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Emilia di Girolamo: ‘It’s still really tough as a woman to get original work greenlit.’

All About Emilia Emilia di Girolamo is a British showrunner, screenwriter and executive producer of Anglo-Indian and Italian heritage. Bang2writers may know Emilia best for Law & Order UK, though she’s also worked on Eastenders, Medici: Masters of Florence and was Showrunner on The Tunnel. Her latest work is My Name Is Lizzie, which is out in 2021. It is a true story about the police officer (codename ‘Lizzie James’) who was asked to act as sexual ‘bait’ to trap a suspected murderer. In addition to being a screenwriter, Emilia has worked as a playwright and a novelist. She’s also worked… Read More »Emilia di Girolamo: ‘It’s still really tough as a woman to get original work greenlit.’

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Top 5 Mistakes Writers Make With Mental Health

All About Mental Health in Writing Good mental health is key in writing … not just for us as creatives, either! As writers we also need to represent mental health in authentic and meaningful ways in our writing too, as I described in my previous article on How To Challenge Stigma In Your Writing. So I’m delighted to welcome junior psychiatrist and author Rosie Claverton with some big NO-NOs and pitfalls to avoid in your scripts and novels. Over to you, Rosie … Mental Health Representations As we talk more about mental health, depictions of people with mental health problems… Read More »Top 5 Mistakes Writers Make With Mental Health

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How To Challenge Stigma In Your Writing

Stigma Subjects Stigma is defined in the dictionary as ‘a mark of disgrace or infamy; a stain or reproach, as on one’s reputation’. Sadly, there are many subjects and things that have a stigma attached, even in today’s more enlightened times.  Two such stigma subjects include suicide and rape, especially when it happens to young men. Did you know: That 84 men under the age of forty five in the UK take their lives per week? (Stats HERE). 75,000 men in the UK per year – yes, 75K! – were estimated to be sexual assault survivors, with 9K victims raped (or… Read More »How To Challenge Stigma In Your Writing

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5 Ways Transmedia Can Help Scriptwriters

Sofia’s Diary was a real inspiration to me when planning and creating the transmedia strategy for my Decision Book Series, so I was DELIGHTED when the show’s creator Nuno Bernardo approached me to write a guest post for B2W! This is a real treat for you Bang2writers on using the power of transmedia to engage your audiences, so enjoy! When I sat down to write Sofia’s Diary, my first Web series, back in 2003, I had no real scriptwriting experience, let alone transmedia writing experience. So, for me, it was always going to be a process of trial and error. As… Read More »5 Ways Transmedia Can Help Scriptwriters

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7 Tips On Sci Fi Arenas / Worldbuilding In Your Screenplay Or Novel

On Worldbuilding When it comes to worldbuilding and writing, I think this definition from Wikipedia is actually pretty good … Worldbuilding is the process of constructing an imaginary world, sometimes associated with a whole fictional universe. The resulting world may be called a constructed world (or conworld). Developing an imaginary setting with coherent qualities such as a history, geography, and ecology is a key task for many science fiction or fantasy writers. Worldbuilding often involves the creation of maps, a backstory, and people, including social customs and even in some cases an invented language, for the world. So with this… Read More »7 Tips On Sci Fi Arenas / Worldbuilding In Your Screenplay Or Novel

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9 Steps To Get Your Spec TV Pilot Written, Edited & Sent Out …

Writing, Editing & Submitting Your Spec TV Pilot Writing a spec TV pilot? Lots of writers are! Whilst many spec TV pilots **end up** great, their writers often tie themselves up in terrible knots getting them written, slowing themselves down, especially when they often send out works in progress, left, right and centre AS WELL. Yet it needn’t be this way, with just a little more preparation at foundation level. So here’s my 9 steps on how to get YOUR polished killer spec TV pilot on the page AND out there … Step 1: Write your Series Bible Before you are able… Read More »9 Steps To Get Your Spec TV Pilot Written, Edited & Sent Out …

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Starting NOW: Lizzie’s Diary, on Twitter & Facebook

So … in case you’ve been hiding under a rock or visiting Outer Space in the last few weeks, you’ll know I have a novel out, called THE DECISION: LIZZIE’S STORY, which was published yesterday and is now available on Amazon. It’s the first in The Decision Book Series, in which a female protagonist is faced with a dilemma and ALL its possible consequences. The second in the series, JASMINE’S STORY will be out later in the year. In LIZZIE’S STORY, teenager Lizzie will have to deal with an unexpected pregnancy and will live through ALL its potential outcomes in… Read More »Starting NOW: Lizzie’s Diary, on Twitter & Facebook

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7 Ways To Name Your Characters

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet.”  Names. They’re important. They’re not important. It depends. For me, names are important. I spent a long time choosing my children’s. I had various reasons for this and the names I chose (and I did choose them all; my Husband had power of veto, but we came to the agreement I carried the babies, so I named them. And no, don’t feel sorry for him – he suggested this!). Ultimately, I wanted a name for each of the children with a meaning… Read More »7 Ways To Name Your Characters

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Unusual Characters Make Great Drama OR 5 Reasons I’m Loving Eastenders Right Now …

Danny Dyer as Mick Carter in Eastenders – download the criminally underrated DEVIATION screenplay, here! As anyone who follows me on Twitter knows, I’m a big fan of both Eastenders and Danny Dyer, so to see the two of them combined is a real treat for me. And I totally loved last night’s episode when Johnny “came out” to his father Mick (played by Danny Dyer), which set Twitter alight. I’m not surprised; it was really poignant and well drawn. Make sure you catch up on the iPlayer, especially if you’re cynical about Danny’s ability to convey emotion. You’ll be… Read More »Unusual Characters Make Great Drama OR 5 Reasons I’m Loving Eastenders Right Now …

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10 Ways To Kill Your Writing Career DEAD (And 3 Great Clues To Improving Your Chances)

This week I’m turning over the blog to narrative structure goddess Linda Aronson for some tough love  … She’s definitely given me a run for my money in the “smack talk” stakes! Thanks Linda 😉 1.    Impersonate what you think is “writerly” behaviour. I was once in an elevator at a very prestigious film school with some students. They were unaware who I was, and quite unselfconsciously they started to discuss their major graduation piece, a short film, due very shortly.  None of them had properly started it. One had an aunt who, he claimed, was quite a funny character… Read More »10 Ways To Kill Your Writing Career DEAD (And 3 Great Clues To Improving Your Chances)

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Round Up: Things I’ve learnt from TV…

If you follow me on Twitter or are a member of Bang2writers on Facebook, you will have seen my “Things I’ve learnt from TV” posts all this morning – and indeed others’ contributions too! Some of these are strictly tongue-in-cheek, but others are quite interesting as they reveal lazy and/or cliched ideas relating to characters, their motivations or even plot devices. Mine are those without the @ signs – if you like others’ ideas, why not look them up on Twitter or Facebook? Check out the round up: … ABOUT PEOPLE: Women only find bastards who treat them badly sexually… Read More »Round Up: Things I’ve learnt from TV…

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Guest Post: Writing for Soaps and Television Drama Series by Yvonne Grace

NO SPOILERS PRESENT It’s the 50th Anniversary of Corrie tonight – and *that* infamous tram crash is coming! I for one CANNOT WAIT… Coronation Street has been my favourite soap since I was a little child – and it’s possibly my favourite TV programme, full stop. The brilliance of Corrie is it’s all about the characters – nowhere on television can I find characters, esepcially women, I identify with as much. Can’t wait to see what the response of the current cast – Rita, Emily, Molly, Deirdre, Leanne, Carla and especially the fabulous Becky. On this basis then, when the… Read More »Guest Post: Writing for Soaps and Television Drama Series by Yvonne Grace

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