Screen Scotland backs new scheme to find Scotland-based TV screenwriters

Freedom Scripted and script consultant Philip Shelley, whose credits include script editing on Inspector Morse and Kavanagh QC, are to run a new programme for screenwriters based in Scotland in 2027.

The scheme will develop and showcase the best new writing talent in Scotland and give writers a route into the commercial world of scripted television. Screen Scotland is providing most of the funding, and the ScreenSkills High-end TV Skills Fund is also contributing.

How the course works

Submissions open on 30 November 2026 and close on 15 January 2027. Interviews will follow, and six writers will be chosen to take part over about six months in 2027. They will be supported by script editors and shadow script editors.

The selected writers and their script editors must attend two in-person weekends. At the first, the writers will be introduced and matched with their editorial team before going away to write a first draft.

The second weekend is a follow-up at which writers will receive feedback on their scripts in progress and hear them read aloud by professional actors. Guest speakers from the industry will appear at both weekends.

Most of the work happens in the period between the two weekends, when each writer will produce a pilot episode script of either one hour or 30 minutes with help from their script editor.

The programme will finish with a drinks evening where commissioners, agents, producers and other industry figures from Scotland and across the UK will be invited to meet the writers and build relationships with them.

Widening the writing pool

The organisers want to discover new screenwriters living in Scotland from a range of backgrounds, including communities and regions that are underrepresented. They also aim to explain how the industry operates and bring the writers to the attention of the people who decide which scripted shows are made in the UK, most of whom work in London.

Applications will be made through Philip Shelley’s website, where an entry link goes live on 30 November.

Shelley said: “I am delighted to have been asked by Freedom Scripted to run this new initiative to help scout, work with and then introduce to the TV and film industry, the pick of new Scotland-based screenwriting talent. We hope this will identify and unleash a wave of Scottish creativity that will be of immense benefit to the industry in Scotland and further afield.”

Kieran Hannigan, head of scripted at Screen Scotland, said: “There’s no shortage of talented writers in Scotland with brilliant original stories to tell, and we want to see more of their work making it onto our screens. Supporting initiatives like Scotland Scripted to widen the writing pool in Scotland will bring through more diverse voices, enabling more people to see themselves and their experiences reflected in the projects being made here.”