C4 SCREENWRITING COURSE – NOTES ON READING
Hi There,
After Karen Featherstone’s excellent feedback last fortnight, here are some of the notes I made while reading the scripts for the 2026 Channel 4 screenwriting course –
APPLES AND ORANGES
By which I mean – comparing the two is absurd – but it’s the same with choosing 12 scripts from 2766.
It seems to me that good writing is simultaneously very hard and weirdly easy. One of the keys to good writing is accessing your truths – whether that’s in dramatizing the realities of your lived experience or in dramatizing that which you have never experienced (and it’s impossible to sustain a career just writing about what you know and have done – the well will soon run dry).
But with the best writing, there’s a clarity and a simplicity because the writer is clear in their honesty and in observing their own truths. I really responded to what Karen said last time about ‘getting out of your own way’ – although paradoxically, it’s also about being true to yourself.
Whereas trying to create something that is not based on your own truths means falling back on artifice – on something that inevitably feels like it’s familiar – because it’s based on that writer’s viewing and reading experience, derived and adapted from stuff they’ve seen and been inspired by.
Nothing is wholly original but as a reader you can feel in your gut the difference between truth and artifice. Truth comes across with an openness and sense of revelation and generosity whereas artifice feels like it’s been worked at, like it’s attempting to look like truth, trying to be something that it’s not.
This is also why research – and using your research judiciously – is so important. We want scripts and stories to tell us something we don’t already know.
So often the best scripts have the best loglines.
The key image will crystalise your story.
I read so many deeply miserable scripts – joy in a script is so refreshing. There’s nothing inherently wrong with misery in a story – but for a reader, the accumulated weight of so much bleakness can be demoralising. Misery works if there are flashes of hope and humanity – isn’t that closer to the reality of life?
Clarity is everything. Clarity in your writing and storytelling is the minimum requirement. I read a lot of physical descriptions that I struggle to visualise. You are writing a film. Help us understand and imagine what we are seeing on screen.
So much cocaine! I may have led a sheltered life (!) I personally have never been offered or taken cocaine – and yet I feel like an expert because it’s in so many scripts. Too often I feel like cocaine use in scripts is more of a badge of street-cred than of significant story value.
How you organise and structure your material is key.
Specificity of story world is great – but it doesn’t matter how authentic and well observed the writing is if you don’t bring a story structure to it – shape it into something that will hook and engage an audience. I feel like too much good writing is wasted because it lacks suspense, tension, a hook – a compelling question for the audience. Establish a hook – I want to know why I’m watching this. Every scene needs a story purpose. What’s at stake?
Big bold ideas stand out. On the other hand, there is no idea, however small and familiar, that you can’t bring something fresh original and distinctive to. If you tell a story truthfully, insightfully and surprisingly, it will stand out, whatever it’s about. Simple affirmative truths like ‘people love their children’ (for instance).
The clarity and impact of the opening page is paramount. A clear dramatic hook on p.1. How you introduce your lead character on p.1.
‘The ***’ has something so precious – narrative tension – it’s heading towards a decisive event – and we want to know what will happen, we fear for the protagonist, are invested so that we are desperate for her to escape her seemingly inevitable fate – this gives the script real impact.
There was a lot of (understandable) future anxiety in this year’s scripts. My personal beef – so many dystopian scripts – don’t set it in a fictional future – it’s happening now! We’re right smack bang in the middle of our very own absolutely authentic 2026 dystopia. Setting your story 5 minutes into a mythical future somehow risks taking the heat, intensity and relevance out of your story.
———————-
I hope this is helpful. Thank you for the enormous privilege of allowing the 10 of us to read and enjoy your scripts. Every year, it feels like our own, exclusive TV/Film festival. We enjoy the reading and the discussion so much – and we all learn so much from the process.
The next newsletter will be on Friday February 20th
Best wishes
Phil
PHILIP SHELLEY
Find me on Twitter, BlueSky, Linked-In.
Friday February 6th 2026
—————————–
FORTHCOMING COURSES AND EVENTS
ONE DAY INTRODUCTION TO SCREENWRITING – London Saturday February 14th 2026
Guest speakers – KATE LEYS (one of the UK’s foremost story editors with a glittering CV) and screenwriter NATHANIEL PRICE (credits include Mr Loverman, Noughts & Crosses, The Outlaws, Tin Star).
Both a celebration of and an introduction to the craft of screenwriting.
https://script-consultant.co.uk/one-day-introduction-to-screenwriting/
——————————–
Arvon Foundation: Masterclass: Screenwriting : How to write an eye-catching pilot for TV
Masterclass: Screenwriting | How to write an eye-catching pilot for TV | Arvon
I’m running this 2 hour online Arvon Foundation Masterclass on Tuesday February 17th 7-9pm.
‘The TV industry is full of stories about projects which began as pilots and went on to be commissioned for one or more series. But how do you create an eye-catching pilot that stands out from the crowd and grabs a commissioner’s eye? Join Script Consultant and founder of the Channel 4 Screenwriting course, Philip Shelley, to unlock the process behind creating a successful pilot screenplay.
Philip will share some of the common characteristics of all successful pilot scripts which make them more likely to convert to series. You’ll learn how to identify the fundamental building blocks of a successful pilot script, how to create compelling characters who leap off the page and onto the screen and who also, crucially, have plenty of space to grow across a series. You’ll gain insight into how to structure a pilot so that it’s standalone but also with strong potential to be continued, and what other elements you need to accompany your pilot script.
You’ll leave this Masterclass with a clear idea of what you need to do to create a pilot that is a distinctive calling card and that, one day, may grow into the holy grail of a series.’
———————————
SCREENSKILLS: HETV Assistant Script Editor/ Script Assistant Training (Northern Ireland)
‘Are you a HETV Assistant Script Editor or Script Assistant based in Northern Ireland who wants to develop their skills?
Or are you from another HETV department, writing or writing adjacent profession who can demonstrate an ambition to move into script editing?
This immersive training course, delivered by renowned script consultant Philip Shelley, is for you.
This training will take place in person in Belfast between March 11 and 13 2026 and will cover all aspects of how to excel as an assistant script editor or script assistant. This programme is funded by the ScreenSkills High-end Television Skills Fund made up of contributions from high-end television productions made in the UK.’
NB This course is exclusively for applicants living and working in Northern Ireland.