

But I can’t let that grind me down, and I have a plan B waiting in the wings so fingers crossed. I also had a really useful meeting with a development director who suggested working at a literary agency. It’s certainly something I would consider and is a role that hadn’t crossed my mind before. However it does make sense: for me the writing aspect of scripts is more important than the final product. I love talking about writing and about ideas, I enjoy reading new scripts, building relationships with new writers and attending the theatre trawling for new talent.

Some agencies suggested to me were:
The Agency
Cassarotto
Sayle Screen
Troika Talent
United Agents
Curtis Brown

Now, of course I knew that literary agents existed but what their job actually involves was a mystery to me. Hopefully thinking down this sort of avenue would keep me involved in the aspects of scripts that I’m really interested in.

I’m reluctant to try to get into tv through the back door at the moment, as I’ve seen just how long and how tough it would be in the current climate to get to my ideal role. I don’t want to apply to literary agencies as a route into somewhere else, as this could be circuitous. Instead I need to speak to people and decide if this is definitely something I’d like to do as a career, combining my interests with my current skill-set. Otherwise, it’s back to the drawing board…