November Artist of the Month – Ciaran Murtagh
We caught up with author and script writer Ciaran Murtagh for our November2019 interview.
About Ciaran Murtagh
Ciaran Murtagh is a Bafta award winning author and screenwriter. He has written over 45 books for children and his work has been published in 15 languages. He also writes for some of the world’s most loved TV shows including Mr Bean, The Amazing World of Gumball, Danger Mouse, PJ Masks and Shaun the Sheep.
What a visit from Ciaran entails
A visit from Ciaran is guaranteed to be both educational and filled with laughter.
Ciaran’s workshops use the techniques of improvised comedy to create laughter fuelled events that get your children creating their own stories quickly and with a smile on their face. Ciaran takes the children through the process of choosing a title, deciding on a genre, picking characters, considering your reader and looking at plot in a way that guarantees children will never be able to say they can’t think of anything to write again!
By the end of the workshop each child will have had a hand in creating a brand new story and will be well on the way to transferring their ideas to the page.
Depending on your objectives Ciaran can then repeat this process throughout the school working with different year groups to get them thinking creatively or if you would like Ciaran to spend the day focusing on a particular year group he can spend the rest of the day working with them in a series of supplementary workshops that look in detail at character and narrative. He will then encourage and support them in transferring their ideas to the page.
In addition to his work as an author, Ciaran is a Bafta and British Animation Award winner for his work as a screenwriter.
In response to demand from visiting schools Ciaran has developed a screenwriting masterclass for young people wanting to learn more about different styles of writing, or for those studying film and television as part of their wider studies.
Students look in depth at an episode of Mr Bean, written by Ciaran, and study the various stages that go into making the cartoon you see on screen. With access to normally confidential materials, Ciaran takes students from initial premise, via scene by scene, to animatic and final script. Along the way Ciaran will explain why certain editorial choices are made and discuss how an episode of a TV series moves from page to screen.
Then it’s over to the students. With Ciaran’s help, students will break into teams to create and then pitch new episodes of Mr Bean, paying close attention to the requirements of character, length, tone and achievability. The students will then stage a mini commissioning round, pitching ideas to each other to see whether they get the thumbs up.
Feedback from Ciaran’s previous visits
“Wow. He was BRILLIANT. In just 45 minutes he managed to get the whole school producing quantities of ideas, levitated a 3rd year on his magic carpet and made everyone, teachers included, weep with laughter. He generated enough infectious energy to power a light house. Most importantly he made the business of writing and generating stories seem accessible to all and FUN.”
Little Wooden Horse Blog.
“Thank you very much for coming in to talk to the children this morning. They enjoyed it very much and were thrilled to meet you. I had very positive comments about your workshop from one of our less able Y5 boys – quite an achievement!”
Headmistress Stapleford Primary
“Ciaran was incredible, the feedback from the other schools has been fantastic and our pupils loved it! Looking forward to the next one. ”
Central Junior School, Chichester
“Many people in the school – not to mention the teachers! – had a breath taking time. As Mr Allen, our headmaster, said, ‘I haven’t laughed that much in ages!’ Maple Grove Primary School have had many authors that just ramble on about their book, but I’d pay to see you again!”
Siobhan A, Year 5 Maple Grove Primary
“Ciaran did a fantastic job at our school. The children enjoyed every minute of his presentations and were able to do different follow up activities on it.”
Good Shepherd Catholic Primary
Interview with Ciaran Murtagh
When and why did you join Authors Abroad?
I joined Authors Abroad in 2012. I’ve always enjoyed school visits but I’m also very busy writing. Authors Abroad deal with the logistics that can take up so much time and that I’m no good at, leaving me free to focus on and enjoy the visits.
Does being funny come naturally? Or is it like anything else and requires you to work at it?
I’ve always been someone who tries to see the funny side in a situation and it’s always been my instinct to use humour to diffuse a situation or get a point across. So I guess I always had funny bones, but like a singer or a painter, you need to nurture that and work at it to make it your job. You can learn skills that enable you to tell different types of jokes and learn ways to structure them for maximum impact. I started out as a stand-up, telling jokes on stage, now I write the jokes on the page and cross my fingers that they’re funny. They’re different skills, but the one feeds the other.
What is your favourite thing about visiting schools?
I love the energy and enthusiasm I get from pupils and teachers alike. A writer’s life can be quite a solitary one, it’s nice to get out there and meet the audience you create the work for and just check in to make sure you’re still on the right wave length. It’s also remarkably useful for my TV writing, I get instant feedback, find out what trends are still resonating, what bands may now be past it and make sure that what I’m writing still tickles the ribs of the audience I’m writing for.
What impact do you hope to have on students that you meet?
I hope I give them the confidence to create work themselves. Any form of creative expression is a risk. You are putting a bit of yourself out there to be looked at and evaluated, for children that can be very intimidating. I hope to show them that being creative is fun, the risk is worth taking, you never know where an idea may lead you, but every single time it will be somewhere interesting.
What is your most memorable moment from a school visit so far?
I’ve had some great visits over the years, most are wonderful. But my most memorable was memorable for the wrong reasons. Just before I went on stage, the Head Teacher announced the death of a much loved dinner lady to the entire school. Reception started blubbing, Year 5 were shaken, they were all miles from teachers and had to listen to me blather for 50 minutes about dinosaurs and pants rather than do what they wanted to do which was discuss the news they’d just been told. At the time it was fairly hard work, now I see the funny side. Truth be told, if I can turn that around, my material must be pretty solid.
Authors Abroad have sent you all over the world, any visits that particularly made an impression on you?
It would be hard to pick out a single visit as all the schools I have visited over the years have been wonderful and welcoming. I’ve always particularly enjoyed visiting the Far East. Vietnam, Cambodia and China are places I had never visited before becoming an author, I never dreamed I’d have the opportunity to travel so widely in those countries and they have made a lasting impression on me. As soon as my own kids are old enough to endure the flight, we’ll be back to them as a family.
Which TV show was/is the most fun to work on?
They each have their own benefits and give you different things. Mr Bean was fun because I got to work directly with Rowan Atkinson. I never thought I’d be getting phone calls from a childhood hero to discuss my stories. That was a pinch yourself moment. That show is also seen by audiences in every country in the world – except for Greenland for some reason! So I can walk into literally any school in the world – except for Greenland – and know that the children there have seen some of my work. Shaun the Sheep is the one the teachers admit to watching. The Amazing World of Gumball is the one the cool kids admit to watching. In terms of fun however, I’ve just started working on Crackerjack – ask your parents – it’s a blast and a real match for my style of humour.
Do you still laugh at the jokes on the shows you have worked on, even if you know they are coming?
Yes I do. You can’t be sure a joke works until it’s performed. I can write a joke and chuckle to myself, but when you see it on the show it’ll catch you by surprise. Maybe it’s the way the animator has set the scene, maybe it’s the way the actor has delivered the line, maybe it’s the timing, but there’s always something that makes the joke better than you imagined and you find yourself laughing all over again.
You’ve recently broadened your range to be able to conduct more visits at secondary schools and offer screen writing. Are you excited about the new workshops?
I was getting asked to provide workshops on screenwriting and to work with older children and so I thought it should be something I formalise. I am in a privileged position as I have access to lots of materials that go into making a TV show that they don’t want you to see!
I see the roughs, the sketches and the crossings out and I want to show them to the children so they can understand how a story or a show develops over the course of its writing. Very often we see the finished product on the screen, we don’t see the hard work and creative choices – many bad – that go into creating it. I want to expose the process. Plus, what child doesn’t enjoy pitching ideas for their favourite TV characters? With my expertise I can help shine some light as to why certain creative choices are made and get them thinking about creating stories to a specific end.
What are you most proud of career wise so far?
I’m very lucky to have had lots of brilliant moments in my career. To be honest, I never thought I’d have a career like this in the first place. I had my first daughter when I was 17, and at that point the idea of making a career in the creative industries seemed a pipe dream. I was proud of writing and producing my first Edinburgh festival show, I was proud at the premiere of the movie I was in with Tom Hardy, I was proud of the Bafta win, it certainly meant a lot to my family. However, I am genuinely most proud of my books and the life they’ve had once they’ve left my computer. I never dreamed I’d be making kids in Kuala Lumpur laugh with words crafted in a shed in Croydon, that was a proud moment.
What advice would you give to young people who are interested in working in the creative industries?
The only advice I can give is to make stuff. Whatever it is you want to do – paint, write, sing, perform, whatever - get out there and make it. Get the support of your school, get the support of your friends and family, film it, share it, publish it, put it on the internet, make it happen. The more you do it the better you’ll get. Use the time you have at school to develop your skills, practice every day and when you get to a time in your life where you might want to make it your job you’ll have the skills you need to impress. It doesn’t take money, it takes talent and tenacity, make your own opportunities, put yourself out there and it’ll happen. Just a word of warning, it took me 20 years.
Do you find it frustrating that most book awards, for both adults and children (with the exception of the lollies) tend to focus on very serious books rather than humorous ones.
I love getting awards, who doesn’t? But I’ll be honest, it never really bothers me. I think there is a certain inverse snobbery about books that just set out to make kids laugh, as if that’s not enough in itself. And while I would love to write books that explore the very depths of the human condition, I’d still end each chapter with a gag. I have learned to embrace what I do best, my books are funny, kids love them and underneath all the jokes they usually do have a bit of a point to make – that’s all I can do and it’s enough for me.
Quick Fire
Paperback or Kindle?
Paperback.
Theatre or cinema
Cinema (sorry Mum)
Would you rather be able to travel back in time or forwards in time.
Backwards, I like to know what I’m getting.
Favourite children’s book?
The Dark is Rising
What’s scariest – a crocodile the size of a hamster, or a rabbit the size of an elephant?
Rabbit the size of an elephant, it’d be carnage.
If you were Prime Minister for the day, what law would you introduce?
It could only ever rain chocolate buttons. Milk or white. Never dark.
Arrange for Ciaran Murtagh to visit your school
To make an enquiry about Ciaran, or any of the other authors, poets & illustrators listed on this website, please phone Trevor Wilson on +44 (0) 1535 656015, or email him at trevor@caboodlebooks.co.uk