BBC Writer's Academy

Over at the BBC's Writer's Room John Yorke discusses the BBC's Continuing Drama Series Writer's Academy:

... which is a 3 month training course in writing for Continuing Drama Series, consisting of a number of workshops and lectures accompanied by intensive writing exercises and analysis. During this period, each writer will be commissioned to write a broadcast episode of Doctors.

After the initial training and the Doctors script, your work will be assessed. If you have reached the required standard for production on Continuing Drama Series you will begin the next phase of the training, writing a broadcast episode of Casualty, Holby and Eastenders in turn, spending approximately 12 weeks on each show.

The writers will be engaged by the BBC for 12 months on a non-exclusive basis, although the course will be a full time commitment.

A retainer of £400 a week will be paid during the 3 month initial training course.

The deadline for applications is 14 May 2007, and details about the application process can be found on the BBC Jobs page.