Admin day

Today has been a surprisingly productive one – instead of writing I have spent my time researching and contacting TV production companies in the search of some scripts to read and reports to write. I need to familiarise myself with new scripts and start making relationships with TV production companies. Who knows, maybe one day this bloody recession will finish and they’ll have some money to spend on programmes again.

Tomorrow morning I have an appointment to speak with Gub Neal, ex head of channel 4 drama and of Granada drama, who contacted me swiftly in response to one of my emails. Good place to start.

I have also been sent my first not commissioned script to read off the back of joining the Feedback Exchange (see post from Monday 22nd March), which looks like a really exciting, meaty piece of writing, and can’t wait to get stuck into it over the weekend.

I am also feeling rather uninspired about my script, hence giving it a rest today. Maybe I should have a couple of things on the go at once, rather than hammering the hell out of this one. I might work on some prose which, as it’s the medium I’m used to, feels like a break. I’m going to revisit an old piece which I dip into from time to time. Here’s the first (as yet unedited) paragraph:

The police came late one night, but there were no scenes. There was an uncomfortable disparity in Jenna’s mind; the policeman’s soft, firm rap against the family’s front door, contrasted against the story he came to tell. For months afterwards Jenna couldn’t close her eyes without visualising against her will the invented last moments of her brother’s life. On some nights she was haunted by desperate screams and cries for help, on others there was simply a crash, flashing lights and a descent into darkness.

Missing

Today I have happened upon a relevant TV show for what I’m currently writing. After a morning of writing (only 9 pages today) I had my usual lunch break for Doctors, which is allowed because it's work-related and showcases lots of new writers. Today was a particularly well-written episode (Risky Business by Helen Farrell) about a student working as a prostitute to fund her studies, only to be hired by her own father accidentally when he was in town for business. Anyway, I digress as the point being I watched doctors followed by a five minute special celebrating a decade of Doctors. Now, before I continue I want you to understand it’s been a busy week at work with late finishes every night so I’m pretty tired and not feeling at my most inspired, but before I could get off the sofa and back to my desk Missing started. Missing is a daytime drama on BBC One following the investigations of a missing persons unit. They handle a new case each episode, and the mystery is introduced and solved within the 45 minute instalment. This interests me because the script I am working on at the moment centres around a missing woman and the police investigation. So turns out my laziness was serendipity.

In the script I am writing the missing woman’s husband is having an affair and the central theme is the husband’s choice. Does he stay with his mistress now the wife is out of the picture or does he finish things with his mistress and play the loyal husband, knowing this could result in him losing both of them? And there is an array of permutations in between. So far I’m about 35 pages in, which should equate to about half an hour of airtime. At present it feels like a radio play as the dialogue is dense and as I write I don’t feel like it needs images. Once I have a full draft down on paper I’ll do a complete edit/ re-write as even now I see areas which I feel are weak. I was aiming for around 100 pages of dialogue, but I know editing will be a long process until I have something I’m happy with.

I’m not feeling exceptionally inspired this afternoon (and just so tired) so instead I’m going to start reading The Screenwriter’s Handbook 2010 (edited by Barry Turner, Macmillan). I’m also going to contact a few production companies to beg for the opportunity to do some reading and editing, which I now realise is more crucial than ever.

The Feedback Exchange

Excellent idea run by Lucy V on her Write Here, Right Now blog with a peer to peer reading service. Following on from my last post this is exactly the sort of thing I need. Once 'Play 2', as it's currently called, is a full first draft maybe will seek some advice. Should also give me the opportunity to read some other non-professional scripts and flex my critical muscle. See more info here.

Wanted: Honest criticism for crisis of confidence.

Today is NOT going well. It’s my Day Off, as people keep calling it. But it isn’t like holiday because I still sit at a desk all day long in front of a computer and procrastinate. Part of my procrastination has involved checking out other people’s blogs (discovered Scriptuality and The Jobbing Scriptwriter – both by actual real writers who get paid. Imagine that) and the conclusion I have come to is that my blog is a lot of irrelevant and self-important toss. Dammit.

I have written six pages today so far. Six! And one of those was my shopping list. I don’t know how people do this full time. I’m off to the supermarket now, so at least one of those six pages will prove to be useful.

I think I need some writerly encouragement. Another scriptwriter who can point me in the wrong direction. Next week am meeting up with some people I took my first St Martins writing course with and hopefully that should spur me on. It’s just so embarrassing offering up a piece of writing that I have no idea about up for criticism. When I write prose and re-read it I can tell if it’s my best work. With scripts I know the characters so well, the intonation I intend and the subtext behind their words that it’s hard to discern whether that comes through to a reader. Help!

BBC Continuing Drama Q & A

On Thursday 4th March I attended an event organised by the BBC writersroom in which representatives from their continuing dramas (Eastenders, Holby City, Casualty and Doctors) spoke about what they do. Or, as I like to call it: Pick Me, Simon Harper. The room was full of eager and, I’ll admit, somewhat mental wannbe writers.

On the panel, among others, were John Yorke (Controller of Drama Production), Ceri Meyrick who works with new writers, writer (and now producer) for Holby City Justin Young. I first met Justin during my placement at Holby City, and was lucky enough to sit in on an all day storylining meeting with him.

Many aspects of what they spoke about are covered on the writersroom website, and some of their tips I had already spoken to people about during my placement on Holby. However no matter how many times I have heard similar ideas (“be passionate” being the most common thread) I just love to listen to writers talk about writing. Here are some titbits I picked up - new gems and old pearls of wisdom:

General writing tips
-“Write that half hour like it’s the most important in your life.” John Yorke
-Don’t write a script that you hope will get you a job; write something that you’re passionate about. They receive lots of “competent but boring” writing.
-Make sure you love the show that you’re writing for.
-Too much exposition gives away bad writing. However most bad scripts are boring and just not memorable. Boredom is the worst thing for a script.
-The first ten pages give away if a script has potential, and all scripts submitted will be read this far.
-Send in the script you’re most proud of, regardless of what you think is most likely to get commissioned.
-Don’t take editorial notes personally.
-Screenwriting is less about the dialogue – storytelling should be in the stage directions as dialogue is about sub-text.
-Familiarise yourself with scripts, reading for TV, radio and theatre.
-They look for i) An individual voice, ii) The ability to create characters that resonate, iii) An understanding of structure.

BBC info
-Continuing drama is where writers learn their craft; it is likened to an emergency department, where you see and experience every eventuality and learn fast.
-Accept that continuing drama is a machine where you write collaboratively, but it is possible to retain your own voice.
-Scripts are only accepted from agents to specific shows. If you don’t have an agent submit scripts to the writersroom.
-Don’t submit a sample episode of an existsing show, send original work and remember that length (providing it’s over half an hour) doesn’t matter.
-Avoid gimmicks with your scripts, those sent in massive boxes or with money and gifts attached are viewed with suspicion and inconvenience people.
-The writersroom received around 10,000 scripts last year (eek!) and an estimated 5% of these were passed on.
-The Writer’s Academy receives around 500 applications for 8 places (double eek!). You can apply as many years in a row as you like.
-For Writer’s Academy submissions looking at the application form is left until the very end of the process, allowing the scripts to speak for themselves.
-Applications for the Writer’s Academy open from mid-April – you require at least one professional drama commission to apply, but don’t need an agent.
-Writer’s Academy is three months, with much of that time spent in a classroom, with visiting lecturers (past ones being Jimmy McGovern and Russell T Davies. Room for any more eeks?!) and one on one tutorials. A writer’s first episode of Doctors is developed in the classroom.
-They don’t get a massive percentage of applicants from screenwriting courses.
-Writer’s spend around 2 – 5 weeks on their first draft of an Eastenders episode, depending on where their commission falls on the production cycle.
-Don’t re-submit a script once you’ve received feedback unless the edited version is specifically asked for. Submit something new.
-On Doctors you get assigned your own script editor and you are then in their ‘stable’, whereas the others it can be a different editor each time.
-All BBC continuing drama focuses around A, B and C story strands.
-Each show has a lead writer and a core team of writers who are involved in the decision making for storys.
-Doctors works a little differently to the other three shows. Writers pitch story ideas as the show is designed to be something that new writers can bring their ideas to.
-Include directions, but not camera directions.
-Shadow scheme: if your script is successful they will give you a story document for an episode that has already run and do a test.

Five Days

Reports of the death of BBC drama have been greatly exaggerated. So things have been a bit slow recently – there’s a recession, for crying out loud. And you haven’t been able to open a paper over the last couple of months without reading another royal slagging off of beeb drama. However my faith has been restored with this month’s Five Days, written by Gwyneth Hughes. Over the course of one week five episodes charted the suicide of a mysterious woman in a burka. However first the audience is introduced to the idea it wasn’t suicide. Then we find out it wasn’t a woman, but a teenage boy in disguise.

With each episode there were new twists and coincidences, and every face holding a potential clue. Young boys on bikes in the first few scenes later hold video evidence that proves someone pushed the victim, and one of these later turns out to be the son of an investigating policeman.

Despite this drama being incredibly gripping, well crafted and with an excellent cast (Suranne Jones as a plucky-yet-lovable detective Laurie and Anne Reid as her mother Jen, in the early stages of dementia) some people are still not giving it a chance. Jeremy Clay for the Leicester Mercury claims that “to fill five hours of telly Hughes has knitted up the narrative thread into great clumps so she can spend five hours unravelling it all again.” This seems somewhat harsh; of course there are coincidences to pull the story together, and moments such as a white foster father having knowledge of which blood groups are most prevalent in the Asian community do seem contrived, but these blips are brief and overall the effect is tightly woven. As well as a thriling story of murder Hughes still managed to get the audience equally interested in a few budding romances, with some beautiful moments between Laurie’s mother Jen (Reid) and her new partner. There were also some genuinely funny moments among the tragedy – Laurie suggesting that she heard of how “some reporter wangled his way into Bagdad wearing a burka” to which her colleague replied dryly “Yeah, I’m not sure that’s a good tactic for wangling your way into Leeds.”

I look forward to Hughes’ next set of Five Days, and if I could ever write a drama like that I’d be pretty happy with myself.

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It is 10.47am on my first official day as a freelance script writer and editor. Now, that sentence glorifies the whole thing a little when basically, I just have a day off work and I'm fiddling around on my lap-top.

I've been at my desk (read: the kitchen table) for almost two hours now and so far, so good. At university I got the hang (after 3 years) of motivation to work and my peak working patterns so I was feeling pretty confident about working from home. Now this is just a matter of taking baby steps; I'm not going to write the next BBC drama hit, but a short play would do the job nicely. I can always hate it, throw it away, and start again.