Channel 4 and New Writing North Talent Development Partnership

Frank Berry is a screenwriter and director from Yorkshire. Winner of the 2023 Northern Film Prize for his latest BFI-funded short film, he is currently committed to developing a slate of original screenplays. Frank’s writing addresses universal human emotions in a specific and personal way; fuelled by the belief that storytelling is what makes us human, and that filmed drama is its highest form.

Connie Hughes is a creative writing graduate from Manchester Metropolitan University. She was shortlisted in the Channel 4 Writing for Television Awards first in 2022 for her trans-led social thriller All the Dead Girls Look Like Us. She returned this year with another original pilot, this time of queer erasure in 1930’s Berlin with a comedic converging of queer spies, trans rebels and Nazi’s titled Once Upon a Time in Nazi Occupied Gay Bars. As a trans woman, she intends to tell the stories she wished existed when she was young. She is currently seeking representation to write for television drama.

Amy Lever (She/Her) is a writer and actor from Manchester and a Cambridge University graduate. Her work includes the award-winning, five-star reviewed Life Before the Line (Cambridge University Edinburgh Fringe Prize, BOLD Playwrights Shortlist, Masterclass Shortlist), 111 More Time at the Manchester International Festival/ HOME and Fifty Years Later (Contact). She was named runner up for the Alpine Fellowship Prize for Playwriting 2023, shortlisted for the Shelagh Delaney New Writing Prize 2023 and selected for a paid writer development scheme with Warner Bros Access Discovery, The Royal Exchange and Wall to Wall.

Sophie Marie prefers her audience to squirm in their seats rather than a half-smile and a cup of tea. Hard-hitting themes are Sophie’s best friend and she’ll usually throw in a twist for good measure. Sophie dreamed of becoming a novelist for years before embarking on her Creative and Professional Writing degree, where she realised how dull pages and pages of prose was to write. Because she loves education and free Microsoft packages, Sophie took a Master’s in Creative Writing where she fell in love with scripts. Sophie’s radio play, Inside Me, was produced by Little Wonder Radio Plays in 2018 and in the past year, her stage play, Feud for Life, made its debut, followed by her involvement in A Play in a Day, where, for some reason, she volunteered to write a play overnight for it to be performed the next evening. When she’s writing, Sophie can usually be found in her office, staring out of the window, whilst her loveable but needy dog, Toffee, scratches at the door.

Sarah Murray is quite new to writing, after a lifetime of making up stories for her own amusement. She has contributed a short story to a forthcoming anthology of work by new writers with Liverpool-based charity, Writing on the Wall. She is also developing a novel and number of television scripts individually and with her friend and writing partner, award-winning playwright, Kate Wilson

Ellie Silver is a writer, actress, and comedian from Manchester. She was a finalist for the Funny Women Comedy Writing Award 2023 and the Channel 4 Writing for Television Award 2020. In March 2023, Ellie was commissioned to direct and perform a work-in-progress performance of her award-nominated comedy-drama ‘Beth’s Din’ at Manchester Jewish Museum. Most recently, she was one of four writers selected by the TV Foundation and Comedy 50:50 to attend Edinburgh TV Festival on a bursary, as well as receive industry mentoring.

Megan Watson is a Yorkshire-based writer who recently finished an MA in Writing for Stage and Broadcast Media at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London. Her writing tries to encapsulate queer, working-class life, with a specific focus on romantic, familial and platonic relationships. Megan is currently developing two pilot episodes, and has just finished writing a short film – she hopes her writing will shed light on often-overlooked narratives, and create work which excites, inspires and allows people to feel seen.

Amber Hafren is a writer and translator based in West Yorkshire. She is a graduate of the Royal Court Theatre’s Young Writers Programme and a member of the BAFTA Connect 2023 cohort.

She is particularly interested in creating work that focuses on the relationship between Northern & Southern England, untold female stories, and nineties-noughties culture.

When not writing she spends her time exploring the Yorkshire countryside, going to dance classes, and stopping to say hello to every cat and dog she passes.