BBC Studios Writers’ Academy Broadens Search for Storytellers

BBC Studios has updated the entry criteria for its 2020 Writers’ Academy to enable writers without a professional credit or an agent to apply for the scriptwriting masterclass.

Led by John Yorke, the Writers’ Academy provides training schemes for new writers and offers up-and-coming talent the opportunity to hone the skills to write TV drama and broadcast episodes for such BBC continuing dramas as EastEnders and Casualty.  Successful applicants receive three months of paid training, including weekly individual tutorials on all aspects of dramatic technique and structure. They will also hear guest lectures from such established TV screenwriters as Jed Mercurio (Bodyguard, Line of Duty), Sophie Petzal (Blood, Red Rock), Russell T Davies (Doctor Who, Years and Years), Anna Symon (Mrs Wilson, Deepwater), Tony Jordan (EastEnders, Life on Mars) and Jimmy McGovern (The Street, Broken).

Applications for the BBC Studios Writers’ Academy open on March 30.

Last year’s alumni graduated with up to four scripts under their belts and have been commissioned to write broadcast episodes of EastEnders, Casualty and Holby City. They will then go on to have their services optioned by BBC Studios for the next two years. The Academy also offers writers the chance to work with BBC Studios’ portfolio of equity-owned independent production companies to develop their own original series ideas. Current graduates are developing original series with the companies behind The End of The F***ing World, Gentleman Jack, Les Misérables, McMafia, Brexit: The Uncivil War, Curfew and more.

Yorke, head of BBC Studios Writers’ Academy, said: “I’m thrilled that BBC Studios have decided to make such a major investment in new talent. At a time when it’s harder than ever for new writers to break in, this course allows writers from less privileged backgrounds to get their first important step into television.  The Writers’ Academy is a perfect example of the BBC’s remit—it’s a huge commitment to nurturing new talent from every sector of society.”

Katerina Watson, one of the 2019 Writers’ Academy graduates, added: “The Writers’ Academy has quite literally changed my life. I would never have found my voice, nor felt like it was important to be heard and hold my own with it, had it not been for the BBC Studios Writers’ Academy support, encouragement and mind-blowing teaching. It has been an absolute privilege.”