大象传媒 Writersroom is always on the lookout for new writing opportunities, so when 大象传媒 Radio Three Commissioning Editor, Matthew Dodd suggested five monologues to feature nightly during Emerging Artists Week, beginning on 10th June, we jumped at the chance to collaborate.
This opportunity came off the back of the success of 2017鈥檚 Music Day monologues on Radio 3. Those monologues were five minutes long but now Matthew wanted them to fill The Essay slot, which is up to fifteen minutes long. Embracing this challenge, Anne Edyvean (Head of 大象传媒 Writersroom) and I met with Matthew and Producer Abigail Le Fleming to discuss the brief. Matthew made it clear that he wanted to the music to work as inspiration for the stories, to reflect the emotions that the music elicited. He also armed us with ten wonderful pieces of classical music from which the writers would need to choose.
After sending out the brief and music to all of our writing groups, we received nearly seventy pitches, which we whittled down to eight. It was incredibly hard making the selection because the standard was so high. With the help of Script Editor Ros Ward, (a former 大象传媒 Writersroom Development Producer), we worked closely with the writers developing their scripts. The writers were brilliant in responding to notes, especially given the extremely tight turnaround. We were then faced with the almost impossible task of choosing five of the eight scripts. Together with Matthew, we tried to balance tone, music and types of stories when it came to making the final selection.
Many thanks to our writers; Greer Ellison, Annalisa Dinnella, Athena Stevens, Steven Lawrence and Nic么le Lecky for all their hard work.
Listen from Monday 10th to Friday 14th June nightly on 大象传媒 Radio 3 at 10.45pm or on 大象传媒 Sounds.
Meet the five writers as they introduce their pieces below. We hope you enjoy listening.
Back in September last year, through the 大象传媒 Writersroom, I had the opportunity to meet and talk with some fantastic radio directors and producers, listen to some amazing radio dramas and visit the recording studios where the writing is brought to life.
So when I heard about the opportunity to write a pitch for 大象传媒 Radio 3, I was over the moon. Everything in radio happens much faster than other areas of the industry and not being constrained by the budget size of TV and Film allows your imagination to run wild. The freedom is liberating鈥�
We were provided with five pieces of music and the idea was to choose a piece that resonated with you, and create a story around the music. I connected instantly with '' by , it has a fantastically ethereal quality, that shifts dramatically three quarters of the way through, into an intense cascade of tension and drama that provided the perfect melting pot for my protagonist - whilst hurtling towards her death in a small propeller plane, at over one hundred miles per hour - to ponder the more philosophical elements of her life and her experiences.
The idea for the character - Edna Taylor, a quirky ninety-eight-year-old Irish woman who has a fear of heights so extreme that she has never been more than 3 feet off the ground, was inspired by spending New Year鈥檚 Eve in - a small Irish town in Donegal - and getting to know the elderly lady who ran the B&B. She herself was in her nineties, had never left that town and had never been in love. She was timid and introverted, but had an eccentricity that was electric and a unique view on life. I am thrilled to have had the opportunity to bring a character based on her, to life.
On the day of the recording itself, I was invited along to the studio, where I met the director and cast, I was included in the creative process right to the very end and left with a sense of pride, accomplishment and hunger to write more and get it on the air.
The Dead Dad Show - by Annalisa Dinnella
Of the tracks I listened to, Steve Reich鈥檚 most captured my imagination. In its relentless repetition, I heard the chugging and rattling of a train. I was also reminded of that cyclical 鈥榮piral-of-doom鈥� my brain sometimes goes into at about 4 o'clock in the morning when I can鈥檛 sleep. Using these two images, I decided that the obvious place to start was with an insomniac on a sleeper train. And, because I automatically associate sleeper trains with the Edinburgh Festival (long story) I decided my insomniac character should also be a comedian. The rest of the monologue took shape from there.
While I was very clear on my character鈥檚 internal journey (he uses comedy as a way of deflecting grief) I played around with various versions of what he was actually doing on the train. I set up a mystery and thought I had solved it but was intrigued to discover that my Script Editor and Producers all had different interpretations of events. This led me to experiment and veer off course and ultimately we ended up somewhere that surprised me as much as it did my character. When we got to the studio, actor and director, Marc Beeby, created some electric moments that, again, I hadn鈥檛 seen coming. All in all, it was exciting and loads of fun to be part of the team that brought this character screaming to life 鈥� a great experience.
Reluctant Spirit - by Athena Stevens
So often when I write I start with a clear idea of what I want a piece to be, and then it ends up looking nothing like the original plan. Very often it means another draft is in order, or that the idea isn鈥檛 ready to come into the world. But sometimes I find a story takes me by utter surprise and goes in a very unexpected direction. This piece was the latter. As much I wanted to tell one story, the first few drafts weren鈥檛 fitting together at all. Writing, in many ways, is only done out of stubbornness. Very often I know there is a story there, even when all signs count to the contrary.
The team at the 大象传媒 Writersroom did an amazing job on refusing to keep me stagnant. Fearless about making suggestions we went back and forth cutting events and even completely changing the point of view of the piece. It kept us all engaged, and myself as a writer very challenged. Around the second draft I came up with the idea of a child who didn鈥檛 want to grow鈥� not grow UP like Peter Pan, but actually wanted to stop getting bigger. It鈥檚 such an unnatural idea in a lot of ways, children need to grow, and yet I can remember being very sad when my favourite shoes didn鈥檛 fit anymore. If a child鈥檚 deepest desire was to stay small, what would she see and how would her world reflect that desire? The music is F眉r Alina by Arvo P盲rt.
Every Night - by Steve Lawrence
When I got the chance to pitch for this opportunity my first thought was that it was a little outside my wheelhouse. Whilst I鈥檝e written for radio before it鈥檚 all been jokes and sketches and out of the list of songs provided as inspiration I hadn鈥檛 heard any of them. Yet, if there鈥檚 one thing I鈥檝e learnt from the 大象传媒 Writersroom it鈥檚 that it鈥檚 always worth having a go.
The first thing I did was listen to all of the music provided by the producers to see which track might spark an idea. As I went through the list I filled my notebook with a few snatches of character but it was only when listening to Morten Lauridsen鈥檚 beautiful, sweeping, epic 鈥極 Magnum Mysterium鈥� that what felt like a fully fleshed out person (or former person) began to take shape in my head. I found myself lost in the voices of the choir and as I listened memories of my guilt ridden Catholic school upbringing began to coalesce with my interest in horror - soon I was transcribing the story of a modern vampire trapped in an endless cycle of terrible nightclubs wracked with snatched memories of a dark past.
I was happy with the pitch but I have to admit I was surprised it was selected for development considering how odd elements of it were. One of the joys of radio is the ability to go to places that TV might find restrictive due to budget or content and I鈥檓 delighted that those involved in the decision making process wanted to take some risks and tell some stories you might not have heard before.
Of course once selected I had to write the actual monologue and flesh out my central character. I consider myself a comedy writer and my first instinct was to go toward the jokes - the juxtaposition of an immortal being searching for prey in a sticky floored club (shout out to the Carleton in Morecambe for the inspiration) but in doing so I managed to swerve away from the emotion of the original piece of music. Thankfully script editor extraordinaire Ros Ward was on board and she was instrumental in helping me get to the heart of who my main character was beyond the fangs and throat ripping and why his story was worth telling. Over the course of a couple of sleepless transatlantic flights (I鈥檓 method) it went from something comedic to something dramatic and romantic even (with a few laughs) and whilst I鈥檓 a little nervous to be entering the world of drama I鈥檓 really excited for the world to hear our blood addicted creature of the night tell his story.
At the very least I hope you don鈥檛 think it sucks...
Le Festival de Men - by Nic么le Lecky
After being sent the brief and going through the list of songs, I sat there dutifully listening and waiting to be inspired. When I heard 鈥楥uban Overture鈥� by George Gershwin, the funny thing is that I actually was. I was incredibly inspired. I pictured a festival, I became aware of the music's changeable moods and I came up with my piece 鈥楲e Festival de Men鈥�. Looking at the world of online dating and what that might look like in the future. I wanted to explore my character Candice鈥檚 excitement, after being presented with a wonderful opportunity. Similar to Charlie in 鈥楥harlie and the Chocolate Factory鈥andice pins everything on this day, only to be disheartened by a cruel twist of events.
I throughly enjoyed working with my script editor, and 大象传媒 Writersroom. I didn鈥檛 stop going on about IT BEING MY FIRST TIME WRITING FOR RADIO and they were supportive and eased me into the process. First focusing on the story, and then helping me to improve each draft to bring it closer to a script ready to be performed and recorded. On hearing it I was so pleased that the world I鈥檇 pictured had been brought to life in such a fun, and thrilling way. Now I鈥檝e ripped the imaginary bandaid off, I鈥檓 looking forward to writing more Radio in future.