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We are thrilled to announce the ten writers who will be participating in the Belfast Voices 2020 programme. Over the next year, these talented up-and-coming writers will attend monthly seminars hosted by top talent from across the industry. From Radio to Childrens, TV Drama to new story forms, the programme will focus on building skills and providing an insight into all areas of the ´óÏó´«Ã½â€™s output. Our writers join the group from all over our small but diverse nation - the North Coast to Dublin, Derry/Londonderry to Belfast - and bring a wide range of experiences to bear on their passion for screenwriting.

This is the second time that the Belfast Voices programme has been run. With the help of our Belfast Voices programme, many of our inaugural group have gained representation and had work optioned and commissioned by independent production companies, and writing duo Michael Patrick and Oisín Kearney have had their acclaimed series My Left Nut produced by Rollem Productions and broadcast on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Three.

If you would like further information about any of the writers, please feel free to contact writersroom@bbc.co.uk or their agent.

Emmet Colton

Emmet is a graduate of the Queen's University Belfast Film Studies course and has worked on drama productions such as Game of Thrones and Line of Duty as part of the video department. He has written for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Ulster and ´óÏó´«Ã½ NI's Soft Border Patrol (which he was also worked as a camera operator). In 2019 he wrote and directed comedy short Open-Mic as part of Channel 4's Random Acts series. Emmet has shot stand-up comedy, written sketches for comedians throughout Northern Ireland and has just completed a short film called Give Me A Sign about roadside Christian evangelism. He is currently employed at Triplevision Productions, working mostly within documentary film.

Lucretia Devlin

Lucretia is an award winning writer from Northern Ireland. After graduating from Queen's University with a Film Studies degree, she spent the next 10 years cutting her teeth in the film and television industry, working on projects such as Game of Thrones, The Mummy and Thor: The Dark World, for high profile writers such as David Benioff, D.B Weiss, Jane Goldman and Craig Pearce. Lucretia currently resides in Belfast and is developing a diverse slate of television drama and feature film content. A history nerd, she's passionate about telling stories based on true events and complex characters.

Noel McCann

Noel is a screenwriter from North Antrim who has been writing for four years. He reached the interview stage for Script Room Drama 2019 and his drama Sleeping With My Shoes On was optioned by Element pictures. More recently, Element have commissioned a treatment for his Basque political thriller Hendaye. He has just finished writing his first feature Discoface, which is set in the Glens of Antrim. 

Repped by: Jessica Cooper, Curtis Brown

Leo McGann

Leo is a playwright and screenwriter from Belfast. He began writing with Tinderbox Theatre Company as part of their Fireworks programme and was part of the Royal Court’s Young Writers and Studio groups in London. He graduated from Boston University with an MFA in Playwriting and his play The Honey Trap was produced at Boston Playwrights Theatre in 2017. He was awarded the National Partners of the American Theatre Playwriting Award in 2016 and the Harold and Mimi Steinberg National Student Playwriting Award at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC in 2018. He was a nominee for the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, and received a 2017-2018 BAFTA Los Angeles Scholarship. While in LA he worked in feature film development for the Kennedy/Marshall Company in Santa Monica. His plays have been performed in Belfast, Boston, Atlanta, Georgia, Omaha, Nebraska, and Washington DC. He has taught creative writing at Boston University.

Catherine McGrotty

Currently employed as a Children’s Librarian in Derry, Catherine has always been passionate about creating stories for children and young people. In 2014 she was trainee script editor on Puffin Rock series two. During 2020, she was selected by C´óÏó´«Ã½ and Illuminated films as one of ten emerging writers, given the opportunity to write for Rocket Robbins â€“ a new C´óÏó´«Ã½ animation for children. Since joining the Belfast Voices group she has also written for ‘Quick Comedy’ a new sketch show due for broadcast on Radio Ulster this summer.

Mark McNally

Mark is a screenwriter based in Belfast, who graduated from Queen’s University with a Degree First in Film Studies. His feature screenplay In the Land of Saints and Sinners secured him a spot on N.I Screen’s New Writer Focus 2016/17 programme. It’s currently in-active development at Prodigal Films, with writer/director Terry Loane & actor/producer Geraldine Hughes. In 2020, he was a recipient of the Puttnam Scholarship by Future Screens NI. He co-wrote the dialogue for Merge Games’ Buildings Have Feelings Too, a video game released in April 2021. He has also written biographical literature, TV and film treatments for various production companies, including Fired Up Films and StarMan Productions. Last year he collaborated with both Creative Ireland & Flocking Arts, introducing young people to the world of writing and filmmaking. Additionally, Mark has practical, on-set experience, having worked as trainee Grip on ´óÏó´«Ã½â€™s Doing Money, Derry Girls season two and the music video Being Honest for Post Party.

John Mulkeen

John is a writer and actor from Derry. He studied English Literature as a mature student at Ulster University and graduated in 2018. His short script Dopey was developed with ´óÏó´«Ã½ Writersroom and he is currently a part of the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Belfast Voices group 2020. His short story Oh Bend Your Backs! placed 2nd in the 2020 Fish Publishing short story competition and can be found in the Fish Anthology 2020. His work has been highly commended in the An Post Short Story award 2020 and longlisted for the 2020 Commonwealth Prize.

Neil Sharpson

Neil studied in University College Dublin where he was a member of UCD Dramsoc and honed his skills as a writer, winning the Dramsoc Award for Best Original Script and the Dramsoc Award for Outstanding Contribution to Original Writing. He is a graduate of the Abbey Theatre’s New Playwright’s Programme and has been commissioned by the Abbey twice. He was also shortlisted for the Maguire International Playwrighting Award in 2009. He writes for the Irish superhero comic, League of Volunteers and is the founder of the comedy review blog, Unshaved Mouse. His first novel, When the Sparrow Falls will be published by Tor/Macmillan in June 2021, with his second novel following in Summer 2022.

Repped by: Geoff Morley, United Talent Agency

Tara West

Tara West won an RTÉ Storyland commission for her short drama The Good Christian Women’s Writing Group, for which she was nominated for the Edinburgh TV Festival’s Debut Writer Award. She was a finalist in the LA-based TV writing competition Scriptapalooza for her spec script for US series Supernatural. Most recently, Tara worked on NI Screen-funded development for Belfast-based production companies Poli Productions and Afro-Mic, and received a short story commission from ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 4. She is the author of novels Fodder and Poets Are Eaten as a Delicacy in Japan, has short stories published in The Glass Shore and Female Lines, and her memoir of depression and recovery The Upside of Down was published in 2020. She has an MA in Creative Writing from Queen’s University Belfast and in a previous life, she was an award-winning advertising copywriter. Her hobbies include staring out the window and eating crisps.

Kat Woods

Kat Woods is a writer and director from Co. Fermanagh. Published with Samuel French. Kat is an Associate Artist at The Pleasance Theatre and Omnibus Theatre London. She is a Royal Court/Kudos TV Writers Group alumnus. Her work has been performed across the UK, Ireland, Finland and the USA. Awards include Peggy Ramsey Award, the Royal Literary Fund, The Stage Award for Excellence and The Fringe Review Award for Outstanding Theatre. Kat is currently under commission with the MAC, Tinderbox Theatre, Abbey Theatre and in development with Out of Orbit productions with her first TV series.