Review by Sara Torres
‘BBC Ears to the Ground’ was an eye-opening experience not only for me as a Journalism student, but for all those who were present on the evening.
The talk on Tuesday was led by Kate Chapman, Drama lecturer here at DMU, and she started by introducing Justine Potter who is a Development Producer for BBC Writers Room North and Midlands.
Potter was an interesting and attention-grabbing woman. She started by telling us what the Writers Room was all about and how we should submit scripts into it.
“We get a good sense if a script is good by page 10. So, start with the moment where everything changes for your character instead of starting with introductions,” said Justine.
She also took us through events and festivals for writers and some important members of the Writers Room. Plus, we learnt about the great series they produce – some of them we watch on our telly every week!
It was fascinating to find out that shows like ‘Boy Meets Girl’ started with a simple submission to their website.
In the second part of the session, we were introduced to Amanda Whittington, award winning playwright who is currently writing drama for BBC Radio 4.
She took us through her work and gave us some insight on what it is like adapting plays to radio.
She explained why radio is important and how we can make the most of our scripts.
“On radio, you can get inside your character’s head. It has a sort of intimacy about it,” explained Amanda.
The overall feeling of the talk was the importance of radio for our careers, despite what we might think.
As Justine said: “Radio is the most exciting to write for. It’s just a joy.”
So was this evening.
