Are you a UK #writer with published books or broadcast hours? Could you be missing out on secondary rights money? Join @alcs.co.uk if you’re not a member and please vote in in the current election! Let’s protect our rights and our money. If anyone wants to chat to me about it, drop me a line!

Great photos, Simon. So sorry we didn’t meet in person!

Protestors at the Society of Authors march on Meta for the Make It Right campaign

Here’s @gailrenard.bsky.social from @writersguildgb.bsky.social at the head of the throng #MakeItRight #MetaBookThieves

On the way to demonstrate against meta’s thievery with @tomwentworth.bsky.social

@societyofauthors.bsky.social
#dothewritething

Last minute placard…
Concrete poetry at speed

I'll be delivering @writersguildgb.bsky.social letter, about Meta's mass theft of writers' work to train AI, to Meta HQ today, along with one of my own. It's a day of action Make a noise
- Write to Culture Secretary @lisanandy
- Tell Meta they don't have the right to use your books
#DoTheWriteThing

Petition nearly at 10,000 signatures. Sign it, write to your MP, and - if you can - get to the protest at 1pm King’s Cross today. Meta stole my books and all my mates’ and we are PISSED OFF.

META BOOK THIEVES - They Must Do The Write Thing The Society of Authors are protesting Meta’s HQ today This image shows illustrations of authors holding placards saying “make it fair” and “do the write thing”

Today UK authors are protesting against Meta for stealing our work to train their AI model. Authors earn an average of £7000 per year, we are not rich, and yet a trillion dollar company decided it didn’t want to license our work fairly as it was “too expensive”

Theft is not a valid alternative.

Protest sign reading "Piracy is so Meta" with Meta written as the company logo

Protest sign reading "I'd write a better sign but you'd just steal it"

Got my double sided placard ready for the @societyofauthors.bsky.social demo against #MetaBookThieves. Today, 1.30, Granary Square, King's Cross!

Meta and LibGen stole my books and they should not be allowed to get away with it.

I call up on our government to protect the work of creatives and ensure we are fairly paid for our work.

A newspaper headline stating that Hooters has filed for bankruptcy protection.

*runs into the room out of breath*

You could say it's gone... tits up!

*collapses*

Proud to have signed this open letter. The UK Government must demand immediate answers from the #MetaBookThieves. They stole millions of books to feed their AI without asking, without paying. I want compensation. Where is the Government response? Silence. #DoTheWriteThing

Support Joel Morris ❤️. ko-fi.com/gralefrit Directly support the making of more podcasts, more writing, and all sorts of good stuff...

I've been asked, very nicely, whether there's a way to support the making of Broken Veil and Comfort Blanket and so on without necessarily signing up to the Substack feed...

And so I've set up a Ko-Fi account.

Well, that'd be lovely, if you do want to show your appreciation...

ko-fi.com/gralefrit

Important piece from Matilda Feyiṣayọ Ibini in today's @thestage.co.uk, raising some serious issues

WGGB has produced a Writers' Access Rider plus guidance notes, which you can find in the Rates and Rights section of our website

writersguild.org.uk/rates-and-ri...

It’s back and wittier and more enjoyable than ever. How lovely to have truly literate crime solving on TV with a trio you really care about. Looking forward to the other two stories.

An incredible charity doing incredible work. We all talk about supporting new talent in the arts and creative industries. Here is a practical way you can do that RIGHT NOW.

Mental health support • Mind runs a support line on 0300 102 1234 as a safe and confidential place to talk openly. It also has an information line, on 0300 123 3393, for details of where to get help near you. And its welfare benefits line – 0300 222 5782 – supports anyone with mental health problems who is navigating the benefits system. • Samaritans is there to talk to you for free 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Call them on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org. • The disability charity Scope has a forum where you can chat in a supportive atmosphere to people going through the same experiences. • NHS England has an online mental health triage service.

Benefits support • The Trussell Trust's Help through Hardship helpline, on 0808 208 2138, is a free and confidential phone service offered alongside Citizens Advice that provides advice to people experiencing hardship. You can also find your local Trussell Trust food bank here. • Benefits and Work provides guides, forums and newsletters to help people navigate the benefits system and get the support they are entitled to. This includes benefit applications and appeals. • Turn2Us provides a free benefits calculator to help you find out what benefits you can claim, as well as a grants search service and a Pip Helper to assist you in applying for the benefit. • The Law Centres website helps people find their local service for benefits support and more, while Advicelocal provides a search directory tool to find your local advice provider.

I know coverage of disability benefits can be very distressing. So, I’ve worked with colleagues to make a range of support visible on The Guardian’s site.

If you click on a relevant news story, you’ll see a “drop box” of signposted mental health help as well as benefits advice.

Heart breaking to hear about the BBC axing another continuing drama. River City always punched above its budgetary weight and had some great writers.

I hope that BBC Scotland will look to them for their new dramas and not squander experience and talent as the BBC has done too many times before.

Hello! I am doing a workshop on Writing for TV, specifically creating pitch documents for TV shows. That's treatments, outlines, one-pagers, bibles.... The aim is to DEMYSTIFY & build confidence. Online. limited places #Screenwriting #Writers pls share!

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/writing-fo...

Huge congratulations Steve - and thanks for all the laughs!

Super tips here from the incomparable @annaruthjordan.bsky.social! She never waffles (and even if she does, it’s award-winning waffle! 😉)

Looking forward to tonight's motor vehicle awards brought to us by Ordnance Survey, more commonly known as the #OSCARS

Thought I'd demystify publishing language for debuts.

'Structural edit' = rewrite your book
'Line edit' = all these sentences are wrong
'Copy edit' = your chronology is wrong
'Proof read' = there are still loads of errors
'Second proof read' = how the hell is your punctuation still up the spout?

Brilliant pair of dramas by Marks and Gran on @bbcradio4.bsky.social this week. Atmospheric, human, moving & of course warm and humorous. Fab cast including many radio greats & sensitively directed by the incomparable Liz Anstee. Well worth a listen on Sounds. Search Drama on 4!

If, as Sam suggests, he wants to make @bbcradio3 more music focussed that’s fine - commission new dramas alongside new compositions which interact or link them to Composer of the Week etc. If docs are staying, drama should too. It’s a travesty!

Feedback - Radio 3 controller Sam Jackson on ending the 90-minute drama. Controversial song choice on Desert Island Discs - BBC Sounds Andrea Catherwood speaks to Radio 3 controller Sam Jackson about cuts to drama.

Yesterday, WGGB Audio Co-Chair Nicola Baldwin spoke on the BBC Radio 4 Feedback programme about plans to axe audio drama from Radio 3 + why it is so important we must Save Audio Drama at the BBC

Listen to the full interview here:

bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

#SADatTheBBC

BBC radio drama is in grave danger. Without it we may lose the next generation of writing talent Hundreds of hours of original plays have been cut from the corporation’s programming in recent years. If the trend continues, a valuable training ground for writers will be lost

I felt a large part of my remit as a BBC Radio Comedy Producer was to bring the next generation of UK writing talent (of any age). The steady attrition of BBC Radio Drama in recent times is an ominous sign that the BBC is losing sight of its essential mission.
www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

This is WONDERFUL news!

BBC radio drama is in grave danger. Without it we may lose the next generation of writing talent Hundreds of hours of original plays have been cut from the corporation’s programming in recent years. If the trend continues, a valuable training ground for writers will be lost

An important piece in today’s Observer from Katie Hims on why cuts to audio drama are so damaging - to writers, audiences and the wider cultural ecosystem in the UK

We continue to campaign to Save Audio Drama at the BBC #SADatTheBBC

www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

Send some over please!