Due to Covid-19 pandemic year 2021 Northern Script was held online. Overall 34 scripts were sent into the competition – which was a new record. Six scripts and their writers were selected to an online training program which included workshops and masterclasses held from 18th to 20th November in Zoom. You can read more about workshops below.
Local Workshops 2021
1st WORKSHOP by DRAGAN MITIC
Dragan Mitic´s workshop focused on techniques for giving and receiving feedback and the process of writing the second version of a script. The final workshop program was planned according to the participant wishes.
Dragan Mitic (SE) is a Guldbagge awarded screenwriter from Gothenburg, Sweden. He has a background in journalism but made a transition 12 years ago into scriptwriting. He has since written plays, screenplays and developed concepts for tv- series, commissioned from major Swedish production companies. Since 2019 he has also been a part time head teacher in screenwriting at Yrgo, a college in Gothenburg.
2nd WORKSHOP by ANNA BROTKIN
In her workshop Anna Brotkin talked about creating great characters to the stories. In the workshop Northern Script finalists’ dove into the world of character development through lectures, talks and writing tasks.
The workshop included themes such as:
- How to write interesting and multifaceted characters that make the audience believe in your story?
- What makes a good main character for a screenplay?
Anna Brotkin is a screenwriter from Helsinki, Finland. She is the creator and writer of the hit-series Aikuiset (“Adults”) broadcasted by the Finnish Broadcasting Company Yle. She has also worked as a head-writer & staff-writer for several other comedy & drama series in Finland. Many of her short films have traveled to International Film Festivals. Anna Brotkin has a master’s degree in screenwriting from Aalto University.
3rd WORKSHOP by THOMAS WANGSMO
Thomas’ workshop was focused on dramaturgy or dramatic structure, as well as the importance of developing a strategy for how to pitch the scripts and find avenues to take them into production. The final workshop program was planned according to the participant wishes.
Thomas Wangsmo is a Norwegian screenwriter and director. He has been awarded by several International Film festivals. In addition to writing and directing, Wangsmo has edited all his films, and occasionally also photographed and produced them. He is a member of the Writer’s Guild of Norway, and regularly teaches film in addition to working as a filmmaker.
Northern Script Jury 2021
Paula Mononen is an experienced screenwriter. Mononen got her Master’s degree on screenwriting from the University of Arts and Design, nowadays Aalto University, in 2010 and have been working as screenwriter ever since.
Mononen has been involved in a couple of feature film projects, but TV drama is what puts the bread on the table for her, and for most screenwriters in Finland – Paula also happens to love it! Mononen has written a miniseries and worked in writers’ rooms on several Finnish series, like Bordertown.
Mikko Peltotupa (b. 1993) is an early career film and television screenwriter who has studied Finnish language and literature at the University of Eastern Finland and screenwriting at Aalto University’s Department of Cinematography. Peltotupa has proven himself to be a technically skilled, cultured and versatile writer whose humorous and accurate vision of human life bends sovereignly across genres, from black satire to touching drama, and from animated series to feature films.
Further online training
Besides the workshops the finalists also met online before the workshops for a casual talk. Two previous finalists (Mikko Peltotupa & Mattias Staaf) also joined to talk about their past experiences. After the casual talk the finalists got to see an animation film ‘The Ape Star’. On our final day (20th of November) the finalists got to chill out and enjoy an enchanting talk by a Swedish scriptwriter Janne Vierth, whose film ‘The Ape Star’ was in the program of this year’s Oulu International Children’s and Youth Film festival. In his guest talk Janne emphasized the importance of writing from your heart and got the finalists to believe in themselves, in their own scripts and finding their own voice.
In the afternoon all the finalists also got an individual feedback session by our judges (Paula Mononen & Mikko Peltotupa). After the detailed analysis with each and every one of our finalists, the judges announced Northern Script 2021 winner.
Northern Script 2021 winner
The winner of Northern Script 2021 was Swedish Idil Mohamud Gurey with her script ‘Fish out of water’.