From up-and-coming creators of all mediums to actors and writers, Variety has announced its 2025 list of 10 Brits to Watch. This year’s honorees will be celebrated at the Newport Beach Film Festival U.K. Honours on Feb. 12 at the Raffles London at the OWO.
Davies was “quite reluctant” to write for television when the opportunity first arose. “I really love theater with all my heart, and I didn’t really get TV,” says Davies, who had been earning acclaim in London for her plays such as “scum” and “Graceland,” which premiered at the Royal Court in 2023. Davies says her plays explore “the power we wield over each other and how it manifests, particularly in romantic relationships and in friendships. The ways we can hurt each other or help each other.”
Theater offered two distinct advantages to her: The “immediacy” of live performances that differ each night and the fact that “as a playwright you can go on for pages and pages of dialogue. You can’t do that for TV, which was really stressful.”
But Davies’ agent persuaded her to give it a chance. “She gave me a kick to take it seriously.” And now she’s been won over by writing on such series as “Industry” and “The Girlfriend.” “I love it,” she says. “I love how TV is such a collaborative medium, but I’m also realizing it can be an authored medium too.” She is currently developing the thriller “The Assistant” for DNA Films.
Writing for television, she has developed more of an instinct for the mechanics of narrative, learning to embrace plot — “a playwright’s least favorite word” — which is so essential for television. Davies also likes the idea of writing accessible shows in a commercial medium. “TV is what people watch the most, and I want people to find a way in while I Trojan horse in bigger ideas underneath the glossy exterior. ‘Industry’ has loads of sex and drugs and it’s fun, but there’s something steely and incisive that it’s saying about capitalism and our world.”
— Stuart Miller
Reps WME, Independent Talent (U.K.)
Influences Joanna Hogg, Annie Baker, Sarah Waters
Read in full: https://variety.com/lists/varietys-10-brits-to-watch-for-2025/ava-wong-davies/
