Da Vinci's Last Supper

Ever since I was a child I have been fascinated with words as a means to express myself through the medium of storytelling. In my late teens I formed an amateur drama group along with other young people from various churches in my home town of Darlington. We performed in churches, community halls, fetes and even some street theatre. The majority of the material was either written by me or adapted by me from other sources. Not long after turning thirty I was approached by local Christian organisations to form a Theatre in Education company to tour local schools and take Christian themed assemblies, Religious Education classes and various workshops. Over a seven-year period we regularly visited 20-30 schools in an academic year and had contact with 10,000 plus children and young people. We used a variety of mediums; puppets, drama sketches, magic tricks, visual aids, story boards. Once again, the majority of the material we used was either written by myself or adapted from original sources. From there I was accepted onto the MA in ‘Screenwriting for Television & Film’ at the ‘Northern Film School,’ Leeds, UK. To assist with the cost of my MA I was given a bursary by Channel Four for a student with a disability who demonstrated industry potential. Since graduating I have been supported by the former UK Film Council, Northern Film & Media and The Lottery Fund. Of the eight screenplays and two TV drama series I have written, I have been optioned five times and have had the privilege to have my work in development with several production companies including Factor Films, Hurricane Films, Tiger Aspect, Jeep productions and Rotunda Films. To learn more about Paul Arrowsmith, visit his author page on Next Chapter’s website.