*Tickets include lunch

Radio can be an incredibly powerful way to tell a story, and it’s a growing medium. This one-day course will get you started with some of the key techniques of radio documentary making.

You’ll cover the editorial essentials such as spotting an idea, building a narrative structure, finding the right contributors, as well as how to use sound creatively to grab the listener’s attention. There’ll also be tips on pitching ideas to programme editors or commissioning executives.

During the day, you’ll get hands on experience of working out a story and learning how to pitch it. You’ll hear lots of inspiring audio, and analyse the techniques used, and you’ll learn some of the principles involved in capturing the listener’s attention, and how to hold it.

At the end of the course you will have a better understanding of the potential of radio, and should be in a good position to pitch to broadcasters such as BBC Radio 4 and the World Service, or making audio features and documentaries for online broadcasters.

The course would suit those from other media or communications disciplines who are thinking of broadening their skill base as well as those completely new to the field.

About the trainers:
David Prest and Deborah Dudgeon of Whistledown Productions will teach the course. Whistledown is the largest provider of speech programmes to BBC Radio, providing landmark series such as Radio 4’s The Reunion, and Feedback, as well as a wide range of features and documentaries. Whistledown also works with universities and commercial clients to make podcasts and audio guides.

Image: via Shutterstock / MAFord

Radio and other audio platforms offer a large and varied market for aspiring dramatists – from character drama to thrillers, comedy, sci-fi and historical stories. And in the age of the box-set, when TV drama is all about long-running series, audio is now the home of the single drama. This creates a huge opportunity for new drama writers to pursue unusual and ambitious projects with a realistic hope that they will be produced.

Are you interested in learning how to write audio drama for the BBC and elsewhere? This one-day workshop focuses on the special demands of writing drama for the ear. It aims to equip participants with the skills necessary both to write their own new projects and to pursue the possibility of working on existing radio drama series. The workshop will demonstrate how to use sound to grab the audience’s attention from the very beginning of a story. You will learn devices that help to differentiate between characters, and to establish their relationship to each other – hugely important in audio drama where the audience only have voices and effects to go on. And you will explore ways to create an atmosphere of suspense, where the test of each scene is – does the audience care what happens next? The workshop will also tell you how to structure and present your radio drama scripts, and how to go about pitching stories to commissioners and producers, both at the BBC and in newer markets such as Audible.

The workshop is led by Hugh Costello, who has written more than two dozen dramas for BBC Radio, and has twice been a judge in the drama category of the Audio Production Awards. Hugh is also a screenwriter whose HBO film Bernard and Doris was nominated for ten Emmy awards, including best screenplay. He also writes journalism and produces factual radio programmes.

Radio can be an incredibly powerful way to tell a story, and it’s a growing medium. This one-day course will get you started with some of the key techniques of radio documentary making.

You’ll cover the editorial essentials such as spotting an idea, building a narrative structure, finding the right contributors, as well as how to use sound creatively to grab the listener’s attention. There’ll also be tips on pitching ideas to programme editors or commissioning executives.

During the day, you’ll get hands on experience of working out a story and learning how to pitch it. You’ll hear lots of inspiring audio, and analyse the techniques used, and you’ll learn some of the principles involved in capturing the listener’s attention, and how to hold it.

At the end of the course you will have a better understanding of the potential of radio, and should be in a good position to pitch to broadcasters such as BBC Radio 4 and the World Service, or making audio features and documentaries for online broadcasters.

The course would suit those from other media or communications disciplines who are thinking of broadening their skill base as well as those completely new to the field.

About the trainers:
David Prest and Deborah Dudgeon of Whistledown Productions will teach the course. Whistledown is the largest provider of speech programmes to BBC Radio, providing landmark series such as Radio 4’s The Reunion, and Feedback, as well as a wide range of features and documentaries. Whistledown also works with universities and commercial clients to make podcasts and audio guides.

Image: via Shutterstock / MAFord

Radio can be an incredibly powerful way to tell a story, and it’s a growing medium. This one-day course will get you started with some of the key techniques of radio documentary making.

You’ll cover the editorial essentials such as spotting an idea, building a narrative structure, finding the right contributors, as well as how to use sound creatively to grab the listener’s attention. There’ll also be tips on pitching ideas to programme editors or commissioning executives.

During the day, you’ll get hands on experience of working out a story and learning how to pitch it. You’ll hear lots of inspiring audio, and analyse the techniques used, and you’ll learn some of the principles involved in capturing the listener’s attention, and how to hold it.

At the end of the course you will have a better understanding of the potential of radio, and should be in a good position to pitch to broadcasters such as BBC Radio 4 and the World Service, or making audio features and documentaries for online broadcasters.

The course would suit those from other media or communications disciplines who are thinking of broadening their skill base as well as those completely new to the field.

About the trainers:
David Prest and Deborah Dudgeon of Whistledown Productions will teach the course. Whistledown is the largest provider of speech programmes to BBC Radio, providing landmark series such as Radio 4’s The Reunion, and Feedback, as well as a wide range of features and documentaries. Whistledown also works with universities and commercial clients to make podcasts and audio guides.

Image: via Shutterstock / MAFord

Radio can be an incredibly powerful way to tell a story, and it’s a growing medium. This one-day course will get you started with some of the key techniques of radio documentary making.

You’ll cover the editorial essentials such as spotting an idea, building a narrative structure, finding the right contributors, as well as how to use sound creatively to grab the listener’s attention. There’ll also be tips on pitching ideas to programme editors or commissioning executives.

During the day, you’ll get hands on experience of working out a story and learning how to pitch it. You’ll hear lots of inspiring audio, and analyse the techniques used, and you’ll learn some of the principles involved in capturing the listener’s attention, and how to hold it.

At the end of the course you will have a better understanding of the potential of radio, and should be in a good position to pitch to broadcasters such as BBC Radio 4 and the World Service, or making audio features and documentaries for online broadcasters.

The course would suit those from other media or communications disciplines who are thinking of broadening their skill base as well as those completely new to the field.

About the trainers:
David Prest and Deborah Dudgeon of Whistledown Productions will teach the course. Whistledown is the largest provider of speech programmes to BBC Radio, providing landmark series such as Radio 4’s The Reunion, and Feedback, as well as a wide range of features and documentaries. Whistledown also works with universities and commercial clients to make podcasts and audio guides.

Image: via Shutterstock / MAFord

Are you interested in learning how to write radio drama? This one-day workshop will help you start ‘thinking in sound’ and focus on the special demands of writing drama for the ear. It aims to equip participants with the skills necessary both to write their own new projects and to pursue the possibility of working on existing radio drama series. The workshop will demonstrate how to use sound to grab the audience’s attention from the very beginning of a story.

You will learn devices that help to differentiate between characters and establish their relationships with each other – hugely important in radio drama, where the audience only have voices and effects to rely on. You will also explore ways to create an atmosphere of suspense, where the test of each scene is: does the audience care what happens next? The workshop will cover how to go about pitching stories to commissioners and producers.

This one-day workshop will be led by Hugh Costello, who has written more than two dozen dramas for BBC Radio, and has been a judge in the drama category of the Radio Production Awards for the past two years. Costello is also a screenwriter whose HBO film, Bernard and Doris, was nominated for ten Emmy Awards, including best screenplay. He is also a print journalist and produces factual radio programmes.

Image via Shutterstock / Forest Run

Radio can be an incredibly powerful way to tell a story, and it’s a growing medium. This one-day course will get you started with some of the key techniques of radio documentary making.

You’ll cover the editorial essentials such as spotting an idea, building a narrative structure, finding the right contributors, as well as how to use sound creatively to grab the listener’s attention. There’ll also be tips on pitching ideas to programme editors or commissioning executives.

During the day, you’ll get hands on experience of working out a story and learning how to pitch it. You’ll hear lots of inspiring audio, and analyse the techniques used, and you’ll learn some of the principles involved in capturing the listener’s attention, and how to hold it.

At the end of the course you will have a better understanding of the potential of radio, and should be in a good position to pitch to broadcasters such as BBC Radio 4 and the World Service, or making audio features and documentaries for online broadcasters.

The course would suit those from other media or communications disciplines who are thinking of broadening their skill base as well as those completely new to the field.

About the trainers
David Prest and Deborah Dudgeon of Whistledown Productions will teach the course. Whistledown is the largest provider of speech programmes to BBC Radio, providing landmark series such as Radio 4’s The Reunion, and Feedback, as well as a wide range of features and documentaries. Whistledown also works with universities and commercial clients to make podcasts and audio guides.

Image: via Shutterstock / MAFord

Radio can be an incredibly powerful way to tell a story, and it’s a growing medium. This one-day course will get you started with some of the key techniques of radio documentary making.

You’ll cover the editorial essentials such as spotting an idea, building a narrative structure, finding the right contributors, as well as how to use sound creatively to grab the listener’s attention. There’ll also be tips on pitching ideas to programme editors or commissioning executives.

During the day, you’ll get hands on experience of working out a story and learning how to pitch it. You’ll hear lots of inspiring audio, and analyse the techniques used, and you’ll learn some of the principles involved in capturing the listener’s attention, and how to hold it.

At the end of the course you will have a better understanding of the potential of radio, and should be in a good position to pitch to broadcasters such as BBC Radio 4 and the World Service, or making audio features and documentaries for online broadcasters.

The course would suit those from other disciplines who are thinking of broadening their skill base whether print, TV or video journalists, or other communications professionals.

About the trainers
David Prest and Deborah Dudgeon of Whistledown Productions will teach the course. Whistledown is the largest provider of speech programmes to BBC Radio, providing landmark series such as Radio 4’s The Reunion, and Feedback, as well as a wide range of features and documentaries. Whistledown also works with universities and commercial clients to make podcasts and audio guides.

Image: via Shutterstock / MAFord

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The workshop will be taught by Tira Shubart, news and documentary producer for British, American and Canadian broadcasters for over 25 years. Tira also wrote a comedy on television news, the seven part BBC series “Taking the Flak” as well as  extensive print journalism over the years.