New Voices is our flagship three-month talent development scheme for underrepresented voices in the south west of England (due to run again in 2025). For the 2023 edition we selected eight writer-directors with a short film idea who needed some support to develop their script, build their confidence in the craft and prepare them to apply for BFI NETWORK funding.  

Our new collaboration with Bristol Old Vic Theatre School allowed the writer-directors a unique chance to workshop their scripts with acting students studying the Screen MA course. We sat down with Jess Wheeler, BFI NETWORK Talent Exec, and Em Smith, Head of Screen MA, to chat about the partnership and what it brought to New Voices. 

What were your intentions with this collaboration?  

Jess 

We wanted to bring something new to the third iteration of the scheme and started to think of ways that the writer-directors could see their stories brought to life outside of the script development process. Initially this looked like a table read, but through conversations with Em, we landed on a workshop with Bristol Old Vic Theatre School MA students.  

New Voices is ultimately a confidence-building scheme, so we felt that creating a tangible space for collaboration, feedback and experimentation with actors would offer the participants a challenging but rewarding experience. We wanted to build on skills integral to being a director – such as leading a room and communicating their intentions – while also allowing the writer-directors time to be able to experiment with their ideas.  

Em 

From the Bristol Old Vic Theatre school perspective, it’s important for cultural spaces to connect in the city, therefore strengthening the creative ecosystem and creating more varied opportunities in the process. It was also a great opportunity for the acting students to temporarily move away from established texts and instead work with scripts that were works-in-progress. The actors came away from the day feeling they’d strengthened their storytelling muscles by investigating a writer’s narrative with them in the room. 

How did you prep the writer-directors for the day? 

Em 

Prior to the session I ran a workshop with the writer-directors to discuss the practicalities and field any concerns they might have had. I chatted to each person about their scripts, their intentions for their story and what outcomes they hoped to achieve from the day. From that, I gave suggestions of ways they could warm up the room or explore their text. I encouraged them to create brave spaces, where play and discovery could flourish.  

Jess 

We made it clear that there wouldn’t be intimacy coordinators available, therefore scenes with sensitive content wouldn’t be appropriate for workshopping. We also encouraged the writer-directors to prepare what elements of their work they wanted to investigate beforehand, and we noted alternative ways of exploring the text with actors, outside of blocking and line running. We found that a few participants chose to explore improvisations and move away from their script entirely on the day.  

“After engaging with actors my script changed drastically.”

Participant feedback

Could you briefly outline the format of the day? 

Jess 

We had eight writer-directors taking part and around 20 actors from the course. We split the New Voices cohort into two groups, morning and afternoon. For each session we began with introductions and a group warm up. Then the writer-directors spent their session with their actors, roughly three hours including a scheduled break. At the end of the day, we hosted a feedback session where the actors shared what they’d been working on. The writer-directors were then able to pose a specific prompt or question to the rest of the room. 

Is play and experimentation an important element of a talent-development scheme? 

Em 

From my perspective, relaxation is important for creative connections to take place in surprising ways, as well as alleviating pressure on creatives in the room to find ‘the answer’. By creating space for experimentation, we allowed the writers and actors to playfully interrogate the crux of their story.  

Jess 

It’s uncommon in these schemes and funding programmes to see time carved out for play and experimentation, usually because of budgeting or time constraints. New Voices is fundamentally about supporting underrepresented writer-directors in finding their voice, and so we wanted to acknowledge that no artist’s workshop is the same. We wanted to create a low-stakes environment where they would have total autonomy to focus on process without the pressure of a polished outcome. This wasn’t a ‘working with actors’ lesson – it was more about the participants creating and developing a process for their own storytelling and figuring out their own directing style by jumping in at the deep end. 

It pushed me to think about different ways of seeing the story – interrogating what I want to say.

Participant Feedback

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With many thanks to our New Voices partners: Blak Wave Productions, Little By Little Films, Grey Moth and Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.