The man responsible for Doctor Who and the director of Britain’s most successful film Phyllida Lloyd are joining the high-profile line up of the International Screenwriters’ Festival 26-29th October in Cheltenham, UK. Steven Moffat is one of the UK’s most eminent television writers in both comedy and drama. His contributions to the revived Doctor Who (The Empty Child, The Girl in the Fireplace, Blink, Silence in the Library) have all won him considerable acclaim and a host of awards, and as a result he now succeeds Russell T Davies as Doctor Who’s ‘showrunner’ (Head Writer/Exec Producer). Next year will also see a modern rendering of Sherlock Holmes written for the BBC by Steven in collaboration with fellow Doctor Who writer and League of Gentlemen star Mark Gatiss.

Phyllida Lloyd has directed opera, theatre, and the hit film Mamma Mia! Theatre includes: Six Degrees of Separation, Hysteria, Wild East (Royal Court), The Threepenny Opera, Boston Marriage (Donmar Warehouse), Mary Stuart (Donmar Warehouse and Apollo), The Way of the World, Pericles, What the Butler Saw, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, The Duchess of Malfi (Royal National Theatre), Artists and Admirers, The Virtuoso (Royal Shakespeare Company), MAMMA MIA! (London, Broadway and worldwide). ). For Gloriana a Film, she received an International Emmy, an E.I.P.A. d¹Or, and the Royal Philharmonic Society Award.

The Festival will have, as a rarity in Britain at an event, the majority of UK Film and TV commissioning companies and their key figures represented. Producers and funder participating now agreed include: BBC Films, Warner Brothers, DNA, Aardman, Optimum Releasing, Kudos, Company Pictures, Big Talk, Slingshot, Warp X, Origin Pictures, Artists Studio, Film4, Mammoth Screen, FAME, Film Agency Wales, and Scottish Screen, with more to announce soon. SWF Festival Director David Pearson also announced other high profile additions to the confirmed and lively programme: Simon Beaufoy, Oscar winning screenwriter Slumdog Millionaire, James Schamus, CEO of Focus Features (Milk , Lost in Translation, Brokeback Mountain), Christine Langan, Creative Director of BBC Films on getting an eclectic slate , and sales agent Samantha Horley MD Salt who will take part in a panel session of sales agents on What Films Make Money. Previously announced speakers for October include: writer and director Armando Iannucci In The Loop , Ben Stephenson Head of BBC Fiction BBC, Tessa Ross Head of Film4 and Executive Producer Slumdog Millionaire, Ashley Pharoah Life On Mars, Doug Chamberlin Toy Story 2, and Catherine Johnson Mama Mia with more to follow. You can see a full list at http://www.screenwritersfestival.com/guest-speakers.php

Pearson said that he was,” delighted that two of the most successful people currently involved in making popular screen stories on film and TV in Britain will be speaking in public sessions at the Festival about their approach, ideas and revealing how pull off their exciting work ”. The festival programme, with a Script Market, Speed Dating and Pitch Sessions, includes most of the main commissioning companies in British film and TV, and many of their key figures. 500-600 delegates attend SWF annually from some 12-15 countries. Celebrating and promoting the art, craft and business of scriptwriting, SWF provides a buzzing atmosphere where writers can connect with directors, producers, agents, development execs, financiers and commissioners. It is a meeting place for screen storytellers in film and television, and digital/online/gaming with screenings, seminars, keynote speeches, networking and workshops. Sponsors include: UKFC, BBC, Channel 4, Sky One, South West Screen, Wiggin, Cheltenham Council, Coutts, Arturi Films, Gloucestershire County Council etc and the media sponsor is Screen International.

Previously speakers at SWF have included: Oscar winners Julian Fellowes Young Victoria & Gosford Park, and Christopher Hampton Atonement, Ronald Harwood The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and The Pianist, fantasy demi-god and Discworld novelist Terry Pratchett, directors Stephen Frears The Queen , Guillermo Del Toro Pan’s Labyrinth and Hell Boy II, Mike Leigh Happy go Lucky & Vera Drake, writer and director Peter Kosminsky The Government Inspector & Britz, Oscar nominee writer and playwright David Hare The Hours & The Reader, Kay Mellor The Chase & Fat Friends; Tony Jordan Hustle & Moving Wallpaper; Michael Goldenberg Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix, Deborah Moggach ‘Pride and Prejudice’; Inspector’ & ‘Britz’; producers Kevin Loader ‘Brideshead Revisited’ & ‘History Boys’; Stephen Woolley ‘The Crying Game’ & ‘How to Lose Friends and Alienate People’; as well as Head of BBC Fiction Jane Tranter, Head of ITV Drama Laura Mackie; and actors Nigel Planer and Riz Ahmed. The Chair of the SWF Board of Directors is Kevin Loader (producer Nowhere Boy, Venus, History Boys, In The Loop).

Tickets for the Festival are available at www.screenwritersfestival.com