Course for budding TV scriptwriters
ASCHEME designed to help new writers break into the world of scriptwriting begins in Southport in October.
Taking place at the Vincent Hotel In Lord Street, the Step up to Screen course has been given permission by Lime Pictures to feature a weekend course on Hollyoaks on October 19 and 20.
The course was created by TV industry professionals Diane Culverhouse and Julian Perkins and is intended to provide an insight into the skills needed to write TV drama and what is needed to become a professional.
Writers will have an authentic story conference, creating characters, storylines and scripts for a continuing drama.
The course creators have both lived in Southport for decades and have a wealth of experience.
Diane is a former producer, and head of scripts on long-running shows such as Coronation Street, The Bill, Family Affairs and Brookside.
She is currently the managing director of Culverhouse Associates Ltd, a literary agency that handles writers on numerous TV programmes.
She also lectured in screenwriting at Liverpool John Moores University and while there devised the first script-editing MA in Europe.
Julian is an award-winning playwright for his play Images Of Tiffin and was once commissioned and produced by British playwright and director Sir Alan Ayckbourn CBE.
He has more than 100 screenwriting credits including Byker Grove, Murphy’s Law, Grafters, Eastenders, Emmerdale and Casualty, and was a lead writer on The Bill for 15 years.
Julian said: “I think so many people leave university or a writing course and they’re a bit like a deer in the headlights. They’re passionate but they don’t know where to go next or how to break in to this world.
“Di is a literary agent and gives so much advice to writers all the time to help move their career forward and I want to help with skills that they can put into practice and provide them with a realistic introduction into a scriptwriting environment.
“We want to give advice from both sides to help writers with what comes next.”
The weekend schedule replicates professional conditions. Writers face tight deadlines and sudden, urgent, story changes if a cast member falls ill or there is a new, incoming producer.
The course will work under pressures where the demand is to create sparkling, original ideas to an ongoing brief.
Forming a scriptwriting team, the goal is to devise a new family and write their explosive arrival into the world of a long-running series.
These opening scenes will then be performed by actors in the final session.
Julian said: “Seeing actors reading your work out and it coming to life on screen is such a buzz. There’s nothing like it, you’ve worked hard and this is the result - it’s like giving birth.
“People see what I do as a job but in many ways I’ve achieved my dream so I don’t see it as a job.
“We want to help anyone who’s passionate in the same way to achieve theirs if they feel they don’t know where to go next.”
Potential scriptwriters should submit the first 10 pages of an original script along with their CV and list of writing credits to stepuptoscreen@gmail. com. They should also provide a short paragraph highlighting their suitability and ambitions for the course.
The overall cost is £350 and includes tea, coffee and lunches.
Members of the Writers’ Guild receive a 10% discount.
Further details can be found at the Step Up To Screen Facebook and Twitter at @StepScreen or