About Sky Writes: Rotherham

Sky Writes was led by experienced Writers in Residence and a team of specialist Programme Producers, overseen by New Writing North.

Our focus was on three specific areas in the North, including Rotherham.

We created Sky Writes to contribute to diversifying the pool of television writers in the UK. The programme sought people whose stories are not being widely told on our TV screens and whose backgrounds are under-represented in broadcasting.

This includes but is not confined to people of colour and those from LGBTQ+, disabled, lower socio-economic and working-class backgrounds.

The programme began in April 2021 with a selection of Starting to Write for TV sessions. No writing experience was needed for these.

Following these sessions, writers were invited to apply for the workshop phase of the programme which took place during the summer and autumn 2021. The workshops took a deeper approach and were supplemented by masterclasses featuring specialist guest speakers.

Over the course of the programme, our aim was that participants developed their craft in TV writing, gained valuable professional awareness of the industry and grew in confidence about seeking out further opportunities in screenwriting.

All aspects of Sky Writes were free to participants, who needed to live in or around Rotherham to take part.

Writer in Residence: Afshan D’souza-Lodhi

Afshan D’souza-Lodhi was born in Dubai and bred in Manchester. She is a writer of plays and poetry, and was recently commissioned to write and direct a short film for Channel 4 (An Act of Terror) and a radio play for BBC Sounds (Chop Chop). Her debut poetry collection ‘re:desire’ (Burning Eye Books) came out in June 2020 during the lockdown. Her most recent play, Santi & Naz, described as ‘tender yet sharply political’ by the Guardian, puts female friendship against the backdrop of the partition of India and Pakistan. As well as her own writing, Afshan is keen to develop other younger and emerging artists and sits on the boards of Manchester Literature Festival and Pie Radio. Afshan also sits on the steering committee for Northern Police Monitoring Project, an independent campaigning and advocacy organisation that challenges police harassment and violence.

@afshandl www.afshandl.com

Programme Producer: Stacey Sampson

Stacey Sampson was born and brought up in Rotherham. For 20 years she worked as an actor across theatre, television and film and brings this background to her facilitation – leading drama and writing workshops in a wide variety of educational and community settings, including partnering with organisations that support people experiencing homelessness and/or the criminal justice system. Stacey is Community Producer with Third Angel as well as making work with them as a performer and dramaturg. She is also Drama Leader with Under the Stars, running weekly sessions for adults with learning disabilities, and regularly works with other local companies + venues such as Dead Earnest, Sheffield Theatres and Doncaster CAST to deliver large scale arts projects across South Yorkshire. Stacey specialises in collaboration with young people and communities, devising bespoke scripts and performances inspired by the people and places involved. She is also a keen writer and her works in progress have won the Arvon Award, a Northern Writers’ Award, the Mslexia Novel Competition and been shortlisted for the Kudos North Award and Sundance Writers’ Lab.

The Writers

Ada Urbaniak

Ada is a jack-of-all-trades creative: they love writing, filmmaking, and acting. They are a part of Hive Poetry Collective and are a BFI Film Academy and Into Film Young Reporter alumna. Ada has written four short films, and is excited to develop their TV scriptwriting skills.
Jasmin Mandi-Ghomi

Jasmin is a British-Iranian writer who, until now, has written primarily for theatre. Her work has been staged at the Southwark Playhouse, the Arcola Theatre, and the North Wall Arts Centre. Her debut full-length show MADDY premiered at VAULT Festival in 2020.
Mathy Selvakumaran

Mathy is an independent filmmaker, screenwriter, director and musician, amongst many other creative pursuits. She has a passion for representation and telling authentic stories that move the needle. She has developed a short and feature film script, and is looking to add a television series to her arsenal of work.
Nigel Wilkes

Nigel enjoys writing about interracial interactions to modern day situations. His writing skills have been gained from books and writing magazines. He has tried stand-up comedy and written plays which were performed by his work colleagues. His hobbies include playing the ukulele, writing poetry, learning Modern Jive and Ballroom Dancing.
Lucy Megitt

Lucy resides in a small town in Rotherham. She writes as much as she can in her spare time. Her writing is influenced by 80’s movies and the horror genre. She is excited to have a place on the scheme and looking forward to honing her writing skills.
Chris Sutherland

Chris works full time as a Mental Health Social Worker and before this worked for several years in the voluntary sector for charities. When not working he is an aspiring writer with an interest in writing for television and stage. Chris lives and works in Sheffield.
Sam Lawrence

Sam is from Barnsley. Watching Yorkshire’s variety of life fit together inspires his urge to tell unheard stories by experimenting with prose, lyrics and screenwriting. As he grows out of his 20s, Sam is now finding the confidence to define himself as a writer and get his work out there.
Letty Butler

Letty is an actress by profession and was awarded a scholarship to do an MA in Creative Writing at SHU in 2017. She has since been shortlisted for a Northern Writers Award, Cranked Anvil, Reflex and Silver Apples. In 2019, she was long listed for the Myslexia and won The OTS Novel Slam. She lives alone in Sheffield with loads of plants but no cats. Yet.
Denise Eaton

Denise came to writing late in life, enrolling on Sheffield Hallam’s MA in her 60s. Working with local actors from I’ll Have What She’s Having, she helped create ‘the show with a big heart.’ Their productions, featuring Denise’s scripts, have been staged in Sheffield and Chesterfield, and appear in 2021’s Buxton Fringe.
Malcolm J Hogan

Malcolm J Hogan is a writer, singer-songwriter and actor from Rotherham. He is the author of the Granny Norbag children’s books and has also created songs and music videos for the project. He has a passion for creating comedy for different audiences and has aspirations of writing for television.
Rowe Woods

As a girl, Rowe loved to tell stories to make things makes sense. Why was a street called a certain name and why do we consider 7 lucky? If there wasn’t a reason, she would invent one of her own. She believes that stories can help break down barriers and build commonality. She wants to be able to tell stories of those less seen on screen.
Natalie Mirosch

Natalie Mirosch was born and bred in Rotherham. The first of her family to go to university, it was here that her passion for writing really took off. Using her spare time alongside her degree to take part in free online scriptwriting courses she has since written a number of audio, short film and television pilot scripts.