The Beginning...
Katie's passion for writing developed as a child from when she was introduced to story telling by a fantastic teacher at Beech Hyde Primary School. The classrooms were full to the brim (a little too much) when she attended and not having the resources to tackle her inability to grasp maths, science and history she was encouraged to concentrate and hone her skills in writing, music and in general the Art. Since that path of exploration was opened to her she threw herself into the work and was even picked by her teachers at that young age to be placed on a writing course for children above their writing standard that happened in Saffron Walden. This was a course she was re-entered into the following year due to her resounding success. Tutors included Redvers Brandling, Dennis Hamley and Mick Gowar.
From there on and through secondary school years she developed a good standing point to thread her skill at writing into her subjects. She excelled at Theatre Studies from her first year at the school and carried this on as well as her resolute adoration for English Literature until her A Levels. It was around here that she first started attending Company of Teens at the Abbey Theatre in St. Albans and whilst she was there she wrote and directed a piece of physical theatre which was entered into the Welwyn Garden Youth Drama Festival in 2003 at the Barn Theatre. Having taken an active interest in directing and writing she decided to further her enjoyment which is where she stumbled upon the Scriptwriting for Film and Television degree at Bournemouth University.
The Middle Bit...
She slaved away at work shunning the readily available student life of excess drinking and wild nights (well a few anywho) and instead threw all her energy into gaining an excellent degree (what she thought). It was here she really excelled in multi-tasking different projects and even at her busiest time during her second year took on the role of being Vice-President of the BU Drama Society. Not only did she hold an important place on the committee but was also producing, directing and writing a piece of theatre which drew the crowds in and was extremely well received (also providing the BU with their first sell out production).
As part of her university degree Katie had to complete six weeks working within the industry and she sourced out a local company called Charlie Productions in Hertfordshire. This turned out to be a good choice indeed and provided her with all the experience and support that she had lacked elsewhere. Working alongside Ben and Chris Blaine she learnt fast about the short film market and it wasn't long before she was organising their office and tailoring film festivals all over the world to promote them. They soon left Katie to her own devices and she slotted comfortably into the workplace and more than often surprised them with her eagerness and ability to get work done. Soon the weeks flew by and it was back to university to complete her degree. This was not the last time Katie was to work alongside the Blaine Brothers.
After realising her degree had not gone to plan she did not write for over a year and instead decided to get stuck at being a Deputy Manager of a stationery shop in Bournemouth. Surrounded by the tools and lacking the drive she settled for drinking gin and building up hatred for those living in London. It was another year on when she decided to move back home and actually attempt some more writing. She went back to working in a more local to home branch of the stationery shop but at the same time picked up her lovely brotherly contacts at Charlie Productions and started doing more regular work for them. They are extremely nice people and welcomed her back with open arms and cups of tea. Katie still works there magicking screenings and updating her website - her official role is that of Office Manager. She basically nags the Blaine Brothers to do stuff.
The Now Bit...
The next time Katie picked up a pen and wrote creatively was an entrance piece to try her luck at The Young Writers' Programme at The Royal Court Theatre. Much to Katie's luck and happiness she was accepted out of the 90 applicants onto a 20 strong course and since then has been gaining momentum with her writing and what more the confidence to share it as well.
Since attending this course she has written her first full length play, "Thursday's Child", and had a professional reading of it at The Institute of Contemporary Arts as part of the ICA Lab run by Deva Palmier. On June 21st 2008 Katie was selected to be a part of the Tony Wilson Experience in Manchester which was in memory of the late cultural figurehead. The event was a 24 hour conversation with different figures from a wide range of media backgrounds including Irvine Welsh, Steve Coogan, Peter Hook, Clint Boon, Stuart Maconie, John Robb, Grant Gee, John Cooper Clarke, Peter Saville and Matt Greenhalgh. The event was arranged for the 200 specially selected people to be able to network and build creative connections. The idea was for the memory of Tony Wilson's generous nature to inspire and nurture the young talent on their chosen path.
Katie has recently been asked back by the Royal Court to take part in their Invitation Only Writing Group based on the strength of her first script. Once again this course aims to create a new feature piece of work of which Katie is equally terrified and ecstatic about. The end result was her latest piece called, "Within Grasp". This script was rehearsed read as part of the ICA Lab in December and at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East Writer's Group.