Pictured: Elias Anton as Danny Kelly in the top rating Australian mini series Barracuda. Two episodes of this television drama were written by Mullumbimby based script writer Belinda Chayko. (source Screen Australia)
With the number of television dramas in production in Australia being at an all time high*, Screenworks is running a two-day Writing for TV Intensive to further develop the skills of local writers, so they can leverage the increased opportunities.
Applications are now open for only 15 spaces available for the upcoming workshop which will be held at Linnaeus Estate in Lennox Head in June. Deadline for applications is midday May 1.
Guest tutor, Alexa Wyatt (Janet King, McLeods Daughters, Home and Away) has more than 20 years experience as a script writer, script editor and script producer. Alexa is also an experienced educator having taught script writing classes for the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS) and the Australian Writers Guild.
This two-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. Writing for TV Intensive is open to applicants from through out regional Australia with preference given to Screenworks members.
“This workshop will not only instruct participants on the craft of writing television drama, it will help writers to understand and prepare for working in a television writer’s room,” explained Screenworks General Manager Ken Crouch.
A writers room is a popular model used in Australian television drama, where a group of writers come together to conceive, develop and plot stories into acts and scenes for the writers to then turn the story into a script. Each year, Screenworks runs an Inside the Writers Room program and sends four regional writers to sit in the writers rooms of some of Australia’s top drama productions. Screenworks Writing for TV Intensive will help writers to prepare for Screenworks Inside the Writers Room as well as assist any previous participants in leveraging further opportunities.
To apply for Screenworks Writing for TV Intensive, you must have some writing experience and be able to demonstrate a writing ability by providing an example of writing fiction, drama or comedy, ideally for TV. Applications will be assessed by a panel including Screenworks staff and independent consultants. The cost to selected participants is $175.
Details on this intensive and how to apply can be found on Screenworks website www.screenworks.com.au/writingforTV.
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.