The Secret Lives of Writers: The Ticket @ Electric Picnic

Last week, we got out of the Off Topic studio and went on the road to the Electric Picnic. The Irish Times tent in the Mindfield section played host a series of talks on TV, film, sports and media. Today will be having a listen to some of the best bits.

First up, it's the inner workings of a much-envied job: sports writing. Gavin Cummiskey and Malachy Clerkin of the Irish Times and Sinead O’Carroll, news editor of the journal.ie talk about reporting on Rio, the fallout from the scandal surrounding Pat Hickey and alleged ticket touting, doping in sport, and the art in conveying the experience of sports people in their crucial moment of victory.

Our next discussion focused on writing for television and film, and features Sarah Francis, who was previously story editor for Fair City, and Louise Ní Fhiannachta, the director of Epic, TG4 groundbreaking Irish TV drama, and the award-winning short movie “Rubai”. She has also written for Ros na Rún and Irish language drama Seacht.

They discuss just how much work goes into TV drama. The Fair City Story Room, for example, works 50 weeks a year, creating storylines for 200 episodes. The also talk about what Netflix and Amazon's entry to the market means for making TV and the format of TV shows, the role of showrunners here and abroad, and discuss the national past time of slagging off RTÉ.

And finally on today’s show, Irish times arts writers discuss the joys and the frustrations of writing about culture. You’ll hear from Laurence Mackin, Una Mullally, Patrick Freyne and, Peter Crawley and Louise Bruton. How do you review an album you;ve only heard once? How do you stay impartial in a country as small as Ireland? And what happens when you make a critical judgement and realise you've got it wrong?

You can subscribe to the show in iTunes, or download individual episodes via Soundcloud.