Drama | Student Stories | Liz Jones

MA Scriptwriting

Two years ago Liz Jones, from Aberystwyth, was a freelance copywriter but dreamed of becoming a playwright. She took a part-time distance learning MA in Scriptwriting, which allowed her to carry on with her work and family commitments, but also gave her the skills she needed for her much-wanted career change.

Before I started the course, I was writing magazine features and copywriting projects. I enjoyed – and still enjoy – this work, yet I had also been longing to branch out and try different kinds of writing. I tried poetry and short stories and even managed to get some work published. Then I tried playwriting and began to write for youth and community theatres and realised that this was something I wanted to concentrate on. I was also keen to take on a project that would stretch me intellectually as well as creatively. Wondering where to begin, I began browsing university websites for suitable courses, but work and family commitments meant I couldn’t commit to a full time course. The Glamorgan MA Scriptwriting, taught part time through distance learning, met my needs perfectly. The required attendance of six weekends a year was just enough to maintain personal contact with tutors and students, while allowing me to fit the course around the rest of my life.

Although thrilled to be accepted, I felt anxious too. I was in my late forties and had been out of education for a long time. I wondered if I would be able to cope, especially with the more theoretical aspects of the course. But with the help of my tutors, Richard Hand and Mark Jenkins, I was able to take the work one step at a time, and was nurtured and guided through what at first seemed like a daunting amount of work.

I found the rehearsed readings sessions invaluable. Seeing my script performed by professional actors helped me to view my work more objectively – to see what worked and what didn’t work so well. The feedback from tutors, students and the actors was also constructive and very helpful.

In my last year, I was fortunate enough to win a Screen Academy Wales scholarship to carry out a practice based PhD, something I would not have dreamed of doing before.

The course was an immense help. I learnt how to plan and structure my work more thoroughly. Before, I tended to launch into a writing project without enough preparation and then find myself stuck halfway through.

Since graduating, I have produced three plays – two full-length and one short. My latest, The Wild, Wild Girls of Musical Terrace, will be performed at Aberystwyth Arts Centre this autumn. The writing will also form part of my PhD research.

My advice for anyone considering the MA would be go for it – also, make time for writing regularly, every day if possible, even if it’s only for an hour.