SCREENSHOT with the one and only: Sorcha Kurien-Walsh π·
The next instalment of our new series on Messy writers!
Welcome! This is our 4th SCREENSHOT and this time weβre diving into the life of someone at the very core of this collective - the third co-founder of the Messy Collective, Sorcha!
Sorcha is an amazing writer with some absolutely fantastic credits under her belt and a big inspiration for all of us, but instead of me praising her, you can read all about her projects, writing routines and freelance work/life balance yourself!
How did you come to be a Messy Woman?
I met Jess at a workshop given by an agency for unsigned writers and we stayed in touch afterwards I read her script which (like Jess) I thought was funny, charming, compelling and with an undercurrent of delightful eccentricity. We stayed in touch throughout the pandemic, which is how I also got to know the wonderful Isobel. This was all during the pandemic so eventually getting to meet in real life and see each other during the neck down was a big step for us.
When we found out that we were all fascinated by writer/icon/influencer/scam artist Caroline Calloway, we started a planning a theatre night inspired by our muse. This theatre night morphed into a party which morphed into a community/substack/cult (all this is within the spirit of Caroline Calloway herself IMO).
Eventually my freelance writing work got a bit too intense for me to commit to helping Jess and Isobel run MW so I had to step down but I am still a devoted cult member of Messy and immensely admiring of all Jess, Isobel and Jess Mackie Hunter have achieved.
What was the first project that you were proud of?
I wrote a short story as a fourteen year old about an American college student having an existential crisis, and leaving his girlfriend and studies to find himself in the small Arizona town he came from. I canβt emphasise how far removed this was from my life experience, and how I little I knew about Arizona (now or then!). Somehow my brazen inventions impressed by English teacher, who in an unbelievably sweet gesture said that no matter what else I did with my life, I should keep writing. Getting to earn a living as a writer has been an incredibly long and twisty path, with patches in which I seemed to make absolutely zero progress/was even going backwards, and while those words may have been a throw away comment, they really stuck with me. Thanks Mrs J-V!
Also, I was staff writer on Disney Plusβ upcoming adaptation of Jilly Cooperβs Rivals i.e. the most junior writer in an amazingly talented room lead by Dominic Treadwell-Collins and Laura Wade. Although I was only a tiny cog in a huge machine of literally hundreds of unbelievably talented people, it was the first production I worked on, and Iβm proud of my small contribution to the series. Please watch it when it comes out on the 18th October!
What is your writing routine?
Iβm very lucky and donβt have a day job at the moment which means in theory thereβs nothing stopping me from writing 9-5, and working Monday to Friday. But in practice, it never seems to work out that way, and Iβm always either writing at the weekend or procrastinating during the week. But this is my first year of only writing so I hope I eventually find some sort of structure.
Being a freelance writer also involves a surprising amount of non-writing work. Meeting production companies for generals, managing your relationships with producers, meeting to receive notes, interviewing for writersβ rooms/projects etc. This is mostly fun and delightful and involves getting bought cups of coffee by charming and brilliant producers but it does eat into writing time.
What projects are you working on right now and how do you juggle them all?
Iβm writing an episode for the second season of a show in development, I have a script commission for a different television show, and original TV and film idea in development at treatment and pitch stage respectively. As mentioned above, I am not good at juggling multiple things, hence stepping down from Messy (sorry again). This has all been my first year freelancing and I donβt think Iβve yet found a balance. I split projects into four categories:
Work that has been commissioned, either to treatment or to script, which is paying.
Work that Iβm pitching/interviewing for which will pay but which I might not get (writersβ rooms, pitching myself to lead IP adaptations, when a production company brings me an idea etc).
Original work I havenβt sold but which I think (hope) I could sell.
Work that may earn me nothing but which I feel compelled to do.
Knowing how to balance these four categories is something Iβm still working onβobviously paid work, particularly with deadlines, has to be prioritised, but you need to generate new ideas for when thatβs finished, and also find time for the weird, uncommercial passion projects youβre itching to write.
What are your hopes and dreams for the future?
Iβm excited by work that pushes the boundaries of its genre and/or medium. But, unless you are lucky enough to have a wealthy patron, all writing work has to exist in the commercial sphere. Finding a way to make work that feels genuinely daring, transgressive and new but also lives in the mainstream and allows me to continue to write full-time would simply be dreamy.
Thank you so much, Sorcha! xx
Love you always,
The Messy Women