The Offcuts Drawer - Successful Writers Share Their Best Worst Ideas
Writing Tips, Truths & Lessons Learned, From Top Writers’ Unproduced Work. Novelists, screenwriters, authors, playwrights, journalists, writer-performers, columnists, poets… Every writer has a virtual bottom drawer where they keep the bits of writing they never finished, had rejected or can’t quite find a home for – the unfinished novel, the cut scene, the rejected script, sometimes even the childhood essay… In each episode of The Offcuts Drawer actors perform these pieces and the writer talks to host Laura Shavin about the story behind them, sharing the often surprising twists and turns of their career that led them to where they are today. More details about the writers, the offcuts and the actors performing them plus full episode transcripts at offcutsdrawer.com
Episodes
The writer & voice of BBC Radio 4's Ed Reardon shares the comedy scripts that missed the mark, got rejected by the commissioners or still remain unfinished.
CAST: Nigel Pilkington, Chris Kent, Jake Yapp, Helen Goldwyn, Beth Chalmers, Emma Clarke
Christopher Douglas is a British writer and performer, best known for co-writing and voicing Ed Reardon’s Week on BBC Radio 4 with the late Andrew Nickolds, a comedy series that has run...
A former television writer now an award-winning children’s novelist and playwright, Piers’ offcuts include an attempt at a romantic novel, a social media status update about a bossy weevil, and a sitcom based on the unlikely topic of his early life growing up on a farm during the foot & mouth pandemic.
offcutsdrawer.com/piers-torday
Top Author & Writer Adele Parks shares clips of her writing that never made it to publication, plus some of her earliest literary attempts and and some very surprising NSFW poetry.
CAST: Helen Goldwyn, Emma Clarke, Chris Pavlo and Beth Chalmers.
Adele Parks has published more than twenty novels since her first, Playing Away, appeared in 2000. Her books have sold over five million copies and are translated into dozens of languag...
Novelist, blogger & script editor Lucy V Hay shares her writing that failed before she became a published novelist, and screenplays that have yet to find a home.
Struggling with mental health issues and a subsequent cancer diagnosis, Lucy shares the story of how she went from being a teenage mum to becoming a successful novelist and script editor, and the driving force behind Bang2Write, one of the most well-regarded writing we...
TV, film and radio comedy writer Dan Maier reveals a cornucopia of different formats for his offcuts that include a radio sketch written for a famous double act, a children's science fiction trilogy and a Victorian blog entry.
CAST: Chris Pavlo, Jake Yapp, Helen Goldwyn, Nigel Pilkington and Emma Clarke
Dan Maier is a television and radio writer with a career spanning satire, sitcoms, sketch, film, gameshow and comedy formats. He b...
Best-selling thriller novelist and author Louise Candlish shares her writing offcuts which include: a deleted chapter from one of her most successful novels, a TV drama that didn't get picked up, the prologue of an abandoned novel, a pitch for a book written before the idea was fully developed, and a couple of stories that reveal her taste for melodrama from a very young age.
CAST: Beth Chalmers, Helen Goldwyn, Emma Clarke and Marc...
Advertising copywriter and novelist Paul shares rejected scripts that include a screenplay about a cab-driving priest, a dog that could still become a household name and a romantic reunion for the radio.
Cast: Chris Pavlo, David Lane Pusey, Helen Goldwyn, Christopher Kent, Marcus Hutton
Warning: This episode contains strong language
Paul Burke is a multi‑award‑winning advertising copywriter and producer, widely recognised as one of...
Writer and storyteller Lynn Ferguson shares a mixed bag of offcuts that include a London love story, a nightmare foxhunt, a ghostly family reunion and a family saga of oil-magnate ducks.
CAST: David Monteath, Nigel Pilkington, Gayanne Potter, Christopher Kent, Beth Chalmers
Warning: This episode contains strong language
Lynn Ferguson is a writer and story coach whose work spans radio, television, theatre, film and live storytellin...
"Swearing consultant", screenwriter and producer Ian Martin shares a combination of film scripts and short stories that include tales of gory ghosts, a mosquito-ridden dystopia, and body-swapping in the Bible.
Cast: Beth Chalmers, Keith Wickham, Kenny Blyth, Christopher Kent, Emma Clarke and Nigel Pilkington
This episode contains very STRONG LANGUAGE
Ian Martin is a BAFTA- and EMMY-winning comedy writer best known for his scathi...
Best-selling thriller writer Lisa ("Then She Was Gone", "The Family Upstairs", "Watching You") shares clips that didn't make it into her books, and talks in fascinating detail about her unusually practical and no-nonsense writing technique.
Clips performed by: Beth Chalmers, Christopher Kent and Rachel Atkins.
Lisa Jewell is the Number 1 New York Times bestselling author of nineteen novels (shortly to be 20), including The Girls an...
"Dublin Trilogy" novelist and former comedian Caimh (CK) McDonnell shares his sitcom set aboard a ferry, a pre-Fleabag Fleabag and a comedy about what happens when multiple timelines meet.
Offcuts performed by: Jake Yapp, Darrell Maclaine, Kenny Blyth, Lizzie Roper, David Monteith and Rachel Atkins.
This episode contains strong language.
Caimh McDonnell is the internationally bestselling author of the Dublin Trilogy which is set in...
A rap musical set in a US prison based on a Noel Coward play, a sitcom about IVF and a story about JFK faking moon landings - just 3 of the offcuts from comedy writer and US showrunner Georgia.
Clips performed by: Desiree Burch, Beth Chalmers, Keith Wickham, Lizzie Roper and Jake Yapp. With additional music by Jake Yapp.
Warning: This episode contains strong language.
Georgia is a multi-award-winning comedy and drama writer, who ha...
Raconteuse Miranda shares the bits of writing that didn't quite make it, along with tales of her former life as a sex worker, in a show that's definitely NSFW.
Clips performed by Chris Pavlo, Bhavnisha Parmar and Emma Clarke.
Warning: This episode contains strong language and explicit material.
Miranda Kane is a comedian, writer, and performer who garners inspiration from her previous career as a sex-worker and her more recent wor...
This is not a normal episode of The Offcuts Drawer but a taster of the excellent podcast In Writing With Hattie Crisell.
Journalist Hattie visits the studies of writers of all kinds – novelists, screenwriters, poets, journalists and more – to find out how they write, why they write, and what they can teach us about doing it better and the special guest in this episode is Graham Norton.
The Offcuts Drawer will be back with a brand n...
An investigation into the Mole-man of Hackney, standup material about pond-dipping and a bit of angst-filled teenage poetry are just some of the offcuts shared by Isy.
Clips performed by: Lynsey Murrell, Beth Chalmers, Darrell Maclaine, Shash Hira, Toby Longworth and Emma Clarke
Isy Suttie is a comedian, actress and writer who started performing stand up in 2002. She trained as an actress and has written for the GUARDIAN, the OBSER...
Scotland's "Queen of Crime" shares some stonking bits of early writing, including her attempt at a bonkbuster and the short story that prefigured her move into thrillers.
Clips performed by: Christopher Kent, Beth Chalmers, Leah Marks, Kenny Blyth, Emma Clarke and Rachel Atkins.
Val McDermid has sold over 17 million books to date across the globe and is translated into over 40 languages. She is perhaps best-known for her Wire in th...
The "Horrid Henry" creator gives us an out-take from her successful opera, unpublished articles and some other children's book ideas that despite her stellar international reputation still didn't get picked up.
Clips performed by: Beth Chalmers, Emma Clarke, Leah Marks, David Holt, Rachel Atkins and Keith Wickham.
Francesca Simon is universally known for the staggeringly popular Horrid Henry series. These books and CDs have sold ov...
"Friday Night Dinner" writer Popper shares some truly bizarre offcuts including the fake CV that landed him his big break in comedy, a prank community woodland notice and a sitcom about a wasp.
Clips performed by: David Holt, Alex Lowe, Toby Longworth and Lizzie Roper.
Warning: This episode contains strong language.
Robert Popper is an award-winning writer, producer, performer, and bestselling author. He is the writer and producer...
A grab-bag of television and film scripts that didn't quite make it including a drama about GI brides and a psychological mystery set in the Scottish Highlands from screenwriter Andrea.
Clips performed by: Kate O’Sulivan, Kenny Blyth, Lizzie Roper, Shash Hira, Emma Clarke, David Monteath, Rachel Atkins and Beth Chalmers.
Warning: This episode contains strong language.
Andrea Gibb is an award winning Scottish screenwriter who has wo...
The West End theatre version of TV's "The Good Life", the "Toys" musical that came *before* the film... Jeremy's selection of near misses covers both stage and screen.
Clips performed by: Alex Lowe, Lizzie Roper, David Holt, Beth Chalmers, Toby Longworth and Emma Clarke.
Warning: This episode contains strong language.
Jeremy Sams has written and created countless successful theatre shows including Amour (Broadway), Ghetto (Nationa...
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