Share
Emerging: How to Eventually Make it in Film & TV
Recognition: Does winning a major award change your career? (with Janice Okoh)
Season 1, Ep. 63
•
The absolute gold standard of writing guests in today's episode, as we welcome hugely celebrated playwright AND the BAFTA winning creator of BBC's Just Act Normal, Janice Okoh, for a very candid chat about breaking through in a bumpy industry.
Janice has done it all, from early radio commissions at Radio 4 to staging her own plays, getting a book deal and even getting fired from her episode of Casualty. She was one of the very first writers on 4Screenwriting, on top of a frankly HUGE amount of other schemes, and has had plenty of kickbacks along the way. So to say her journey is fascinating is an understatement - this is an absolute MUST LISTEN for all emerging writers.
Even if it's just to hear what happened to her BAFTA literally minutes after she won it...
And of course, if you want to follow Janice's career and hear more about her journey, she's @janiceokoh on Instagram
📬 Get In Touch:
Email us: TheEmergingPodcast@gmail.com
Follow us on Instagram: @theemergingpod
Ben is @bmlrobins
Martin is @bananabreadfilm
Tray is @ByTrayepps
✨ Support the Show:
If you enjoyed the episode, please rate and review! And share it with a fellow emerging writer who needs a boost (or a laugh).
More episodes
View all episodes
64. Remember to Take Time Off: Do I have to write every single day?
45:31||Season 1, Ep. 64Have you taken any time off recently? Well, this week we finally are. And rather than leaving you with a big ol' blank nothing where an episode should be, we're digging through the archives (60+ episodes, we have archives now) and finding something that fits the vibe just perfectly. So here's a throwback to last year when we covered this exact topic - do we need to write every day? Taking time off is important, yo.📬 Get In Touch:Email us: TheEmergingPodcast@gmail.comFollow us on Instagram: @theemergingpodBen is @bmlrobinsMartin is @bananabreadfilmTray is @ByTrayepps✨ Support the Show:If you enjoyed the episode, please rate and review! And share it with a fellow emerging writer who needs a boost (or a laugh).63.5. Last Call: Do all writers get jealous? (with Janice Okoh)
17:35||Season 1, Ep. 63.5If an hour and a bit wasn't enough Janice for your ears, here's a whole bonus 20 minutes with the brilliant Janice Okoh, as we walk her through the Last Call. Even more laughs, even more candid home truths from one of the UK's most exciting writers!Naturally Tray's connection failed as we got to the final hurdle so we lose him in this bonus ep, but stay tuned for some killer answers and even more love for the iconic Shonda Rhimes. And of course, if you want to follow Janice's career and hear more about her journey, she's @janiceokoh on Instagram 📬 Get In Touch:Email us: TheEmergingPodcast@gmail.comFollow us on Instagram: @theemergingpodBen is @bmlrobinsMartin is @bananabreadfilmTray is @ByTrayepps✨ Support the Show:If you enjoyed the episode, please rate and review! And share it with a fellow emerging writer who needs a boost (or a laugh).62. Writing Feature Films: Should I bother writing a feature on spec? (Approaches III)
40:33||Season 1, Ep. 62And so we reach the marathon of all screenwriting undertakings - the original, arguably the most fun, but certainly the most complex - the feature film. Why is it so hard? Why does it take forever to make it through Act Two? And how do you make it through the whole thing without tossing the entire script out of the digital window because it's just not very good (yet)? In the third and final part of our little trilogy of episodes, we're looking at how each of us in turn approaches writing a feature, from building early mood boards and soundtracks to trying to trick ourselves with treatments. We vary a lot here too, lots of great advice within!📬 Get In Touch:Email us: TheEmergingPodcast@gmail.comFollow us on Instagram: @theemergingpodBen is @bmlrobinsMartin is @bananabreadfilmTray is @ByTrayepps✨ Support the Show:If you enjoyed the episode, please rate and review! And share it with a fellow emerging writer who needs a boost (or a laugh).61. Writing TV Pilots: Is writing a pilot script my best chance of getting noticed? (Approaches II)
43:12||Season 1, Ep. 61TV Pilots are arguably the best bang for your buck as an emerging writer - shorter, lower stakes, highly unlikely to get made anyway, and every competition is positively frothing at the mouth for them. But how does writing an episode of TV differ from writing a feature film? And how does writing specifically a pilot script for your own show differ from writing other TV?In the next on our series about how we approach writing for different mediums, we're going all-in on those 40-page wonders, from how to prep an idea and figure out its home, to how it might differ structurally from some other styles of writing. 📬 Get In Touch:Email us: TheEmergingPodcast@gmail.comFollow us on Instagram: @theemergingpodBen is @bmlrobinsMartin is @bananabreadfilmTray is @ByTrayepps✨ Support the Show:If you enjoyed the episode, please rate and review! And share it with a fellow emerging writer who needs a boost (or a laugh).60. Writing Short Films: How is writing for short-form different? (Approaches I)
51:35||Season 1, Ep. 60It's one of Martin's favourite bits of advice - go off and make a short. But how do you even begin to start? What makes writing a short film totally different (and arguably, far more flexible) than writing a TV pilot or a feature? Well, in the first of a lil trilogy of episodes about how we approach different mediums, we're digging deep into exactly that. You've got an idea for a short film, now what?Included is quite a bit of tough love (is this going to help your writing career? is a short film script enough to get industry attention?) but also plenty of rock solid advice on how to go from zero to a fully-finished and festival ready short, and of course the ins and outs of why you would even bother with making one in the first place. 📬 Get In Touch:Email us: TheEmergingPodcast@gmail.comFollow us on Instagram: @theemergingpodBen is @bmlrobinsMartin is @bananabreadfilmTray is @ByTrayepps✨ Support the Show:If you enjoyed the episode, please rate and review! And share it with a fellow emerging writer who needs a boost (or a laugh).59.5. Last Call: Do we ever feel like we've "made it"? (with Calif Chong)
26:41||Season 1, Ep. 59.5Look at this - a whole extra 25 minutes with the supremely talented Hong Kong-born writer-director Calif Chong! We take Calif through the Last Call, learn all about the history of Stephen Chow, the most useful takeaways from Blake Snyder's Save the Cat AND how those creative goalposts are always moving, even after you've made your first feature. As with her full episode, Calif's incredibly wise and generous with her answers - if you want to follow her career, she's @califcnm on Instagram!📬 Get In Touch:Email us: TheEmergingPodcast@gmail.comFollow us on Instagram: @theemergingpodBen is @bmlrobinsMartin is @bananabreadfilmTray is @ByTrayepps✨ Support the Show:If you enjoyed the episode, please rate and review! And share it with a fellow emerging writer who needs a boost (or a laugh).59. Relocating: Do I need to move countries to build my career? (with Calif Chong)
01:17:30||Season 1, Ep. 59I know we always say it whenever we have a guest on, but seriously, get ready for a true MASTERCLASS in today's episode from Calif Chong, a Hong Kong born writer-director who started in-house at HK's legendary TVB, before moving across the world to London (via Berlin), eventually making her first feature High Wire, which premiered at last year's BFI London Film Festival. Calif is incredibly generous, covering the ups and downs of making indie features, balancing it with her blossoming career as an assembly editor in high-end TV, and the challenge of language barriers as she relocated multiple times to find the right creative home. There's also a bit of talk about writing labs, since Calif is on this year's Gatecrashers lab for working-class genre writers. And as always, if you want to follow Calif's career, she's @califcnm on Instagram!📬 Get In Touch:Email us: TheEmergingPodcast@gmail.comFollow us on Instagram: @theemergingpodBen is @bmlrobinsMartin is @bananabreadfilmTray is @ByTrayepps✨ Support the Show:If you enjoyed the episode, please rate and review! And share it with a fellow emerging writer who needs a boost (or a laugh).58. Originality: What happens if I run out of ideas?
37:14||Season 1, Ep. 58Being original can feel like the most important thing in the world for a writer, but look around - most things aren't anymore. And while we're not saying rip off Hacks, or resign yourself to never having a truly novel idea ever again, it's important to not let the quest for originality get in the way of actually making stuff. It's your voice and your perspective that's important. So let's talk about ideas, how they happen, how we chase them, and why sometimes we feel like they're lacking. And while we're at it, let's talk about this podcast too, because we've definitely been running a little dry recently... Got any burning questions or ideas for topics? Drop us a line. 📬 Get In Touch:Email us: TheEmergingPodcast@gmail.comFollow us on Instagram: @theemergingpodBen is @bmlrobinsMartin is @bananabreadfilmTray is @ByTrayepps✨ Support the Show:If you enjoyed the episode, please rate and review! And share it with a fellow emerging writer who needs a boost (or a laugh).