Our writer-in-waiting has been on the Royal Court Theatre’s Critical Mass Programme, Invitation and Super Groups and has been informally attached to the Clean Break Theatre. She has had rehearsed readings of her plays at the Royal Court Theatre, Soho Theatre, Young Vic, Young Actors Theatre and Tristan Bates Theatre. In the final blog on her journey to writing success, she leaves us on a promising note.
Spring is in the air and it’s time to reflect on what I have achieved at the close of my mission with Words of Colour online, to become the “greatest writer in Britain”. Okay, scratch that. I mean “the world”. As this is my final word as writer-in-waiting, I decided to explore what I have achieved since my first blog over a year ago.
Full length play: Take Me 2 Manhattan
• Shortlisted: Alfred Fagon Award/ Longlisted:Bruntwood Award.
• Script in hand reading: Soho Theatre; rehearsed reading at Young Vic/Talawa.
• Referenced in No Rules Handbook for Writers.
Full length play: W.I.F.E
• Top 100 plays at Verity Bargate Award 2013.
• Longlisted for Bush Theatre’s Angle Be Discovered.
Full length plays – Shredder and Settled
• Submitted to and rejected by Finbourgh Theatre and Alfred Fagon Award 2013, respectively.
Short plays completed
• All in the mine: Rejected by Theatre503 – ThatcherWriteProgramme (http://theatre503.com/past-events/thatcherwrite/).
• Tap Soles: (Submitted to ObamAmerica – http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/opportunities/obamerica).
• When I Grow UP: (Submitted to BBC’s Opening Lines – http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/opportunities/opening-lines).
Full length film scripts completed
• Bracewell Road – Rejected by The National Theatre and Royal Court Theatre, but with favourable feedback.
• Soun’ Clash- Rejected by United Artists and BBC Writersroom, again with positive feedback.
Three short film scripts completed
• Rice n Peas, Back in da day and About Being Single – All rejected by Film London’s, London Calling Plus Programme (http://filmlondon.org.uk/funding_and_talent/production and http://www.creativeengland.co.uk/).
Two television programme briefs completed
• The Programme (about digital detox) and Postcode Catwalk (fashion feature) – Both rejected by London Live.
Funding application submitted
• Arts Council: To support a week’s run of Take Me 2 Manhattan, diversity workshop and best practice report (Rejected).
Other opportunities
• Shortlisted for Theatre503 – 503FiveProgramme (Interviewed but not selected).
• Applied for Channel 4 4screenwriting programme (Rejected).
• Submitted play to Theatre 503’s Lab Fest (Rejected).
What about the successes?
• Completed first short film – Mirror.
• Interviewed for the documentary Voices from the Black Row (http://www.iamthenublack.com/2013/12/16/review-voices-from-the-black-row-preserving-the-legacy-of-black-theatre-in-the-uk/)
• Included in an article for The Guardian’s A book that changed me.
• Shortlisted for the Adrienne Benham Award.
• Made it to the creative team at The Bush Theatre – one of the top 5 plays out of 700 (Box Chicken/Take Me 2 Manhattan). Currently awaiting an opportunity to complete a commission.
• Had a 100-word play displayed on the walls of the Royal Court’s 100wordplays http://www.royalcourttheatre.com/whats-on/100-word-play
• Played a zombie in the horror film The Still.
• My play Box Chicken has been shortlisted for the Write Now 5 Festival at the Jack Studio Theatre.
• The Bush Theatre has made an offer to me to write an outline of a play for seed commission.
Looking Forward
With great hope I look forward to the next phase of my writing. I’ll be building on my successes, small as they may appear. I’ll be using my stack of rejections to fuel my determination to make headway in a creative industry which largely excludes. At its worst, the industry is hostile and discriminatory to black writers wishing to break the stereotypes and engender a new dramatic narrative of ordinary, everyday black people being touched by, and often experiencing, extraordinary circumstances.
This means championing my full length and short plays, marketing the plays as widely as possible, redrafting, where needed, and believing in their dramatic worth, all the way to staged performances.
Using the confidence I gained through Words of Colour Productions, I am bringing my filmed projects to life – by pitching, pulling an action plan and business plan together to get my films made myself, as well as getting the cast, crew, locations, funding and exploring crowdfunding. All of which means embarking on some serious writing.
I’ve also got three novels to complete and want to submit a new drama for the next BBC’s Writersroom opportunity, and for Theatre503’s forthcoming playwriting award – http://theatre503.com/theatre503-playwriting-award/.
There’s also my radio play Not Cricket to complete and I need to pluck up some serious courage to finish my roving fashion interviews for one of my up and coming television programmes Postcode Catwalk. You can watch the rough cuts here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWQuiJXABmI and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1ifjtHQb6o
I have much work to do. So it is with much thanks and gratitude to Words of Colour Productions for allowing me to be the writer I’ve always craved to be. I now hand over the baton to the next new writer to tell their tale, with this mantra firmly in mind: “Face every rejection with a smile, it’s just the doorway to your next big opportunity.”