During the incredible Drop the Pilot studio, I was very fortunate to be a small part of an incredible writer’s room for our show, Behind Bars. With the Writer’s Strike and the threat of AI looming over our heads for majority of the semester, it was so unbelievably exciting and reassuring to experience such a high-level of creativity amongst a group of people. It was great seeing everyone grow more confident as time went on, and never being afraid to share ideas. Personally, I feel as though I gained a ton of confidence in my writing, and my willingness to share my ideas with a group. Do I still cringe when I hear my writing read aloud? Absolutely. But at least I have reached a point where I’m happy for it to be heard!

I was unfortunately absent during the group presentations for the pitch deck, so I had to attack that solo. I love collaboration so it was slightly daunting at first, but it actually ended up being really freeing. I explored the tone and style of our show, and I had so much fun fully realising the show in my head and then expressing those ideas. One idea I’m particularly proud of is using the fictional town of Radiator Springs as influence for our own isolated town of Barrel. When it came to writing the pilot, I found that I really thrived when writing for the character of Boss. I just found there to be a lot of possibilities with her mysterious character. Learning to format a script correctly was also so satisfying. It felt really professional, which I strangely think motivated me even more!

This was an unbelievable studio that I enjoyed every minute of. Believe it or not, it actually had me excited to come into uni every week. I am so eager to continue with TV writing long into the future, and it is because of this studio! And I’m sure every (if any) writer’s room that I am a part of in the future, will be just as friendly and fun as this one…right?