Writer Rachel Yelding's official website

After graduating from a Creative Writing and Music degree at Roehampton University I took the glamorous position of pun writer for an online tie shop. When the Internet bowtie bubble burst I found myself sorting receipts at Gravesend train station. I met a young man applying to be Malta’s only biochemist who reminded me to never give up so with fresh hope I participated in Channel 4’s diversity scheme and found work experience with Shed on their comedy drama Sugartown. Writing every night since leaving university (mostly on the script for a short family film and a 15 episode modern retelling of Alice in Wonderland), being made redundant at 23 and enjoying my time at Shed, I decided to take the plunge and applied to the National Film and Television School (NFTS)'s MA Screenwriting course which I have just graduated from.

Whilst at the NFTS I have developed three feature scripts; the romantic musical drama Freaks Like Us, the steampunk Burton / Mignola / Gaiman inspired horror The Automated Heart and the psychological horror Leftovers at the Cannibal Cafe. I am now working on my fourth feature, fantasy detective adventure Paradise.

At the NFTS I have written three short films; Valerie and Gemma (directed by me), Far Removed (directed by Jamie Stone) and the animation Rail (directed by Jack Tilley). I have also written It Always Comes Back to Heath Ledger (directed by Aniello De Santi) a comedy television monologue about a comic book shop assistant and High Spirits, a short play performed at the Soho Theatre in 2010.

Also at the NFTS I have developed two television series ideas; the fantasy adventure Albion and The State of Freedom, about the members of a punk band in 1980s East Berlin.

My comedy writing partner is Regina Moriarty. Together we are developing sitcom ideas for television and radio. Our ideas include a garden centre on the Isle of Sheppey, a science station at the South Pole, an independent comic book shop and group of men preparing to defend the UK from pirate invasion.

My dreams for the future are: to win a BAFTA for best original screenplay and to be one of the few female writers lucky enough to write Batman comics for DC (I love Batman so much)!

My writing heroes are:

• Hayao Miyazaki
• Paul Dini
• Jeph Loeb
• Woody Allen
• Terry Pratchett
• Wes Anderson
• Mike Mignola
• Neil Gaiman
• Sarah Waters
• My NFTS tutors and classmates

My biggest inspiration:

• Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll