Alison Pennells is a scriptwriter, playwright, novelist and script consultant from Leeds

As a female script consultant, I’m always on the lookout for decent scriptwriting competitions, this week I spotted that the Page Turner Awards has opened for submissions in its 2022 competition

Early in my career as a female scriptwriter I won a Granada TV competition, the prize was a really useful day spent with TV scriptwriter Carla Lane creator of hit TV comedy shows Bread, Butterflies and The Liver Birds.  

I spent a really constructive day with Carla where on the hoof we wrote and set up a small one scene drama (with professional actors) and then had it shot and edited quickly – the scene was then broadcast on ITV as part of the prize.

Female Script Consultant

This one scene 5 five minute drama really helped me in my career as a scriptwriter and it impressed the production team at Emmerdale when it was shown on ITV – and this helped me transition from the Emmerdale Storyline team onto the Emmerdale writing team proper– where I became a core writer on the show for two years (and had over 25 episode broadcast).

Indirectly the completion also attracted agents (and at the time I signed up with Curtis Brown agency).    So, I know firsthand how winning a scriptwriting competition can help your career.

The 2022 Page Turner Awards prize fund is over £18K with valuable prizes for authors and writers.   So, with that sort of cash and kudos on offer its worth having a look at the awards.

My colleague and UK script consultant Matthew Cooper is also a judge in the Page Turner Awards this year, and is offering a free script report as a prize – another good reason to enter.  

Alison Pennells is a scriptwriter, playwright, novelist, female script consultant and producer from Leeds. Alison was a core scriptwriter on Emmerdale and The Royal Today. Her short film ‘Me Head’s a Shed’ was winner of The Yorkshire Short film award. Her play ‘Dirty Laundry’ has been a huge success and raised much needed funds for cancer charities across the UK. In recent years Alison has worked as a female script consultant and producer on three feature films. Alison is married, has a daughter, three doggies and no cats (at the moment).

You may also like

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *