Melanie Blake
Melanie Blake | |
|---|---|
 Blake in 2021 | |
| Born | 1976 (age 45–46) Stockport, Greater Manchester, England[1] |
| Occupation |
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| Genre | Realist |
| Notable works | Ruthless Women |
| Website | |
| www | |
Melanie Blake (born 1976) is an English talent agent and author. Blake began her career working as a camera assistant on Top of the Pops and eventually formed her own music agency. While representing singers, she also formed an acting agency that primarily represented soap actresses from British and American soap operas. In 2018, Blake made the decision to lessen her client list to focus on her writing career. She has since released two novels, The Thunder Girls (2018) and Ruthless Women (2021), both of which are inspired by her experiences in both the music and soap industries. Blake is set to release a sequel to Ruthless Women in April 2022 and has announced plans to turn the series into a television soap opera.
Early life[]
Blake was born in Stockport, Greater Manchester to a mother who was a homemaker and a father who owned his own printing business. Blake described her early childhood as a normal working-class life until she was seven, when her father joined a religious cult. His cult's beliefs stated that anything that was not derived from the bible was a "false idol", which meant Blake was not allowed to watch television, read books or magazines or have posters on her wall.[1] She put posters up inside of her wardrobe where she also hid a small television that she found in a skip; her father discarded of it all once again after he discovered them. He also gave their family's money to the church, which led to Blake's mother becoming a cleaner, feeding the family from food banks and clothing them from charity shops. Blake recalled her father smashing anything new that her mother had bought, as well as ripping a new outfit from her body, and one Christmas, Blake's father destroyed the family's presents.[1]
Whilst attending school, Blake was bullied for receiving free school meals. She was also told by teachers that her career would go nowhere, with her English teacher telling her that the only thing Blake would be writing is labels on factory boxes.[1] She is also dyslexic.[2] Due to her experiences with her father and school, Blake became determined to succeed in her career. She moved out at 16, began squatting in a house with six strangers and lived on £1 a day. One night, she returned to her squat being boarded up and slept in the garden shed. She was then given a council flat, which she said saved her life. After losing weight due to suffering from tonsillitis, getting contact lenses and dying her hair blonde, Blake moved to London with the intention of beginning a career in the entertainment industry.[1]
Career[]
Upon moving to London, Blake sent out hundreds of letters to production companies and applied for every job she saw in entertainment. After a lot of rejection, she made the decision to move back to Stockport; however, that same day, she received a call from an agent wanting her as a camera assistant on Top of the Pops. Blake lied by stating that she had experience as a camera assistant and initially found the job difficult. However, she eventually began to enjoy the job and defied orders by conversing with the famous guests on the show. While in the car park, she met EastEnders actress Gillian Taylforth, who told Blake that she should work as an extra on the soap; she took her advice and appeared in the background of scenes in the Queen Vic, as well as doing background acting on soaps Coronation Street and Emmerdale. This led to Claire King asking Blake to represent her and become her publicist, and afterwards, Blake began working as a talent agent.[3] Her musical agency roster included Claire Richards and the Nolans, and after setting up her acting agency, she signed soap actresses such as Taylforth, King, Beverley Callard, Stephanie Beacham, Michelle Collins, Sherrie Hewson, Amanda Barrie and Nadia Sawalha.[1]
In 2018, Blake made the decision to trim her client roster to focus on her writing career.[4] Blake released her debut novel The Thunder Girls in 2018; the plot of the novel focused around a girl group who plan to reunite. Blake used her experiences within the music industry to inspire events of the novel.[5] The Thunder Girls was adapted into a play which went on a national tour in 2021.[6] Also in 2021, Blake released her second novel, Ruthless Women.[7] Blake used experiences from the soap industry to inspire events of the book; she stated that what goes on behind the scenes of soap operas is sometimes not pretty and that she has "seen it all", which she wanted to represent in her writing.[3] Following the book becoming a Sunday Times bestseller, Blake expressed her plans to adapt Ruthless Women into a television soap opera.[8] She has also confirmed that a sequel to the book titled Guilty Women is set for release in April 2022.[9][10]
Bibliography[]
- The Thunder Girls (2018)
- Ruthless Women (2021)
- Guilty Women (2022)
References[]
- ^ a b c d e f "Melanie Blake: How I wrote my own rags to riches life story". You. 28 February 2021. Archived from the original on 10 August 2021. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
- ^ Blake, Melanie [@MelanieBlakeUK] (26 May 2021). "This is not a drill..it's happening people! Thrilled, excited & honoured to be the new girl at @HarperFiction with #GuiltyWomen which picks up 8 weeks from where #RuthlessWomen ends.. A second hardback deal with a global publisher - not bad for a dyslexic with no training