Through this carefully crafted program, Roadmap Writers and IFT will introduce five writer-producers from the US and five from the UK to industry professionals actively working in the TV and cinema space. Participants will receive expert support and one-on-one mentoring to further develop their verbal and written pitches, before presenting their work to a panel of UK and US executives.
The program will involve speaker sessions from top producers and industry leaders including Jessica Loveland (head of new writing at BBC) and Clelia Mountford (Merman), expert pitching written and verbal guidance using the SMASH Pitch Builder, culminating in a pitch to UK executives including Director of UK features at Netflix, Fiona Lamptey.
The entire program will be conducted via Zoom.
APPLICATIONS ARE CLOSED FOR 2021.
Creative Corridor is free for writers to take part thanks to sponsorship from UK-based online pitch platform, SMASH.
WINNERS HAVE BEEN CHOSEN!
For detailed info on each amazing winner please visit Creative Corridor!
Selected U.S. Writers:
- Adrian Burks
- La’Chris Robinson Jordan
- Moni Oyedepo
- Aden Suchak
- Meemee Taylor
- Derege Harding
- David Carmon
Selected U.K. Writers :
- Cristina Sebastian
- Afshan D’Souza-Lodhi
- Vincent Gwyn
- Sylvia-Anne Parker
- Rory Bentley
- Babatunde Apalowo
- Mariem Omari
IMPORTANT DATES
2021
- Oct 25th - Call opens
- Nov 5th - Call closes
- Nov 6th -11th - Assessment process
- Nov 12th - 21st - Short-list interviews
- Nov 23rd - All Applicants notified
- Nov 27th - 28th - Program Launch
2022
Jan 3rd - 7th - 1:1 Mentoring Sessions
Jan 8th - 9th - Pitch Days
THE PROGRAM
Wk 1: Nov 27th & 28th
Sunday Webinars - Writers on the Creative Corridor course will have access to Roadmap Writers’ regular webinars exploring various aspects of writing and pitching.
Orientation & Logline Prep Lecture
Wk 2: Dec 4th & 5th
Verbal Pitch Prep Lecture
Written Pitch Prep Lecture
UK Pitching process - 1:1 mentoring
Wk 3: Dec 11th & 12th
Branding Prep Clinic
UK Pitching process - 1:1 mentoring
Written Pitch Prep Clinic - Material Review
Verbal Pitch Prep Clinic
Wk 4: Dec 18th & 19th
Masterclass - US/UK Co-productions in TV
Masterclass - US/UK Co-productions in film
Pitch Practice
Wk 5: Jan 8th & 9th, 2022
Pitch to US executives
Pitch to UK executives
The Creative Corridor is a collaboration between UK’s Independent Film Trust (IFT) and the US’s Roadmap Writers to empower underrepresented British and American writers to produce groundbreaking new projects for TV and cinema.
Throughout November and December 2021, IFT and Roadmap Writers will unite writers with executives, both from the US and UK, to collaborate on new projects with a goal of achieving co-production success in both locations.
US execs include reps from:
- Lawrence Bender Productions
- Bohemia Group
- Anvil Pictures (Dean DeBlois’s company)
- Fictional Entity
- Anonymous Content
- Screen Gems
- Authentic Talent and Literary
UK execs include reps from:
- Netflix
- BBC
- Merman
- Home Team
Roadmap Writers has helped over 200 writers find representation and over 80 writers get staffed/optioned and produced via Roadmap’s introductions. Running diversity initiatives for over 5 years, Roadmap has become a premier platform to spotlight vetted voices from underrepresented communities.
The Creative Corridor seeks to provide an ethnically diverse group of writers with the practical pitching tools, commercial expertise, and network required to help get their projects produced and distributed collaboratively for both the benefit of US and UK audiences. This will culminate in a pitch to the group of executives including head of Netflix features, Fiona Lamptey, and head of new writing at BBC, Jessica Loveland, in hopes that several projects will be picked up and developed for transnational broadcast.
Research conducted by McKinsey & Company showed Black talent only makes up 11% of leading movie roles and found that 14% of lead actors on cable programs and less than 12% on broadcast programs were Black. Additionally, shows with Black leads on streaming platforms accounted for less than 5% of the industry total. Roadmap Writers recognizes how this lack of representation poses a problem not only for creatives but for society at large.
According to CEO of Roadmap Writers, Joey Tuccio: “Storytelling should be as diverse as the world is. Roadmap is honored to work with The Creative Corridor to help writers across different territories deepen their understanding of how their stories translate beyond borders and to the world.”
Per Adquanita K. Curtis, one of the developers of the Creative Corridor initiative: "The industry is slowly starting to catch up when it comes to the telling of diverse stories and lifting up Black voices, but more strides need to be made to put other underrepresented communities (Asian, Indigenous, Latinx, LGBTQIA+) in lead roles and writers' rooms. Our hope for this collaboration is to help uplift diverse voices, groups, and give them a platform to tell their own stories."