the writers’ guild awards · the bbc, itv, national theatre, royal court and royal shakespeare...

The Royal College of PhysiCians11 St Andrews Place,

Regent’s Park, London NW1 4LE

MoNdAy 15 JANUARy 2018

P R o g R a M M e

The Writers’ Guild of Great Britain is a trade union registered at 134 Tooley Street, London SE1 2TU

@TheWritersGuild

www.writersguild.org.uk

#wggbawards

THE WRITERS’ GUILD AWARDS

isn’t it great to be in a roomful of your peers? To a man and woman, professional liars. and in a post-truth world, is it any surprise that we are in a golden age of writing? The more life outside is disappointing, the more beautiful and necessary the cabaret becomes. This year we have games that model mental illness, radio plays that give voice to the voiceless, television shows that examine painfully buried secrets and offer surprising new visions of the past. We have a revived Best first novel award and an entirely new category, Best online Comedy, a welcome recognition that great talent doesn’t wait for permission.

In every category the number of potential worthy nominees has been almost overwhelming, so it really is a tremendous

achievement to be on the shortlist, let alone to win. Congratulations to you and thanks to all our juries who have laboured mightily to pick the best of the best.

Making this evening possible is a group of spectacular organisations and companies who work with writers year round but have given us their support tonight to honour you, the writers. Huge thanks to our lead sponsor ALCS, to major sponsors ITV, BBC drama and BBC Worldwide, to Company Pictures, Silver Reel, Nick Hern Books and Lionsgate. If you meet a sponsor tonight please praise them, love them – in a non-threatening, appropriate manner – appreciate them as best you can.

have a wonderful evening.

olivia hetreed WggB President

PRESIdENT’S WELCoME

HISToRy oF THE AWARdS

Since they were established in 1961, the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain Awards have been honouring the cream of British writers and writing. The Awards also recognise the importance of our work in preserving freedom of speech, and championing writing as an essential part of our national and international culture.

Previous winners include:

danny Boyle Richard Curtis Jo Brand Matthew Vaughn dawn French

Jimmy McGovern Lynda La Plante Anthony Minghella Roddy doyle Jennifer Saunders

Alan Bennett Tom Stoppard Steve McQueen Kay Mellor Russell T. davies

THANK yoU To ALL oUR SPoNSoRS

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Welcome to the Writers’ guild awards 2018.

THE WRITERS’ GUILD AWARDS

@TheWritersguild #wggbawards T H E W R I T E R S ’ G U I L d A W A R d ST H E W R I T E R S ’ G U I L d A W A R d S @TheWritersguild #wggbawards

LEAd SPoNSoR

PRoGRAMME oF EVENTS

6.30pm Champagne and canapés reception

7.00pm Welcome by WGGB President olivia Hetreed

THE WGGB 2018 AWARdS CEREMoNy Hosted by Vicki Pepperdine

Best online Comedy

Best Long Running TV Series

Best Writing in a Video Game

Best Children’s TV Episode

Best Radio Comedy

Best Long Form TV drama

Best First Novel

Best First Screenplay

Remembering WGGB members

Best Radio drama

Best Play for young Audiences

Best Play

Best Screenplay

Best TV Situation Comedy

Best Short Form TV drama

outstanding Contribution to Writing

9.00pm Celebration drinks and canapés

11.00pm Bar close & carriages

T H E W R I T E R S ’ G U I L d A W A R d S @TheWritersguild #wggbawards

The Writers’ Guild of Great Britain (WGGB) is the TUC-affiliated trade union representing professional writers in TV, film, theatre, radio, books, poetry, comedy, animation and videogames.

our members also include emerging and aspiring writers (known as our Candidate Members).

We have been negotiating better pay and working conditions for writers since 1959. The national agreements we have in place cover key employers, including the BBC, ITV, National Theatre, Royal Court and Royal Shakespeare Company.

We have attracted high-profile members throughout our 58-year history, and continue to do so today. Their names include, among many others: screenwriters Steven Moffat, Mike Leigh, Kay Mellor, Emma Thompson and Paul Laverty; playwrights Tom Stoppard, April de Angelis, Laura Wade and Mike Bartlett; authors Tony Robinson, Stella duffy, Sandi Toksvig and david Nicholls.

We lobby and campaign on behalf of writers, to ensure their voices are heard in a rapidly changing digital landscape, and we wield influence over politicians in Westminster, Brussels, Holyrood, Cardiff Bay and beyond.

We offer a range of benefits to our members, including free training, contract vetting, a pension scheme, Welfare Fund, entry to our Find A Writer directory, a weekly ebulletin, plus member-only events and discounts.

ABoUT WGGB

Perhaps the best example of reach into the new economy is the well-established Writers’ Guild of Great Britain which goes some way to bringing worker representation to the expanding online world, videogames and creative content of all sorts.”

Journalist, academic, banker and former Blair speechwriter Philip Collins, writing on ‘tomorrow’s trade unions’ in ideas magazine Prospect

BECoME A MEMBER

We welcome all professional writers working in the fields we represent, and have a variety of membership options, including one for aspiring/emerging writers (Candidate Members) and Affiliate Members.

you can join online at www.writersguild.org.uk or by phoning our membership team on 0207 833 0777

The Future of UK Television Writing in Leeds was just one of many events organised by WGGB in 2017Photo: Paul Harness Photography

““


in Television...

Writers digital Payments, set up by WGGB and the Personal Managers’ Association, ensures writers get paid whenever their work is shown online. Since the scheme was established in 2015, Writers digital Payments has paid out over £2 million to writers whose work has been shown on BBC iPlayer and ITV Player.

We negotiate regular fee increases for writers working under our national agreements with the BBC, ITV and Pact.

We work collectively with other unions to combat bullying, harassment by managers and colleagues as part of the Creating Without Conflict campaign. our Free is NoT an option campaign tackles the issue of unpaid development work in film and TV.

Alongside sister unions BECTU and the NUJ, we have boycotted the broadcasters’ Project diamond diversity initiative, until the broadcasters release programme-level data.

in TheaTRe...

We negotiate fee increases for playwrights working under our agreements with the Independent Theatre Council, UK Theatre and TNC (Royal Court, Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre).

We organise the annual olwen Wymark Theatre Encouragement Awards.

We organise an annual Literary Managers’ Forum to discuss issues directly with theatres and touring companies.

our Welsh branch has called on the Arts Council of Wales to carry out a full review of the lack of opportunities for playwrights working in the Welsh language.

ACHIEVEMENTS IN 2017

in filM...

We have gained funding for a major survey on gender equality in the film and TV industries, which will form the basis of a campaign.

We have run a series of free, exclusive WGGB member film screenings, and offered members the chance to attend film premieres, including Q&As with writers, directors and leading cast members.

We have started work on revising our film agreement with Pact.

our ‘locked box’ deal with the British Film Institute (BFI) ensures that writers now get a share (alongside producers and directors) of recouped income from feature films supported with Lottery Funding through the BFI Film Fund (and held in a ‘locked box’ for reinvestment in the British film industry).

in RaDio...

We have negotiated special fees for the Home Front Radio 4 drama serial.

We meet regularly with the BBC to raise issues on pay and conditions for radio writers, which are enshrined in our national agreements.

We launched a new series of Radio drama Roadshows around the UK.

We organise the annual Tinniswood audio drama script award, alongside the Society of Authors, which is presented at the BBC Audio drama Awards.

in BooKs...

our Books Committee represents poets and non-fiction writers as well as writers of prose and deals with various issues of relevance to them.

We have supported libraries, museums and galleries against devastating cuts.

We have launched the new Best First Novel Writers’ Guild Award.

in aniMaTion...

We have revised our Guidelines for Animation Writers and have produced a best-practice guide for industry professionals in collaboration with the Personal Managers’ Association.

Children’s animation scriptwriters are now eligible for the WGGB pension.

in viDeogaMes…

We hold events, including an annual panel event with the International Game developers Association.

in CoMeDy…

The newly formed Comedy Committee has launched the Best online Comedy Writers’ Guild Award and held an event on sitcom writing with comedy legends Marks and Gran.

WGGB continues to offer its members free screenings of current and upcoming film releasesPhoto: shutterstock.com/KEN226

We have been working across all our craft areas to protect writers’ rights during the Brexit negotiations.


SHoWREEL FoR oNE WoRd oR LESS PARTS

Marek Larwood

A HARd BRExIT

Barney Fishwick and Will Hislop

MEET THE CITy BoyS SECRETLy VoTING FoR CoRByN!

Gabriel Bisset-Smith

BEST oNLINE CoMEdy

EMMERdALE, EPISodE 7699 “INSIdE THE MINd oF dEMENTIA”

Maxine Alderton

CoRoNATIoN STREET, EPISodE 9251

damon Alexis-Rochefort

HoLBy CITy, SERIES 19, EPISodE 2 “RoCKET MAN”

Peter Mattessi

BEST LoNG RUNNING TV SERIES


BATTLEFIELd 1

Steven Hall, Zachary Betka, Mark Bristol, Matt Gibbs, Justin Villiers

SUBSURFACE CIRCULAR

Mike Bithell

HELLBLAdE: SENUA’S SACRIFICE Tameem Antoniades and Elizabeth Ashman-Rowe

BEST WRITING IN A VIdEo GAME

CoUNTERFEIT CAT “RooM oF PANIC”

Tim Bain

BEST CHILdREN’S TV EPISodE

CoUNTERFEIT CAT “SARdoNIANS oF THE GALAxy”

Ciaran Murtagh and Andrew Jones

THE WoRST WITCH “THE MISTS oF TIME” Nick Leather


BEST RAdIo CoMEdy

BEST LoNG FoRM TV dRAMA

BANG, EPISodE 1

Roger Williams

TABoo

Chips Hardy, Steven Knight, Ben Hervey and Emily Ballou

LINE oF dUTy, SERIES 4

Jed Mercurio

SARAH KENdALL: AUSTRALIAN TRILoGy “A dAy IN oCToBER”

Sarah Kendall

JoHN FINNEMoRE’S doUBLE ACTS, SERIES 2, EPISodE 4 “PENGUIN dIPLoMACy”

John Finnemore

KEVIN ELdoN WILL SEE yoU NoW, SERIES 3, EPISodE 1 “TARQUIN ANd THE TINy STUdIo” Kevin Eldon, Jason Hazeley and Joel Morris


UNdER THE SHAdoW

Babak Anvari

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAy

JAWBoNE

Johnny Harris

God’S oWN CoUNTRy

Francis Lee

BEST FIRST NoVEL

ToWARdS MELLBREAK

Marie-Elsa Bragg

MoNTPELIER PARAdE

Karl Geary

THE BUREAU oF SECoNd CHANCES Sheena Kalayil


WggB stalwart Rosemary anne sisson, distinguished author and scriptwriter, sadly died in 2017 aged 93.

Sisson was a former President of the WGGB (1995-99) and Co-Chair with Bruce Stewart (1978-80).

She was best known for her work on The Duchess of Duke Street, and also contributed scripts for The Six Wives of Henry VIII, Upstairs Downstairs, The Bretts and many other TV series as well as several plays and novels.

In 1974, she became the first female full member of the dramatists’ Club. She was an enthusiastic attender of the club’s meetings and wrote a history of the organisation on its 100th anniversary in 2009.

Co-Chair of the WGGB Theatre Committee David Edgar said of Sisson: “I first met her while trying to negotiate an amalgamation between the Writers’ Guild and the Theatre Writers’ Union, which she fiercely opposed (on the grounds that the TWU didn’t have a professional entry qualification). However, once we had agreed terms and joined the Guild, we got on famously. She was a robust defender of writers’ rights and both the profession and the Guild will miss her.”

WGGB Chair Gail Renard said: “Rosemary Anne, or Romy as she was known to all who loved her, was a dear friend and gentle mentor. When I first joined the Writers’ Guild as a young writer,

she was determined that more women’s voices be heard in the industry as well as on our own committees. It was Romy who first suggested that I join the TV Committee, nudged me towards the EC and became head cheerleader when I was elected Chair.

“As a former Chair and President, Romy remained interested in all aspects of the Writers’ Guild and attended AGMs until two years ago. No one knew our Rule Book better than her. She was the first person I ran to with Guild news and gossip and, most importantly, wise counsel. All writers have a lot to thank her for. Rosemary Anne will be missed by many people, including me.”

Current WGGB President olivia Hetreed described Sisson as “a wonderful person, dauntless in pursuit of principle and splendidly unflagging in spite of her years. She kept us all up to the mark. A loss to the Writers’ Guild and writing.”

Both these obituaries are edited extracts and appeared on the WGGB website in 2017: www.writersguild.org.uk/category/obituaries

REMEMBERING WGGB MEMBERS

during the ceremony we will also pay tribute to other members we have lost during the past year

alan simpson was half of one of Britain’s most important comedy writing partnerships. alan was born in Brixton and his bad luck was contracting tuberculosis at the age of 17. his good luck was being put in a ward with the teenage Ray galton. The two of them became instant soulmates, and friends for life, and during their two years of recovery, the writing team of galton and simpson was born. (alan is pictured on the left, with Ray).

The post-war comedy world in Britain was one of snappy patter and one-liners. From the start Ray and Alan were only interested in developing recognisable characters in everyday surroundings. At a time when the British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan said, “you never had it so good”, Ray and Alan wrote about people who never had it, full stop.

Their characters and storylines could make you laugh so hard you’d hug yourself, but also had depth. In 1954, Ray and Alan created Hancock’s Half Hour, first a successful radio series, later transferring to telly. Their star was comedian Tony Hancock but their creation was Anthony Aloysius St John Hancock, a pretentious failed actor, living in shabby, bomb-scarred 23 Railway Cuttings in East Cheam.

I discovered an old Hancock LP when I was 11 and read the sleeve notes: Hancock’s “residence is situated in the Borough of East Cheam, pop. 73,684 (1931.) Rates in the pound, nine and three… Schools, none. Churches one. Pubs two hundred and sixty seven.”

This was a far cry from “Take my wife – please!” Even as a child, I knew I wanted to be in comedy.

After reading that cover, I knew I didn’t want to be a performer like Tony Hancock, but a writer like Ray and Alan. I never dreamt I’d end up being their friend and also telling them that story.

Ray and Alan’s other hit series was Steptoe and Son, which ran from 1962-1974. It was about father and son rag-and-bone men, Albert and Harold, living in a junk yard, tied together more by need and desperation than love. It was a time of social realism and Galton and Simpson’s work reflected Britain as much as Cathy Come Home did.

Alan used his success to make conditions better for all writers – he was a WGGB stalwart and sat alongside Jimmy Perry and denis Norden on the Writers’ Guild’s Television Committee, fighting for writers’ pay and rights.

Ray and Alan also joined forces with Spike Milligan, Eric Sykes, Frankie Howerd and Johnny Speight to form a writer’s co-op agency, Associated London Scripts. Beryl Vertue started as their typist and, not surprisingly, ended up running the whole shebang.

Apart from his writing, Alan loved French food and wines, driving in his Rolls-Royce and eating his way around France. He was a passionate football supporter and proud President of Hampton & Richmond Borough Football Club for many years.

Rosemary anne sisson: 1923-2017

alan simpson: 1929-2017

By WggB Chair gail RenardRosemary Anne Sisson pictured with former WGGB General Secretary Bernie Corbett

Alan Simpson (left)


THE MESSENGER Mike Kenny

THE HoST Nessah Muthy

HoW To BE A KId Sarah Mcdonald-Hughes

BEST PLAy FoR yoUNG AUdIENCES

BLood, SEx ANd MoNEy By EMILE ZoLA, SEASoN 3, MoNEy “REAP” Lavinia Murray

BEST RAdIo dRAMA

THE THINGS WE NEVER SAId Ming Ho

RoMANCE IS dEAd Ben Lewis


THE FERRyMAN Jez Butterworth

THE CHILdREN Lucy Kirkwood

BARBER SHoP CHRoNICLES Inua Ellams

BEST PLAy

THE oLIVE TREE Paul Laverty

THEIR FINEST Gaby Chiappe

MISS SLoANE Jonathan Perera

BEST SCREENPLAy

Photo: Marc Brenner


BEST TV SITUATIoN CoMEdy

INSIdE No. 9 “THE BILL”Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith

BACKSimon Blackwell

THIS CoUNTRy daisy May Cooper and Charlie Cooper

WAITING FoR ANdRE Neil Forsyth

BEST SHoRT FoRM TV dRAMA

THREE GIRLS Nicole Taylor

THE WITNESS FoR THE PRoSECUTIoN Sarah Phelps

T H E W R I T E R S ’ G U I L d A W A R d S @TheWritersguild #wggbawards @TheWritersguild #wggbawards T H E W R I T E R S ’ G U I L d A W A R d S

a big thanks to our host for this evening, vicki Pepperdine.

like the guild itself, the Writers’ guild awards could not happen without the work and dedication of a large number of volunteers, most of them not only very busy writers but also active guild members. Reading, listening to and viewing many, many hours of wonderful (and not so wonderful) work to select short lists; organising juries and voting; planning, scripting and preparing for this evening.

our grateful thanks go to: Maxine Alderton, david Allison, Gabbie Asher, Perrie Balthazar, Laura Beaumont, Nancy Boulicault, Edel Brosnan, Karin Brown, Greg Buchanan, Amelia Bullmore, Abigail Burdess, dave Cohen, Fleur Costello, Clive dawson, Richard deakin, Samantha doland de Vaux, Cara Ellison, Robert Farquhar, Helen Farrall, Lucy Flannery, Neil Forsyth, William Gallagher, Andrea Gibb, Brenda Gilhooly, Henrietta Hardy, Sian Harries, Lisa Holdsworth, James Hughes, Alison Hume, Shai Hussain, Mark Illis, Vicky Ireland, david James, darren Jones, Jayne Kirkham, Jane Lamacraft, Line Langebek, Matt Leys, Simon Littlefield, Anji Loman-Field, david Mcdermott, Caroline Mitchell, Joel Morris, Simon Nicholson, Lesley-Clare o’Neill, Luke openshaw, Phil o’Shea, Becky overton, Julie Parsons, Jane Pearson, Richard Pinner, Carrie Quinlan, Gail Renard, Ali Rutherford, Rebecca Stevens, Kay Stonham, Corinne Sweet, Nathaniel Tapley, Chris Trengrove, Ben Ward, Katharine Way,

Phil Whelans, Amanda Whittington, Lindsay Williams, Tom Williams, olivia Wood, Nick yapp, Karin young Also to the superb, resourceful and ever-positive Guild staff: Ellie Peers, Kate Glasspool, Rose Cooney, John Sailing.

To our superb publicity team: Communications Manager Sarah Woodley, Tom Green, Premier PR and photographer Matt Writtle.

And finally, thanks to Ali Welsh, who herds cats for relaxation.

Event team: Ali Welsh, Claire James. Production by Production Plus.

design by Savage and Gray.

olivia hetreed WggB President

THANKS

@TheWritersguild #wggbawards T H E W R I T E R S ’ G U I L d A W A R d S

The Writers’Guild

Awards

THE WRITERS’GUILD AWARDS

THEWRITERS’GUILD

AWARDS

The Writers’ Guild of Great Britain 1st Floor, 134 Tooley Street, London SE1 2TU

Tel: 020 7833 0777 Email: [email protected]

Web: www.writersguild.org.uk

Twitter: @TheWritersGuild; #wggbawards Facebook: www.facebook.com/thewritersguild

Programme design: savageandgray.co.uk

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#wggbawards

the writers’ guild awards · the bbc, itv, national theatre, royal court and royal shakespeare...

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