Talent

Joe McNally is a writer from Liverpool. He is a graduate of both the Liverpool Everyman YEP Writers Programme and Liverpool’s Royal Court Stage Write programme. His debut play ‘Cosmic’ was commissioned and staged at Liverpool’s Royal Court in 2023. He was also the recipient of the 2023 New Writing North Channel 4 Writing for Television award.

Joe currently has a script commission from Channel 4 and Bonafide Films, as well as a project in development with Firebird Pictures. He was recently a member of the North/Midlands BBC Voices group for 2024.

Bradford based, British-Bangladeshi working-class writer Kamal Kaan read Architecture at The University of Cambridge and MA in TV Fiction Writing. He worked as Story, Location and Script Consultant on double BAFTA nominated film 'Ali and Ava' written and directed by Clio Barnard. Story and Development Consultant on Channel 4 drama 'Dance School' (broadcasting 2024). His work for Radio 4 include: 'Breaking Up With Bradford’, 'Father's Land In Mother Tongue', 'Bangla Bantams' and 3-part series 'BatGirls' – currently available on BBC Sounds. His work for theatre includes: ‘Amma’ for Tara Theatre London, ‘Aaliyah: After Antigone’ Freedom Studios, Bradford and ‘Decades; Leeds Playhouse.

His BFI short film 'All The Lights Still Burning', directed by Dominic Leclrec ( Sex Ed series 4) and Exec Produced by Clio Barnard premiered at the London Film Festival 2023 and BFI Flare 2024. He is currently developing his first feature film with the BFI.

Katie Mulgrew is an award winning writer and comedian. She was shortlisted for the Tobacco theatre prize and won the Liverpool Hope Playwriting Prize for her play ‘Omnibus’. She won the BBC Writersroom Kudos North award and has been shortlisted for the Channel 4 Screenwriting course. Katie has written and appeared on radio and TV shows for BBC Radio 4, CBBC, Channel 4 and she co- presented the ITV2 broadcast pilot, ‘Lovefix’. She was part of the BFI’s Film Hub North Scriptlab in 2020 and her short film ‘Kiss’ premiered at the Manchester International Short Film Festival this year. She has also written the book for a musical currently in development with a major theatre.

Natalie Beech is a scriptwriter based in Manchester. Her debut play 'Collegiate' had sold out runs in London and Leicester and she has received commissions from organisations such as the international HeforShe campaign to create documentary and site-specific theatre. Her work has been staged at theatres including Arcola, Pleasance, The Bread & Roses, Attenborough Arts Centre and more.

In 2022 she won the Channel 4 Writing for Television Award with New Writing North, and in 2023 she was chosen for the BFI Script Lab and the LOOP Audio Drama Fund with Free Turn and Screen Yorkshire, where she has been developing an audio drama pilot. She was also part of the 2024 BBC Northern & Midlands cohort after making the top 1% of submissions to the BBC Writers Open Call.