Bola Agbaje: BAFTA JJ Screenwriting Bursary

Congratulations to Bola Agbaje who is the recipient of BAFTA's inaugural JJ Screenwriting Bursary!

BAFTA and the JJ Charitable Trust have teamed up to provide professional and creative support for a group of industry nominated new screenwriters.

Bola was one of just five recipients chosen to receive the £10,000 prize and invited to attend exclusive screenwriting labs programmed and run by Bursary Director Mona Quereshi with support from BAFTA.

Through the programme, Bola has been mentored by industry professionals including BAFTA-winning writers Jeremy Brock (Last King of Scotland) and Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire), Moira Buffini (Tamara Drewe), BAFTA-winner Peter Straughan (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) and BAFTA and Oscar nominee William Nicholson. Directors John Madden (Best Exotic Marigold Hotel), Justin Chadwick (Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom), Yann Demange (’71) and Dominic Savage (The Secrets) lead workshops in which the screenplays were developed.

Bola is a graduate of the young writers programme at the Royal Court.  Her first play GONE TOO FAR! won the Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliated Theatre and has since been turned into a film of the same name that was released last year by Poisson Rouge and the BFI.

The year-long bursary programme has allowed Bola to develop a feature-length screenplay titled RESTRICTED, a tale of family, friendship, immigration and modern day slavery.

To read more about the bursary and the other participants, click here. 

Photo (C) Bronwen Sharpe