Sarah Williams (screenwriter)

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Sarah Williams
Occupation(s)Producer, screenwriter
Years active1991–present
Known for Wallis & Edward , Becoming Jane

Sarah Williams is a British producer and screenwriter perhaps best known for writing the scripts to the 2005 television film Wallis & Edward and co-writing the 2007 feature film Becoming Jane . For her work adapting the novels Poppy Shakespeare and Small Island for television, Williams received two Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award nominations.

Contents

Career

In 1992 Williams produced a series of documentary films for the BBC and Showtime USA Funny Business , which starred Rowan Atkinson, John Cleese, Roseanne Barr and Bill Hicks. Williams worked as a co-producer in the film Up on the Roof in 1997, [1] and the following year was a producer for the 1998 television film Jack and the Beanstalk starring Paul Merton. [2] She also produced the wildlife documentary 'Operation Lemur" starring John Cleese, for which she was nominated for a BAFTA award.

The first authorial credit of Williams was the 2005 ITV television production Wallis & Edward , starring Joely Richardson. [3] [4] Williams then wrote The Secret Life of Mrs. Beeton for BBC2, which came out in 2006. [5] After reading in 2004 Becoming Jane Austen , a 2003 biography by Jon Hunter Spence, Williams approached Ecosse Films about the possibility of adapting it into a film about Austen's early life. [6] The resulting film, Becoming Jane , starring Anne Hathaway and James McAvoy was released in 2007. [6]

Williams was the screenwriter for the 2007 docudrama, Sinking of the Lusitania: Terror at Sea . [7] The following year, Williams adapted the novel Poppy Shakespeare starring Anna Maxwell Martin and Naomie Harris for Channel Four television. The Guardian called her script an example of "good art," [8] and she received a nomination for Best Television Short-Form Drama at the 2009 Writers' Guild of Great Britain Awards. In 2009, Williams co-wrote the two-part television drama based on Andrea Levy's novel Small Island . [9] It also received a nomination for Best Television Short-Form Drama, this time at the 2010 Writers' Guild of Great Britain Awards. [10] Williams adapted a novel by Sophie Hannah into the 2012 two-part series Case Sensitive, starring Olivia Williams. [11]

In 2018 Williams wrote the three-part BBC TV series The Long Song, based on the novel by Andrea Levy, starring Tamara Lawrance, Hayley Atwell and Sir Lenny Henry.

In 2019 she wrote a four-part original drama series 'Flesh and Blood' for ITV starring Imelda Staunton, Francesca Annis, Russell Tovey and Stephen Rea, broadcast in February 2020.

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References

  1. ↑ "Sarah Williams – Filmography". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times . Baseline & All Movie Guide. Archived from the original on January 30, 2013. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
  2. ↑ "Jack and the Beanstalk". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on July 15, 2012. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
  3. ↑ Wiegand, David (February 9, 2007). "'Wallis & Edward' abdicates insight". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved August 4, 2012.
  4. ↑ Variety staff (February 11, 2007). "Wallis & Edward". Variety. Retrieved August 4, 2012.
  5. ↑ "Two exciting new films for BBC FOUR this Autumn – The Secret Life of Mrs Beeton and Fear of Fanny" (Press release). BBC. May 5, 2006. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
  6. 1 2 "The Art of Adaptation: Becoming Jane". The Writing Studio. Archived from the original on October 24, 2007. Retrieved August 4, 2012.
  7. ↑ "Sinking of the Lusitania Cast & Crew". Hollywood.com. Archived from the original on January 26, 2013. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
  8. ↑ Ross, Benjamin (March 31, 2008). "The beauty of Poppy Shakespeare". The Guardian . Retrieved August 6, 2012.
  9. ↑ "Small Island: introduction" (Press release). BBC. October 14, 2009. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
  10. ↑ "Writers' Guild Award winners". Writers' Guild of Great Britain. November 22, 2010. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
  11. ↑ "Case Sensitive". ITV. June 21, 2012. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
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