Ooft. Here we are, gliding along the perineum of the year and I’m feeling both exhausted and in need of a debrief. 2020 was the last time I published a ‘What I Wrote This Year’ post, though looking at my drafts folder, I did try in 2021 and 2022.
2024 however has been a big, challenging year (years?) on a personal level, with a lot of change, both positive and not so positive, so it seemed like as good a time as any to try and take stock of the past 12 months or so.
I don’t feel like I wrote quite so much this year, but I think that’s generally because of the slowing industry here in Australia. The TV landscape, like in many other parts of the world, has been squeezed so hard the last three years, and haemorrhaged so many good people and production companies, it’s been a pretty demoralising space for some time. As far as kids TV goes, this Crikey article is a good summation of the crisis we’re facing.
As far as I go, work has slowed, and the coffers have slowly depleted. I also made the very sad decision to close down the writing group I’d been running for the last few years too. It was a wonderful group, and we’d shared so much, but life circumstances have made me reprioritise A LOT, and unfortunately, it was one too many spinning plates for me to keep spinning. I miss it.
Anyway. Instead of thinking too long and hard about alternative career paths, I’ve tried to spend a lot of my year planning and re-thinking and huffing in frustration as I grapple with ways to maintain a path forward in a field I love. There’s quite a bit to feel buoyed by, I just have to make a concerted effort to focus on it amidst the general gloom. For example, I seem to have pulled together quite a few outlines over the last couple of years and have just not got around to pushing them forward into actual scripts. Something for this coming year’s to-do list…
Here’s what I wrote this year:
- 6 x Neighbours scripts – grateful to have remained on rotation for this enduring icon of Aussie telly, especially with its various production shifts and changes – and yes, still enjoying it!
- 4 x Flower & Flour scripts (with a few more currently in the works) – I’ve been very fortunate to have been working on this delightful show for a little while now, and can finally talk about it as it’s been officially announced!
- 1 x Screen Australia application – a more mammoth undertaking than I expected! I had an idea early this year for a little something that I immediately knew had real potential. After pitching it to a few mates, I decided it was worth seriously pursuing. And somehow, it took months between everything else to scrape together a solid application for development funding. Whatever happens, I’m so proud of what I pulled together and feel there’s a future for this one in some way, I know it! Stay tuned…
- 1 x tween sitcom pilot – a few years ago, a dear friend and I threw together a one pager in response to an international Nickelodeon brief. It was a fun idea we could see real potential in, and while Nick liked it at the time, neither my friend nor I had any real runs on the board so it didn’t get very far. Cut to late 2023 and I was looking for something to work on as a writing sample and remembered this kernel of an idea. After checking in with Lisa, she felt it was worth us pursuing and developing properly. We’re both in a far better position to pitch shows now, so we went all in! And so far, so good. After some traction, one of my first tasks of 2025 is working on another draft of this, focussing on character voice. Quietly, tentatively exciting…
- 1 x writing sample for a scripted documentary currently in development – a refreshing change for me this one. It’s a wonderful concept that I can’t really say too much about, and I was so happy to be asked to try out. Even if I don’t get to be involved any further on this, I really enjoyed having a crack!
Other than that, there’s been a bit more (a lot more!) script producing for emerging teams with projects in development. Short form digital series are such a great thing to work on and be part of, and I’ve had so much fun being part of the development of two of these this year – two very different projects with two very different teams, both equally deserving to launch. I have my fingers crossed that their respective producers will be able to push these into production in the coming year. Fingers crossed!
What did you get up to in 2024?
Happy writing folks x
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