This is
Rían Smith’s Website

he claims to be a Writer, Dramaturg, and Script Editor

Who does he think he is?

I’m a writer, dramaturg, script editor, and sometimes script doctor, for TV, Film, and Theatre.

I’ve worked across many genres and tones, on shows for adults and children, from horror to comedy to social-realism, telling the stories of vampires, the marginalised, and of a magic postman and his robot sidekick.

In my own work, I tell stories about people finding hope and connection in the darkest places.

I love storytelling and the process of making a narrative experience as compelling as possible.

I’m now repped by the wonderful Ikenna Obiekwe and Jessica Jones at Independent Talent. (Or maybe I’ve just managed to trick them into putting me on their website:
https://www.independenttalent.com/writers/rian-smith/)

Things he says he’s done

  • Education / Early Career

    I studied Film and TV Production at the National Film School in IADT. Loved it. From there, I read scripts for companies such as RTÉ, Vico Films, Samson Films, and Fantastic Films, developing my dramaturgical skills. Loved it. After moving to New York, and working for multi-platform companies Triptyk Studios and Talos Films (and skipping meals to afford Broadway tickets), I fell in love with theatre.

  • Dramaturgy / Script Consultancy

    I’ve been continually involved in helping creative teams to develop their projects. I’ve worked as an external consultant for Irish Film/TV company ParkFilms, and then for many years at Industrial Scripts (a leading script consultancy firm in the UK). However, my favourite project has been with Macalla Teo, joining a 4-person team to develop Dizzy Deliveries, a show centred on teaching and normalising the early-age Irish sign language Lámh. 
I am currently Literary and New Work Associate at the Abbey Theatre, engaging with new and upcoming writers. (If you’ve submitted a script to the Abbey in the last 3 years, I’ve probably read it.)

  • Writing

    * Selected for Screen Ireland’s Mentoring Scheme 2026, and am being mentored by screenwriter Peter McKenna (Kin, Hidden Assets).

    * Selected for BBC Writers Voices 2025, as part of the Belfast hub.

    * Selected for Greenlight Screenwriting Lab 2025, ran by Philip Shelley (of the Channel 4 Screenwriting Course), for the National Talent Academy Film & TV, in association with Danú Media and Greasán na Meán Skillnet.

    * Selected for Storyhouse Lab 2025, an intensive writing week (co-ran by Element Pictures), with guidance from Creative Mentor Malcolm Campbell.

    * Selected for Screen Ireland’s Stage to Screen Spotlight Scheme 2024, on which I developed my anarchic political thriller The Window Smasher.

    My prior writing work includes:

    * The family drama Broken Light (selected for the 2019 Lyric Theatre Belfast’s New Playwrights Programme).

    * The comedy radio play The Boy in the Basement (placed 3rd in the 2019 RTÉ PJ O’Connor Awards for Radio Drama, and reached the top 1% of the 2020 BBC’s Comedy Writers Room scheme) https://www.rte.ie/radio/podcasts/21717528-the-boy-in-the-basement-by-rian-smith/

    * The existential thriller The Only Way (shortlisted for the 2020 Theatre503 International Playwriting Award).

    * The radio drama Endless (shortlisted for the 2021 Papatango Prize).

    * The tiny play Incomplete (published by Fishamble).

    * Worked as a script doctor for Industrial Scripts, reworking scripts, several of which have been theatrically released.

    * Worked across many episodes of children’s TV shows Bright Sparks and Dizzy Deliveries.