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We are thrilled to introduce the 12 talented writers chosen to join our 2023/24 Scripted group, a writer development programme. The writers were identified via our Open Call script submission window.

During the first half of the programme, writers engaged in a series of bespoke training sessions designed to hone their craft. This included workshops, masterclasses, and networking opportunities to connect with industry professionals. In the second phase, the focus shifts to writing their original spec scripts, with each writer receiving personalised guidance from a professional Script Editor, to deliver a sample script that they can share with the industry.

We can’t wait to see the incredible journeys these talented, passionate writers take, as they embark on their next steps!

Zahra Al-Sultani, Development Producer, ´óÏó´«Ã½ Writers

Florence Bell

Florence Bell writes offbeat comedy drama often exploring sexuality, addiction, capitalism and magic.

Originally an actor (3 Body Problem, The End of the F*cking World) Florence emerged as a writer in 2021 when her screenplay SUPER SPIRITUAL lead her to a C4 mentorship and ´óÏó´«Ã½ London Voices.

For stage, she produced and directed her ambitious debut THE OPEN at The Space in 2019 (‘More than one glimpse of genius’ - Everything Theatre) and is co-founder of Brave New Word, a new writing showcase which produced 70+ pieces of original theatre and built a community of creatives in London during its four year life.

She is currently in development with a number of projects including VANLIFE, a true crime thriller which is out to channels via producer Studio Crook.

Represented by Steven Russell at Collective Talent.

Alice Clark

Alice Clark is currently developing TWO TIGERS a TV thriller with C4 Drama, through Chris Young's YFF / Screen Scotland. Her TV drama THE MUNITIONETTES is under option with Compact Pictures and she has worked for STV Drama in Andrea Gibb’s writers' room. Her first short film MY NAME IS BETH won Best Young Filmmaker at Glasgow Short Film Festival (2023).

Her two commissioned plays, MADE IN CHINA (2022) and SHIP RATS (2023), both enjoyed sell out runs at the Traverse and four star reviews in The Scotsman.

Alice is an alumni of ´óÏó´«Ã½ Writers Scottish Voices ('22) and The Writers Lab UK&I ('21), with her place on the latter funded by Screen Scotland and Cate Blanchett’s Dirty Films. Previously Alice worked in drama facilitation and community education in the UK and China, where she lived for 12 years. Originally Bristolian, she is now based in Edinburgh.

Eva Edo

Eva Edo is a screen writer/director and stage writer who tells stories which celebrate young people and women. Her work is coloured by her child protection solicitor and mother experience. As part of the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Scripted she has shown a flare and passion for Children’s TV, having been selected for both The So Awkward read through and The Dumping Ground Shadow Scheme.

For TV, Eva is developing SACRED ACTS an original drama idea which has director Ben A. Williams (Doctor Who and Sherwood) attached. Short film GRANDBOY about intergenerational love and supported by the BFI short film development fund will be shot in 2025. This is Eva’s second writer/ director project. Her recent theatre credits include THE BODY REMEMBERS about sexual violence against girls. CAKE AND CONDOMS for Open Clasp theatre, co-created with women who support female sex workers. TIGER MUM about black motherhood staged at VAULT Festival.

Eva won the Royal Society of Literature Matters Award to develop A MOTHER'S COURAGE. Her debut play LOOKED AFTER CHILDREN about the care system was nominated for the Alfred Fagon Award. The Pitch Fund awarded Eva the Lucy Scher prize for MATERNAL a short film script. Eva is a writer facilitator for the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain, CAYA Albany Theatre youth project and Routes Collective, a women’s refugee charity, an alumna of ´óÏó´«Ã½ London Voices and both Soho and Criterion theatre writer’s lab.

Represented by Emily Hickman at The Agency.

Paul Hunt

Paul Hunt is a writer from the South Wales valleys. His scripts are often inspired by his 16-year career working for a learning disability charity, and his own struggles with PTSD and anxiety. Whilst dealing with serious issues, his work often balances the serious with warm and weird Welsh humour.

Paul is currently in development with Studio Crook on Wales-based crime drama, ASYLUM, and has a feature film TRISOMY-21 in development with Anyway Content/Metro International. In addition to original projects, Paul is keen to write for existing dramas.

He has written for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Wales’s WELCOME STRANGERS and in 2018 he directed a short documentary, A HIDDEN PORTRAIT for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two Wales and ´óÏó´«Ã½ iPlayer. The film explored the life of a man who spent 55-years in a learning disability hospital. His made-for-TV movie, DOUBLE TROUBLE was shot in Atlanta in 2024 and will be released via Reel One Entertainment in 2025.

Represented by Christina Pickworth at Imagine Talent.

James Ley

James Ley is an award winning writer living in Glasgow. James has just completed his debut funded short film SLEAZY TIGER produced by Hijack Productions and Lothian Films. He wrote and directed the hit stage play ODE TO JOY (HOW GORDON GOT TO GO TO THE NASTY PIG PARTY) (Stories Untold, Summerhall, Sydney Festival) which won a Scotsman Fringe First in 2022 and was nominated for a CATS Award (Critics Award for Theatre in Scotland) for Best New Play in 2023.

His other plays include WILF (Traverse Theatre), LOVE SONG TO LAVENDER MENACE (Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh, Summerhall, SoHo Playhouse, New York), HOLD ME CLOSER BUNNY BAXTER (Wonder Fools) and as co-writer, MAGGIE & ME (National Theatre of Scotland). A 2024 writer on attachment to the National Theatre Studio, James is a Peter Shaffer Commission awardee, under commission to the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh.

A BAFTA Connect member and EIFF Talent Lab alumni, James is developing several TV ideas and two feature films; LOVE SONG TO LAVENDER MENACE, directed by Savvas Stavrou, produced by Compact Pictures and funded by Screen Scotland and his debut feature as writer/director ODE TO JOY (HOW GORDON GOT TO GO TO THE NASTY PIG PARTY), funded by Short Circuit/BFI Network/Screen Scotland.

Represented by Kelly Knatchbull at Sayle Screen.

Cara Loftus

Cara Loftus is an Irish writer whose debut feature film SPILT MILK had its World Premiere in the 24th Just Film Festival, the biggest sub-festival of the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival. The screenplay was selected for the inaugural New Writing Scheme with Screen Ireland in 2019. Cara is currently developing two further feature films – HARMONY with Tailored Films, and an untitled historical drama with MK1 Studios, both supported by Screen Ireland.

For television, Cara has written an episode on the upcoming third season of HIDDEN ASSETS. Cara has been selected as a participant on multiple development schemes including the Puttnam Scholars Programme 2024, Storyhouse Lab 2024 and the Stowe Story Lab Writers Retreat 2023.

Cara began her career working as a researcher on award-winning documentary BLOOD FRUIT, before moving into production working freelance with Irish, UK and US studios spanning independent film, high end television and major motion pictures.

Marika McKennell

Marika McKennell is a part-Honduran, part-Jewish scriptwriter hailing from a working-class family in Camden, London.

Marika’s play E8 won a Fringe First Award at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2019. She is a graduate of the University of Cambridge (BA, MA Cantab), and Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (MA). She was a member of the Royal Court Writers’ Group, and served as a Resident Artist at the Roundhouse, 2018.

Marika’s work amplifies voices from the margins, bringing characters and stories from the peripheries to the fore, with empathy, care and humour. Marika writes for Theatre, film, TV and radio, and has a play touring the South West of England 2024. She is a member of the 2023-24 ´óÏó´«Ã½ Writers, Scripted Cohort.

Abiola Ogunbiyi

Abiola Ogunbiyi is a writer for film and television based in London.

She turned her hand to writing after working for over a decade as an actor on stage (Book of Mormon, Mamma Mia!) and screen (Jamestown, A Boy Called Christmas, Deadline); her writing often incorporates magic realism, dark comedy, and speculative fiction.

Her comedy short SEXELLENCE screened at festivals worldwide and won Best International Film at the Portland Comedy Film Festival, and Best Comedy Short at the Budapest Independent Film Festival.

Abiola was a finalist in the inaugural Netflix Screenwriters Fellowship, and was selected for ITV’s 2023 Comedy Writers Initiative, through which she wrote additional material for the ITV sitcom Piglets. She was also selected for the TorinoFilmLab’s SeriesLab 2024 programme.

Abiola is currently developing a feature film with Idris Elba's 22Summers & EbonyLife Media for Netflix, and has a sci-fi short film in development with Jam Tomorrow/Lux Aeterna.

Represented by Nick Fenwick at Curtis Brown.

Liv Parkinson

Liv Parkinson is a screenwriter and author from Liverpool whose work often delves into the issues facing young women, blending genres and twisting true events in a way which is both psychological and introspective.

Liv’s passion for writing began as a teenager, where her short play, A MODERN RETELLING OF FRANKENSTEIN, won a National Theatre Playwriting Competition and one of her short stories was selected as Runner-Up in a Short Story Competition run by Penguin. Shifting her focus to film, Liv wrote and produced several short films which were selected for BAFTA-qualifying festivals such as Encounters, Aesthetica and Galway. Liv’s short film, CUTTING, an exploration of weight cutting in combat sports, won a Royal Television Society Award.

Since then, Liv has written an animation as part of an anthology series with Nexus Studios and she currently has several original TV series ideas in development with Wall to Wall North, Mam Tor Productions, Route 24, Liberty Films and Mediapro Studios.

In addition to her screenwriting work, Liv’s debut novel will be released in 2025 as an Audible Original.

Paul Rigby

Paul Rigby is a working-class writer from the Wirral, whose work explores the human condition, often focussing on flawed, relatable characters in heightened worlds.

In 2022, Paul was selected to take part in the ´óÏó´«Ã½â€™s Write Across Liverpool development programme, producing a TV pilot from scratch – THE QUIET WORLD. A year earlier Paul’s first ever script, MALADAPTIVE, reached the shortlist stage of the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Writersroom – Comedy Script Room.

In 2023, Paul was part of a writing team that created SCUTTLED, an original audio drama for Bamalam Productions, in collaboration with the Museum of London Archaeology, released in 2024.

More recently, he has been selected for New Writing North's Script Development Group 2024-5, as well as being chosen to take part in Dancing Ledge Productions’ 2025 Screenwriting Mentorship Scheme, writing an original TV Pilot under the mentorship of writer Helen Black.

Kenton Thomas

Kenton Thomas is a writer/director from Bradford, with a passion for exploring stories about underrepresented characters, particularly those who are working class and minority ethnic.

After training as an actor at RADA, he has been a member of the Royal Court Writers group and the Soho Theatre writers group.

Currently, Kenton has an animation project in development with Bright Little Labs and Warner Bros Discovery, and he recently completed his first feature-length documentary for ITV as both writer and director.

His one-man show, MY MAN, premiered at Camden People's Theatre and is now being adapted into a film with the support of the BFI.

In addition to his work in film, Kenton is an accomplished producer-director in television, working across factual and factual entertainment genres. He has also written and directed three short films that have won awards at festivals across the UK and Europe.

Chloe White

Chloe White is an Australian/Singaporean screenwriter based in London. She’s currently writing on the latest season of Gangs of London and on a new drama for Sky/New Pictures.

Chloe originally studied law with a Masters degree in human rights before crossing to the dark side and working for New York law firms with clients ranging from oligarchs to big pharma. Chloe later worked as the litigation manager for Formula 1 before ditching her legal career for an MA in Screenwriting at the NFTS.

Whilst at the NFTS Chloe wrote a short animation that premiered at Cannes (winning the Loreal Lights on Women award) and played at festivals around the world.

Chloe is represented by Alex Rusher at Independent Talent