The BBC's BBC Studios has launched a paid training programme that will help up-and-coming writers and give them the opportunity to gain the skills they need in order to write drama series for television.
The BBC Writers' Academy in the United Kingdom will function a bit like MultiChoice Africa's MultiChoice Talent Factory in Africa and M-Net's Magic in Motion Academy in South Africa, with BBC Studios that announced the creation of this unique, paid training programme that will invest in and help new writers to create proper scripts for TV and film.
The BBC says that "investing in new and emerging talent to tell quintessential British stories is at the heart of BBC Studios' new intellectual property strategy".
John Yorke, who commissioned TV series like Shameless, Life on Mars and The Street, will head up the BBC Studios Writers' Academy.
Successful applicants will, following an intensive 13-week classroom period, spend 3 months scripting broadcast episodes of Casualty, Holby City and EastEnders alongside other continuing drama shows of the BBC.
"Every graduate will leave with up to four scripts under their belt and have their services optioned by BBC Studios over the following 2 years," says the BBC.
The BBC Studios Writers' Academy will also allow graduates to work hand in hand with BBC Studios Productions, as well as BBC Studios' portfolio of equity-owned independent production companies to develop their original ideas into treatments that will be optioned by participating production companies.
"The programme will offer candidates masterclasses from some of the TV industry's most influential creative talent, alongside weekly individual tutorials from John Yorke, on all aspects of dramatic technique and structure."
"I’m excited that we've been able to resource and fund this unique venture," says Mark Linsey, BBC Studios' chief creative officer, in a statement.
"Nurturing new British talent will really help deliver on our promise to create new IP – the lifeblood of our business and our creative industry. I'm thrilled that John Yorke has agreed to lead the scheme as his passion for cultivating new writers is intoxicating".
John Yorke says "Writers are at the very heart of TV drama and it's brilliant that BBC Studios – and now the wider independent community – have come on board to invest in the next generation of talent."
The BBC Studios Writers’ Academy will work alongside the BBC Writersroom to maximise opportunities for new TV writers.
