A number of students have been busy reviewing the events they attended at Industry Week. Here, student Deanna wrote a great review of Russell T Davies’ talk on Friday 12 March.
Russell T Davies is a screenwriter and TV producer from Swansea, Wales. After starting out working for children’s television as a floor manager, researcher and director, his big break occurred in the late 1980s where he began screenwriting drama series like the long-running CITV medical drama Children’s Ward and British drama adventure series Dark Season and Century Falls.
He was also responsible for reviving Doctor Who in 2005, which was a sci-fi cult classic from the BBC, after a long nine-year absence.
Aside from his sci-fi projects, one of Russell’s main highlights is creating Channel 4’s Queer as Folk, which aired in February 1999, along with a series of other projects.
During Russell’s interview, he spoke about the inspirations behind him making the new hit series It’s A Sin, which chronicled the HIV/AIDS crisis in the 1980s. It has been applauded by TV critics and has helped raise awareness for the HIV/AIDS community.
When asked how it was producing a programme during the Covid-19 pandemic, Russell explained they were lucky to finish filming just beforehand:
“We finished filming in January 2020. We were supposed to air it in Autumn that year but it was pushed back to next year. Post-production in the pandemic was alright and I’m lucky to wrap up production before the COVID-19 lockdown happened.”
Not only did Russell share some brilliant anecdotes with students, but he shared some invaluable advice too, to help budding screenwriters get their ideas off the ground.
“Start that script and finish it. Get a final draft software for your computer – it only takes five minutes to learn if you want to use that piece of software. You’ll feel like a professional screenwriter because your script is going to be huge. And remember – you’re a writer, not a dreamer, so begin that script now.”
Thank you to Russell T Davies for such an inspiring, insightful talk!
Are you interested in attending events like Industry Week as part of your studies? Book onto a virtual open day to find out more about our offer at Confetti.
