Pay it forward

If I've discovered one thing over the past couple of years it's that people are kind. In a corridor of closed doors it's easy to get disheartened but there will always be people willing to help you along the way. Out of the speculative emails I have sent out (I'd estimate around 250) I received no response from around 80% of these. I received polite 'thanks but no thanks' from another 19.9%. Then there's the joyous 0.1%, the generous people who take five minutes to actually read your email properly and even click on the attached CV, who drop an email back saying 'Sure, pop in and let's chat.'

Now, in the current climate I'm not expecting anybody to drop everything and declare 'Behold! We've found her: the next big thing!' but those people are are willing to meet for a coffee and offer advice are like gold-dust. It's easy to think that those people who agree to meet you but can't offer you a job aren't useful, but I've realised that networking is what the TV industry is built on. Particularly at the moment when small companies (and large ones, for that matter) can't afford to take risks.

My advice? If you meet up with somebody and they help you out or give you some of their time thank them. I know that sounds simple but follow up your meeting with an email. Offer them something in return, like a contact or a script report. Then make sure you keep in touch with them. I have met several brilliant people along the way who offered advice to me, I thanked them and then I went merrily on my way. That was stupid. I should have kept up the contact, kept emailing them, offering my services. Not enough to be annoying, but just enough so that if anything comes up - either for them to help you or you to help them - you will be forefront of their mind. I have helped people out in the past too, either with script reports or advice and they have drifted off too. I'd be happy to help again, so keep in touch.

Over the last couple of weeks I have met with a few more fantastic people that I really should be keeping in touch with. And when I'm in a position to help people who are helping themselves I'll be sure to pass the favour on. As I was told this week

I'm happy to help. It's the only way to get into the business at the moment. And people helped me when I needed it.

An invaluable guide to script reports

I have written script reports for The Artists' Studio, for John Yorke at the BBC and for various freelancers. However I have never known exactly what I was doing. I just sort of analysed the scripts. I treated it like a review based on all those essays I knocked out at uni and A-level theatre studies and English lit. But for those less keen to blag it Danny Stack has provided a handy go to guide here. It was first posted in 2005 but all details are still extremely relevant, and you can see people have commented on it over a number of years. The best use of this would be as a kind of checklist. Write your report and then ask yourself if you have covered each are, or if there are any glaring omissions:

First, talk about CONCEPT: is the idea any good? Is it commercially appealing or more intellectual and discerning? Or is it just a shameless rip off of a million genre flicks before it? Or does it bring something new to the table? Is it genre?

PLOT: Does it make sense? Is it convincing and/or original? Too predictable maybe. Jumbled?

STRUCTURE: is there a basic understanding of craft on display? Is it a join the dot three-act structure or does it contain a solid and reliable framework to tell its story? However, the reader shouldn’t get bogged down with restructuring tips because it’s not a script editing exercise.

CHARACTERS: Are the central and minor characters believable, original, compelling, inspiring, colourful, loathsome, boring etc? Decent character development or emotional journey for the protagonist? Effective use of subplot with the supporting characters?

DIALOGUE: Distinctive, realistic, off-the-wall, on-the-nose, funny, dull, plain, quirks, true to each character?

TONE: Does the writer have an original voice; is the tone of the story consistent to the genre etc?

PACE: Pace, rhythm, tempo. Scenes start too soon, too late? Cut too soon, too late? Boring segments with little dramatic impact or importance? Where does the pace flag? What’s its overall effectiveness?

SETTING: Is it important to the story - does it make a valid and visual contribution to the characters & plot? Is it noteworthy at all?

APPEAL: will the idea and story find an audience? Is it marketable? Who is the audience? Is it really cinematic?

Thanks Danny, priceless advice.

Radio plays

A good interview in the BBC Writersroom site about writing scripts for radio.

Elliot Grove Q & A at the BFI

The BFI Southbank is currently running a lecture series on screenwriting. Writers appearing in the series include: Sir David Hare (The Hours, The Reader), Simon Beaufoy (The Full Monty, Slumdog Millionaire), Peter Morgan (Frost/ Nixon, The Queen, The Special Relationship), Aline Brosh McKenna (The Devil Wears Prada, 27 Dresses) and Ronald Harwood (The Pianist, The Diving Bell and The Butterfly). Although I don’t have any particular interest in getting into film writing I am interested in all aspects of writing for the screen. The lecture I opted for was perhaps the most relevant to me, as it was about the art of writing rather than about films generally. Elliot Grove is the founder of the Raindance Film Festival, started in 2003 to support the British Independent film industry and they now provide training for writers and film-makers (which, as with all these courses, is extortionately expensive at £290 for two days).

Grove seems like a fascinating man, growing up in a rural Amish community he describes his first experience seeing a film and how he got into films via art school and set design. When it came to setting up Raindance he said he realised one thing: that Brits can be snobby about something new and unbranded. They like to know what they’re going to get. So to his first film few film festivals the audiences were mainly American or from elsewhere in Europe. However over the next few years it grew, and now is a huge event in the film lovers calendar. This got me to thinking – I don’t have to sit and whine, I have to set something up myself! It would be great to have some sort of support or networking system for young people who want to get into TV who are under 30 with limited experience. It’s all well and good to get advice from established professionals now, but let’s be honest – the nature of the beast is very different from ten years ago.

The rest of Grove’s talk was anecdotes from his work, and a good chunk of advice:

-Learn how to format correctly and uniformly.
-READ scripts. Look for patterns in the scripts, both good and bad. Most bad scripts make the same mistakes so make sure you recognise them in others to avoid making them yourself.
-The industry is surrounded in mystique. Try to break that down.

They don’t want to meet new talent. They say they do, but they don’t. They’re worried you’ll be good and steal their cheese.

-The reasons why people don’t write are i) Lack of confidence ii) Self-destruction iii) Procrastination.
-The best way to write is to write a little every day and to keep that time sacred. Don’t let other tasks get in the way.
-The biggest thing is to entertain; if you’re not doing that you’re in the wrong business.
-The four basic tools for story-telling are: the characters, what they do, what they say, and the setting. Weave them together so the seams don’t show.
-Fim-making is about commerce. A writer has to inspire everyone else making the film, and once it’s written let it go.
-Don’t put reality into your script as we see it every day. Shape it into a story.
-People are voyeurs, put something on the screen that they would want to watch.
-Writing is a very minimal art form, so select your words carefully for maximum impact. Think about the impact of walk versus rushes, dashes, limps etc.
-But don’t overwrite. Every time you write something down re-read and ask yourself: is there a quicker way to say that?
-You aren’t writing a screenplay for the audience. You write it for the reader (who is invariably white, male, middle-aged, middle class). The role of a film-maker is to illicit emotion in an audience but the role of a writer is to illicit emotion in a reader.
-You will stumble on misfortune, don’t take it personally. Ask yourself if every hit film good? And therefore is every good film a hit?

All in all very useful and, more importantly at the moment, very inspiring. I’m off to adapt Senses as a stage play and see if I can have any luck getting that produced.

Holby placement advice

I recently recieved a charming email from a gent who spotted my profile on the Feedback Exchange, noted that I did a placement on Holby City and requested my advice. Well, for a start I was just flattered to be considered a 'success' in any aspect of script work, especially bearing in mind my current knack for eliciting rejections at every turn. So I thought I'd post my advice here too.

He said:
I hope you don't mind me emailing you, I came across your details on 'The Feedback Exchange' and noticed that you did the BBC's Holby City Script Department work placement.

I'm currently studying Scriptwriting for Film & Television at Bournemouth University and looking for work experience myself. I'm hoping to go into script editing so I'd give anything to land that particular placement and I've applied 3 times but predictably with no success (always the way!). I know the competition must be very strong but clearly you did something right in your application so I wondered if you might be able to tell me a little about what you said in yours, particularly if you ever told by anyone on the show what it was they liked about it? Any tips I could get that might improve my chances of being chosen would be hugely appreciated!

Sorry for the bizarre request, I know you put your details up for the feedback exchange service but I don't know anyone that's done that placement (or landed ANY BBC placement for that matter!) so in my eyes you're pretty special! I'd be happy to read anything of yours in exchange for any info and insight you could give me, although I can't tell you how useful you'd find my critique.

Thanks for your time, hope to hear from you soon.

And my response was:
Hope all’s well with you. Firstly SO sorry for being completely rubbish. I kept remembering your email but didn’t want to dash off a quick reply. But, here goes. Of course I don’t mind you emailing – I figure the Feedback Exchange should be for any kind of script-related advice.

I did the placement last October, and was fortunate enough to be accepted on my first application. Seeing your email I’m surprised, as you seem to have more directly relevant experience than I did at the time. However I think they were impressed by my related experience, rather than direct script knowledge. I did an English degree, specialising in 20th century American drama, so talked a lot about script reading and analysis in my application. I also have lots of amateur theatre experience, though again not directly related to television. I think showing you’re diverse would help. Out of the four researchers there when I did my placement they all had very different backgrounds (one used to be a director on Eastenders but I think wanted to get into script writing, one was a producer on Blue Peter and another came from working on radio plays in BBC Manchester).

I assume the application questions are similar each time, so I’ll go through each of them in turn. I’m not saying these are definitive tips, but as I don’t know much about your strengths and experiences, bar your obviously relevant academic background, I’ll just go by what worked for me.

Q1) Why are you interested in this particular placement and how you think it will benefit you:
I flattered them, did some research on the show so it’s obvious I knew my stuff. Give a little of exactly why you want the placement, what makes it so right for you rather than any of the other applicants. In addition make sure you really sell yourself in: do you do any extra curricular activities that relate? What made you realise you wanted to work with drama scripts? Are you involved in the Feedback Exchange? Do you keep a blog (if so, you should follow mine on http://penenvyandotherstories.blogspot.com/ A bit of shameless self promotion there!)

Q2) In relation to the criteria, please provide details of any interests or activities which support your application for this placement:
Go through each of the competencies and give an example of why you fit the bill. It might feel a bit prescriptive, but I’ve been advised that often people read job applications very fast and actually do just sit there with a checklist and tick of all the core criteria.

Q3) (Holby Storylines) What do you think have been the most and least successful sorylines of the last 12 months, and why?
This was my favourite question – I definitely let loose a bit on this, and slated one of the storylines, however also added in a suggestion of how to make it better. I’m sure you’re an avid viewer of Holby already in preparation for this, but I watched all the back episodes I could. Plus the Holby and BBC websites have really detailed back stories of all the characters for the last few years if you need any gaps filled in. There’s also some chat rooms which can give you an idea of what the viewers are thinking, and what does and doesn’t work for them. Basically give your opinion and back it up – I’m sure this is the sort of feedback you must work on quite regularly.
I really hope that’s of some help. And I guess if all else fails just let them know you’ve applied three times before. God loves a trier!! I know it probably doesn’t help with your frustrations, but I have a friend who’s now a successful nature show producer for the BBC who never managed to get a placement there. And conversely I got my placement first time but can’t seem to get a job at the beeb for love nor money!
Good luck, and let me know how you get on.
Hannah

I hope he gets it. And with any luck maybe I'll have some good news with my Holby application and will be on the other side of the placement applications for a change.

Imposter

I wrote a couple of weeks ago about how I was beginning to feel like a real freelancer (still missing the payment, but that’s by-the-by) well, scratch that. I feel like an imposter. Over the last couple of weeks I’ve had two meetings with Gub Neal, creative director of The Artist’s Studio (formerly of Granada, Channel 4 and Box TV). We met at a member’s club in London, which states on their website that their members are ‘mostly artists and writers’. I was well out of my depth. Sat in on our second meeting (on the club’s rooftop terrace this time – pretty nice office!) was the studio’s development exec Julian Stevens and, for the beginning of the meeting, Adam Tandy the producer of The Thick of It. And all these interesting, talented people were proper grown-ups, while I nodded and smiled away in my Primark jacket with an oversized pink flower in my hair.

But regardless of this sudden feeling of youth when I spend the rest of my time saying things like “gosh, doesn’t time start going faster after twenty-five” and “well, I wanted to own a house by thirty, but let’s say thirty-five…” the meetings were interesting and incredibly useful. They spoke a lot about the realities of getting funding in the current climate, and of considerations not just of the writing but of franchising angles and the importance of international appeal for distribution and co-funding. From a writing and editing point of view it’s fascinating to see what other considerations come into play. For now they have given me a couple of books (one of which is the property of one James Nesbitt, apparently. Must remember not to leave it on the tube) to read and provide reports on, followed by some scripts.

However my top tip from that meeting came from Julian, who quizzed me on my knowledge of writers, and said that every time you come across a writer make a note of three things they’ve written. So, first one: Roy Mitchell, whose script I was sent by Gub as a little test of my analysis, wrote i) episodes of New Tricks (2003-2009) ii) and episode of the crime drama Blue Murder in 2006 and iii) a couple of Casualty episodes in the 80s.

Writer's group

A large number of the problems a writer faces can be solved by just one thing: a writer’s group. Last week I met up with a few people from my writing course at St Martins. I took the beginners Creative Writing: Fact or Fiction with Elise Valmorbida last year. The course was excellent and I would recommend it to anyone who fancies themselves as a bit of a writer, or just enjoys doodling a few stories every now and again.

The best part of the course for me was gaining confidence in sharing my work. Before the course I hadn’t shown anyone my writing for years. Not since age nine, when I was the proud recipient of the primary school creative writing shield, had my writing had the opportunity to be mocked and sniggered at by my peers. Or at least that’s what I had imagined would happen. The first class was a nerve-wracking affair, as I pictured a room full of artistic geniuses chain-smoking and making droll comments about literature. Which actually wasn’t far off – the room looked like Topshop and a vintage stall got in a fight (I couldn’t quite say who won). However there was no mockery of any kind. In fact the feedback was overwhelmingly positive, and even negative comments were given with a positive spin. Although the skill level in the class was high the assignments took us all out of our comfort zones and some weeks even the most talent writer struggled and the tadpoles excelled.

Several of the girls I took the course with went on to take the intermediate course, but I opted for screenwriting (which turned out to be film studies. Not what I was after at all). I definitely intend to take the intermediate course this autumn, and some students take it over and over as a way of pushing them to produce new work. At £200+ a course doing it every year seems a bit pricey, so the next best thing is taking the class into a bar. Six of us met up in a bar-cum-coffee shop on the top floor of a London bookshop (which we thought apt) and read aloud our most recent pieces. I took the piece of prose I mentioned in my 31st March post, and I have to say it didn’t receive quite the reception I was hoping for. Re-reading the piece now I think all the feedback and advice is actually terribly accurate*. It’s sometimes hard to hear criticism not just because it knocks your confidence, but sometimes because you’ve gotten so attached to a word or phrase that it’s difficult to acknowledge it isn’t suitable. There’s several wordy sentences in the piece that I adore; I love their poetic, polysyllabic nature and the way they languidly roll off my tongue. But they don’t fit. They don’t suit the character, the nature of the story and the rhythm of the piece. So out they come. Next week, when we meet again, I’m going to take a completely edited piece written from the first person instead of the third to make sure I don’t slip into language that speaks from me rather than from the character. And on top of all this you get to have a few glasses of wine with some friendly, interesting people who like what you like.

*I will put the piece into a separate blog entry and tag it as 'writing example'

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.

I Feelgood...

Today I went to the offices of Feelgood Fiction, an independent TV production company who specialise in new writing talent. I sent of my CV and a short cover (begging) letter to them before Christmas and they agreed to meet with me. Laurence was very friendly and within the first ten minutes I got all excited again about working with these sort of people; ones who actually care about what they do and are interested in the same things I am. He asked me what the one book I wished I had written is. That’s a very good question, and a very different question to what my favourite book would be. I wish I’d written Time’s Arrow by Martin Amis – not my favourite, but so stylistically deft that I’m in awe of it. The novel has an inverted order of events, and this reversal in chronology compels the reader to question a reality and morality that is often taken for granted. It also provides a potent new emphasis to the meaninglessness of Holocaust ideologies by creating a novel where things make equal sense both forward and backwards. The conversation meandered on about this for a while, comparing Amis novels and we then moved on to drama. He quizzed me on favourite shows and writers, but strangely I wasn’t able to talk about them in as much length as I am novels. I suppose that’s because all my experience at university was talk about books, and maybe I’m not yet used to thinking of something I see as a hobby in scholarly terms.

Here are a few of my favourite shows:

Queer as Folk – for the characters; the dastardly Stuart who was such a bastard but written in a way that you can’t dislike. Stuart and Vince were two characters whose objectives were at odds with each other but I just couldn’t choose between the puppy dog and the object of his affection. It is a very talented writer who can write a lovable rogue who is actually a complete cunt.

This Life – A script full of dripping sarcasm and sexual tension along with a healthy dose of drug taking and binge drinking created a comedy-drama that actually fulfilled both aspects of the genre with aplomb. As I was 13 years old it wasn’t really suitable viewing, but I saw it as aspirational television. My mother would have been furious – but that was sort of the point.

Mad Men – beautiful, sexy, shiny drama. Shame advertising isn’t like that anymore, or many I wouldn’t be so keen to get out!

Six Feet Under – dark comedy. So, so dark. Loved it.

Shameless – (early series mainly) when this was still Paul Abbott penned it was one of the funniest, best, freshest things I’ve ever seen.

Clocking Off – Again, a Paul Abbott gem. I remember the first episode of the first series vividly, where a guy comes home to his wife and he’s suffering from amnesia. The advert said something like “He’s finally come home. But wrong house.” I don’t want to give away why but watch it. Awesome.

This list is all well and good, and most of them appear in the recent Guardian top 50 TV dramas of all time (LINK) but as Laurence pointed out none of them are new. I go and see plays all the time, but often Chekhov or Shakespeare or a good Alan Bennett. I know that makes me sound pretty pretentious, but at least with a big name writer there’s no risk of it being rubbish. Which is certainly not the attitude someone wanting to be a new writer should have. Ooops. So the advice I’ve been given is watch new shows, attend new plays by emerging playwrights, see what’s going on at the moment and what the public has an appetite for. And if I see something that I love get in touch with the writer and invite them for tea! I can just see it now: Dear Paul Abbott…..