"Substitute 'damn' every time you're inclined to write 'very;' your editor will delete it

and the writing will be just as it should be." Mark Twain

I am a writer who has written screenplays, novels, plays and sitcoms. I’ve also done some script editing and am part of a US-style writers room. 

I have IMDB credits for writing two episodes of a 12-part TV sitcom called Marshal’s Law created by Jason Attar and Niall Towl, which was broadcast on satellite television.

I was short-listed for a Channel 4 comedy drama award, have been twice long-listed for the Kenneth Branagh New Drama Writing Award and my second feature, All The Bad Ideas (now titled Alternative Therapy), was longlisted for the UK Film Festival Feature Script Competition.

I have twice won the Player Playwrights Best Comedy Award, and my Edinburgh and Camden Fringe debuts received several four and five-star reviews.

My first feature, Blood Match, came second in the Reddit Screenwriting Contest and was long-listed for a BAFTA Rocliffe New Writing Forum. I was a finalist in Cascade Pictures' Writers’ Couch script development initiative.

2019

A one-act 30-minute comedy called Flat-Pack Resolution was part of the Drip Action Theatre Trail at the Arundel Festival and ran for eight days in August. This was my second play to run at the festival.

A comedy called Instructions Not Included was one of five short plays performed at Katzcratch, a sold-out evening hosted by the Katzpace Theatre in London.

One of my black comedies - a monolgue titled My Home, My Castle - was in From Script to Stage, a sell-out two-night event at the Theatro Technis, London, organised by Saw It Here First Productions.

Flat Pack Resolution was part of the Supernova 8 Festival of one-act plays, a four-night event organised by the Bench Theatre Company at The Spring Arts & Heritage Centre, Havant.

2018

Instructions Not Included won Best Comedy at the annual Player Playwrights awards. This is the second time I've won this award but it was a particular pleasure this year as the previous two years it was won by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran.

This play was also in a festival of shorts organized by Get Over It Productions in July and August at the Tabard Theatre in Chiswick. 

A 10-minute comedy called Barbarians at the Gate  was part of another sell-out evening of new writing at the Sydenam Centre in south London produced by Spontaneous Productions.

I was long-listed for this year's Kenneth Branagh New Drama Writing Award and a comedy called Accidently on Purpose  was part of a three-night run of 10-minute plays called Shorts @ The Canal.

Love and Sudden Death - a comedy about adultery, revenge and the benefits of fully comprehensive insurance was part of a sold-out evening organized by Get Over It Productions.

A play called A Convenient Affair was selected for an evening of ten-minute plays about romance and heartbreak called Love Bites Again. The show was created by Spontaneous Productions and performed to a sell-out audience.

2017

A short play called Relative Fortunes  was joint winner in the Soundwork UK Monologue Competition and made into an audio play produced by Neal Mason and performed by Nick Martin. You can listen to the play here.

A short play called Christmas Break was part of the 600 Seconds evening of new writing organized by Spontaneous Productions at the Sydenam Centre in south London.

One of my short comedies - Thanks For Sharing - was part of a scratch evening of new writing organized by the Hidden Theatre Company at the Water Rats in Kings Cross.

2016

My Channel 4 shortlisted comedy drama - How Does That Make You Feel? - made its Camden Fringe debut. The week-long run was generously supported by Player Playwrights and thanks to our amazing cast and director the play received four 4-star reviews.

Going Commando featured in Playground, a three-night new writing showcase at the Horse & Stables, and a one-act comedy called Healing with Words  was part of the four-day Supernova VII one-act play festival in Havant. Going Commando featured in the Leytonstone Itch scratch night at All You Read is Love.

2015

My first feature screenplay - Blood Match - a vampire comedy, came second in the Reddit Screenwriting Contest.

At the Player Playwrights annual awards my two-act black comedy Chasing Beckett  won Best Comedy and How Does That Make You Feel? was runner up. This was an amazing surprise, especially as it's the first time this has happened in the group’s 74-year history.

Player Playwrights did a reading of a play called We Need to Talk About Clive. Going Commando was in the Late Bloom Festival organized by The Space; it was also shortlisted for Little Pieces of Gold.

Player Playwrights did a reading of Chasing Beckett and How Does That Make You Feel? One of my shorts was the closing play of the Southend International Playwrights Festival, and joint winner in the Best Comedy category.

The East End Literary Salon runs a series on new writing nights and performed one of my comedies, Instructions Not Included; this play was also part of West Avenue's Briefs night at the Waterloo East Theatre.

2014

We Need to Talk About Clive was showcased by Fractured Lines Theatre in two of its Blaggards evenings. The company also debuted Instructions Not Included.

I wrote the majority of an Edinburgh Festival Fringe show called Better Together? which TheCultDen rated 10/10.

A 10-minute film Jersey Tails  was short-listed for the ArtsEd film project. Two of my comedies were shortlisted for the Congleton one-act play festival and one of them made the finals - How Does That Make You Feel? was a past winner in this festival.

A play called Alternative Therapy was runner up in the Menagerie Theatre Company's one-page play competition at the Hotbed Festival of new writing in Cambridge.

The Lost Theatre Company celebrated 30 years of its one-act play festival this year and We Need to Talk About Clive was part of the seven-night event. Festival adjudicator and theatre critic for The Stage, Paul Vale, said it was:

“…an extremely well written piece of comedy. Hill has crafted a deliciously sharp, comic turn… It is a piece of writing that Victoria Wood might be proud of… This is classic British comedy but with a dark twist.”

A longer version was given rehearsed readings by the N.W London Equity Branch - at the Pentameters Theatre and the Magdala - as part of their series of new play readings.

We Need To Talk About Clive featured in Tiny Dog Productions' ninth Theatre Breaks Festival of new writing at the White Bear, as well as West Avenue Briefs evening at the Rosemary Branch Theatre.

“John Hill’s Payback slams the world of middle-class sofa-sitting with more punchlines than the TV sitcoms it is obviously upstaging.” South London Press.

Contact Email - me*at*johnihill.co.uk

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