(October 2024) ONLINE 5-Week Course: Write A Radio Drama in Five Weeks

With Helen Cross

Wednesdays, 7-9pm, live teaching via Zoom

Starting 9th October and then 16th, 23rd, 30th October and the 6th November 2024.

Write a complete audio drama over five sessions. These live, interactive online classes will introduce you to the industry, and allow you to learn the skills necessary to write drama for BBC radio and podcasts.

This small and friendly group of up to 15 students will look at the new opportunities in this growing industry and explore how to structure audio drama, how to sustain tension in plot, how to build dramatic audio characters and how to write convincing dialogue.

We will consider the state of the market now, and what commissioners are looking for from writers.

Each week members of the group will share their work in progress, and by the end of the five weeks you will have a complete 45 minute drama, and a plan for what to do with it next.

Prior to the class you will be sent a listening list of audio dramas to inspire and educate you about the form.

No prior writing experience or knowledge of audio drama is necessary.

Tutor Biography:

Helen Cross is an award winning novelist (author of the novel, My Summer of Love, which became a BAFTA award-winning movie starring Emily Blunt. For the last twenty years Helen also written drama regularly for BBC Radio and a number of overseas broadcasters. Her most recent BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play, The Return of Rowena The Wonderful is available now on BBC Sounds . Her Afternoon Plays have previously won Awards in her BBC Audio Drama Awards including The Innovation Award for the drama Blue Eyed Boy. She has most-recently written two seasons of a highly acclaimed podcast drama series, English Rose, currently available on Spotify, BBC Sounds and Apple Podcasts. Her latest audio work is Flixborough 74, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Friday 28 May 2024.

Details:

The workshop will take place online via Zoom Online Meeting software. It is free to download and you will only need the free version to attend. Please download it and check it is working before the day of the workshop.

Please try and be somewhere you can concentrate and won’t be interrupted. Headphones can be useful if you have some, to cut out other noise.

Bursary Places:

We understand that not all writers are able to pay for their writing courses to further their career, and we run a Bursary Scheme as a consequence. If you feel you need a bursary, please contact us: [email protected].

Please note: you must sign up for the full course even if you cannot attend all dates. No partial course ticket is available.

Short Courses are for over 18s. If you are a young writer, you can sign up for our

Our short courses are collaborative, and you will learn as much from your fellow course attendees as from the tutor. You will be expected to play an active role in group tasks, and you will also have time to reflect on your own writing during sessions.

Course handouts are sometimes (but not always) available, and notes may be available in advance upon request. If you have any additional needs, please contact Writing West Midlands in advance of the course starting and we will try to assist you.

Host or Publisher Writing West Midlands