Ian La Frenais to mentor North East comedy wrting trio
Jun 4 2009 by Sam Wonfor, The Journal
“The three of us went down to London a few weeks ago to meet up with Ian and had some sessions,” said Kevin, who returned to the North East seven months ago following a decade as a technology writer in San Francisco, and a year of travel.
“He said what he liked and didn’t like and gave me some direction... basically he gave me the benefit of his four decades’ of experience, which is incredibly useful – especially as this is the first time I’ve ever written a script.
“Having the person who wrote Porridge telling you that he thinks your stuff is funny is pretty great.”
Lee Mattinson, 29, who lives in Gateshead, was also working towards Monday’s deadline yesterday. His script, Oh, Beverley is a “soap opera parody musical” about a girl called Beverley who is trying to find a date for her school reunion.
“It’s ridiculous,” he admitted with a laugh. “Beverley’s kind of normal and just stuck in this world. Ian didn’t get it at first, but once I explained, he was kind of fine.”
Lee, who was shortlisted for The Journal Culture Awards’ Best Newcomer this year, is no stranger to BBC commissioners. A Radio 3 adaptation of his Live Theatre play Me and Cilla has just been recorded and he has recently finished writing for the second series of BBC3 sketch show Scallywagga.
But he still believes there’s bucketloads to learn from Mr La Frenais.
“He certainly knows his stuff and for someone like me who wants to write TV comedy full time, it’s a great opportunity to learn from him. He’s already given me some gems of advice.”
As well as having the chance to pitch their finished script to the BBC, there’s also a chance to have an extract performed as a rehearsed reading at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Tom Harvey, chief executive of NFM, said: “It is wonderful to have such an established and talented writer of comedy engaging with new writing talent from the North East. It is important we link the next generation of writers into mentors such as Ian whenever possible, sharing skills, knowledge and experience at every turn.
“I’m hopeful that Northern Laughs will pay dividends and see North East comedy writing talent on national TV screens once again.”
