We are very proud to announce our new patrons in The Guardian today. David Harewood, David Oyelowo and Marianne Jean Baptiste are among those supporting TriForce – check out our new Patrons page to see the full list!
Category: News
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The TCN Announces New Patrons
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Are quotas the answer to diversity?
Check out our COO Minnie Crowe’s blog on Televisual addressing the advantages and limits of quotas within the industry.
Diversity is top of the agenda, and is something that all major terrestrial broadcasters have publicly committed to improving. From Channel 4’s 360 Diversity Charter, to Sky’s all guns blazing targets of 20% BAMED in front and behind the camera, everyone is setting quotas. But are they the answer?
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Is TV putting its money where its mouth is on diversity?
Do we need more investment to achieve true diversity in the media? See what our co-founder Jimmy Akingbola has to say about the issue in Tara Conlan’s article for the Guardian.
Click here to read the full article online
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MonologueSlam London Winners
We had a rather more intimate experience at Theatre Royal Stratford East this month, in studio format on the stage itself while the beautiful Victorian auditorium gets a well earned makeover. With just 125 tickets up for grabs we were sold out several days before the show, and every seat was taken on the night! The industry panel included Jess Jones, Head of Film & TV at Global Artists, Ben Cogan, Casting Director, Jamie Glover, Actor/Director, Louis Hammond CDG, Casting Associate at the Royal Court, and award winning playwright Roy William OBE.
Congratulations to Michael Bunani, who hung onto his Youth Round title and also gave us a little reminder of his dancing prowess while accepting his award. Congratulations too, to runner up Jake Swan-Walters, who showed off his rapping skills – all of these Youth Round performers seem to be multi talented!
Canadian Alexandra Vincent was awarded the 1 Minute Round trophy, with Annabel Lucy taking home the coveted 3 Minute Round award, with a piece written by 2014’s MonologueSlam UK National Champion, Sam Hevicon. The judges also gave Special Mentions to Defending ChampionLarner Wallace Taylor in the 1 Minute Round and Alexander Stutt in the 3 Minute Round. Alexandra Vincent was chosen as Overall Winner. Michael, Alexandra and Annabel will be invited back to defend their respective titles in August 24th show, with Alexandra as Overall Winner also invited to compete in the National Final on December 15th at Theatre Royal Stratford East in London!
To see details of all our winners click here.
The evening was hosted by Holby City star, our very own Chizzy Akudolu, ably supported at his MonologueSlam debut by our new DJ Samuel.
The next London MonologueSlam is on August 24th and is our special LA Edition where the prize is a trip to LA! Auditions will be on July 25th. If you want to get an audition slot you need to sign up to our mailing list so you find out straight away when audition slots are available to book!
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WriterSlam UK in the Guardian and Broadcast
We’re very pleased to share coverage of WriterSlam UK in the Guardian Online and in industry magazine Broadcast this week.
You can read the full Guardian article by Tara Conlan here: http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/jun/11/government-gives-130000-to-scheme-giving-diversity-guidance-to-tv-industry
And for the Broadcast article, click here
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WriterSlam UK Winners Announced!
Last night saw the very first WriterSlam UK take place at Theatre Royal Stratford East!
We had a great industry turn out supporting some fantastic emerging writing talent, including a judging panel made up of our supporters from ITV, ITV Studios, BBC and Tiger Aspect.
The ensemble of 9 performers rehearsed all day with director Fraser Ayres, and treated us to impressive performances on all 5 pieces, well done to the whole team. Performers included Beth Mullen, Benjamin Hills and Mitesh Soni (all of whom were found through MonologueSlam UK), as well as Michelle Bonnard, Tahirah Sharif, Michael Begley, Wil Johnson, Kym Vithana and Steven Miller.
The five finalists were; Caitlin Inness-Edwards with Old Man of the Mountain, Lee Coan with When I’m Not Around, Michael Wiafe with Keep Me Company, Lisa Blackwell with The Returnee and Tom McKay with The Brotherhood.
We are very proud to announce the winners of each of the fantastic prizes!
Up and coming screenwriter, Lee Coan, was selected as the winner of the ITV award. Coan will receive a paid development commission from ITV and ITV Studios, with mentoring from an ITV Studios Executive and feedback on the script from Jane Hudson, Head of Drama Series at ITV.
Other winners on the night include writer Tom Mackay, who won the BBC award and be offered a place on their Introduction to Writing for Continuing Drama Workshop. This invitation only workshop is run by the BBC to find new potential new writers for their continuing drama series’, Holby City, Casualty, Doctors and Eastenders.
The Tiger Aspect award went to budding writer Michael Wiafe, who will be offered a shadowing placement with a writer on one of their top drama series such as Ripper Street.
Jane Hudson from ITV said: “ITV are delighted to have supported the WriterSlam. It’s given us the opportunity to meet some fantastic new talent and we can’t wait to start working with Lee.”
Congratulations to all our finalists (and our shortlisted writers), we can’t wait to see you take the next steps in your writing career!
Keep your eyes peeled on our website for the next WriterSlam UK, planned for this Autumn!
This scheme is funded by Creative Skillset’s Skills Investment Funds.
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WriterSlam UK Finalists Announced!
We’re very pleased to be able to announce our five finalists for the very first WriterSlam UK!
The finalists are:
Caitlin Innes Edwards
Lee Coan
Lisa Blackwell
Michael Waife
Tom McKay
Congratulations to our finalists! All five will now take part in a writing workshop this weekend, and will have extracts of their script performed at the first WriterSlam show on Wednesday 10th June at Theatre Royal Stratford East.
They will be competing for the following prizes, which will be awarded on the night:
Winner: the winner will receive a paid development commission from ITV and ITV Studios, with mentoring from an ITV Studios Exec, and feedback from Jane Hudson, Head of Drama Series at ITV.
Runners Up: there are two runners up prizes from the BBC and Tiger Aspect.
BBC: the writer selected by the BBC will be offered a place on their Introduction to Writing for Continuing Drama Workshop. This invitation only workshop is run by the BBC to find new potential new writers for their continuing drama series’, Holby City, Casualty, Doctors and Eastenders.
Tiger Aspect: the writer selected by Tiger Aspect will be offered a shadowing placement with a writer on one of their top drama series such as Ripper Street.
The audience will include an invited industry audience, with judges from all three supporters, as well as representatives from other production companies, agents and directors.
A limited amount of tickets are also available to the public, so if you want to see some of the best new writing talent out there, book your ticket online now: http://www.stratfordeast.com/writerslam
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Shortlist Announced for WriterSlam UK!
We received over 1000 submissions for the first WriterSlam UK and were pleased to see a huge range of ideas and a very high standard of writing across the board.
It was incredibly difficult to decide, but our dedicated team of readers waded through all the entries and finally 20 were selected to go forward to the shortlist.
ITV and ITV Studios will now decide the final five writers who will go through to the show.
Everyone who entered should have received an email to let them know if they had been successful or not, so please feel email us at minnie@thetcn.com if you haven’t heard anything – although do check your junk mail first!
The final event on Wednesday 10th June is open to the public, and you can buy tickets on the Theatre Royal Stratford East website: http://www.stratfordeast.com/writerslam
The shortlisted writers are:
Abigail Rolling
Alyson Dutemple and Hannah Berry George
Anji Loman Field
Caitlin Innes Edwards
Chantelle Dusette
Chris Woodley
David Lemon
Foster Marks
Gavin Cutter
Judy Upton
Katrina Smith-Jackson
Lee Coan
Lisa Blackwell
Manjit Singh
Michael Ashton
Michael Wiafe
Sam Benjamin
Sam Parker
Sumerah Srivastav
Tom McKay