Manchester-based theatre company Box of Tricks and Sky Studios’ Innovation Hub, based in Leeds, have teamed for the launch of the inaugural Screen/Play Award, an initiative to unearth exceptional writers from the North of England.
Focussed on talent from communities under-represented on stage and screen, the award will offer two writers with no TV writing experience a bursary to write a new play for Box of Tricks but also to open doors to the world of screenwriting by forging a development partnership with Sky Studios.
It’s open to Northern writers aged over 18 with no professional TV experience from the following communities: D/deaf, disabled and neurodivergent writers, LGBTQ+ writers, writers of colour, first generation migrant writers and writers from a low socioeconomic background.
Box of Tricks and Sky Studios are seeking stories that embrace the imaginative possibilities of each medium and reflect the world in which we live.
Applicants will be asked to submit a sample of writing along with a 500-word pitch about how they envisage developing their story into a both a play and a short screenplay.