All this week we're announcing the 69 talented emerging writers from across the UK who have taken part in our Voices development programme for 2022. Today it's the turn of the 14 Northern Voices.
"We鈥檙e delighted to announce the 14 writers we鈥檝e been working with from across the North of England, over the past few months. We鈥檝e really enjoyed getting to know this talented group of writers and helping them to develop TV Treatments that showcase their authentic and original voice. The Voices Programmes has enabled the writers to develop their craft and allowed them the time, support and creative space to work on ideas they鈥檙e burning to write about. It鈥檚 been so great to see their creative growth and we鈥檙e excited to see what they do next!"
Usman Mullan (Development Producer, 大象传媒 Writersroom North)
Sian Armstrong is a performer, theatre-maker, writer and creative practitioner. Sian created her one woman show STUPID (2017), which toured regionally to sell-out shows & received excellent reviews describing the show as, 鈥淸the] best piece of theatre seen this season.鈥� In 2018 Sian was awarded Young Writers Talent Fund (New Writing North). 鈥�
In 2019 Sian was part of 'Intro to Playwriting' at Live Theatre which led her to developing her newest show MAGIC BUS, which won Live Theatre's Artist Bursary 2019/20, and was shortlisted for Traverse Open Submissions 2020. 鈥�
Sian was part of Scratch Me 2020-21 (BFI & Film Hub North), where she received mentorship from Baby Cow Productions & adapted STUPID into a short film. Sian recently performed in Zoe Murtagh's film 'After The Break' (大象传媒4: Female Filmmakers Too), has been commissioned as part of The Dukes鈥� 50th Anniversary 2022, and is co-writing a comedy about the women of 1700's Newcastle supported by Live Theatre & Arts Council England. 鈥�
Amy Arnold is an emerging writer living in Macclesfield. She spent several years wandering all over the UK and beyond, working a variety of weird and wonderful jobs (including a brief stint milking cows), before settling by the Peak District to pursue her love of stories and scriptwriting.鈥嬧��
Amy likes to explore power imbalances, family relationships, and the effect of grief and trauma on memory in her work. In 2021 she made the final shortlist from over 5000 entries for 大象传媒 Writersroom Drama Script Room with her TV drama pilot VOID. Her most recent drama script, BONE AND FEATHERS, has just been shortlisted for 大象传媒 Drama Room 2023. 鈥嬧��
Amy has spent the past two years working in the script team at Coronation Street, as well as reading scripts for Channel 4, and is very excited to be working on a brand-new drama as part of 大象传媒 Northern Voices 2022.鈥�
Alex Clarke鈥檚 work explores everyday people overcoming extraordinary circumstances. She uses her 20 years鈥� experience as a support worker to create TV about the human capacity for healing and change. Her original TV drama REFUGE is in development with the 大象传媒 and Dancing Ledge Productions. She is a writer in residence at DYSPLA working on her comedy VENUS IN 13. She adapted the memoir HOW TO BE AUTISTIC for TV with Adapted Pictures. She is also developing her original TV drama, LITTLE DEMONS, as part of The ITV/Dancing Ledge Productions New Talent Scheme 鈥� her mentor is Paula Milne (THE POLITICIAN'S WIFE / THE VIRGIN QUEEN). She is currently developing a new TV comedy as part of her BAFTA Writing Mentorship 鈥� her mentor is Lisa McGee (SKINT/DERRY GIRLS) and as part of The 大象传媒 Northern Voice鈥檚 Scheme worked on her new dramady series THE CON MOTHER.鈥嬧��
Alex won the 大象传媒鈥檚 Alfred Bradley Award with her drama WAKING BEAUTY and a New Writing North/Channel 4 TV Drama Writing Award with her drama BELOW which later went into development with Channel Four and Bonafide Films. She is represented by Mark Brennan at United Agents.鈥�
Billie Collins is a writer from the Wirral, based in Manchester. Her debut play 鈥楾oo Much World at Once鈥� is being developed by Box of Tricks Theatre for production in a future season, following rehearsed readings at the Stephen Joseph Theatre and HOME Manchester. She is also working on a new stage project with ThickSkin Theatre, as well as 鈥楻athbone鈥檚 Antiques鈥� 鈥� an original children鈥檚 animated series in development with Toastie Animation (with development funding from the BFI's Young Audience's Content Fund.) Billie is an Associate Artist at the Oldham Coliseum Theatre, has previously written audio drama for 大象传媒 Sounds, been shortlisted for the 2021 Papatango Prize and selected for Film Hub North鈥檚 2020 Script Lab. She loves playing with genre, as well as stories about nature, folklore, queerness and growing up. Billie is represented by Maeve Bolger at the Agency.鈥�
Daneka Etchells is a disabled writer and performer from Carlisle. They were writer-on-attachment with Box of Tricks鈥� PlayBox 2021/22 scheme, developing their play Rogue Comet(s) with a rehearsed reading at HOME. They鈥檙e currently developing Sappho with Emmerson and Ward for UK tour Spring 2023 and have written for theatres such as Paines Plough, Theatre by the Lake and DaDa Fest.
After partaking in 大象传媒 North East Voices in Summer 2021, Daneka is receiving further support in developing their spec REEL. She鈥檚 completed development schemes with Sky Studios, New Writing North, Royal Exchange and Live Theatre.
Daneka writes about sore-thumb otherness - through disability, queerness, gender, class, rurality and technology - centring underrepresented protagonists in big cosmic stories in forgotten spaces, set on the precipice of (un)reality.
Later this year, they are commencing a MA in Disability Studies - investigating the portrayal of disability in TV and film.
Jasmin Mandi-Ghomi is a British-Iranian writer born and raised in Yorkshire. Her work has been staged at the Southwark Playhouse, the Arcola Theatre, and the North Wall, with her debut full-length show MADDY premiering at the VAULT Festival in 2020. Between 2019/20, Jasmin was on attachment with Tamasha Theatre Company as one of their developing playwrights which culminated in a virtual showcase of her play Your Vote Will Not Count. Her most recent play was The Magic of Wild Heather which was written for the National Theatre鈥檚 Public Acts and performed at Cast Theatre in August 2021. Over summer 2021, Jasmin was part of the Sky Writes programme managed by New Writing North. She is currently one of the artists that make up The Bank Cohort at Sheffield Theatres. 鈥�
Olive Nwosu was born in Lagos, Nigeria, and is a BAFTA-Pigott Scholar, Alex Sichel Fellow at Columbia University School of the Arts, and an 鈥楢frican Promises鈥� director selected by the Institut Fran莽ais. 鈥�
Olive has written and directed two award-winning short films, Troublemaker, now streaming on the Criterion Channel, and BIFA-nominated Eg煤ng煤n (Masquerade), which screened at TIFF 2021 and Sundance 2022. 鈥�
Olive is a 2022 Sundance Screenwriting Fellow and is currently developing her first feature film with Film4. 鈥�
Her work is informed by the intersectional nature of her life across multiple continents and identities. Her mission is to tell urgent, cinematic, African-centred stories. 鈥�
Liv Parkinson 鈥媔s a writer from Merseyside. As a teenager, Liv won a National Theatre playwriting prize and was a runner up in a short story competition sponsored by Penguin. She then went on to specialise in Screenwriting at Westminster Film School. Whilst there, Liv wrote prolifically, writing and producing short films which featured at festivals such as Underwire and Encounters, won Best Drama at the Learning on Screen Awards, and won a Royal Television Society Award. Liv has just graduated from the National Film and Television School鈥檚 Screenwriting Course, where she developed several TV pilots as well as a radio play, two theatre pieces and several short films. Liv鈥檚 ultimate ambition is to pursue a career in TV Drama. Liv is represented by Amy Sparks at United Agents. 鈥�
Rory Platt is a writer who grew up just outside (and now lives in) Manchester. He writes offbeat, darkly comic, genre-bending tales about weirdos, loners, and misfits. Undead detectives. Survivalists living on roundabouts. Homicidal aristocrats. Mancunian vampires. 鈥� 鈥�
His work for theatre has been performed at the Southwark Playhouse, Theatre503, the Hope Mill Theatre, the Pleasance, and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. His play Without That Certain Thing, a "smart, fast-talking comedy thriller" with "a razor sharp and witty script" (The Upcoming, Reviews Hub), premiered at the VAULT Festival in 2019. He has an MFA in script writing from the Central School of Speech and Drama (supported by a Sky Arts disabled student bursary) and was a member of the Soho Theatre Writers' Lab. 鈥� 鈥�
He is the author of several books for children, including a volume of poetry, published by The School of Life. In addition to writing for TV and theatre, he is currently working on a collection of short stories.
Sufiyaan Salam is a writer and ex-animator living in Manchester, UK. He wrote his first film at the age of 7 鈥� it was shot entirely on a 2-megapixel cameraphone, years before Sean Baker shot Tangerine on an iPhone! Unfortunately, this early masterpiece has since been lost. 鈥�
In 2019, after winning an award for a short film he wrote during his English Literature BA, Sufiyaan enrolled on to do an MA in Screenwriting at the University of Manchester. He then wrote his first play, White Girl, which was performed at the Bunker Theatre in 2020鈥� the weekend before lockdown began. 鈥�
In 2020, Sufiyaan started working in TV, as a junior storyliner at Hollyoaks. He now works as a Script Editor for JoJo & Gran Gran. 鈥�
He currently has several projects in development, including a short film with Madre Films and an animated children鈥檚 series with the 大象传媒. 鈥�
London-born Sangeeta Shakos is a half Indian, half French teacher who has lived in Greater Manchester for 30 years. She works part time in a specialist unit for vulnerable young people, where having a somewhat unconventional view of the world is an asset. She often draws inspiration from seemingly mundane people or situations and has a passion for writing character-based, uncompromising drama. 鈥�
In 2017, Sangeeta鈥檚 drama 鈥楢bsconder鈥� reached the final of the Channel 4 course 4Screenwriting. In 2018 she wrote theatre piece 鈥楻eal Voices鈥� to raise awareness of issues such as criminal and sexual exploitation, which young people are facing today. The piece has now been seen by more than 25,000 people. In 2020, 鈥楻eal Voices鈥� was commissioned and made into a short film (Isaac Who UK). In 2021, Sangeeta鈥檚 comedy drama 鈥楥hanges鈥� was long listed for the Netflix Screenwriters鈥� Fellowship. She is currently working on a new drama as part of Northern Voices. 鈥�
Matthew Smith, originally from Wakefield, is now based in Manchester and writes plays that are performed in a mixture of diverse venues; from damp pub attics to acclaimed theatres. As an alumnus of the Liverpool Everyman Young Writers programme, Matthew works with professional theatre groups, independent artists and people completely new to live performance. 鈥嬧��
Recently Matthew has written scripts for the Oldham Coliseum's online programming, secondary school students in Tameside, and an illustrated bedtime story for the Sandbach Transport Festival. 鈥�
Chris Sutherland is originally from Huddersfield but is now based in Sheffield and works full-time in Mental Health services. When not working he spends most of his time writing and learning about the craft of screenwriting. 鈥嬧��
He sees himself as an emerging writer and has been shortlisted for a Northern Writers Award, Writing for TV with Channel 4 and Bonafide Film 2021. He has been shortlisted for 'Writerslam' UK TV and Triforce Creative Network, writing for TV Award 2021. He was selected for Sky TV and New Writing North, 'Sky Writes' writing for TV talent development programme 2021. He was previously selected for Freedom Studios 'Street Voices 5' playwriting programme in 2015. 鈥�
Kerry Wright is a writer and theatre-maker based in Keighley. Originally from Kent, she studied MA Writing for Performance at the University of Leeds before settling in Bradford a few years ago.鈥�
Kerry is currently developing KAILEY, a comedy drama play that is based on her teenage experiences of having parents in prison. She has previously secured funding from Leeds Council, Bradford Producing Hub and Arts Council England. Furthermore, Kerry was the recipient of the Live Theatre bursary which led to a rehearsed reading of KAILEY at Live Theatre鈥檚 Elevator Festival 鈥�22. 鈥�
Her short radio play SUCH IS LIFE was developed as part of the Dream Reality Radio Scheme and was performed at Leeds Playhouse's Furnace Festival 2021. In 2020, Kerry was awarded an Arts Council DYCP grant to explore working-class female voices within her writing. She was a writer on Freedom Studios' Street Voices 8 where her short play POUND TWENTY was part of a live streamed sharing.鈥�
Outside of writing and the arts, Kerry is a lover of grime, rap, politics and hot sauce on everything.