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Mammoth Screen NI Writers Award - Winner Announced

2022-07-22T11:10:36+00:00

We are delighted to announce Aislinn Clarke as the winner of the Mammoth Screen NI Writers Award.

Aislinn’s idea was selected from an extremely competitive shortlist of four writers who each received a paid treatment commission to develop an original series idea with Mammoth Screen. Aislinn will now be given a paid commission to develop her treatment idea into a pilot script.

The scheme was run by Mammoth Screen in partnership with ��̳ Writersroom and ��̳ Drama Commissioning to search for the most exciting writers with a strong connection to Northern Ireland to develop bold, original drama and comedy-drama television series for ��̳ network broadcast.

Mammoth Screen commented :

“We hoped when we launched this Award with ��̳ Writersroom and ��̳ Drama Commissioning that we would find some really great writing talent, and we couldn’t be more impressed by the incredible talent of everyone who applied. Our four shortlisted writers all brought an original voice and very different perspectives on contemporary Northern Ireland. We faced a very difficult choice in selecting only one to take to script. Aislinn’s pitch won us over with its strong vision and compelling set up, and its dissection of the sunshine and shade of small town Northern Ireland. We are delighted to be working with Aislinn and can’t wait to get started.”

��̳ Writersroom commented:

“The Mammoth Screen NI Writers Award has undoubtedly highlighted the brilliant range of both writing talent and stories that speak to the variety and diversity of life in Northern Ireland today. We are delighted to congratulate Aislinn on her success and can’t wait to see how her idea develops.”

Aislinn Clarke said:

“Having long been a fan of Mammoth’s exciting takes on classic Agatha Christie stories I’m delighted to be writing a Mammoth mystery of my own, set right here in Northern Ireland.”

Aislinn Clarke

Aislinn Clarke is a Northern Irish writer/director. Her debut feature film, THE DEVIL’S DOORWAY, was released internationally by IFC in cinemas and streaming following a series of nominations and awards at major genre festivals (Sitges, Frightfest, etc) in 2018. In 2019 Aislinn was awarded the Academy of Motion Pictures Gold Fellowship for Women. She is currently show-running 6-part original domestic thriller series BLACK NORTH for ZDF (Germany) with Kindle (UK) Rocliffe (UK) and Underground Films (Ireland). Aislinn is in development with original TV series HYSTERIA headed by producers of THE TERROR. She is also currently writing feature films for Disney (US), Rumble (US), and Protagonist Pictures (UK), and Blinder Films (Ireland), Aislinn is represented as a writer and director by CAA in the US and Dench Arnold in the UK.

View the Shortlist for the Mammoth Screen NI Writers Award

Mammoth Screen NI Writers Award 2021 - Shortlist Announced

2021-07-05T10:42:48+00:00

We are delighted to announce the four writers shortlisted for the Mammoth Screen NI Writers Award 2021. Selected from over 135 submissions, each writer will now receive a paid treatment commission to develop an original series idea with Mammoth Screen, and one writer will subsequently be selected for a pilot script commission.

This scheme is run by Mammoth Screen in partnership with ��̳ Writersroom and ��̳ Drama Commissioning to search for the most exciting writers with a strong connection to Northern Ireland to develop bold, original drama and comedy-drama television series for ��̳ network broadcast.

If you would like further information about any of the writers, please feel free to contact writersroom@bbc.co.uk or their agent.

The four selected writers are:

Aislinn Clarke
Des Kennedy
Bronagh Fegan
Phil Mulryne

Find out more about each of them below.

Aislinn Clarke

Aislinn Clarke is an award-winning writer and director from both sides of the Irish border. An Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Gold Fellowship winner, her debut feature was released internationally in 2018 following a run of nominations and wins at major international genre and film festivals. Aislinn currently has multiple feature film and TV projects in development with studios and independent producers in the U.K. and Los Angeles, including Disney and Hulu. She lectures at Queen's University, Belfast and lives in Whitehead, Northern Ireland.

Des Kennedy

Des Kennedy has a background in theatre directing. He is the International Associate Director on ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ (West End, Broadway, Melbourne, San Francisco and Hamburg). Other credits include directing the world premiere of Good Vibrations at the Lyric Theatre Belfast.

Last year he directed his first short film The Girl at the Window by Lisa McGee as part of ��̳NI/Lyric Theatre Belfast’s Splendid Isolation programme.

He wrote his first TV pilot during lockdown in January and now has an original series in development with Playground Entertainment, and is working as a story consultant on House of Kells a new drama by Lisa McGee and Tobias Beer for Kudos Film and TV.

Bronagh Fegan

Bronagh Fegan is a short fiction writer from Warrenpoint, currently based in London. Her work has featured in collections by Bloomsbury, and in literary magazines such as BRAND, Oh Comely and La Bouche. As a frequent performer and co-host with wordPLAY London, she has been involved with a number of charity spoken word events, including Pacifica/Poetry Parnassus at the Southbank Centre as part of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad. She has written and produced short films including Cereal (2011) and Alope (2022), and her sitcom pilot Catching Up was produced by Hat Trick Productions for Audible in 2015.

Phil Mulryne

Phil Mulryne is a writer who was born and grew up in Belfast. He first trained as an actor before moving to work within TV drama development and as a script editor.

His writing credits include Holby City (��̳ One), and his spec script Switches won the BAFTA Rocliffe TV Drama competition and was a finalist in the C21 Drama Series script competition and the Final Draft Big Break screenwriting contest. He was a founder member of the acclaimed comedy theatre group The Fitzrovia Radio Hour. He has written audio dramas for Big Finish Productions including on Doctor Who and ongoing horror series The Omega Factor, for which he was shortlisted for the ��̳ Audio Drama Awards.

Phil’s work as a script editor includes Flesh and Blood (Silverprint/ITV), Black Earth Rising (Drama Republic/��̳/Netflix), Doctor Foster (Drama Republic/��̳) and King Charles III (Drama Republic/��̳).

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Mammoth Screen NI Writers Award - Winner Announced

Mammoth Screen NI Writers Award 2021 - Shortlist Announced

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