Lisa Osborne – Editor

Development and Copy Editor. Script Editor and Producer. Fiction or film, it's all about the story. I can help you tell yours.

Overview

I have worked with storytellers for my whole career: in theatre; in publishing, first as an in-house editor at William Heinemann and then for many years freelance; as a producer of audiobooks and radio readings for BBC Radio 4; and most recently as a television script editor and producer both at the BBC and freelance for a range of broadcasters.

I help writers with structure, with narrative purpose, and with storytelling flow, and I take pleasure in enabling them to reach the most effective version of the story they are trying to tell. I like things to be accurate, so I will help with fact checking, and I am irritatingly fanatical about grammar and style.

Services

Developmental Editing

Copy Editing

Non-Fiction

Biographies & Memoirs Travel

Fiction

Contemporary Fiction Espionage Historical Fiction Mystery & Crime Plays & Screenplays

Languages

English (UK)

Work experience

Producer High End Television Drama

Self-employed

Jan, 2015 — Present

I have produced high end television drama for international broadcasters including the BBC and ITV in the UK, and Starz and Masterpiece in the US. Most recent titles include Becoming Elizabeth, We Hunt Together, MotherFatherSon and Man in an Orange Shirt.

Producer

BBC

Apr, 1998 — Jan, 2015 (almost 17 years)

I worked in-house in BBC Television Drama for 17 years as a script editor, head of development and producer of high end television drama, with a specialism in literary adaptations, such as Little Dorrit, The Mystery of Edwin Drood and South Riding.

Researcher/Producer

BBC

Aug, 1994 — Mar, 1998 (over 3 years)

I worked for four years as researcher and producer in the BBC Radio Readings department, selecting, abridging and producing titles for Book at Bedtime and short readings. I continued this work as a freelance producer for independent production companies after moving on from this full-time position.

Editor

William Heinemann

Oct, 1986 — Jul, 1994 (almost 8 years)

I worked for eight years as a commissioning editor and copy-editor for publisher William Heinemann, mainly in fiction and narrative non-fiction, including histories, biographies, memoirs and travel writing. I continued to work as a freelance editor for a small number of publishers after leaving my full-time position, working on books by Robert Harris, Douglas Kennedy, Stephen Fry and Douglas Adams.