Don't spare yourself the drama

As a Creative Writing student, one of the worst things about my course is being exposed to new mediums. Not that I dislike discovering new mediums - I just don’t like discovering new mediums, getting excited about them, then hitting the inevitable stumbling block of having no good ideas and no time to do anything anyway.

I knew nothing about radio drama apart from that it existed, until a lecture by BBC radio producer Peter Leslie Wild in November. Little did I know that radio drama is, as Roger Wood described yesterday, “the open door to new writing”, in a presentation that inspired me, as a student with aspirations of writing for a living, that I could enter a field with real opportunities.

Wood’s presentation focused mainly on pitching radio dramas to producers. I’m not planning on pitching any soon, but like anything in life, knowing the details makes it more approachable and real. Especially details like the lowest fee first-time writers can expect from a radio play (around £34 per minute).

Whilst I may never write a radio play of any description, knowing that a high-profile employer such as the BBC is supporting first-time writers through operations like Writers Room is greatly encouraging, not only to me, but to anybody who hopes to make a life out of writing.

Illustration by Red Imlah (2011)

Elliot Speight

How to earn more than £1,500 in 45 minutes

To all those lured to into reading this opening sentence by the above title, I have two words for you - Radio Drama. And trust me, £1500 is an absolute minimum.

The BBC are always looking for new writers to produce radio drama for them. It's BBC policy to commission work on Radio 3 and 4 by at least 40 new writers a year, and this target is always exceeded.

So what you do is you write a 45 minute script to be performed on radio, send it off to The Writer's Room on the BBC website and, if you're lucky enough to get an interview (BBC are very open to new, exciting work by inexperienced writers), you could be paid for writing radio scripts before you know it.

Now you might need to agree to do the first one for free but, once your foot is in the door, paid work will come rolling in. For a beginner writer, the minimum pay for a one-performance script is £34.40 a minute and for multiple performances it is at least £57, plus extra for attending the recordings. And the more you write, the more you earn. You should have seen the way neon pound signs lit up in all the eyes in the room.

So thank you, Roger Wood, for making me aware of the writing (and financial) advantages of becoming a radio script writer.


Alex Thompson