Fieldwork: What’s in store for 2025?
A look back on last year’s plan and a look ahead at the next twelve months
I like plans. I don’t always stick to them — life often throws a spanner in the works — but I generally think they’re a good idea. Last January I published my plan for Fieldwork, so it’s time for a review and a think about what comes next.
How did 2024 go?
I had a sneaky feeling when I started the year that my writing would fall away as Ada Lovelace Day neared, and I was right. I stuck to my plan fairly well for the first six months: From January to March, I spent time refining characters, doing my background reading, and noodling around with some test dialogue. Then I did Dave Cohen’s Build a Script – From Zero to First Draft in 8 Weeks, starting mid-April, and that was brilliant. I did indeed get my pilot script written and I incorporated two rounds of notes from Dave as well.
Once that was done, though, things crumbled a little. I realised that the pilot script was only adequate, and not at all good enough to submit anywhere. So I didn’t. What I did instead was go back to the science, read more widely and do more interviews with experts to understand my characters’ research projects more clearly. Most of that probably won’t make it into the scripts, but if I don’t know what they’re doing and why, neither will they, and that will be obvious to the audience as well.
Despite Ada Lovelace Day taking over almost completely from around mid-August, I still found time to do Joel Morris’s very good Writers Room course from mid-September. It was a good way to keep my hand in, not to mention deepen my knowledge of comedy structure, without necessarily needing to find the headspace to write.
November and December saw more reading and more interviews, largely because talking to scientists is huge amounts of fun. I genuinely do not understand why academics have this fusty, boring reputation, because literally everyone I talk to is fascinating, hilarious and a joy to work with. Indeed, days when I have an interview booked are the very, very best… though there is the risk that I just keep talking to people and never actually get down to writing.
What’s the plan for 2025?
Rather than do a month-by-month plan, this year I’m looking at the types of activities I need to do. I don’t have Ada Lovelace Day, which is great in that I won’t find my writing grinding to a halt around mid-August, but slightly scary in that I also have no income right now. I’m working on a new business with some friends, but in an ideal world, I’d love for Fieldwork to pay its way, and that’s what I’ll be working towards.
So, what does that mean?
1. Deadlines!
Luckily for me, I have some good motivation to get my pen out. There are two script competitions that I want to enter which have deadlines at the end of April: Sitcom Mission and the Oxford/42 competition.
Sitcom Mission requires a 15 minute script and has an option to pay for one or two rounds of notes, so I need to get a solid draft written by mid-February to hit that earlier deadline for feedback. Oxford/42 needs a 30 minute script, so it makes sense to write that after I’ve had some feedback on the shorter version.
I never expect to get anywhere in these sorts of competitions, but the deadlines are very useful as a mechanism to make me write. I find it very easy to get bogged down in research, largely because I just really enjoy it, so an externally imposed deadline helps enormously.
2. Community
Now that I’ve created this dedicated newsletter for Fieldwork, it should be a bit easier grow it into a larger community. As with most writing these days, one can’t do it in a vacuum. The days of just going heads down on a novel or script, only coming up for breath when it’s done, are over. If this project is going to be a success and meet its goal of introducing ecology, conservation and rewilding to a broad audience, then I need to start building that audience here, now.
Indeed, whilst I was doing some planning for this year, it became very, very clear that Fieldwork won’t work at all without you. If I’m to raise the money needed to develop and produce even just the pilot, no matter how approach it, I’m going to need people to show that they are interested and that they want to see this podcast exist.
Which is a good point to say that if you’re reading this and aren’t subscribed, please do join us. And if you know anyone who’s into ecology, conservation, rewilding, bats, hawfinches, or ants, please point them in this direction!
3. Promotion
I’m terrible at self-promotion, so one of this year’s biggest challenges is going to be learning how to do it without dying of cringe. I’ll be looking to forge partnerships with other organisations working in this area and will be searching for opportunities to write about topics related to the podcast.
Social media, except BlueSky (where I am suw.bsky.social), is pretty dead for promotion these days, with all the major platforms penalising posts that link out to other websites. I’ll still attempt to promote on LinkedIn, but I’ve largely abandoned Twitter and Facebook, and my accounts there may not survive the year.
On Substack, I’ll be reassessing all my subscriptions and searching for new people to follow who are working in this field. Please comment if you know of any!
4. Funding
A ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ah aha ahaha haa *breathe*
Sorry. Yeah. Funding. There isn’t much out there, which is something we all know. Sponsorship might be possible, and crowdfunding will happen at some juncture I’m sure, but see points 2 and 3 about needing a larger community and to be better at promotion for either of those strategies to work.
I am talking with my colleagues about some grants which, though they be small will help mightily. The grants, that is, not the colleagues. Well, not both of the colleagues anyway.
Again, it’s easier to fund the making of a podcast, rather than its writing, so for now, the time I’m putting into this is an investment in my future.
So stick with me if you want to discover how all this pans out. And please leave a comment if there’s anything in particular you’re interested in hearing more about, whether that’s the science, the process, or the challenges.