She Writes
She Writes is a new training lab for women screenwriters co-presented by Birds Eye View and The Script Factory, and supported by Skillset, Scottish Screen and Grange Hotels.
This programme has been designed to address the remarkable statistic that only 12% of British films are written by women. The programme, catering for eight emerging women writers, will take place over a year, during which time participants working on a feature screenplay will enjoy a residential retreat, attend specialist workshops, meet with mentors, gain a better understanding of the industry, have exclusive access to the Birds Eye View Film Festival, and workshop their projects with actors. The selected writers will meet for three distinct training workshops during 2010 covering Story Development, the Wider Industry, and have the chance to workshop their ideas with actors; have the opportunity to participate in a public/industry performed reading of their work; be networked with highest level film industry producers and commissioners; enjoy masterclasses and Q&As with leading UK and international talent; see their own profiles raised through a focussed industry PR campaign.
The She Writes Participants for 2010 are:
Laura Anne Anderson
Laura Anne Anderson is a screenwriter and Screen Academy Scotland graduate from Edinburgh.
During She Writes, Laura will be working on Light Me a Candle.
She has several scripts in production as both a screenwriter and script editor, including her dark comedy screenplay Ladies Who Lunch directed/produced by Victoria Thomas and starring Una MacLean and Mona Hammond.
Laura completed a postgraduate Screenwriting Masters at Screen Academy Scotland in November 2007, and in addition to screenwriting, has since worked as a film mentor, script reader, script editor, and multi-platform content writer. She writes for all ages and across all genres, with her current main writing focus being the screenplay Light Me a Candle, a gothic horror set in Victorian Scotland.
Rosy Barnes
Rosy Barnes is a comic novelist and playwright. She is passionate about comedy.
During She Writes, Rosy will be working on her screenplay adaptation of Sadomasochism for Accountants.
The Scotsman said of her debut novel, ‘Sadomasochism for Accountants’ (Marion Boyars Publishers, Feb 2009): ‘refreshingly irreverent…hilarious…Echoing PG Wodehouse, Tom Sharpe and even Douglas Adams, Sadomasochism for Accountants is a fine comic novel’. Rosy has worked as an arts journalist and reviewer. Her comedy play, Bimbo, involving both actors and full-length cartoon puppets striding about the stage, toured Scotland and Ireland with great success, whilst her radio play, The Dog House was produced by RTE (Ireland’s national broadcaster), and shortlisted for the PJ O’Connor award.
Rosy lives in Edinburgh with an Uber-Geek (and his space-consuming collection of electronic gadgetry), a border collie (and his space-consuming collection of squeaky toys) and a load of rubbish that inconsiderately refuses to tidy itself away.
She is a member of the eclectic book blog collective, Vulpes Libris.
Kate Bingham & Grace Banks
Kate Bingham published her first novel, Mummy’s Legs, and a poetry collection, Cohabitation, in 1998. The novel led to Simon Curtis and a 90-minute single drama commission for the BBC: House Rules. The poems led to the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival Outreach Tour where she performed twice a day in Suffolk’s best prisons and libraries. A second novel, a second book of poetry, and a second commission, Holland Park for Contagious Films, soon followed. In 2004 she got together with her old school friend Grace Banks to work on a new idea. Eventually this turned into the spec script Anti-Social Behaviour; their creative partnership was born.
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Grace Banks spent a good ten years writing, producing and directing television shows: Pop World, Pet Rescue, Fashion House and Model Behaviour, documentaries for young people, and some for old people too. Then she conspired with Kate Bingham on their first screenplay - a tale about a pirate radio station run out of a North London estate. Anthony Minghella and his team at Mirage liked it and began developing it alongside another idea, Saint Joan. They have since written several screenplays and shorts together and intend to write more when their kids give them a minute.
During She Writes, Kate & Grace will be working on Saint Joan.
Tracy Brabin
Tracy is an actress and writer currently playing Mary in Shelagh Stevenson's powerful family drama The Long Road at Leicester's brand new state of the art venue, The Curve. She has been a team writer on Crossroads (1 year), Family Affairs (2 years), Tracey Beaker (3 series and Children in Need special) and Hollyoaks (2 years) as well as single episodes of Heartbeat and Shameless. She has two features in development with Sally Hibbin at Parallax Independent - Cross Your Heart (a romantic comedy set in a North London bra shop) and Yarko 9 a teen rites of passage drama set in Great Yarmouth). She has written and directed her first short film Leaving Home for Virgin Media Shorts and was part of The Script Factory Writers’ Group on its inception in 2001.
During She Writes, Tracy will be working on Father August.
Avril Evans
Avril cut her creative teeth writing and directing promos and short form content for the BBC across its portfolio of channels from BBC 1, 2, 3, 4 to CBBC. Her unique ideas and audacious talent led to industry recognition and a handful of UK and US Promax awards celebrating her work.
During She Writes, Avril will be working on Eggs and Bacon.
At this time Avril started writing and directing personal projects. Her first short film was a co-written and directed production calledLip Service. Runner up in a BBC competition, it went on to win best short film at the Images of Black Women Film Festival, where it was judged by a panel of award winning filmmakers including BAFTA winner Amma Asante. This led to a solo commission to write and direct the short, Ralph Rules, where Avril interpreted issues surrounding child bullying and isolation with startling pathos.
In 2005, The Berlin International Film Festival Talent Campus spotted Avril's burgeoning flair and offered her a placement. On her return to the UK, she wrote Happy Slapper, a short experimental play for Radio 3.
During 2007, Avril completed The Times BFI London Film Festival's Think Shoot Distribute talent scheme for emerging filmmakers. She was then chosen to represent the UK in the Steps International/ARTE/ZDF/BBC global initiative 'Why Democracy?' writing and directing her short, Famous Last Words. It was shown at The Berlin Film Festival on 17th February 2008.
Recently Avril was selected for PULSE, the Film London digital short scheme with her film Playground. The film has been very popular on the festival circuit and the recipient of awards at The Filmfestival Carinthia – Austria and best international short film award at The Urban Mediamakers Film Festival, USA.
Avril graduated from The London College of Printing with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications and Philosophy.
Sally El Hosaini
Sally El Hosaini is a Welsh-Egyptian writer/director. She’s one of Screen International’s ‘UK Stars of Tomorrow 2009’. Her short, The Fifth Bowl, won a regional BAFTA 2008. Henna Night, her latest short, was officially selected for London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival 2010, in competition at Rotterdam Arab Film Festival 2009 and Raindance 2009.
During She Writes, Sally will be working on Rafiq.
Sally’s debut feature film, My Brother the Devil, was selected for The Script Factory’s Scene Insiders programme, RAWI Sundance Middle-East Screenwriters Lab, Sundance International Screenwriters Lab, Babylon European Development Initiative and Sundance Director’s Lab. Shooting is scheduled for Summer 2010. Sally has also co-written the Iranian/American feature film, Camelia, which also shoots in 2010.
Before writing/directing Sally was the script editor/specialist researcher on BAFTA nominated, EMMY winning, HBO/ BBC Drama mini-series House of Saddam. Prior to that she spent 2.5 years as a production coordinator in film and 2.5 years working in documentaries.
Rosanne Flynn
Rosanne graduated from Cambridge University with a first class degree in history and began her career as assistant to the director Paul Greengrass during the production of The Bourne Supremacy, shot on location in Berlin, Goa and Moscow. She went on to become an assistant producer and story editor with a record of developing award-winning drama such as Britz and Omagh and is currently doing freelance development for the UK Film Council.
Rosanne is passionate about film and has always wanted to write and direct her own work. She recently completed her first short Knock Off about a pregnant teenager and her second film Selkie has been selected for development as part of Film London’s PULSE digital shorts scheme. Rosanne is also working on a number of feature scripts and is excited by the opportunity She Writes offers to focus on her favourite project Crossbones.
During She Writes, Rosanne will be working on Crossbones.
Oonagh Kearney
Oonagh Kearney is a writer-director who trained in Ireland, the UK, Europe and the States. Her introduction to film was casting Ken Loach's Palm d'Or winning film The Wind That Shakes the Barley. Since completing a diploma in film direction at the NFTS, in 2007 Oonagh has cast five feature films. As a writer-director, she is currently finishing her third short film Love At The End of The World. Inspired by the photography of Francesca Woodman, Oonagh is commissioned to make a short dance film for the 2010 RTE Dance on the Box Scheme. Her next short film The Christening, funded by the Irish Film Board's Signatures Scheme, will be shot in June. With the guidance of script developer Joanna Crow, she has begun writing her first feature-length film script Tell Me Your Love Story.
During She Writes, Oonagh will be working on Tell Me Your Love Story.
Rachel Tunnard
Rachel is a Northern girl who loves stories.
As a teenager she did LAMDA acting exams and went to the National Youth Theatre before deciding she was happier behind the scenes. She has a first class degree from Bristol University in Theatre and Film and has written and directed two short films, which have been successful on the festival circuit.
While studying, and working in a sandwich shop, she spent her student loan on a computer and set up a company with some friends making short films and virals for businesses. Despite its success, working in the corporate world made Rachel prone to crying in supermarkets and on busses so she packed her bags and
moved to London to try to break into the film industry.
Six years on she is a film editor, based between London and Sheffield and represented by United Agents. She spends her life writing stories on the back of envelopes and till receipts.
During She Writes, Rachel will be working on Beneath the Rose (working title).
