Love this opportunity! Stephen Graham and Hannah Walters of Matriarch Productions and Phil Temple of Birdie Pictures have teamed up to establish an initiative to help writers from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds kickstart their careers and gain proper access to the TV industry with Grass Routes, a competition that’s for new and unrepresented, working class writers.

“We are driven by a passion to reform the system which holds back many talented, working class writers,” said the trio. “This will be a scheme that hopes not just to raise awareness of the issues, but to help in a practical way to change it, and to also challenge others in the industry to take steps themselves to address them.” 

The panel of judges will be Graham, Walters, Temple, Ashley Walters, Kayleigh Llewellyn, Lewis Arnold and Theresa Ikoko, with the winner of the Grass Routes writing competition receiving a prize of £5,000. Matriarch and Birdie will then pay a further amount to option the script. 

The writer will then develop their project with Matriarch and Birdie before pitching it to different buyers, getting their work seen by key decision makers and gaining invaluable insight into how the creative and business processes work within the scripted television industry. As part of the initiative, Matriarch and Birdie will also help the winning writer obtain an agent, and arrange meetings with other leading industry writers, directors, producers, script executives and commissioners, helping them grow their network of contacts so vital for a career as a writer in TV. 

The deadline for submissions is Monday 8th January 2024 

Temple had this to say:

“I have bemoaned the lack of working class voices in TV for a long time, so now is a good time to do something about it with brilliant, like-minded people.  I can’t wait to work with this team to find untapped talent.”

“Many industries are unrepresentative of wider society in regard to socio-economic background.  Nowhere is this truer than in creative professions, including television, where writers work on a freelance basis with no job security and no guarantee of income.” 

Walters and Graham added: 

“What an incredible opportunity to be able to give an undiscovered writer a platform to showcase their work, we feel this project is imperative to help move our industry forward and give voices a chance to truly be heard. So excited to see the wealth of talent that’s out there.” 

Interested? Head to either of the websites below, and I’ve added in a bit more guidance regarding what they’ll be looking for:

www.birdiepictures.co.uk

www.matriarch-productions.co.uk

How long should the script be:

We want to read script designed for TV and can be anything between 25 and 60 pages in length. Please send to us as a pdf document.

Do you need anything else:

We are also asking for a short outline (no more than a few pages) to explain more about the idea – where the story goes, why you want to tell it, is it intended as a limited series or one that can return, etc.

More importantly, please also tell us a little about yourself – your background, your passions, what drives you to tell stories and what your writing dreams are.

What kind of genres are you looking for:

Whatever you want.  Comedy, drama, horror – whatever shows your writing off the best.  Don’t think that just because this is for writers from disadvantaged backgrounds that it means your script has to reflect that.  It can if you want, but there should be no barriers to the subject matter or themes of your work.

Are there any other criteria that I need to meet in terms of my background, age, etc?

No, we don’t care how old you are, where you are from in the UK, or anything else. 

How do you define working class?

Good question, and one that we don’t want to write an essay about.  We trust you to self-identify.  However, as a point of reference we like the definition provided by the Manchester based charity Reclaim:

https://www.reclaim.org.uk/about-us

How do I submit?

Send by email to grassroutes@birdiepictures.co.uk