360 Narratives

360 Narratives: challenge, collaborate, create

Thank you for your interest in 360 Narratives, a safe haven for professional writers and narrative creators to explore and create. Be challenged, collaborate and create new ideas and projects with your peers.

Application process

Please send a single Microsoft Word or PDF document that includes:

• An introduction to your team, including full contact details and CVs. Please include a paragraph from each member about what you bring to the project and why you would like to work with the other individuals involved.
• A project mission statement or log-line, no more than 50 words that describes your project
• An outline of your proposed project and the platforms for which it is to be developed. You should include details of how you will work together, your collaboration agreement and working methods. We would also like to know who your proposed audience is (or audiences are), the existing products available to that audience; how your proposal addresses the needs of that audience, and the advantages that you believe your project has over the competition. Please also try to identify the areas of your project that you feel will require additional development and tell us what additional skills or development support you think will be necessary to further your project.

• If you have any writing, visuals or other materials that have been generated relating to your project, please send us no more than two short (ten page) extracts or examples, or links to footage as appropriate.

Submissions should be sent to:

claire@playwrightsstudio.co.uk to arrive no later than 11.59pm on Tuesday 24 January 2012

You will receive an acknowledgement email within one week. Please contact us if you do not receive one.

Timeline

19-20th November 2011 Open Weekend

24th January 2012 Application deadline

19 - 26th March 2012 Week residency

March - May 2012 Present to industry

General requirements

The process is open to teams of (two or more) narrative creators across genres with some experience of success in their field. It is crucial that you (or part of your team) are:

• a professionally produced or published writer in the field of novels, graphic novels, playwriting, screen writing, children’s books or games development
• willing to develop new ideas
• open to exploring new ways of working
• keen to explore new outlets for your writing
• happy to work collaboratively with other writers and creators on an equal footing
• willing to create the appropriate partnership structure for the team in which to develop, share and exploit the intellectual property you develop
• based in Scotland
• working in a new creative partnership, existing creative partnerships will only be supported where new collaborators are involved

You will be expected to develop your ideas openly through structured and supervised workshops, with a view to both creating your own story worlds and characters, as well as helping other teams to develop theirs.

You will agree to sign an IP agreement with your creative partners before the residency commences. We will provide a pro forma agreement with an even split between creators.

You will also be expected to sign a non-disclosure agreement before the Residency commences.

Selection Criteria

All applications will be read at least twice by a selection panel comprising Fiona Sturgeon Shea, Playwrights’ Studio, Scotland, Claire Dow, Projects Manager, Playwrights’ Studio, Scotland, David Griffith, Story Development Consultant, and Mark Grindle, Director, MGA Limited. The selection panel will also seek external advice if necessary.

Applications will be selected based on

1. The projects felt to be most interesting, innovative, producible or marketable

2. The strength and commitment of the team

3. Exciting new combinations of writers and narrative forms

4. A strong sense of what the project is, and how it could develop for specific platforms and audiences

5. The track record of the individuals involved

Programme Details

Working in teams of two or more, writers from different fields will collaborate to create story worlds that can be exploited across a variety of media. Using those characters and worlds across formats - a book and a game; a film and a play; a phone app and a comic – in any combination of at least two across the virtual and physical possibilities.

Open to established children’s book writers, novelists, playwrights, screen writers, graphic novelists and games developers, the programme aims to broaden networks and find common ground. Applying in teams of two or more, selected writers will share practice and experiences, and build new ideas and projects together. (Other artists who work in narrative genres can be considered for the Residencies, provided they are able to meet the selection criteria to a significant degree.)

Following selection, if it is necessary, we will help the writing teams meet with other skills and artists to take their projects forward. These could include illustrators, animators, storyboarders, script or story editors; whatever is appropriate to the projects.

The Residency for the successful 4-6 project groups will take place over a week at central conference venue in Scotland. The Residency will combine mentored workshopping of the ideas as well as talks from a wide range of experts from a variety of different areas of narrative development, rights exploitation, publishing and distribution; and willl include sessions on business plans, marketing and pitching to best exploit their creations.

The chosen groups will work intensively to develop their proposals to a point where their projects can be shared with industry partners for production.

Following the Residency, we will support them to approach industry in whatever way is appropriate to the projects. We will facilitate at least two meetings, pitching or networking opportunities for each team. Participants will be expected to invest their own time preparing their projects for these approaches, though some resources will be available to support the generation of materials.

Participation in the residency will be free of charge. All accommodation, travel and meals are included, and a modest fee will be paid to participants for that week.

Questions?

If you have any questions or you’re not clear about any of the above, please contact Projects Manager, Claire Dow, claire@playwrightsstudio.co.uk or call 0141 3324403.

We look forward to receiving your application.

360 Narratives Residency is funded by Creative Scotland through its Creative Futures programme.

Creative Scotland’s ‘Creative Futures’ is an ambitious programme of residencies and related activities designed to promote the professional development, vision, connectivity and ambitions of Scotland’s creative practitioners and organisations.

Structured around key themes, and supported by independent evaluation, online networking and cross-programme events, Creative Futures will develop a powerful and coherent narrative for investment in individuals. With between 100 and 200 individual participants annually, it is the largest co-ordinated residency programme in Europe, and includes residencies that are single discipline, interdisciplinary, cross sectoral and international.