APPLICATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED FOR WRITING FOR TV INTENSIVE
A 2-day workshop on the process of writing television drama.
With Alexa Wyatt, script writer, script editor and script producer
(Janet King, Home and Away, McLeods Daughters)
Fri June 2 and Sat June 3
Venue: Linnaeus Estate, Lennox Head NSW
Cost to selected applicants : $175
There are only 15 places available, entry by application – deadline midday May 1
This 2 day intensive has been designed to support writers in building their TV script writing skills and is most relevant to early-career writers who have some experience in writing drama or novelists wanting to try their hand at script writing.
This workshop will help writers to understand and prepare for the opportunities in television writers’ rooms and specifically for Screenworks Inside the Writers Room annual program. It will also be a valuable follow up for anyone who has participated previously in Screenworks Inside the Writers Room.
To apply for Screenworks Writing for TV Intensive you must be able to demonstrate a writing ability by providing an example of writing fiction, ideally for TV, drama or comedy. You will be asked to submit the following:
- A sample of your fiction or drama writing (a script or novel extract of no more than 5 pages)
- A short bio
- Your resume
- Complete all sections of the online application form and submit the application to Screenworks by midday on 1st May 2017.
Applications will be assessed by a panel including Screenworks staff and independent consultants.
Preference will be given to Screenworks members living in regional Australia.
Writing for TV Intensive 2 day draft program – subject to change
DAY 1
9.30 – 11 How television drama works, who does what, the actual process from pre plot/conception to shooting and beyond
11 – 11.15 Tea break
11.15 – 1 Crash course in the essentials of dramatic writing
1 – 1.45 Lunch
1.45 – 3 Writer’s room scenario 1
3 – 3.15 Tea break
3.15 – 4.30 Writer’s room plotting session
Homework – write the first 2 scenes from the writer’s room plot.
DAY 2
9.30 – 10 Feedback on Day 1, how the homework went, problems/challenges, etc.
10 – 11 Writer’s room scenario 2
11 – 11.15 Tea break
11.15 – 1 Writer’s room plotting session
1 -1.45 Lunch
1.45 – 2.15 Discussion on common pitfalls
2.15 – 3 Groups present their thoughts on approaching the second writer’s room they were “attending”, story problems and issues
3 – 3.15 Tea break
3.15 – 4.30 How to pitch your own idea, how to put together a pitch document, how to structure a series and show it has “legs” and appeal
ALEXA WYATT – BIO
Alexa has worked as a story liner, script editor, script writer and script producer for over 20 years on series including E Street, Heartbreak High, Big Sky, Police Rescue, All Saints, Home and Away, Water Rats, Neighbours and Rescue Special Ops. She worked on the hugely successful series McLeod’s Daughters from conception, helping write the bible that saw the show commissioned by the Nine Network, to writing the final script, 224 episodes later, and held the position of Script Producer on the series several times. Recently she was script producer and script writer on series 3 of Janet King for the ABC and Screentime, and was senior script editor on 3 series of Mako Mermaids for Jonathan M Shiff Productions and Netflix. Currently she is working as senior script editor on Shiff’s new production for Channel 10 and Disney, The Bureau of Magical Things.
She has developed numerous television drama series for producers and television networks in Australia and New Zealand, received funding for a children’s television drama series from Screen NSW, and for a feature film from Screen Australia (Executive Producer James M Vernon).
She is the recipient of a Distinctly Australian Script Editing Fellowship which allowed her the opportunity to live in London whilst working on attachment to two major British film and television production companies, Red Rooster Film and Television (a subsidiary of Chrysalis Entertainment) and Portman Productions, working on a diverse slate of film and television projects.
She has also worked as a script editor on numerous feature film projects, as a script assessor for government bodies including Screen Tasmania, the South Australian Film Corporation and the Australian Writer’s Guild. She is also a playwright with productions at the Adelaide Fringe Festival, the Stables Theatre, Sydney, Melbourne Writer’s Festival and the Bridewell Theatre, London. She has taught scriptwriting and editing classes for AFTRS, Screenworks and the Australian Writer’s Guild.