Dejection and rejection part II

Oh, yeah - and another thing. It has been noted on the BBC Writersroom blog that one of the writers going through to this years Writer's Academy has 33 Doctors episodes already credited to him. Now, I understand that writers entering the Academy are already required to have proffessional credits but this just seems a bit much. If this writer does have so much potential why hasn't it already been spotted and nurtured by the BBC? And I also understand that if I were that writer I'd be pissed off if I wasn't entitled to enter, but - y'know - it grates a little. And I am, of course, just bitter.
Over and out.

Dejection and rejection

The saying goes that there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Au contraire, in these days of unpaid internships. However I’m offering something for free (me) and no-one seems keen to take me up on it. I have emailed numerous (30+) TV production companies to offer my services and only heard back from three. That’s less than a 10% hit-rate. And, in fairness, two of those emailed back to let me know that my services wouldn’t be required. Feelgood Fiction (see blog from 13th Jan ’10) were kind enough to invite me in and give me some advice. Carnival Films have kept me on file (see blog entry from 20th Feb ’10) and offer plenty of encouragement and kind words, but still no cigar.

Working with The Artists’ Studio is great, but the work only trickles in. The disheartening truth is that there’s too many people and almost zero jobs. I’m feeling a bit down at mouth today, after working hard for five months now and really not seeing any results. I have completed my first script and submitted it to both the BBC Writersroom and the Red Planet script prize but what are the chances of those coming into fruition? The only way my writing will get better is through experience and from immersing myself in the TV world. The ideal career path for me would be to get work as an editor and then, years down the line, settle down and try writing. Ah, well – now that I have the time available I should try and hone writing skills anyway. So my writing projects are:

-Senses now completed and submitted, try and adapt to a stage play and submit to new writing theatres.
-Begin new TV script.
-Continue with radio play script You Can Never Go Home.
-Write Asham Award entry, due 30th September (still having trouble with the Gothic theme!!)

And the final project on my list is to stop feeling dejected and get back in the saddle. What’s five months rejection in the grand scheme of TV careers? I bet there’s plenty more to come.

The Silence

This new BBC One four-part series was of particular interest to me. The Silence is a Whodunnit with a twist – the main witness, an eighteen year old girl, is deaf. I have a cousin just a few years younger than the central character, Amelia, who also had a cochlear implant and one thing that has stayed with me is witnessing, as the implant’s volume was switched up for my cousin, the first time she experienced thunder. It really makes you think that deaf people not only have a different exterior life, the way they communicate, but also the way they think must be different to hearing people. For someone who has never heard sound it is almost impossible to describe and overwhelming to hear at first, and in my opinion Fiona Seres captures this in her enthralling script.

Using silence as a way of separating her main character from the rest of the cast is a great device. As well as providing an interesting insight into hearing problems there is also opportunities for eerie silences. This is demonstrated by the contrast for Amelia between the jumble she hears with the cochlear implant, and the deathly silence she sees as respite without it. In addition to this lip-reading serves as a valuable plot device – all things a hearing person would struggle with.

Even if we disregarded this hook Seres uses it’s still a great show. She has a real talent for tailoring dialogue to a specific character. For example Dervla Kirwan’s character has a very Irish syntax and choice of vocabulary. Examples such as ‘they were always gorgeous together as kids’ and ‘we’ve a place for her here’ stand out as being specific to that character, and this is the case throughout the show.

It may seem like I’m grasping for examples, but that’s because I’m looking forward to tomorrow night’s instalment to see how the tale unfolds. And deaf protagonist or not, that’s all a Whodunnit needs to provide me with.

Oops

I seem to have accidentally put the TV on some sort of setting that narrates what is happening on the screen: "Charlie walks over to Shona, she stands up and backs away" etc etc. Thought for the first half hour Casualty were trying some new avant garde script technique. It was only when Eastenders appeared to have adopted the same writing style that I clicked on. Still can't fix the TV though.

Identity

I just watched (thanks to good old ITV player) the first episode of the new ITV crime drama Identity. I really enjoyed it, and found the odd cheesy script moment could be forgiven for the complexity of the tale that writer Ed Whitmore weaves. Identity fulfils being both a nice taster of the series to come – setting up some personal intruige withy DI John Bloom seemingly too far involved in being an undercover policeman. As soon as we see him enter a mob party and exchange some lingering glances with the mob boss’ wife we know the next few episodes will provide some reveals. However even without these tantalising teasers episode one was an interesting stand-alone, and felt a little unusual compared to the standard crime drama. Unlike many shows on at the moment, a large percentage of the action and gore seems to happen off screen, leaving Bloom and his partner DSI Martha Lawson (Keeley Hawes) to unravel the mystery.

Whitmore has a good ten years of experience as a TV writer (Silent Witness, Waking the Dead and a BAFTA nomination for co-writing Hallam Foe), and yet some of the dialogue still seemed a bit rough round the edges. There were lines which no doubt if I was listening as an audience would have been seamless, but following on my the feedback on my own script there was the odd bit of signposting – ‘what are you saying about my sister?’ - to establish characters. Plus lines which were definitely served with a side of edam. Some were rescued only by the laissez-faire delivery by Aiden Gillen (otherwise known as my willingness to suspend my disbelief for him at all times, in this post Queer as Folk world). For example Gillen, as DI Bloom, states at one point ‘He didn’t want Curtis’ identity, he wanted his soul’ though he makes the soul seem something much more disposable and marketable than most would. And while discussing a married man’s homosexual affair Stuart Jones lived again in beautiful lines such as ‘You can’t argue with a hard-on.’

As with the criticisms of my script (hence my hyper-awareness of these issues) there were some lines which dragged on longer than they ought. For example Tessa Stein’s line ‘Welcome to the twenty-first century. If your credit’s good you can live your whole life without ever meeting a soul.’ Inaccuracies aside, this line could have been made better by splitting the line between two characters as a snappy exchange:
‘If your credit’s good you can live your whole life without ever meeting a soul.’ To which another character would respond with ‘Welcome to the twenty-first century.’ I am beginning to learn that simple tweaks to a good script can easily make it great. Now, not that I’m telling my grandmother to suck eggs, but how about a work placement, ITV Studios??

Story Researcher - Holby City

Cue fanfare: finally, a relevant job on Holby City has arisen!! The job is for a story researcher on Holby, which is similar to what I was doing on my work placement and (to sound a little arrogant here) certainly not above me. In fact, I think I’d be great at it. However once I clicked to apply my elation, during these slim recession times, at seeing someone recruiting the sort of job I’m looking for was short-lived. Number one on their list of ‘Required knowledge and experience’ is "Minimum 1 year’s experience as a Drama Researcher, preferably in a Story Department". Which, I’ll be honest, I somewhat disregarded – I’ve never been one to let a little thing like not being qualified for the job get in the way of an application!! I fulfil (and in some places even overreach) all the other core competencies so figured this could be compensation, and I’d still be in with a shout of an interview:

2. The ability to handle confidential information with tact and sensitivity.
3. A strong knowledge of Holby City.
4. A broadly based knowledge of and a familiarity with conventional and specialised sources of information and research techniques.
5. The ability to interpret Editorial intentions, and to contribute to the generation of ideas and the resolution of story problems.
6. An informed interest in drama research and production.
7. Experience of establishing and maintaining office and administration systems.
8. Excellent communication skills.
9. Familiarity with office and information technology.

Personal attributes

Interpersonal and communication skills sufficient to establish and maintain effective working relations with all members of the Production team, cast and crew, and to establish productive relationships with contacts external to the BBC.

The ability to adopt a flexible approach, manage a variable workload and adapt to the different styles of the various Producers and Production teams, and to work simultaneously on different stories.

Effective time-management and organisational skills and the ability to exercise initiative and work independently.

Enthusiasm, resilience and stamina to sustain performance when under pressure from tight schedules, deadlines and conflicting priorities.

COMPTENCIES

Communication
Managing relationships
Flexibility
Resilience
Planning & Organising

However the second filtering question is very firm:
"An essential criteria of this role is that candidates have significant Research experience in Drama. Do you have at least 1 year's experience as a Drama Researcher?" There is a Yes or No box to tick. And even I cannot bring myself to tell a barefaced lie like this that blatantly can’t be corroborated.