Vol 1 | Issue 23 | ISSN 2979-8744 (online)

My insights for this week’s newsletter come from my direct experience on a couple of writer schemes, namely:

I’ve also spoken to writers who have been on other schemes such as Channel 4, BBC, BAFTA Rocliffe, etc. And I read industry updates and follow the progress of some writers.

There are several ways we could look at this, from the experience, your profile to professional growth opportunities and enduring bragging rights (CV).

Most of us have dreamt about it.

We hit submit and we wait for weeks, sometimes months, for the answer to come back.

We dream about that email that doesn’t have the word “unfortunately” in it. If we’re lucky enough to get said email, we are thrown into an exuberant feeling of recognition, validation, being seen and acknowledged.

It’s a delightful feeling. There’s no doubt about it.

Obviously, disbelief and “Oh shit, what if they’ve sent this to the wrong person?” play a massive part but if they don’t retract that and you get into the scheme, the opportunity ahead of you is enormous.

The scheme begins before you have even attended, with preparation. It might be researching example scripts or programmes that you’ll be covering. It could be polishing your own work, researching attendees and researching mentors.

It could even just be the logistics of actually getting to the lab and making sure you have time off to attend off work, off family, off everything.

Within that space you've already started engaging with the industry in a way you wouldn't otherwise have done and that’s not to be sniffed at.

Here’s a question I’ll keep asking you: do you need to be on a scheme to have this experience?

With these opportunities if you go in cold or blind, you are not in the right mindset to make the most of what is about to be set in front of you. Throughout the experience, whether that’s a day, a week, or five evenings, a year of engagements and opportunities, you will always be ‘on’.

Not necessarily in the sense that you are there to promote yourself and be seen, because that bit has already happened. Your role switches and you are there to absorb, to see other people, and to acknowledge the work that is in front of you and the people who are making room for you to have this opportunity amongst their own daily commitments, whether that’s professional or personal

There are a teeny tiny proportion of people who may believe that once you’re on these, it’s all about them and they expect to keep taking. It can suck the air out of a room and can make or break a cohort on whether they stay in touch, and it can really impact on the way that you are seen by the professionals who are overseeing that opportunity.

So don’t be a fun hoover. Gratitude is always the best attitude

But let’s be honest, we’re more interested in what happens after the event is finished, after the mentoring has ended, after the lab has closed. What happens when you go back to your daily grind, back to being an unseen writer behind a computer screen?

Are agents knocking down your door? Are you the new headline on Deadline? Have you got a plethora of emails from all those production companies you thought ghosted you?

Short answer: no.

Many of these schemes are here to provide us with a taster of what the industry is like, to expose us to contacts and opportunities to build on your network, and to affiliate yourself with a well-known and well-respected industry partner.

What you then do with this is the key to your own success.

You can use this scheme as leverage to get into a production company for a general meeting, for an agent to read your work. You could use it as a benchmark to encourage another writer of high calibre to engage with you. You can use it to boost your social media profile by promoting the event and what you have gained and come away with. You can use it to teach and support others in terms of application or process, and you can, of course, stick it on your CV and it does look like a rubber stamp of validation

Here’s that question again: do you need to be on a scheme to have this experience?

My favourite thing to do is to build on these, and any and all, opportunities.

I’ve talked about The Network before, so I shall give you a different example, the WFTV Kay Mellor Lab.

I met 12 incredible writers and came away still connected with each of them. Six of us have since clubbed together to create SCRIPT QUEENS and have our very first industry showcase which will be convening in London this November, where actors will professionally read our script extracts and the event will be hosted by screenwriter extraordinaire and Kay Mellor Lab mentor, Lisa Holdsworth.

A true example of using the relationships that we built through that cohort to ensure that the lab had a lasting impact and a positive outcome that went beyond that one week.

Ultimately this is something I’m incredibly proud of because we pulled together and divided our key skill sets between us and have knocked the socks off this event. We’re really excited to invite industry representatives to come and meet us and explore our work together.

(If you want to know more – get in touch!)

Nope. We’re all as poor as, well, writers.

We discussed our strengths and identified who was best placed on what task. Holly on marketing, Hannah on producing (venue), Afia and Avril on actors and rehearsals, Georgia on the programme and supporting docs, and me on LinkedIn and emailing. Between us we’ve secured a venue at a price that we could all afford to chip in, high-quality marketing materials, professional actors and the professional direction of, and some pretty cool people on the guest list.

Once more for the people at the back: do you need to be on a scheme to have this experience?

Not at all! So why did we? Well, tbh, we didn’t know one another, and it was this specific mix of awesome women and the empowerment we felt whilst part of this scheme that have made this event what it is.

Collaboration is beautiful, isn’t it?

But that doesn’t mean this mix of people doesn’t already exist in your address book.

And that comes down to what this whole newsletter is about: the business of screenwriting goes beyond the writing.

Undoubtedly the biggest gift that the scheme gave us was putting us all together in one room and giving us the confidence and the encouragement to keep trying. I’ve received no end of encouragement and support every time I’ve gone back to Women in Film and TV. They’ve been so lovely and warm and responsive. It’s been a pleasure to feel like part of that family and for the industry to feel a little smaller and less closed.

Other labs that I’ve been part of have meant that I’ve formed strong relationships with certain individuals who have crossed paths with me at lots of different other events, WhatsApp groups, or sessions. It creates a perpetual cycle of cheerleading that we all need and that’s been invaluable.

All of these connections are brilliant for ensuring that, in rooms that you can’t be in, your voice is advocated for. Likewise, being able to be someone’s advocate when they aren’t in the room has also been delightful.

I think, as you can tell from my newsletters about some of these labs, you can never really second-guess what got you in one year from another.

I know that if I got accepted to Bafta Rocliffe, the BBC Open Call, or either of the Channel 4 opportunities in the next 6 months, I would make the most of every single one of those opportunities: in my preparation, in my engagement throughout, and in the everlasting power of reflective learning and continued engagement with scheme members afterwards.

That’s the point I want you to remember: the lab just gives you the space, the room, and the opportunity to meet people you may not otherwise have met. I don’t always mean people with influential power. The most significant influential people I have met on these labs have actually been other writers championing other writers and you don’t need an industry scheme to do that.

As these opportunities are there, I would highly encourage you to apply, because why wouldn’t you?

I don’t ‘alf get tired of complaining. But, I’m a writer, and I’m British, so I don’t really mean it. But I do hear a lot of the same negative things said over and over about these schemes.

When you look at the business of it (because these all cost money!) you can see that it is entirely the prerogative of industry schemes to want to promote how well they engage with disadvantaged groups, marginalised communities, and underrepresented voices.

And it is the prerogative of writers who get into these schemes to feel like there could be more done to continue the momentum that these schemes feel they bring.

There are some cold hard realities. Whilst many of these opportunities promote a sense of putting your money where your mouth is in terms of engagement with the industry (specifically early-career writers), there’s always a sense that there isn’t enough:

Of course, as with everything, it all comes down to cost and time.

Many of the people who run these programmes are doing this alongside their day jobs. Their work does not stop while they spend a week in Edinburgh, spend months reading scripts, or attend a lab for a week. They still have to find time to do their work around that.

Acknowledging this when you do get a rejection, even in the quickest shortest email, shows you understand and you’re grateful for the opportunity.

“I don’t want to bombard them with emails!” or “They won’t read it!” I hear you cry. But I’d say let them manage their own workload, at the very least you’ve demonstrated that, just like you, they are not just a faceless name on the bottom of an email.

The other thing to be recognised is that while the BBC and Channel 4 are providing opportunities, look to the other organisations who are a part of this industry, such as Amazon, Apple, Netflix, ITV, Channel 5, Sky, etc.

I would be asking them: where’s their contribution to the industry and to supporting emerging screenwriters?

Rather than looking to the BBC and Channel 4 and saying what they are doing isn’t enough.

And whilst there have been historically opportunities from some of these organisations, largely these have fallen by the wayside or are opportunities that are very much angled at people who are already working for them or have representation.

Remember my top tip from last week? Here it is again:

So, do you still think you need to be on a scheme to have this experience? Let me know!

Helen

Next up... How to avoid networking when networking

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