Local Drama: New Perspectives

BBCNORTHERN IRELAND

LOCAL DRAMA: NEW PERSPECTIVES

The BBC’s commitment to boosting and invigorating drama in the Nations has been enhanced with recent announcements about re-investment. The scale of the new local money available is modest – we want to use it to invest in up to three projects for producers, writers and directors. Our aims:

To use this opportunity to portray and represent Northern Ireland on screen in new ways.
To ensure our drama content reflectsmodernlife in Northern Ireland.
To find perspectives on life from writers who have perhaps not yet progressed to screen.
To continue our commitment to NI’s creative sector.

The Offer

We are looking for three 60-mindrama projects to develop into one-off specials or prequels, in association with Northern Ireland Screen. We are looking for drama that can sit comfortably on BBCOneNorthern Ireland. This is our mainstream channel attracting a wide, naturally diverse audience.We want to make an impact in the peak time schedule. This is not an initiative for niche or overly complex subjects. We are interested singles that do one or more of the following:

Create impact around a contemporary story -eg, Our Girl; A Song for Jenny – these need to be more than a re-telling of events, they need to have a unique perspective.
Create a showcase for the biggest and best NI acting and writing talent – eg, creating drama from David Park’s novel, The Truth Commissioner.
Disrupt the expected narrative about Northern Ireland –eg,Boogaloo and Graham.
Do something fresh, brilliantly written and unexpected – eg,Bad Day for the Cut; Marvellous.

We are particularly interested in original drama with a broad popular appeal. We are not looking for gritty crime drama or Troubles-related subject-matter. We are looking to develop precincts like Ballykissangeland contemporary characters like Doc Martin, or Happy Valley’sSergeant Catherine Cawood. Diversity in its varied forms is of key importance to us and we also want to reflect and represent a wide range of BBC audiences on screen. In addition, we are always interested in finding strong voices from among under-represented groups, in particular working class and female.

Terms

If successful, we envisage commissioning three stand-alone one-hour dramas. These may act as a prequel to a serial, and we are also looking to develop series ideas for the future. Our one-offs are within a factual tariff range. Please do not pitch ideas that cannot be realised within budget. The maximum budget from the BBC is £250,000, though we welcome projects that are able to attract additional incentive funding and finance partners.

We are looking for a plot outlineand treatment plus at least one sample scene – preferably more. We do not expect elaborate formatting but please see the useful guide at the BBC’s Writers Room:

Who Should Apply

We are offering access to both BBC Northern Irelandand Northern Ireland Screen for writers, producers and directors. We are interested in hearing great ideas from the widest range of people – you may be new to television but have a story you want to tell. You may be mid-career, experienced in other areas of life and ready for a new challenge. You may be writing successfully in another genre.This scheme is designed to nurture producers, writers and directors – we will offer development and the chance to learn from others in the sector. We particularly welcome proposals from under-represented groups including women writers and those with a disability.

Timescale

First call for ideas: 8th June 2017

First submission deadline: 8th August 2017 – offers to be submitted by email to

Longlist announced and additional feedback: early September 2017

Second deadline: 27th September 2017

Shortlisting: end September 2017

Decisions: mid-October 2017

For more information and for submissions, please contact BBCNI’s Commissioning Team Assistant, Linda McCarter: