Careers in Creative Writing Industries

Notes from a careers forum

The Careers Service organised a forum on working in the creative writing industries. This took place on Friday 10 December 2004 and what follows is a summary of the points made by the invited panel. We are grateful to the following speakers for their valuable presentations:

Sally Stokes, BBC TV Drama, Producer.
Adam Taub, Freelance Writer.
Julia Bird, Poetry Book Society, Marketing and Education Officer.
Danny King, Novelist.
Claire Grove, BBC Radio Drama, Producer.
David Nokes, Screenwriter.
Laura Brammar, KCL Careers Service, Careers Adviser and organiser of the event.

Sally Stokes

Having an agent is helpful but not essential.
Vital to have a ‘calling card script’ that you can approach producers with.
Successful TV scripts often need to be character driven.
Scripts need to include ‘independent and real voices’.
Self edit your work: be brutally honest with yourself.
Common fault of many scripts is that they are ‘overwritten’.
New writers at the BBC start off on a ‘writers’ shadowing scheme’.
Typical shows that new writers work on are Doctors, Holby City, Casualty, East Enders.
Think about the length of your scripts and how they may translate into production slots, e.g. 30 minutes, 60 minutes. Excellent resource is www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/.

Adam Taub

Opportunities to do freelance writing for corporate clients.
Direct mail campaigns can be a useful way of gaining writing experiences.
Working freelance can be a longer term aim once you have a range of clients on your CV.
Once you go freelance, begin to think of yourself as ‘me plc’ and market yourself.

Julia Bird

Poetry Book Society organises the prestigious TS Eliot poetry prize.
Become familiar with various poetry magazines such as www.poetrylondon.co.uk and the Poetry Library at the Royal Festival Hall.
Enter poetry competitions; submit no more than six poems, double space, plain fonts. Include SAE for result. Remember you may have to pay between £5-£10 per poem.
Submit poems to poetry magazines and then main poetry publishers (such as, Picador, Anvil, Chatto & Windus, Faber & Faber). Note though that major publishers will expect you to have been published previously in either magazines or journals so target them first.
Use literary and poetry websites e.g. www.poetrykit.org.
National Association of Literary Development www.nald.org.uk is a useful resource for Literary Development work with writers in residence in schools, hospitals, prisons etc.
Become involved in Literary Festivals through volunteering.
Read poetry!

Danny King

Writers write! They don’t just talk about writing!
Even if you start writing something which you think is rubbish, make yourself finish it.
Don’t wait for the right ‘mood’ to write, just get on with it.
Set yourself clear targets, e.g. 1000 words per day, or 10 pages a day and stick to them.
Believe that you will get better with practice.
If you work isn’t initially published get over it and write something else!
Supplement your novel writing with other forms of journalist work, such as editing.

Claire Grove

BBC Radio Drama is the largest commissioner of new writing in the world.
Many successful screenwriters began their careers in radio.
Because radio is relatively cheap it can accommodate a wide variety of scripts that couldn’t be produced for TV/Film due to costs.
‘Think sound’ and remember the ‘intimacy’ of radio when you are creating your script.
Submit your script to producers. Remember: if it doesn’t grab them in the first ten pages then it won’t be used.
Producers look for scripts that ‘take them somewhere they haven’t been before’.

David Nokes

Write regularly even if rejection is a devastating experience.
Try to get an agent if possible.
Remember that one in three screenwriting commissions are never made into actual films.
Seriously think about relying on writing as your sole source of income; explore other revenue generating activities to support yourself.
Believe in your work and get on with it!