Karen Cogan’s “Fled” has come top of The Brit List, a league table of unproduced scripts from British writing talent, this year devoted to television projects. The list, similar to The Black List in the U.S., was compiled from recommendations by British production companies, talent agencies, financiers and broadcasters.
Cogan, represented by Independent Talent Group, received 20 recommendations for “Fled,” a darkly comedic drama in which a pregnant girl and a scared nun are forced together to find some kind of freedom in 90s Ireland. No producer is attached.
Cogan, who has seven original projects in development with television and film production companies, wrote season 2 of the BBC’s “The Young Offenders,” and was part of the writers’ room for Sky’s “Temple.”
Next, with eight recommendations, came “Only Child” by Ryan J. Brown, a crime thriller in which a grieving mother from a small town finds new life in the dangerous pursuit of the serial killer who framed her daughter for mass murder. The production company Big Talk is attached.
Brown, also represented by Independent Talent Group, is developing two dramas for the BBC, and has 15 original TV projects in active development with production companies, including World Prods., Euston Films, DNA and Big Talk.
He appeared on The Brit List’s TV lineup in 2018 with “We Are Your Children,” which won BAFTA’s Rocliffe New Writing Competition, and was selected by Idris Elba and Lionsgate for their “Write to Greenlight” competition.
More than 130 companies from across the U.K. television industry were invited to take part. Out of 232 script titles put forward, 24 received the minimum number of votes to make it on the list, which is four recommendations.
The list, compiled by Alexandra Arlango, contains the largest numbers ever of female screenwriters and screenwriters from BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic people) backgrounds; 48% of scripts on the list are by women; 24% are from BAME writers.
THIS YEAR’S BRIT LIST: TV
TWENTY RECOMMENDATIONS
“Fled” by Karen Cogan (Independent Talent Group)
Producers: Available
Genre: Darkly comedic, provocative drama.
Summary: A pregnant girl and a scared nun are forced together to find some kind of freedom in the last remaining Mother and Baby Home in 90s Ireland.
EIGHT RECOMMENDATIONS
“Only Child” by Ryan J. Brown (Independent Talent Group)
Producers: Big Talk
Genre: Crime thriller
Summary: A grieving mother from a small northern town finds new life in the dangerous pursuit of the serial killer who framed her daughter for mass murder.
SEVEN RECOMMENDATIONS
“Samson and Goliath” by Conor Keane (Independent Talent Group)
Producers: Big Talk
Genre: Thriller
Summary: Sean Colgan owns Belfast’s third biggest party hire company. He’s also killed 16 people for the IRA. When a victim’s body shows up after 20 years, his past – and his old colleagues – come back to haunt him.
“Furies” by Archie Maddocks (Independent Talent Group)
Producers: Warp Films
Genre: Character-led drama
Summary: A family of black women decide to take justice into their own hands after the youngest daughter is injured in a drive-by shooting. Crashing together drama, humor and action, the series explores how far we are willing to go to protect our family and what we’ll let slide in the name of love.
SIX RECOMMENDATIONS
“On the Verge” by Anna Ssemuyaba (Casarotto)
Producers: Tiger Aspect
Genre: Comedy Drama
Summary: The misadventures of a 16 year old girl from South London, struggling to survive after she’s launched into the world of oversexed, over-educated and hedonistically Catholic teenagers at her new school.
FIVE RECOMMENDATIONS
“Winter” by Elliot Barnes-Worrell (Independent Talent Group)
Producers: Heyday/NBC Universal
Genre: Drama
Summary: A drama with humor about a young poet trying to survive a hostile London whilst going through an identity crisis about being mixed race.
“Leafy” by Tallulah Brown (United Agents)
Producers: Warp Films
Genre: Comedy drama
Summary: British-born, L.A.-based music producer Nico must deal with a bipolar diagnosis and her explosive relationship with her mom after she gets deported. A fierce and funny series set between the U.K. and U.S. about music, mental health and returning to your roots.
“When I’m Not Around” by Lee Coan (Independent Talent Group)
Producers: Bandit Cornwall
Genre: Family Comedy Drama
Summary: Nine year old gymnast Amelie’s cancer diagnosis puts pressure on her family. Despite their best attempts to cope, her ex-serviceman father struggles to find a job, her sister is bullied, and her mother tries to work out how to balance Amelie’s illness and her desire to live a normal life.
“Cutting Class” by Abi Gliddon (Curtis Brown Group)
Producers: Headline Pictures
Genre: Mystery thriller
Summary: Maryam, the daughter of a Sheikh, goes missing from her elite London school. As her two best friends try to locate and protect her, they come up against her father’s sinister security operation and an exploding international scandal. Out of their depths, the girls turn to their mothers for help.
“Wrath” by David MacPherson (The Agency)
Producers: Balloon Entertainment
Genre: Drama
Summary: Cape Wrath has a drug problem. The source: Hugh Bremen. When a curious hitman and a bullied bank clerk team up to deal with him, a chain reaction of vengeance is unleashed.
“How to Get Rid of Carol” by Anna Mason (Curtis Brown Group)
Producers: Available
Genre: Comedy drama
Summary: When Jess, a socially awkward, Yorkshire-based ski-shop owner, is faced with losing her “soul mate” Tristan to the free-spirited, award-winning ski boot-fitter Carol – she desperately suggests the only thing she can do to keep him – a throuple. This is definitely not a love story.
FOUR RECOMMENDATIONS
“Smilla’s Sense of Snow” by Clive Bradley (The Agency)
Producers: Constantin Film
Genre: Thriller
Summary: Adapted from Peter Høeg’s novel
“Supercut” by Rose Cartwright (The Artist’s Partnership)
Producers: Available
Genre: Sci-fi thriller
Summary: A self-obsessed young woman, living in the sleazy glamour and celebrity of 2040s Los Angeles, gets entangled in the psychological, cosmetic and genetic manipulation of the perfection industry.
“A Single Lie” by Caroline Carver (Independent Talent Group)
Producers: Ecosse Films
Genre: Thriller
Summary: When a woman is accused of stealing another woman’s baby from a hospital 17 years earlier, her shocking past crashes into her perfect present to devastating effect.
“Not Suitable for Children” by Cat Clarke (Dench Arnold Agency)
Producers: Available
Genre: Comedy drama
Summary: The lives, loves and shenanigans of three queer women navigating the overwhelmingly straight, privileged – and downright absurd – world of children’s publishing.
“Westphalia” by Alyn Farrow (Curtis Brown Group)
Producers: Available
Genre: Dark drama
Summary: As the police struggle to control a number of internet vigilante groups, one member of the online community threatens to change the rules for everyone.
“Wolf” by Tony Grisoni (Casarotto, Ramsay & Associates)
Producers: Potboiler Productions
Genre: Multi-narrative epic
Summary: A contemporary refugee story dovetails with the post-WW2 invasion of Sicily. The action follows a clutch of characters as they converge on Sicily where an unholy alliance is to be formed between the Mafia and the occupying Anglo-American forces. With powerful echoes of contemporary meddling in the Near and Middle East.
“Money Trees” by Adam Gyngell & Fred Armesto (Sayle Screen)
Producers: Circle of Confusion
Genre: Mystery thriller
Summary: A cynical IRS agent finds her life transformed when she goes undercover to investigate an enigmatic self-help guru who promises he can make anyone a millionaire in a year.
“The Drip” by Jess Jackson (Independent Talent Group)
Producers: Available
Genre: Thriller
Summary: An undercover CIA agent starts to lose faith in his country when his mission forces him to deceive and abuse his fellow Americans.
“Raging” by Florence Keith-Roach (Independent Talent Group)
Producers: Ecosse Films
Genre: Dramedy
Summary: Tackling the taboo of female anger, this is an irreverent and provocative comedy series about a young woman’s journey to confront her crippling rage, after a clip of her hitting her boyfriend in a public, lambrini soaked outburst goes viral.
“Brown Tape” by Namsi Khan (Independent Talent Group)
Producers: Available
Genre: Family Thriller
Summary: British Pakistani immigrant, Saad Maliq, attempts to settle old scores and claim control of Manchester’s drug trade by intercepting a shipment of Afghani heroin.
“The Borough” by Daniel Rusteau (Knight Hall Agency)
Producers: Available
Genre: Crime drama
Summary: Two infamous families of the underworld battle for control of an Essex borough.
“Four Nineteen” by Ashley Sanders (Independent Talent Group)
Producers: The Forge/Newscope Films
Genre: Grounded sci-fi mystery thriller
Summary: Fifteen years ago a four-year-old boy was mysteriously abducted one night at 4.19 A.M. and later returned. This event will change the past of some but the future of all.
“The Lost Chix” by Lauren Sequeira (The Agency)
Producers: New Pictures
Genre: Drama
Summary: When Lily returns to the “Lost Town” estate she tries to get back in with her old girl gang, but is iced out by ex-bestie Niesha. When she smuggles herself onto a honeytrap, orchestrated by The Lost Boys, Lily discovers that her Chix are enslaved to them. However, when she finds a way for the Chix to make their own moves, Lily offers Niesha a tempting proposition.
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