The exceptionally talented and handsome Oliver Warren is a screenwriter, director, and one of the judges in our Little Wonder Radio Play competition. Watch this space because in the not so distant future he’s going to be a big deal (we just slipped in before the feeding frenzy!)
In this short interview Oliver talks about his experiences as a writer/director, how the roots of storytelling can be found in everything from a script to a fashion shoot, and gives some advice on how to survive the tough old world of writing.
Click on “more” to get to the good stuff!
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I won a thing!
It was slightly surreal, but just as we were reaching peak activity with the Little Wonder Radio Play Competition I won a stage play competition. I’m certain that organising the first helped me with the second, although the two were quite different. Cité 27 wanted a 27-minute-long stage play, to be played in a 27m2 space, to an audience of 27 people, using only 3 actors. One of the organisers got in touch with me about 10 days before the deadline to say “hey, have you seen this, you should think about submitting”, and because I love a) a deadline and b) a brief, I said “sure, great.” The next day my wife went into labour.[i] Somehow, I managed to finish some sort of play and send it the day before the deadline.
A couple of weeks later I got a lovely email confirming my play had been selected. How? How could such a thing happen? Did I really write a winning play in a week at the same time as dealing with a new baby and very tired wife? Just how many chickens did I sacrifice to Satan?
Well, I can promise you that no chickens were harmed, and that it certainly had nothing to do with talent. But I do have some thoughts about what worked. Read on if you’d like to learn how to fluke your way through a play competition.
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How On Earth Did We Make a Radio Series – And How Can You Do It As Well?
The last episode of our 5-part sci-fi comedy Space Station Zeta released yesterday! This is a big deal for us, and I hope you’ll check it out. In this article I’ll talk about how we did it and how you can write your own – how to develop the initial idea, how writing a series is different from a one off, how to record your own series and the pros and cons of a series compared to one off plays.
Before that, you really should listen to the plays – first, there are major spoilers in the article, second, it’s funny, I promise! So here it is: Space Station Zeta, All Five Episodes, about intelligence, love, and Chairman of the Federation Ronald Dump. Once you’ve listened, come back after the break to find out how to do it yourself.
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A lot of people scoff at Science Fiction. They think it’s all spaceships and silly robots.[i] But writing Science Fiction can make you a better writer, because it encourages you to consider elements of your work that are more easily ignored when writing straight fiction or other genres. This article, which is adapted from an email I sent to the writing team developing next seasons productions for Little Wonder Radio Plays, describes three key reasons why you should try Science Fiction to become a better writer.
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Are you too busy to be funny?
I’m stupendously busy. This is a good thing for a writer. Part of the reason why this true will come out in a blog post tomorrow (exciting!) Another is that I’m writing about five different plays at once and my head is exploding. That’s ok, I can do this, but I’ve run into a problem: at least two of the plays must be comedies, but for me everything starts with drama. So, what the hell to do? How do you make a funny character when you have exactly 30 minutes writing time before you have to switch projects? Fear not – this guide will show you one approach to understanding what makes a character funny. Read on.
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