The Media School

Talent on Show in Screenwriting Showcase

7 April 2009

Showcase event highlights the screenwriting talent of recent BU graduates.

BU's graduate screenwriters have been challenged to "spread their talent wide and have a go at everything" by one of Britain's leading writers.

Alan Plater, one of the country's best-loved writers for television, radio and the stage, offered his advice after presenting the fifth annual prizes that bear his name to graduates from BU's MA in Screenwriting and BA (Hons) in Screenwriting for Film and TV.

The presentations came at the end of the University's annual Screenwriting Showcase held at London's Courtyard Theatre. A selection of work by graduates was dramatised on stage by professional actors. Scenes played out included one from a dark comedy about a woman's visit to hell in search of redemption and a horror featuring three children and their encounter with a blue man-like creature.

Plater arrived on stage to congratulate the two students who obtained the highest marks for their final screenwriting projects, Sheila West from the BA degree and Chris O'Malley from the MA.

Plater, a Visiting Professor at BU, is one of Britain's most prolific, original and entertaining writers. He is famous for writing the popular TV series Z Cars amongst a wealth of television and radio programmes as well as theatre and the cinema. He was awarded a CBE in 2005 in recognition of his services to drama.

"I wish both the winners and everyone else who is planning to set foot into the morass we call writing the best of luck", said Plater. "It's a wonderful life and certainly beats having a proper job".

Plater also reflected on the recent death of the writer John Mortimer who had inspired Plater throughout his career. Growing up in Hull, Plater studied Mortimer's early plays which he obtained from his local library.

"I would find one that I liked, dismantle it and try to figure out how it worked", said Plater. "That was my academy – do it yourself. The practical work I did was to write six lousy plays that nobody wanted and a seventh that crept onto the radio.

"What I actually learned from John Mortimer's plays can be summarised in one line – all that I know about writing I put into a play", Plater continued. "Where else could I put things? And what makes a play? All drama is the same – lots of little surprises and every so often a big one".

BU's Media School is firmly establish as a major training and education centre for the media industries. The School hosts the only Centre for Excellence in Media Practice in the UK (as designated by Higher Education Funding Council for England) and one of only two accredited Skillset Screen and Media Academies in the country.

The BA (Hons) in Scriptwriting for Film and Television, launched in 1993, was the first dedicated scriptwriting course in Europe. The MA in Screenwriting, launched in 2003, was the craft's first dedicated distance learning course. Both degrees at Bournemouth both receive accreditation from Skillset, the audio-visual industry's training body.

Later this year, BU will offer the country's first Master of Arts degree in Writing for the Media enabling graduates to prepare for careers in writing for film, television, radio and new media.