3 Essential Skills UK Screenwriters Need to Succeed Today: Notes from the New Writing North Event

Last week I attended a New Writing North and Screen Yorkshire event in Leeds focused on spec scripts, pitching, and what production companies are looking for from writers.

The evening brought together writers, producers and development executives working across television, film and theatre. The speakers included Kat Rose-Martin, Sharma Angel-Walfall, Siobhan Morgan, Ishy Din and Jackie Okwera.

While everyone came from different backgrounds, there were some strikingly consistent themes about the skills you need.

Skill 1 - Confidence

One theme that came up was confidence, with a focus on:

• Are you confident as a writer?

• How do you maintain it in an industry that is known for saying "No"

Kat Rose-Martin spoke openly about still experiencing imposter syndrome despite having projects in development with major production companies and broadcasters. One piece of advice that stuck with me was her reminder that when you're invited into a writers' room:

Later in the evening, Ishy Din echoed a similar sentiment:

I found it reassuring that people much further along in their careers still have those moments too.

Sharma Angel-Walfall spoke about how confidence develops over time. Early in her career she didn't think "normal people" won writing competitions. Now, after writing for major productions and working alongside writers she once admired from afar, she has far more confidence in her own instincts.

It was a useful reminder that confidence isn't something writers discover before they succeed. More often, it seems to be something they build through doing the work.

Sharma also talked about finding the right creative partnerships. Rather than trying to fit herself into every opportunity, she now looks for companies and collaborators whose taste and values align with her own. The goal isn't simply to get work, but to do your best work.

Skill 2 - Authenticity

Siobhan Morgan from Warp Films said that when she's reading scripts she's looking for an "authored voice". She explained that she looks for writers who have something to say or a particular point of view about the world because

That idea came up repeatedly throughout the evening. Not in the sense of writing autobiography, but in writing from a place that feels genuinely yours.

Kat described writing as a way of saying, "I feel like this - do you think like this too?"

For me, that's probably the simplest and most useful definition of storytelling I've heard in a while.

Jackie Okwera returned to this idea from a different angle. She spoke about how her writing is shaped by her experience of not always seeing herself represented on screen. Not because every story has to be explicitly about that experience, but because our identities inevitably influence how we see the world. Whether she's writing science fiction or a psychological thriller, her perspective comes with her. It struck me as another expression of the same principle: the most distinctive thing a writer can bring to a project is themselves.

Skill 3 - Persistence

Kat's breakthrough script, The Crossleys, was written in 2018 and still generates opportunities today. She also shared a story about the uncertainty she faced when Covid hit and her work disappeared overnight. Rather than waiting for permission, she set herself a goal of selling one idea a month. She was writing three treatments a week.

She sold ten that year. :-)

Her attitude towards rejection was equally practical: every time she receives a rejection, she asks herself.

It's a mindset that shifts attention away from what you can't control and back towards the work. And the beauty of being a writer is you don' thave to wait to take action. No-one is stopping you generate ideas, or turn those into scripts.

Ishy Din's journey reinforced the same point. Before writing professionally he'd done a variety of jobs, entered a competition almost by chance, and gradually built a career through persistence and dedication. One of his comments that I scribbled down immediately was:

There was also some useful discussion around treatments and pitching. Din encouraged writers to communicate the excitement they feel about an idea, describing a treatment as something that should feel "buzzy". The reader should feel that you're about to tell them something amazing.

Perhaps the most encouraging takeaway from the entire evening, though, was that none of the speakers presented success as the result of a single breakthrough moment.

Instead, they described careers built through writing consistently, developing relationships, surviving rejection, finding the right collaborators and continuing to create new work.

Or, as Ishy Din put it:

Now excuse me, while I go and roll up my sleeves. :-)

Keep believing.

Amy.