| Product: |
bbc.co.uk/writersroom/ |
| Date: |
16.03.05 (3134 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Have you been waiting for that moment of discovery, or fighting for a way into the script writing scene? If so then Writersroom could well be the starting platform for you, run by the BBC as part of their website www.bbc.co.uk, writersroom is packed full of advice and potential opportunity for those who excel in writing. As any of you who have already been accessing the bbc’s website will know, the site is packed with information as and such can be confusing as a wide array of options present themselves on each page, with new pages open at the flick of a mouse adding to the confusion.
The scope of the Writersroom area of the BBC’s website is huge and can be overwhelming knowing where to start, but I will hopefully provide a dummy’s guide to getting around this area of the site and finding the section that interests you. The place to start is on the homepage, accessed through www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom.
Homepage
I generally ignore the homepage of writersroom when visiting the site, mainly the reason for this is that I know my way around the site and the areas that I personally am interested in.
On the left hand boarder of the homepage is the navigation bar to access other areas of writersroom, listing:
Homepage,
Writers Guidelines,
Opportunity,
Insight,
Script Smart,
Script Archive
Community
Messageboard
Links.
Each of which I will explain further later on. In the centre of the page are the same links but with short descriptions or tempters along with the link. For example at the moment there is a link reading: ‘Read sit-com tips from new writers and industry execs.’ This link basically takes you to the first page of Insight, ie: will do exactly the same as using the link on the left hand side of the page. Simularily there is a feature entitled ‘Want to write for TV? Read guidelines on submitting and writing scripts for drama and comedy.’ This link will take you to a page within Writers’ Guidelines.
The problem with these central links is that if you use these to navigate the site, rather than the navigation bar at the side you may well miss vital parts of the site. As this area of the site is so vast and full of interesting information I would advise any first time user to use only the side navigation, until you get a real feel for the site and the scope that it covers.
There is an option to make www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom your homepage via the top red banner of the page entitled ‘writersroom’. I personally haven’t ever done this as I visit the site regularly anyway. But if you really are serious about discovering more then setting it as a homepage would ensure that you never miss any of the features updated on the homepage.
Writers’ Guidelines
This part of the site is fantastic for building up information and working out what area of writing you may wish to focus in on. Within writers guidelines there are links to very specific advice with guidelines for writing dramas, comedy, film, single drama and even guidelines on writing for radio dramas and entertainment. Each of the individual guidelines vary in length but are generally between 5 – 15 pages long, so plenty of reading. If you are unsure what area you would like to specialise or focus upon then simply work your way through them all, returning to Writers’ Guidelines main page via the left hand navigation bar after reading any section.
From this page it is also possible to download a free template entitled Scriptsmart, which is aimed to assist writers in formatting their stories and scripts.
One area of Writers’ Guidelines I would really recommend visiting is FAQ’s which features a wide array of question and answers. Most of which are very relevant.
Opportunity
Opportunity does exactly what it says on the packet, it offers the chance to start a career. All current scriptwriting competitions are featured on this page, with details of submission a small click away. The page is frequently updated, so if you are interested in entering scriptwriting competitions then you really should pop back to this page regularly. Some of the competitions can be looking for very specific types of writers or themes. This could be a good or bad thing really, good in that less people will be legible and therefore you have a greater chance in winning, bad in that you will also be legible for less of the competitions! Whichever way it falls this is an area of great opportunity for all. At the moment there is a competition to write a ballad of your hometown, with the prize to perform it live on Radio 2, a crime writers murder mystery competition, Kali Shorts 2005 competition to find an Asian female playwright, and a theatre project which will receive a £30,000 grant! But as I said these change regularly according to the launch of each new competition.
Insight
Insight is one of the areas of the site which is updated regularly, infact pretty much everyday, so I won’t go into details of the features on this page, but try to give you the flavour. The homepage is centred around what the BBC refer to as ‘Insight’, translated into the area which provides us the unknowns with information which may help our development as writers or tell us current platforms which we may be able to enter our work. To give you an idea. on today’s homepage are links to features such as:
• ‘What makes a good Eastenders writer’,
• ‘Get inspired to write your story Hollywood style’,
• ‘Listen to an interview with Brian Dooley, writer of the Smoking Room.’,
• Read an interview with the producer of the current series of A thing Called Love,
• ‘Think you’re funny? Improve your scrip with sit-com tips from new comedy writers and industry execs.
• ‘Tips on writing medical drama by the experts.’
As you can see, all of the features are aimed at providing ‘insider’ information on how to improve your writing skills, honing in on specific areas of script writing. As I mentioned the actual features will change day to day, but the vast array of writing styles remain pretty constant. On any typical day there will be features about serious drama, comedy writing and soap writing.
Script Smart.
As explained earlier, script smart is infact a free downloadable template aimed to assist writers in formatting their writing. This tool was created by Matthew Carless on behalf of the BBC’s writersroom and is basically a set of templates based on industry recognised layouts set in Microsoft Word. I personally have already downloaded it and find it to be a great tool. As it is free and from a reputable website I would advise downloading it and trying it yourself.
Script Archive
Here you can download past scripts from many of the BBC’s famous drams and soaps. The scripts are updated frequently although generally the productions themselves stay the same. This forms a great basis of understanding what has been written and how it has been acted out. What stage directions the writer provided etc. Generally on here can be found past script episodes of Doctors, Eastenders, Holby City, Paradise Heights, Two Pints of Lager and a few plays. A friend of mine especially records a series of Eastenders then waits for the scripts to be published on here and then compares the two. But whether you go to this extreme to understand scripts and the final episode is of course up to you!
Community / Messageboard
Similar to Ciao, BBC’s writers room have their own community network. ON this page there are links to different areas of the community and links to feature explaining how the community works. The community area is otherwise known as Get Writing. Get Writing, was created as part of the BBC’s learning centre called BBC Learning. The aim of Get Writing is to help people with an ambition or interest in creative writing excel and learn, produce and in many cases improve their chances of their work becoming published. The site aims to bring together an array of professional authors/writers, education experts and other amateur writers on the site to provide practical advice and encourage discussion on your own and others works.
It is up to you whether you become a member of this area of the site, or visit it as a guest, but whichever you choose there are rules to be followed, as below:
Get Writing The Rules (known on the site as House Rules)
All of the site rules are as you may expect, in place to protect your rights and prevent offence of yourself or others who may read your work. The most important factor to remember is that anything that you write on the site will automatically remain your copyright. The BBC do not own the copyright, nor try to enforce that they should.
1. All contributions must be tasteful and civil, abuse of others and others work will not be tolerated.
2. All contributors and users of the site must be over 16. This is to allow work of an adult nature to be contributed freely.
3. Nothing bad spirited or angry is to be posted. Again to protect users from abuse and keep the site friendly. In addition to this what the BBC term as being ‘Hardcore Swearing’ is also not allowed. Other forms of swearing may be allowed if it is there for a constructive reason, such as a quote or a vital part of description. The moderators will generally *** swear words, leaving as the norm the first letter of the swear word in tact.
4. Contributions must be under 3,000 words long. This rule is there to stop one long piece being added to the site, but the BBC accept that works may need to be longer, therefore have allowed a method to get around this rule. The way around is simple, break down the works into sections which are all under the limit. At the bottom of each submission, link the work to the next section. Eg: If you have written a piece which is 12,000 words long, separate it out into 4 sections (or Chapters), mark each section as you wish but I generally at the start of the piece write section 1 of 4, section 2 of 4 and so on. But the method you use is up to you. But try to make it clear to enable people to know what they are reading and what part to read next. This additionally helps the moderators, who ultimately are the people who may well discover your talents!
5. All postings must be written in English.
So pretty much what you may expect from an area of the site such as this! This is an area you will either take to or hate. There is a chance that someone will hold the information which you have been trying to source, such as for example Guy Ritchie’s contact address (a question which has been answered on one of today’s forums!).
Links
This is also a very useful area of the site, especially if you are all primed and ready with a script you would love to be used in a play! The links page contains an extensive list of theatres in the UK and their contact details. The exceptional part about this list is that the BBC have already cleared the path on all of the featured theatres and checked that they have no aversion to receiving unsolicited submissions. The advice that writersroom gives is for all wishing to submit to check with the individual theatres site to check if they have a specific guideline for submissions, which can only help!.
So there you have it www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom . I personally think it is a fantastic free starting point for anyone wishing to embark on a career in writing or be discovered. The important part to remember is that although all of the information is very accessible, the competition is still vast to being discovered and entering into this world. However if you bare this in mind and submit your best work, who knows you could well be discovered! Well worth a try, and if not then there is some fantastic information there of great interest to all and fantastic for dinner party discussion! Enjoy and good luck in finding your way into the world of script writing!
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