The blog for the Irish Playwrights and Screenwriters Guild has moved location to become integral to the Guild's web site.
There will be no more posts at this location, and we would ask any of our blog subscribers to change their feeds to the new feed for the web site.
Many thanks for your continuing support!
The winner of this year's RTÉ Storyland competition is:
Zombie Bashers, written by Stephen Shields and directed by Conor McMahon.
The Irish Theatre Institute recently launched Playography na Gaeilge, a comprehensive online database of Irish language plays premièred from 1975 - 2009.
The database currently contains detailed information on a total of 256 plays by playwrights including Éilís Ní Dhuibhne, Liam Ó Muirthile, Alan Titley, Antoine Ó Flatharta, Darach Ó Scolaí and Joe Steve Ó Neachtain.
The freely accessible and searchable website includes translations and adaptations by writers such as Seán Mac Mathúna, Gerard Humphreys, Michael Harding and Gearóid Ó Cairealláin and includes work produced by companies past and present specialising in Irish language plays including Aisling Ghéar, Branar, An Damer and An Taibhdhearc.
The launch of Playography na Gaeilge marks a significant development for Irish Theatre Institute's Irish Playography resource.
Offaly Local Authorities (Offaly County Council, Tullamore, Birr and Edenderry Town Councils) is inviting visual artists, musicians, writers, filmmakers, dance artists, drama practitioners, etc to be selected onto a panel for potential public arts commissions. This invitation will remain open on a continuous basis until the end of 2012.
We intend to maximize the Government’s ‘Per Cent for Art Scheme’ to create innovative and original high quality public experiences in the arts for those residing in and visiting Offaly. We will commission artworks that reflect the distinctiveness of a locality and people and which will build upon our guiding principles of quality, inclusiveness, accessibility and long-term value.
At this stage, a schedule of commissions has not been finally decided; therefore this is not an exercise in matching artists to particular predetermined schemes.
It is not a prerequisite that you have previously engaged in community practice; your work may not be relevant to this particular field. However it is envisaged that the majority of commissions will involve a level of community engagement.
The ‘Per Cent for Art Scheme’ will operate as resources allow and it is envisaged that this panel will remain in place for commissions to take place from 2010 until the end of 2012.
Inclusion on the panel does not guarantee subsequent inclusion on a shortlist, or any commission or remuneration for the artist in question.
Applicants should note that a second stage process of selection will take place, involving the evaluation of shortlisted panellists, as projects arise.
The Boyle Arts Festival is now accepting submissions of unpublished one-act plays with a maximum length of 15 minutes from amateur playwrights for its inaugural Brass Shillelagh Drama Award.
Five winning finalists will be selected to perform on the night of Saturday 31st July during the Boyle Arts Festival.
You will be required to stage the play with your own cast. You need to have your own props On the final night an overall winner will be selected based on the performance and the transformation from script to stage.
By using your own cast you can realize and perfect your vision.
We will provide
The audience, the Judges, advertising, prize money of €300 to the winner, €50 to the four runners up and the prestigious Brass Shillelagh itself.
Voting is now open in the last round of the RTÉ Storyland competition to determine the winner.
The final two projects are:
The Irish Language Broadcast Fund is extending its deadline for receipt of drama development proposals to Friday the 28th of July.
(Deadline for receipt of applications for the second ILBF funding round 2010 in all other genres remains 12 noon Friday the 28th of May.)
ILBF development funding is available for a new drama series (6 -10 half hour episodes). The series should be character driven with strong storylines, a contemporary setting consisting of a realistic situation where Irish would be used. The series should be aimed at as wide an audience as possible.
Production companies with suitable experience in drama production - experience in production of Irish language and/or low budget drama especially welcome - should contact commissioning executives at BBC NI (Antaine Ó Donnaile) & TG4 (Máire Ní Chonláin) and the Head of the ILBF ahead of the deadline to discuss potential ideas and the commissioning process before submitting applications.
Please include in your application a brief synopsis of the proposed series including the following details:
The Galway Film Fleadh Pitching Award is now open for submissions.
The pitch should be a 500-word story idea for the screen, and each entry is reviewed by a panel selected from the film industry. The best five are short-listed.
The five writers are contacted and invited to present their pitch to a panel of judges. This takes place in front of an audience during the Galway Film Fleadh.
The winner of the competition receives €3,000, and the attention of the industry.
The deadline for applications is Friday 18th June 2010 and further details are available on the website. Each entry must be accompanied by a €30 fee.
The Yale Drama Series Prize for Emerging Playwrights is a major new international playwriting competition.
The winner of the annual competition is awarded the David C. Horn Prize of $10,000, publication of his/her manuscript by Yale University Press, and a staged reading at Yale Rep. The Yale Drama Series and David C. Horn Prize are funded by generous support from the David Charles Horn Foundation.
Submissions must be original, unpublished full-length plays written in English. Translations, musicals, and children’s plays are not accepted. The Yale Drama Series is intended to support emerging playwrights. Playwrights may win the competition only once.
Submissions for the 2011 Competition must be postmarked no earlier than June 1 and no later than August 15, 2010.
More information on the rules of the competition and how to enter are on the web site.
Each year the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation awards the Sir Peter Ustinov Television Scriptwriting Award.
The competition is designed to motivate non-American novice writers under the age of 30, and to offer them the recognition and encouragement that might lead to a successful career in television scriptwriting.
The winner will be flown to New York City to be presented with an award and a US$2,500 prize at the International Emmy World Television Festival on November 20, 2010. The winning script will be read by actors in front of an audience at the Festival, and the winner will be invited to take part in the red carpet festivities at the 38th International Emmy Awards on November 22, 2010.
To enter, you will need to create a completed half-hour to one-hour English-language television drama script suitable for a family audience.
The deadline is 1 July 2010, and an application form can be downloaded from the web site.
Irish Publishing News reports that Siobhán Parkinson has been announced by President Mary McAleese as Ireland's first Laureate na nÓg. She will hold the position for two years.
Established by a combination of the Arts Council, the Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Children’s Books Ireland and Poetry Ireland the Laureate will promote children’s literature and build engagement wit young readers. The role is also supported by Eason’s and by the Irish Times.
Parkinson writes for both children and young adults whose work has been translated in several languages. She has won the Bisto Book award as well as been shortlisted for that award and several others. Most recently she co- founded New Island’s children’s imprint, Little Island.
Pat Moylan, Chairman of the Arts Council, said, ‘The Arts Council is proud to initiate Ireland’s first laureate for children’s literature. Laureate na nÓg seeks to broaden and enrich young people’s imaginative worlds, to encourage a love of reading and to inculcate the value of literature among children and young people.’
The new laureate Siobhán Parkinson said, ‘I am thrilled and honoured to be chosen as the first Laureate na nÓg. I believe that children’s literature lays the foundations of the imaginative life of a people, and that every child deserves to have access to a reading haven — a well-stocked and well-run library in their school and in their community.’
Northern Ireland Screen has teamed up with Channel 4 and Touchpaper TV to host a special Coming Up event in Belfast on Wednesday 19th May.
Coming Up is the only talent scheme currently in the UK where emerging film-makers have the opportunity to make an authored drama with a guaranteed network broadcast.
Ben Stoll, Channel 4’s Coming Up commissioning editor, Elinor Day and Emma Burge, Touchpaper producers, will be in Belfast along with local writer Ronan Blaney, who wrote Boy one of the successful 2010 Coming Up films. Three of this year’s diverse 30 minute films will be screened, including Boy.
Applications are now open for Coming Up 2011, after the screening Ben will explain what Channel 4 is looking for. Emma and Elinor will discuss how the production works and Ronan will speak about his experience of the scheme. There will also be time to network following the event.
This is an excellent opportunity for writers and directors who are trying to break into the film and television industry.
The event is free of charge and Northern Ireland Screen strongly encourage all local writers, directors and emerging short and feature film makers to attend. Places are limited so please contact ursula@northernirelandscreen.co.uk as soon as possible to secure a place.
Date: Wednesday 19th May
Time: 6.00pm
Venue: Moviehouse Cinema, Dublin Road
Contact: ursula@northernirelandscreen.co.uk
Further information on Coming Up can be found here.
