After a career as a shoe designer Veronica McKenzie’s passion for writing led her to become an award-winning stand up comic, TV writer including a stint on the institution that is Coronation Street and writing feature films. Now developing skills in film production with a place on a prestigious course in LA, she explains why she is determined to be in control of her own projects.

May/June 2008

Veronica McKenzie

Like most teens I concocted quite terrible poems about doom and gloom, which thankfully have never seen the light of day. But I had a passion for writing them, crafting the rhymes, which looking back now I can see I was always a writer.

I first entered the creative industries as a shoe designer, which was a wonderful opportunity to see the world beyond Tottenham, north London. And what a world it was. I met people from all walks of life, all sexual persuasions, but the main thing was expressing myself. But I caved in to sensible advice and got a job.

It was only when I was made redundant that I took the leap to become a stand-up comic. That really gave me confidence in myself. I was really quite shy and when I saw that my weird little ideas got laughs it was a boost!

After a few years I decided to concentrate on screenwriting mainly because the nature of live comedy was so transient, and I missed too many weddings and funerals. But most importantly I wanted to create something more substantial. Since then I’ve been lucky enough to see some of my work on TV and secure a great agent.

Though it’s a difficult slog much, actually most, of the time these small successes keep me going. As a writer there are so many avenues open to express your creativity and while it perhaps would be easier to write (for the current climate) stories about gun culture or drugs, I deliberately focus on stories where the emotions of the characters are uppermost and portray people in a more rounded non-stereotypical way. I want audiences to see that black people die for other reasons than being shot through gang violence. Black people fall in love too - really!

A few years back I was lucky to get a break as a Storyliner at Coronation Street, which was really good training. That’s when my family starting taking what I was doing seriously. It’s just the way it is that TV is such a dominant force. It’s very difficult to get original work seen on TV so I write projects for TV and film to remain versatile and widen potential audiences. My recent film projects include a science fiction feature and a romantic comedy. I’m quite entrepreneurial and not afraid of going hungry - hello Lidl. I have faith in myself and sticking to writing what I want.

I recently started thinking about producing while developing my first feature as I was asked how much it cost, where it would be shot and other questions that I had no inkling of. Cameras - urgh! So I started doing short courses to understand the technical and financial side of filmmaking. It’s so important for creative people be they writers or artists, to understand how the deal-making side works.

In the UK there are few routes into producing so I applied to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to study producing. It was a long shot but I got accepted and I believe it’s very much about reaching for the dream. Things are changing so quickly in the TV/film world with internet and mobile films. I feel as a writer I need to know as much as I can about how my work can be produced. I’m hoping to learn everything I can about producing from a US perspective and apply the knowledge to projects I get involved in. Hopefully setting up a production company is one option but who knows?

My dream would be to work with a group of highly creative, committed professional writers, filmmakers and financiers to produce work that sets the world on fire! Or at least gets people talking the next day. In the meantime, I’m producing a current affairs radio show - Blackcurrent and redeveloping my website for screenwriters www.inspiredonline.co.uk as a way of getting new writers to produce more quantity and quality work.

I’m confident that things are changing for BME creatives, and with the right momentum we can start to self-fund and benefit from our skills. You can check out the work in progress at http://www.g-soundvision.co.uk/inspired.

So feel free to contact me, and if you’re in LA this summer - look me up.

Read: an extract from Veronica’s script Nine Nights.

Biography

Veronica’s TV debut in 1997 was as writer and guest on BBC2’s Blouse and Skirt. Her Edinburgh Show in 1998 received excellent reviews and led to Comedy Dot Net, a co-written pilot for the BBC’s Music Live 1999 season. TV appearances include One Man One Van, The Comedy Factory(Netherlands) and Channel 4’s 11 o/clock’ Show with Ricky Gervais. Veronica then completed an MA in Scriptwriting from Goldsmiths gaining a first. Commissions include Radio 1’s Dream Team Panto (2003), ‘Nine Nights’ for the BBC (2005) and ‘A Woman on Fire’ her play based on Nina Simone for Hackney Empire’s Spice Festival. In 2005 she joined Coronation Street as a Storyliner, originating the Rita/Norris storyline starring Honor Blackman. Since then Veronica has freelanced as Script Reader, been a Creative Business Mentor for Collage Arts, while developing a TV series and Inspiredonline.co.uk. She’s studying Production at UCLA this summer.

Email: ronkenzie@gmail.com
Rep: Rebecca Watson @ Valerie Hoskins Associates
+44 (0) 207 637 4490

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