World Productions Wales Writers' Award 2021 - Shortlisted Writers Announced

We are delighted to announce the seven writers (including one writing pair) shortlisted for the World Productions Writers’ Award 2021.

Along with a longlist of 15 writers, our shortlist have attended a workshop hosted by Laura Cotton, Head of Development, Wales for World Productions, Ben Irving, Commissioning Editor for BBC Drama in Wales and writer Roanne Bardsley, on the development and commissioning process with a particular focus on work in Wales.

Two writers will now be chosen for a paid opportunity to develop an original series idea with World Productions.

This scheme is run by World Productions in partnership with BBC Writersroom and BBC Drama Commissioning to search for the most exciting writers with a strong connection to Wales to develop bold, original drama and comedy-drama television series for BBC network broadcast.

If you would like further information about any of the writers, please feel free to contact writersroom@bbc.co.uk or their agent.

Clare Byrne started her career as a writer and director in theatre whilst studying for a BA in Politics at the University of Warwick. After which, she co-founded the theatre company Ginterval and went on to work in various theatre and TV jobs in London. In this time, she wrote several pilots and short films, including the short Y Mor, shot in Pembrokeshire. In 2018, she began developing a crime drama series with Germany's TV60 and Südhang Films. Recently, with the help of a BAFTA scholarship, she gained an MFA in Screenwriting from the University of Southern California. Clare spent the last year on location in Sweden, serving as an Associate Producer on showrunner Adi Hasak's upcoming psychological thriller series, The Box, starring Anna Friel. For which, she also co-wrote the final episode. She is currently back in Wales working, thanks to the powers of Zoom, with Hasak on several other TV shows whilst developing her own projects.

Zak Ghazi-Torbati & Kate Reid

Zak Ghazi-Torbati is a half-Iranian/half-Welsh actor, writer and lyricist. Growing up in Barry, South Wales, Zak studied with the Young Actors' Studio at the Royal Welsh College. Zak co-wrote and performed the comedy musical Hot Gay Time Machine alongside Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, writers of the musical SIX. The show originally debuted at the Edinburgh Fringe, where they won both the Eddies Award and the Brighton Fringe Award for Excellence. They subsequently won the LGBTQ+ Award at the Brighton Fringe 2018. The show went on to enjoy sold-out runs in the West End (Trafalgar Studios), Crazy Coqs, The Other Palace and Soho Theatre, London. Collectively, they have also written comedy songs for Courtney Act’s Christmas Extravaganza on Channel 4 and her most recent world theatre tour/concept album Fluid.

Most recently, Zak was runner-up for the David Nobbs New Comedy Writing Competition and is currently developing a pilot, The Other Half, for UKTV and TriForce Creative Network as a finalist of WriterSlam alongside Kate Reid.

Kate Reid is a writer/performer who trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Since graduating in 2018, she has co-founded the production company Plain Heroines and developed work for theatre and television. She has written and performed in A Girl, Standing (Theatre503), Refract (King’s Head Theatre), January (White Bear Theatre), The Cleaner (The Miniaturists at The Arcola), Entropy (Park Theatre Script Accelerator) and The 4th Country (VAULT Festival). She was a finalist for the Royal Court’s Lynne Gagliano Award 2019 and The 4th Country was a finalist for the Charlie Hartill Award 2020. The 4th Country is transferring to Park Theatre in January 2022. She was also a runner-up for the David Nobbs New Comedy Writing Competition, and was a finalist in SISTER and South Of The River Pictures’ inaugural SCREENSHOT Competition. She is currently developing a pilot, The Other Half, for UKTV and TriForce Creative Network as a finalist of WriterSlam with Zak Ghazi-Torbati.

Zia Holloway is an emerging television screenwriter represented by Emma Obank at Casarotto Ramsay and Associates. She is a Script Angel scholar and was a recent student of the NFTS Screenwriting MA. She has worked with a range of exciting production companies such as Bad Wolf and has original series in development with The Forge, The Ink Factory, and Studio 21. She has gained experience across a range of mediums including television, animation, and theatre. Zia specialises in writing drama, magical realism and sci-fi and her characterful writing has received praise for weaving the fantastical with the recognisable to create rich worlds and authentic stories.

Rebecca Ingram is a Writer and Creative Producer who creates compelling international high-end drama series set in particular worlds. Her work has been optioned by prominent international production companies, and currently has a supernatural series in development in Germany. Born of Welsh parentage, Rebecca has strong ties to her family and roots in North Wales, where she moves between there and Australia.

Her recent community crime drama Undercurrent - shortlisted for the Australian Writers Guild’s 2021 premier Monte Miller Award - is now in development with New Zealand production company Sweetshop & Green. In 2017 her work scored an Australian Directors Guild Fellowship to attend the U.S Stowe Story Lab, as well as shortlisted for AWG’s TV series competition, where she was inducted into the prestigious AWG’s ‘Pathways Program’.

In 2019 two of Rebecca’s crime series - Dog Box & Secret Threads - received significant development funding from Screen Australia and Screen New South Wales to work with some of Australia’s most exciting writers to develop her work. Her TV production credits as a Producer’s Assistant include shows such as Channel Nine’s 2019 highest ranking drama of the year Seachange, and the 2017 AACTA winning series Deadlock for ABC TV. She has also worked for several years as a Development Producer for Magpie Pictures productions.

Carys Lewis is a Welsh-Canadian BAFTA nominated writer and director. She recently directed a BBC Wales comedy pilot, VANDULLZ, and was the inaugural Filmmaker in Residence at Welsh National Opera, where she created a trilogy of films.

Carys is developing her directorial feature debut, Blue Mother, with the support of Ffilm Wales. She is co-writing a film and TV adaptation of How We Say I Love You, which recently advanced to the second round of the 2021 Sundance Screenwriters Lab. Carys is currently developing a half-hour dramedy, Black Male Baby, with CBC, and is working with Vortex Media on a buddy road trip movie, Sisterhood Crossing.

Her short film, Fluorescence, premiered at LFF and her BFI comedy, STUFFED, was nominated for a BAFTA Cymru award. Carys’ LGBTQ+ film, Afiach, premiered at the Iris Prize Festival. She will be directing an episode of CASUALTY later this year.

Carys divides her time between Cardiff and Toronto. www.caryslewis.com

Carol Vine is a screenwriter and playwright, based in Powys. She completed an MA in Screenwriting at the University of the Arts, London. Her screenplays have been shortlisted for the BBC Talent Sitcom Writing Initiative and the BBC Story2K2 Screenwriting Competition. Her recent screenplay, Immaculate, was one of the runners up in the Thousand Films Screenwriting Competition and her latest screenplay, Moose Moose Alpaca Unicorn, was selected as a quarter finalist in the international Screen and Story Film Festival Screenwriting Competition, as well as reaching the top 2% in the BBC Writersroom for drama comedy submissions. As a playwright, successes have included Rigor Mortis (runner up for the Papatango Prize) and The Spring Tide, produced at the Old Red Lion Theatre by Oliver Taheri Productions. She received a grant from the Peggy Ramsay Foundation to write the play All the Superheroes, and her latest play, Sugar and Spice, earned its way to the longlist for the Welsh Writer in Residence. Carol is currently developing a project, Play4Change – providing Forum Theatre plays for children in primary schools to help them deal with important issues through drama.