What are your plans for the future?

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Collated Answers from WW interviews

Adrian Mead	I'm really excited about the coming year. Besides trying to sell and market the movie we just did I'm busy writing the next one and working with another writer to develop their screenplay we optioned. At the same time I am looking for other interesting projects to get involved in and developing a number of TV ideas. Finally, I'm teaching a class in February, which I love doing because it always reminds me what's so exciting about this business and that's the endlessly aspirational and creative spirit of the people you get to meet, no matter what their background, age or experience. The details are listed below and anyone who fancies visiting one of the most beautiful and inspiring cities in Europe will be made very welcome. SO YOU WANT TO WRITE TELEVISION DRAMA? This one day seminar continually receives fantastic responses from attendees. “Totally useful as it was practical, relevant, real and specific.” “Essential, I learned more in one day than I did in 4 years at University. Most valuable day in my career.” “I came away so inspired and that feeling has not left me.” There are hundreds of courses on "how to write drama". This isn't one of them. The vast majority of new drama writers in the UK get their first break and earn their living writing television drama. Yet no one seems to prepare them for what the industry will expect of them as a working professional. The course teaches what they would normally learn after working 2-3 years in TV. Adrian Mead, former bouncer/hairdresser and now award winning writer and director of film and TV drama imparts his insider knowledge to aspiring and new writers with an interest in writing and developing television drama. The class covers - Understanding the mysterious world of Script Editors, Development Execs, Commissioning Editors and Agents. How to get that vital first break, make a living and sell your work. Learning how to accept and usefully employ criticism, handle rewrites and, crucially, protect your own voice. Discover a simple yet outstandingly effective formula for achieving success. TUTOR: Adrian Mead DATE: 10.00 - 5.00pm Saturday 4th Feb 2006 VENUE: ST Columba’s by the Castle. Johnston Terrace. Edinburgh COURSE FEE: £40 incl VAT and refreshments. Payable in advance. This class is rapidly filling up so book soon. e-mail info@meadkerr.com or call on 0131 554 4539. Also details on our website at http://www.meadkerr.com

Earlyworks Press	There are samples of my own and other club members’ work on the Stories, Poetry, Articles page, my ‘mission statement’ is on the About Us page, there’s an excerpt from my book ‘Jung’s People’ in the Elastic Press link on our Links and Listings page and the books Earlyworks Press has produced so far are on the Publications page. The club is run from the forum on site, so I’m not totally in control. One of the things I love about the club is that ideas from different kinds of writers and artists are constantly clashing into life and producing unexpected ideas. I would like the Press to branch out and produce more books from members’ ideas but it’s an expensive business. What starts out as a wildly exciting idea always has to go through the stage of me calculating printers’ prices per page, shying away from the cost of coloured illustrations, trying to work out who will buy it, lamenting the demise of friendly little bookshops etc etc. Very boring stuff! The big dream? I am very, very impressed with the work our club are producing – and believe me I’m not easily pleased. What I want more than anything else now is to persuade the world that Earlyworks Press books contain accomplished and exciting work. People who have read our books have loved them but it’s really hard to tempt people with books by authors the world doesn’t yet know the names of; so please, have a look at some of the works of the artists and writers on the website – and remember their names – if I have my way, you’ll be seeing some of them again. http://www.earlyworkspress.co.uk

Elastic Press	To continue publishing four single-author short story collections per year, together with the occasional multi-author anthology. My intention is also to give opportunities to those writers who are emerging talents but who have yet to make a name for themselves. In February 2004 we published a collection of fiction by Kay Green (“Jung’s People”). Kay is a relative newcomer to the independent press, but has a distinctive voice deserving of a wider audience. If I can establish a few reputations as well as consolidating existing ones, then that would be very satisfying.

Five Leaves	In March I'm launching a new series of short story collections by individual writers - Zoë Fairbairns, Michelene Wandor, Valerie Miner and Victoria Nelson. If this set works I'll try to do another four collections each year. I'm in discussion with Iron Press in the North East about a merger. Iron was due to close in a year or two after many, many years of small press publishing but we plan to keep the name alive as an imprint of Five Leaves - publishing writers from the North East. I have some great Jewish titles in the pipeline - one on Jews and jazz, one on Jewish motherhood. Some good social history titles too. But it's all too much to do after work and at weekends. So... the big plan is to, finally, open a proper office and have paid staff. In short, it is time for Five Leaves to grow up a bit, from being a small press to a small publisher.

Komedy Kollective	To save popular culture from banality. http://www.komedykollective.com

Lawrence Bowen	We do have a strategy of sorts involving putting more money into development and retaining rights but, to be honest, it’s such a tough business the main plan is to try and get anything commissioned/financed one believes in.

Sean Costello	To grow the Crescent list and establish a reputation for exciting new fiction.

Shearsman	More of the same, although there will be more books than I had thought: 25 a year, or so in 2007 and 2008. A number of these will be translations, mainly from Spanish and German. There will also be some exciting first collections, and a series of classic poets of South-West England, starting with an anthology and a Selected Poems of Robert Herrick. The magazine has settled into a format which it will retain for the foreseeable future: 108 pages, twice a year, and 10-20% of the issue devoted to translations. http://www.shearsman.com

Slightly Foxed	To attract a faithful readership for Slightly Foxed by keeping up the standard, and to make it profitable.

The Ephemera	All involved in this magazine are working towards a time when The Ephemera is considered the favoured forum in which writers both new and established present their latest work.

Tumbleweed TV	We have a slate of film projects in various stages of development. Right now, we’re working on a couple of shorts and hoping to have completed our first micro-budget feature film next year. We’re also currently seeking feature film script submissions. We're looking for exciting low budget projects with a strong commercial potential. The call is open to both new and established UK writers. We’re asking writers to submit the title of their script, brief synopsis and no more than a one-page treatment to scripts@tumble-weed.tv. Further details and terms and conditions are on our website. The deadline is 31st October 2006. Please visit our website http://www.tumble-weed.tv

Will Kerley	Right now I’m working on staging some brand new work with Almeida Opera. <br>But my long term plans don’t change: to keep going from theatre to opera and back again. To work with young writers, experienced writers, dead writers, composers and conductors, to work with both singers and actors; to work hard, but still have plenty of time for my loved ones.

Writer's News	With my proper job here at Writers’ News - to attract more subscribers to Writers’ News and to Writing Magazine both in the United Kingdom and overseas. Also, to find time to polish 100,000 + words written in between the Yorkshire Post and Writers’ News jobs, and turn them into a book. It will be about journalistic travels, although not an autobiography, and will include accounts and anecdotes from many of the 100-plus countries visited during newspaper days.