tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31186215069839465792024-02-20T18:30:26.146+01:00...random witterings of the fox...Musings on writing for radio, television, film and... stuff.Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03888867108777389254noreply@blogger.comBlogger40125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3118621506983946579.post-54190376497463590852011-01-27T10:52:00.006+01:002011-01-27T10:56:59.865+01:00360 Script Writing Festival 2011<div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" >Just a quick note! For those who don't know about it, there are still places on this year's 360 Script Writing Festival, which is currently taking place at the BBC in Belfast. We've already had the first day, so hard luck if you missed out on that, I'm afraid. But still plenty going on. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small; ">Details below...</span><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; "><h1 style="font-size: 1.5em; font-weight: normal; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-left: 0.2em; ">360º Script Writing Festival 2011</h1><p class="noinserts" style="clear: both; margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0.4em; font-size: 1.03em; "></p><p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0.4em; font-size: 1.03em; ">360º is an annual festival of inspiring and professional workshops offering craft skills and industry knowledge across the different mediums: TV, Screen, Radio and Theatre. The festival is one of the best opportunities through the year to meet likeminded and industry people in Belfast.<br />_____________________________<br /><br /><b>WHO IS IT FOR?</b><br />Workshops and talks for people interested in making a living from script writing in TV, Radio, Film or Theatre.<br /><b>WHEN?</b><br />Wednesday 26th until Friday 28th of January 2011<br />Workshops will take place during the day with a social event on Friday evening between 6-8pm<br /><b>WHERE?</b><br />Studio One, Broadcasting House, Ormeau Avenue, Belfast.</p><p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0.4em; font-size: 1.03em; ">_____________________________</p><p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0.4em; font-size: 1.03em; "><b>PROGRAMME:</b><br /><br /><b>Wednesday 26th January RADIO DAY</b><br /><br /><b>1.30 – 4.30pm </b><br /><br />Studio One:<br /><b>MASTERCLASS and WORKSHOP</b>:<br />Kate Rowland, the Creative Director, New Writing, Commissioner of the Wire on R3 and previous Head of Radio Drama will give a masterclass in Radio Drama. Listen to exerts of a diverse variety of plays ranging from 'as live' to monologue and get started on writing your own radio play.<br /><b>25 Places</b> – if your play is chosen you need to be available Thursday and Friday to redraft, rehearse and record your play <br /><br />Breakout Room:<br /><b>EXPERIENCE: HITCHED</b><br />An opportunity to hear Dough Lucie’s radio play which satirise our obsession with weddings and happy-ever-afters. Emma and Richard’s wedding day arrives – will it go without the proverbial ‘hitch’?<br /><b>10 places</b><br /><br /><b>5 – 7pm <br /></b>Studio One<b>:<br />TALK:</b><br />Doug Lucie is an acclaimed dramatist and playwright who has written successfully for stage, TV and radio. With a razor-sharp observation and ready wit Doug’s voice is one which chronicles and exposes the hypocrisies and obsessions of our time with passion and humour. He will be sharing his experience writing for radio and telling you how he thinks it shouldn’t be done. To help your own writing he is going to give you an insight into how he constructs a scene. All food for thought for the scripts you are working on whatever the medium.<br /><b>100 Places </b> </p><p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0.4em; font-size: 1.03em; ">_____________________________</p><p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0.4em; font-size: 1.03em; "> <br /><b>Thursday 27th January THEATRE DAY </b><br /><br />Breakout Room:<br /><b>10am: </b> the 360 radio drama writers need to hand in a hardcopy of their script. <br /><br /><b>11 </b><b>– </b><b>1pm</b> <br />Studio One:<br /><b>TALK:</b><br />What happens now you’ve finished that play? How do you target your work towards production? How do you find support in developing it? How can you manage your career? Sarah Dickenson, Senior Reader at Soho Theatre, will talk about the work and vision of Soho Theatre and Writers’ Centre, the Verity Bargate Award, Soho’s national competition for the best new play by an emerging writer, and more widely on approaches to professional development for playwrights within the UK theatre landscape.<br /><b>100 Places </b> <br /><br /><b>2 – 4pm </b><br />Studio One:<br /><b>WORKSHOP:</b><br />An in-depth and practical look at writing characters for the stage. We will look at how far you can take your characters and the theatrical space they inhabit. We will look at different approaches, angles and tricks of the trade. A workshop with Soho and Tinderbox theatre.<br /><b>30 places</b> <br /><br />Breakout Room:<br /><b>EXPERIENCE: EVERYTHING BETWEEN US<br /></b>An opportunity to see David Ireland’s hit play from 2010 on DVD with a Q&A session with Tinderbox Artistic Director Michael Duke<br /><b>10 places<br /></b><br /><b>5 – 6.30pm<br /></b>Studio One<b>:<br />OPEN NOTE</b>:<br />The announcement of the 4 radio scripts which will be recorded with actors on Friday with a masterclass style note session for the 4 writers preparing them for the writing their 2nd draft.<br /><b>30 places</b> <br /><br />_____________________________<br /> <br /><b>Friday 28th January TV DRAMA </b> <br /><br /><b>10.30am </b><b>– 12.30pm</b><br />Studio One:<b><br />TALK:</b> <b>What Is A Drama Series?</b><br />With John Yorke Controller, BBC Drama Production. John oversees the long-runners, as well as executive producing single dramas. As Head of New Talent John also created and runs the BBC Writers Academy the first full-time training course for new writers in the UK that guarantees primetime television commissions.<br /><b>100 places </b> </p><p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0.4em; font-size: 1.03em; ">Breakout Room:<br />Rehearsal and recording of the 360 radio plays with professional actors will take place during the day. If you are one of the lucky people who have been selected to record your radio plays look out for information on your recording slot sometime between 10 am and 5pm.<br /><br /><b>2 </b><b>– 4pm</b> <br />Studio One:<br /><b>WORKSHOP:</b><br />Create a series together. Run by John Yorke this is a practical workshop that will give you a chance to practice pulling together the essential elements of a drama series.<br /><b>30 places<br /><br /></b><b>6 – 8pm </b> <b><br /></b>Studio One<b>:<br />360 RADIO PLAYS</b>:<br />Premiere & upcoming opportunities in Radio, TV & Theatre.We will hear the four newly recorded short radio pieces with drinks and nibbles. This will also be a chance to Network with industry people.</p><p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0.4em; font-size: 1.03em; ">_____________________________</p><p style="margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0.4em; font-size: 1.03em; "> <br /><b>HOW TO BOOK:</b><br />The workshops are free. There is a limited number of places so please book early by contacting Bronagh Taylor on <a href="mailto:bronagh.taylor@bbc.co.uk" style="color: rgb(228, 1, 1); ">Bronagh.Taylor@bbc.co.uk</a> or call on 02890 338 845.<br /><br />Please state clearly which workshops you are interested in. When a workshop or talk is full we will keep a waiting list.<br /><br />The festival is organised by BBC Drama Northern Ireland and Tinderbox Theatre Company. Don’t forget that the deadline for <span class="Apple-style-span" ><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/opportunity/primetime1.shtml">Primetime</a></span> is 14th February. GET WRITING!!</p></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><br /></div></div></div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03888867108777389254noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3118621506983946579.post-5957021829905284232010-11-30T19:30:00.004+01:002010-11-30T19:38:54.915+01:00Opportunity: Playwright in Residence...<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small; line-height: 23px; ">One for all you NI scribes. Or wanting to go back to NI....</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small; line-height: 23px; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small; line-height: 23px; "></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small; line-height: 23px; "> </span><img src="http://www.donegallpass.org/assets/images/autogen/a_LyricTheatre-Logo02.gif" /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small; line-height: 23px; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small; line-height: 23px; ">Belfast's <a href="http://www.lyrictheatre.co.uk/">Lyric Theatre</a> is delighted to announce the establishment of an annual Playwright in Residence award and is now seeking applications for the inaugural residency which will commence in Spring 2011. This is a unique opportunity for a writer to work in a busy theatre environment at a formative stage in his or her career.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small; line-height: 23px; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The Lyric is embarking on an exciting new chapter in its long and distinguished history. The facilities in the company’s new purpose-built home, scheduled to open on Ridgeway Street in Spring 2011, will open up a whole range of creative opportunities for theatre practitioners and audiences. The development of new writing is central to the Lyric’s artistic policy, and this residency is an integral part of a wider plan to nurture and support the development of new plays and playwrights. These annual residencies will also provide audiences with the opportunity to enjoy more new work and to become better acquainted with a wider range of new and emerging playwrights.</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px; "><div id="txt" msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; float: left; width: 624px; "><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The closing date for receipt of completed applications is<strong> 4.00pm Friday 17<sup>th</sup> December 2010.</strong></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><strong></strong>Further information and an application form can be found <a href="www.lyrictheatre.co.uk/jobs">here</a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small; "><strong> </strong>- or by contacting:</span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Clare Gault<br />Administration Manager<br />Lyric Theatre<br />Crannog House (Temporary Offices)<br />44 Stranmillis Embankment<br />BELFAST BT9 5FL</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">dd. 028 9038 5674</span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: initial; outline-style: none; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><a href="mailto:clare@lyrictheatre.co.uk" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: initial; outline-style: none; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; ">clare@lyrictheatre.co.uk</a></span></span></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">There you go!</span></span></p></div></span></div><div><br /></div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03888867108777389254noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3118621506983946579.post-18758467091616444282010-11-17T17:20:00.004+01:002010-11-17T17:34:31.560+01:00News N'Stuff...<span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Just a quick update. </span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Went down to Dublin last week for a Fair City Story Conference for a couple of days and to do the edit on my Shadow Script. For "Edit" read "Feedback". I was a bit nervous about it, to be honest. I felt as if I'd done an okay job, but there are so many factors involved that it's easy to mess up. Anyway, I sat down with the Script Editor and we had a good long chat about it. Lots of really good feedback and notes. I have to do the re-write on it and send that in. And then she wants me to do my second shadow script, which is great. So, I'm back down to Dublin at the beginning of December for another Story Conference and a meeting for my next shadow. Stage 2....</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Unfortunately, due to illness in the family, I missed the NI Screen agents talk last week, so I'm afraid I can't give a report on that. Sorry about that one. To make up for it, I've got some write ups still to post up from the BBC NI/Tinderbox festival. One of which was on agents. So, that's kinda the same thing...</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Meanwhile, I've just arrived in London (sitting in Pret a manger in Gt Portland St. Can anyone see me...?) and aoout to meet up with some fellow scribes to talk writing n'stuff... Fab. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><br /></div></div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03888867108777389254noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3118621506983946579.post-13709579380240034962010-11-08T20:26:00.007+01:002010-11-09T08:55:35.371+01:00AMAZING new opportunity...<span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I don't know what it is at the moment, but here is ANOTHER opportunity that's come through today. And this time it's a bit of a corker. Well, if you're from Norn Iron that is. Sorry, everyone else... </span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small; ">Basically, it's an initiative between Northern Ireland Screen and BBC NI which offers the opportunity for two (previously unproduced) writers to have their 60 minute scripts produced in a 9pm slot on BBC 2 next year.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small; ">Send in a 60 minute script, synopsis and CV.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Deadline Feb 14 2011.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">4 finalists will be announced in April and those scripts/writers will go through a development process with NI Screen and BBC NI.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In July 2 of the scripts will then be chosen and produced with a budget of 150,000. And broadcast on BBC2 at 9pm. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Wow! Best. Opp. Ever. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">More info <a href="http://northernirelandscreen.co.uk/newspage.asp?id=100&storyID=2829">here</a> from the NI Screen site (and copied below) and <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/opportunity/primetime1.shtml">here</a> from the Writersroom site. Both those sites also have links to other info, application forms, etc. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Details...</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(76, 65, 29); line-height: 18px; "><h1 style="color: rgb(237, 117, 5); text-transform: uppercase; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 15px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 20px; line-height: 26px; ">ATTENTION ALL SCREENWRITERS!!</h1></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: rgb(76, 65, 29); line-height: 18px; "><h1 style="color: rgb(237, 117, 5); text-transform: uppercase; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 15px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 20px; line-height: 26px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(76, 65, 29); font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px; text-transform: none; font-size: 12px; "><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">An exciting new initiative for Northern Ireland resident screenwriters is being launched today, Monday 8th November, by Northern Ireland Screen and BBC Northern Ireland.</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">Primetime will give local screenwriters the opportunity to have a one hour authored drama produced and broadcast in the 9pm primetime slot on BBC One NI.</p><h3 style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; color: rgb(100, 16, 18); font-weight: bold; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>How does it work?</strong></h3><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">Screenwriters submit a completed first draft script for a TV drama (approx 60 pages).</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">Four writers will be selected for a five month development scheme with Northern Ireland Screen and BBC NI.</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">Two successful scripts will then be selected for production, with a budget of £150K per project. These scripts will be produced by a Northern Ireland based production company and will be broadcast on BBC NI in 2012.</p><h3 style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; color: rgb(100, 16, 18); font-weight: bold; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>Before you apply</strong></h3><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">To help you get your script ready for submission, three workshops on writing for Primetime (and TV drama generally) will take place on the following dates:</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>Tuesday 23rd November 2010</strong></p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">Time: 6pm- 9pm</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">Place: BBC Blackstaff House, 62-66 Great Victoria Street, Belfast BT2 7BB</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">Speaker: <a href="http://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/SeamusHeaneyCentreforPoetry/Staff/MrTimLoane/" style="color: rgb(192, 34, 2); text-decoration: none; ">Tim Loane</a>, BAFTA winner and Oscar nominee, (<em>Teachers, Dance Lexi Dance, Minder</em>) will speak from his experience of writing for TV, with a focus on moving from idea to treatment, to script and the importance of premise.</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">This first seminar will also include an information session about Primetime.</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>Thursday 9th December 2010</strong></p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">Time: 6pm- 10pm</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">Place: BBC Broadcasting House, Ormeau Avenue, Belfast, BT2 8HQ</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">Speaker: <a href="http://www.scriptfactory.co.uk/go/AboutUs/Biog_251.html" style="color: rgb(192, 34, 2); text-decoration: none; ">Rob Ritchie</a> (Script Factory) will discuss writing the 1st and 2nd Act: the importance of the set up and that difficult middle act.</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>Thursday 13th January 2011</strong></p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">Time: 6pm- 10pm</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">Place: BBC Broadcasting House, Ormeau Avenue, Belfast, BT2 8HQ</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">Speaker: <a href="http://www.scriptfactory.co.uk/go/AboutUs/Biog_251.html" style="color: rgb(192, 34, 2); text-decoration: none; ">Rob Ritchie</a> (Script Factory) will discuss writing the 3rd Act: the</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">importance of the climax and a resolution with meaning.</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">To register for each event contact: Bronagh Taylor, <a href="mailto:bronagh.taylor@bbc.co.uk" style="color: rgb(192, 34, 2); text-decoration: none; ">bronagh.taylor@bbc.co.uk</a></p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>Places are limited – register early to avoid disappointment.</strong></p><h3 style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; color: rgb(100, 16, 18); font-weight: bold; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">What are we looking for?</h3><ul style="margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 20px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><li style="padding-top: 1px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-left: 0px; ">A completed first draft script for an hour long drama (approx 60 pages); synopsis and a covering letter letting us know about any writing experience you have had to date.</li><li style="padding-top: 1px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-left: 0px; ">4 new writers (who have not had an authored piece broadcast on TV in the English language)</li></ul><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">and most importantly:</p><ul style="margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 20px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><li style="padding-top: 1px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-left: 0px; ">Storytellers with original and imaginative scripts, depicting modern Northern Ireland</li><li style="padding-top: 1px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-left: 0px; ">Character-centred stories with a strong local voice.</li></ul><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">What are we NOT looking for?</p><ul style="margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 20px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><li style="padding-top: 1px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-left: 0px; ">Period pieces</li><li style="padding-top: 1px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-left: 0px; ">High action/special effects</li><li style="padding-top: 1px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-left: 0px; ">Previously produced work.</li></ul><h3 style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; color: rgb(100, 16, 18); font-weight: bold; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Who can apply?</h3><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">The scheme is only open to Northern Ireland resident writers who have not had an original piece broadcast on TV in the English language.</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>Applications close at 5pm on Monday 14th February 2011.</strong></p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">Full criteria is available to download <a href="http://northernirelandscreen.co.uk/doc/inline/PrimeTimeCriteriaFinal051110_2_.pdf">here</a>: </p><h3 style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; color: rgb(100, 16, 18); font-weight: bold; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">How do you apply?</h3><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">The call for entries opens today, Monday 8th November 2010.</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">Submit a completed first draft script for an hour long TV drama, 1 page synopsis and a covering letter outlining your writing experience, and a completed Monitoring Form (in a separate sealed envelope) by hard copy to Ursula Devine (details below)</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; ">Please ensure your name, address, email address and phone number are on you cover letter and title page for your script.</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>Deadline for entries: 5pm, Monday 14th February 2011.</strong></p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong>The 4 finalists will be announced by April 1st 2011</strong></p></span></h1></span></span></span></div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03888867108777389254noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3118621506983946579.post-2290847647249575092010-11-07T15:58:00.009+01:002010-11-08T12:01:07.265+01:00Writing Opportunity - Radio...<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Not for everyone, this one, but a good opportunity for those who can enter. </span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The BBC World Service have announced their International Playwriting Competition 2011. The most important thing to mention straight off, is that it's for anyone resident outside the UK, so that will rule out a lot of you. Details below...</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">What it's all about...</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 12px;font-family:verdana,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;" ><p class="ingress" style="margin: 0.42em 0px 0.75em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The biennial <strong style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specialreports/radioplay_2008.shtml" class="page" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 102, 153);"><span class="label" style="position: absolute; left: -99999px;">click</span><span class="link-title">International Radio Playwriting Competition</span></a></strong> is run by the BBC World Service and the British Council and is now in its twenty second year.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 0.92em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">It is a competition for anyone resident outside Britain, to write a 60-minute radio drama for up to six characters.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 0.92em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">There are two categories: one for writers with English as their first language and one for writers with English as their second language.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 0.92em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The two winners will come to London and see their play made into a full radio production, which will then be broadcast on the BBC World Service. They will also each receive a £2,500 prize and there are also prizes for the runners-up.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 0.92em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The play must be in English, unpublished and must not have been previously produced in any medium. Whether you're experienced, new, or somewhere in between, we want to hear from you.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 0.92em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Just check the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/arts/2010/09/100928_playcomp_rules.shtml">Rules and How to Enter</a> sections to find out more about sending us your play.</span></p></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The world Service website for this comp also has some great general information on <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/arts/2010/10/100728_playcomp_writingtips.shtml">writing for radio</a> and <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/arts/2010/10/100802_playcomp_script.shtml">formatting radio scripts</a>.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Finally, check out the video below on last year's winners:</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><object width="448" height="364"><param name="movie" value="http://www.bbc.co.uk/emp/external/player.swf"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><param name="FlashVars" value="playlist=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ebbc%2Eco%2Euk%2Fworldservice%2Fmeta%2Fdps%2F2009%2F11%2Femp%2F091118%5Fcs%5Fmeet%5Fwinners%5Fv2%2Eemp%2Exml&config_settings_showPopoutButton=true&config_settings_language=en&config_settings_showFooter=true&"><embed src="http://www.bbc.co.uk/emp/external/player.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" flashvars="playlist=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ebbc%2Eco%2Euk%2Fworldservice%2Fmeta%2Fdps%2F2009%2F11%2Femp%2F091118%5Fcs%5Fmeet%5Fwinners%5Fv2%2Eemp%2Exml&config_settings_showPopoutButton=true&config_settings_language=en&config_settings_showFooter=true&" width="448" height="364"></embed></object></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">All looks pretty cool....</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div></div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03888867108777389254noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3118621506983946579.post-62885502505840473072010-11-03T13:15:00.004+01:002010-11-03T13:28:51.152+01:00Great Opp for Writers from C4...<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small; ">If you haven't seen this already, C4 have a great new opp for new writers with no previous broadcast credits. It sounds great. The main points are:</span></div><div><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small; ">There are places for 12 writers</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The "course" runs from Jan to June 2011 but it's not onsite. It's specifically designed for people who also work so there are only two residential weekends.</span></span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">A fee (not specified how much) will be paid for attendance.</span></span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Over the duration of the course you write a pilot script with a C4 scriptwriter.</span></span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Entry is by CV and a script of at least 30 mins - radio, tv, film or theatre script.</span></span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Entry by Nov 12th, so not much time!</span></span></li></ul><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">All sounds pretty good, except for that deadline!. The details from their site are below:</span></span></div></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; "><h2 style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.7em; color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><a href="http://4talent.channel4.com/extra/channel-4-screenwriting-course-2011" title="Channel 4 Screenwriting Course 2011" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; color: rgb(228, 58, 6); text-decoration: none; cursor: default; text-transform: uppercase; ">CHANNEL 4 SCREENWRITING COURSE 2011</a></h2><div class="content clear-block" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 26px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.3em; ">We are running a new screenwriting course for Channel 4 drama, running from January to June 2011. <br /><br />We are looking for 12 talented, original and diverse writers who currently have no broadcast credit but wish to write for television drama. <br /><br />The course will give you a chance to find out how TV drama, particularly Channel 4 TV drama, works, and to write, over a 5 month period, you own 1 hour pilot script for an original series or serial, working with an experienced script editor. <br /><br />You will also attend two weekends of talks and script meetings at Channel 4’s Horseferry Rd building. <br /><br />The course is designed so that writers should be able to take part even if in full-time employment (the only attendance is on two weekends, in January and June 2011, and you will have five months to write the required two drafts of a one hour drama script). <br /><br />Writers will be paid a small fee for attending the course. <br /><br />Here are all the details on how you can apply: <br /><br /><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">DATES:</strong> 22nd and 23rd January 2011 <br />11th and 12th June 2011 <br /><br />Writers must ensure before entering that they are available to attend both weekends, and to write two drafts of a one hour television drama between 24th January and 27th May 2011. <br /><br /><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">HOW TO APPLY: </strong><br />Applicants should submit by email a CV and one writing sample. This can be a screenplay, a stage play or radio play, minimum length 30 minutes (novels, treatments, short stories, unfinished screenplays and "shorts" are not acceptable). <br /><br />The scripts should be original, not episodes of existing drama series. <br /><br />Email scripts and CV’s to:- <a href="mailto:screenwriting@channel4.co.uk" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(228, 58, 6); text-decoration: none; ">screenwriting@channel4.co.uk</a> <br /><br /><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">ELIGIBILITY: </strong><br />Only writers who do not have a broadcast credit as a television or film writer may apply (although produced short films – 20 minutes or less – are exempt). <br /><br /><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">CLOSING DATE FOR SUBMISSIONS: Friday November 12th 2010. </strong><br /><br /><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">FEE: </strong><br />Writers will be paid a fee for participating in the course and for completing two drafts of a one hour script. Writers will grant Channel 4 an option on their script and will be told within six months of the end of the course if Channel 4 wishes to exercise this option. <br /><br /><br /><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">COURSE CONTENT: GENERAL </strong><br />The purpose of the course is to offer 12 writers new to television drama an insight into the industry and to provide a "dry-run" of what it can be like to write under a television drama commission, for one hour series and serial drama, and for script editors to work with them as they write an original drama script. <br /><br />Writers will be expected to write an original, pilot one-hour drama series or serial episode, and 4-5 page outline \ pitch for the series \ serial as a whole. Each writer will be assigned a script editor, who is currently working in the industry, to guide them through this process. The writers will meet with their script editors between the course weekends to discuss how to approach each draft. Second draft scripts will be sent to the script editor and two other writers on the course, for workshop discussions at the second weekend. <br /><br /><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">FIRST WEEKEND </strong><br />Writers, directors, producers and script editors in the industry will give talks to the participants on a variety of subjects relating to television drama. There will also be time set aside for writers to discuss their proposals and ideas for their one hour scripts with their assigned script editor. <br /><br /><strong style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">SECOND WEEKEND </strong><br />This will be split between a reading of the opening section of each script by actors on the first day, and discussion and analysis of each of the twelve finished scripts in small groups on the second day, finishing with a screening \ workshop and an overview of the course and of the specific requirements of series and serial television drama. <br /><br />It is essential to the success of the second weekend that writers submit their scripts on time and make time to read the (2) other writers' scripts (i.e. there is a time commitment involved beyond the time put aside to write a one-hour drama for television).</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 26px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 1.3em; ">You can go over and look at that info on their site by clicking <a href="http://4talent.channel4.com/extra/channel-4-screenwriting-course-2011">here</a>. </p></div></span></div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03888867108777389254noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3118621506983946579.post-54517197652116507882010-11-02T12:47:00.003+01:002010-11-02T12:53:51.153+01:00Agents Talk...<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; "><h1 style="color: rgb(237, 117, 5); text-transform: uppercase; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 15px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 20px; line-height: 26px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></h1><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >Those lovely people at Northern Ireland Screen have organised a workshop next Friday on breaking into the industry and what agents are looking for. Details below. See you there!</span></div><h1 style="color: rgb(237, 117, 5); text-transform: uppercase; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 15px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 20px; line-height: 26px; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; ">THE WRITE DIRECTION - BELFAST WORKSHOP</h1><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; color: rgb(76, 65, 29); "><br />On <strong>Friday 12th November</strong>, we will be running a panel session entitled THE WRITE DIRECTION, looking at how young screenwriters and film-makers can break into the industry. As part of Northern Ireland Screen's drive to develop a sustainable and dynamic screen industry in Northern Ireland, we are committed to developing grass roots film talent.</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; color: rgb(76, 65, 29); ">The workshop will take the form of a panel event, moderated by renowned industry pundit and former European Editor of trade bible <em>Variety</em>, ADAM DAWTREY. Key members of the panel will include London-based literary agents MATTHEW BATES of Sayles Screen and ROB KRAITT of AP Watt, as well as the award-winning writer GUY HIBBERT and actor/filmmaker LIA WILLIAMS. Further panel participants are to be confirmed.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; color: rgb(76, 65, 29); "><span ><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; ">The session, aimed at upcoming screenwriters and film-makers, will look at key questions such as:</span></span></p><ul style="margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 20px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; color: rgb(76, 65, 29); "><li style="padding-top: 1px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-left: 0px; "><div class="MsoNormal"><span ><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; "></span></span><span ><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; ">What are literary agents currently looking for?</span></span></div></li><li style="padding-top: 1px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-left: 0px; "><div class="MsoNormal"><span ><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; "></span></span><span ><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; ">How do they make their choices?</span></span><span ><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10pt; "><span><span ><span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman'; "> </span></span></span></span></span></div></li><li style="padding-top: 1px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-left: 0px; "><div class="MsoNormal"><span ><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10pt; "><span><span ><span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman'; "></span></span></span></span></span><span ><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; ">How does a screenwriter break into the industry?</span></span></div></li><li style="padding-top: 1px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-left: 0px; "><div class="MsoNormal"><span ><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; "></span></span><span ><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; ">If I’m a feature film writer and haven’t had a break, should I switch to television?</span></span></div></li><li style="padding-top: 1px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-left: 0px; "><div class="MsoNormal"><span ><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; ">Are</span></span><span ><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; "> soaps a good way in? Or short film?</span></span></div></li><li style="padding-top: 1px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-left: 0px; "><div class="MsoNormal"><span ><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; "></span></span><span ><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; ">Am I at a disadvantage if I <em><span style="font-style: italic; ">only</span></em> write and I don’t want to direct as well?</span></span></div></li><li style="padding-top: 1px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-left: 0px; "><div class="MsoNormal"><span ><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; "></span></span><span ><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; ">What you need to secure an agent? </span></span><span ><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; ">Is it a Catch 22? I can’t get an agent before I get a credit. I can’t get a credit before an agent.</span></span></div></li><li style="padding-top: 1px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-left: 0px; "><div class="MsoNormal"><span ><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; "></span></span><span ><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; ">What is the market looking for in terms of talent? Is there a certain “type” or “trend” right now?</span></span></div></li><li style="padding-top: 1px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-left: 0px; "><div class="MsoNormal"><span ><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; "></span></span><span ><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; ">Should I align myself with a producer or production company or keep my options open?</span></span></div></li><li style="padding-top: 1px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-left: 0px; "><div class="MsoNormal"><span ><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; "></span></span><span ><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; ">How involved do agents get in terms of packaging and producing? </span></span><span ><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; ">Can agents help bring finance to the table?</span></span></div></li><li style="padding-top: 1px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-left: 0px; "><div class="MsoNormal"><span ><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; "></span></span><span ><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; ">How a successful writer/agent partnership works and tips for good agent relations.</span></span></div></li></ul><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; color: rgb(76, 65, 29); "><span ><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; "></span></span></div><h3 style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; color: rgb(100, 16, 18); font-weight: bold; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; "> </h3><h3 style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; color: rgb(100, 16, 18); font-weight: bold; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; ">THE WRITE DIRECTION<br />Friday 12 November 2010 at 3.30-5.00pm including Q&A<br />The Crescent Arts Centre, 2-4 University Road Belfast BT7 1NH</h3><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; color: rgb(76, 65, 29); "> </p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; color: rgb(76, 65, 29); ">Please note that this workshop takes places BEFORE <a href="http://northernirelandscreen.co.uk/newspage.asp?id=100&storyID=2810" style="color: rgb(192, 34, 2); text-decoration: none; ">the BAFTA/Rocliffe New Writing Forum event,</a> which is at the same venue on the same date at 7.00pm. If you have already registered for the BAFTA/Rocliffe event, you must register separately for this workshop. If you are attending both events, we have made provision for hot food between 5.30pm and 6.30pm.</p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; color: rgb(76, 65, 29); ">The event is FREE OF CHARGE. Please email <a href="mailto:rsvp@northernirelandscreen.co.uk" style="color: rgb(192, 34, 2); text-decoration: none; ">rsvp@northernirelandscreen.co.uk</a> with your name NOW to reserve your place with "THE WRITE DIRECTION" in the subject line.</p></span>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03888867108777389254noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3118621506983946579.post-14689572782055486682010-10-29T12:33:00.004+02:002010-10-29T12:57:41.859+02:00So, where were we....?<span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Ok, so that turned out to be a <i>slightly</i> longer break than I anticipated. Yeah, ok, I've been completely crap on the old posting front. </span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">So, what's been happening? </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And how are you all?</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Are you even there still...?</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Me?</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://randomwitteringsofthefox.blogspot.com/2010/07/news.html">Last time</a>, I was off to Dublin to do Storylining on <a href="http://www.rte.ie/tv/faircity/">Fair City</a>, which was great. Absloutely loved it and had a ball. And everyone was many beautifuls and lots of lovelys too, which is always helpful. And sitting around in a room making up stories all day with four other people. What's not to like?</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; "><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">While I was there I also got feedback on my sample scenes. I was a bit nervous about it, but it went very well in the end. The Script Editor asked me to do some more scenes for practice but, even more exciting, booked me in to do a shadow script. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">So, when my storylining stint ended in the middle of August, I went off to London for a holiday with my lovely and long-suffering man, and then it was down to business writing more sample scenes at the beginning of Sept. I sent those off and then headed over to Dublin again for a FC Story Conference and to attend the Tonal Meeting for the block of episodes that my shadow episode was part of. The Tonal Meeting is basically a chance for everyone to get together and make sure they're on the same page in terms of where the stories and episodes are going. Very necessary when you have lots of different writers doing individual episodes dealing with ongoing stories.<br /></span></span><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">So, with lots of notes and thoughts, I headed back to my little writing den (the local library - quiet, lots of people concentrating, and NO INTERNET!!!! Bliss...) and spent the next month writing my shadow script. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Then I sent it off. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I'm over in Dublin in a week for another Story Conference and to do the edit on my shadow episode. That's where they tell me what they think.... </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Eek and nervouslings!</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><br /></div></div></div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03888867108777389254noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3118621506983946579.post-2740838030899471032010-07-15T12:31:00.002+02:002010-07-15T12:33:43.977+02:00News...<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Just got the news that I’m off to Dublin next week for two weeks to do Shadow Storylining on <a href="http://www.rte.ie/tv/faircity/">Fair City</a>. Weh-hey!</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Very </span></span></span></i><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">excited… <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I have no real idea how it works or what it will involve. All I know is that they work about six months in advance so are doing Christmas and New Year at the moment, meaning we’ll be talking about January in the middle of July. Weird. What happens in January apart from the sales and hangovers? I can’t remember.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Anyway, they’re sending me some story documents over the weekend so that I will be up-to-date on what is happening on the show over the next six months. Start next Tuesday. </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small; ">Don’t know whether I’ll be sitting in a corner just listening to them for two weeks or what, but I can’t wait…!</span></p>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03888867108777389254noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3118621506983946579.post-43937853603156184212010-07-08T21:33:00.006+02:002010-07-09T09:44:10.551+02:00360° Festival 2010, Report 4: Writing for TV - Tim Loane<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Day 2, part 2. </span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And after a Tesco’s lunch special, it’s back to the delights of Studio 1. And we were in for a cracking time. Because it was the turn of Tim Loane and his session of writing for TV. Tim has a wealth of TV writing experience. He created and wrote/storylined the first series of the excellent Teachers on C4, wrote all of the new series of Minder for Channel 5, directed an Oscar-winning short film “Dance Lexie Dance”, and has developed many other TV series for the BBC, ITV, etc. He is also an actor and director in TV, film and theatre. So, he keeps himself busy.</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Tim started off with a bit of background in how he got into writing, which was basically as an actor who got sick of the scripts he was being presented with, and so decided to have a go himself. Since then he has worked in Radio, Television, Theatre and Film, and he had a LOT of interesting things to say. He was entertaining, full of energy, funny and had a real desire to answer everyone’s questions as fully and as honestly as possible. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">GENRE</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">TV is, to a large extent, about conforming to the constraints and rules that it sets. You have to think of genre (cop show, sci fi, etc) and fit your story into one of those. Television is about delivering what the audience expects (again in terms of genre, story archetypes, slots, etc). Do you think genre prevents creativity? Are you one of those writers who doesn’t want to conform? Who wants to break the mould? Ok, fine. Go and write poetry! We have to think in terms of genre, not as a straitjacket, but as a spine.</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">FORMAT</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The usual formats are:</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Single (90 mins) – basically a film, </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">2 x 90 mins – those thrillers on Sun/Mons that ITV does sometimes,</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Series (Dr Who, CSI or anything with a story of the week and which can, theoretically, go on forever), </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Serial (Our Friends in the North – one ongoing story over a set amount of episodes which has a beginning, middle and end),</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Serial/Series hybrids (something like The Sopranos, which has lots of serial elements within a series), and I don’t know about you lot, but I think a LOT of shows now fall into this category. How many series these days are REALLY story of the week with NO arc whatsoever?</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Soap – EastEnders, Coronation Street, Hollyoaks and Emmerdale are the obvious ones, but what about Casualty/Holby/The Bill/Doctors, which have story of the week and series/soapy elements like the “hybrids” about, the only difference being that they never end. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Telenovela – doesn’t really exist in this country. Very popular in South America and are basically soaps BUT with a definite ending. They go on for 9 months to a year, and then end. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">CHANNEL/SLOT<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Each channel and every commissioner is really, genuinely trying to find something new, despite what you might think or what you might see on television. BUT you also have to realize that the medium is inherently conservative. So, you have to take all the above (format and genre) into consideration and then study the schedule. See what each channel puts where, and see where yours fits. That’s its home. And it has to fit somewhere, so make sure it does! Otherwise, you are making life very difficult for yourself. Mind you, that did make me think that Tim is talking about a situation where he is pitching ideas as a professional produced writer to commissioners and prod cos within the intention of having them made. How much do we, as spec writers, need to try to conform to the channel/slot idea? Or do we forget about that and try to come up with something original that will stand out, even if it would never get made, so that we get noticed? I suppose we need to try to do both. Easy then….<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">RULES OF SCREENWRITING<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Is it an art? Is it a craft? The answer is, it’s both. There is no point in trying to design a beautiful building if you don’t know the physics of how to build it. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">As a writer you are DESCRIBING the picture, sound and the action. All three. All the time. There is little room for ambiguity. Be VERY clear. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Linear narrative – cause and effect. What happens in this scene causes this and then that in the next scene. If you don’t have ongoing cause and effect in your scene, if the scene doesn’t move the story forward, CUT IT!<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Show drama through conflict – SHOW, don’t TELL. Characters, in good writing at least, don’t explain how they feel. We know that by what they DO. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Following on from these three points – sound, pictures, cause and effect, and showing conflict – you should write the dialogue last. It’s the easy part! Don’t be tempted to start writing dialogue before you have sorted out everything else first. And most of all, don’t be fooled into thinking that writing dialogue IS writing. It really does come last. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Screenplay is STRUCTURE. Tim spends weeks and weeks sorting out his structure before writing dialogue. The 3 Act Structure is central. Read Chinatown (try </span><a href="http://sfy.ru/?script=chinatown"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">here</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">or just google it). Read screenplays and analyse them. Are you writing something for TV that is only 30 mins? It doesn’t matter. The principles are the same. You still have to follow the same story structure. If you are writing for commercial television then you also have to take into consideration that the commercial breaks need a narrative or an emotional climax. And it’s better if they have both! </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Screenwriting is problem solving. If you want to get to B at minute X (cause there’s a commercial break, or it’s your mid point, or whatever), how do you get there structurally? Answering those questions, solving those problems, aren’t the constraints that TV places on your creativity as a writer, they are what make television what it is, and solving them will make your television writing better. And lead to a script that is more satisfying for the audience. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">TEACHERS</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In another one of those “experience from the coalface” sessions, Tim then filled us in on how Teachers came about. Basically, he had been talking to Channel 4 about a script he had written, a “state of the nation” take on Northern Ireland in the 90s, about a group of young people. Channel 4 liked it, commissioned it, Tim wrote it, got paid, all fab, and then 7 weeks before shooting was due to begin… they got cold feet and cancelled the whole thing. So Tim went home. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Then, Channel 4 got back in touch and said they wanted to use the same type of characters from the State of the Nation piece he had written, but in a series they wanted him to create. Which they wanted to be a returning series. And it needed to be filmed in Bristol, because… because of television politics… I can’t remember if they stipulated that it should be about Teachers or whether he did. Anywayt, he wrote it, they loved it, it got made VERY quickly indeed (cause of the whole Bristol thing, for some reason). </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Tim showed us the first 10 mins (which you can see </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsDFQWiJaBY"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">here</span></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">) and which I advise you to have a look at. It’s great. You get to meet all the main characters, the main plot which will arc through all of that 1</span></span><sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">st</span></span></sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> series, get a sense of… no, no… KNOW what the tone and arena of the whole series is/are, and it’s funny and entertaining too. Not bad going! Tim said that the first 10 minutes should:</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">·</span></span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span></span><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Set up tone</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">·</span></span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span></span><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Plot and sub-plots should be established</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">·</span></span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span></span><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Make sure the first 10 minutes are centered around one character, even if the series isn’t.</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In terms of developing your episode/film/series, etc, Tim outlined the following, which you may want to do, or which you may be ASKED to do:</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Logline: They spent a long time, while developing and writing the series, trying to work out what the core of the series was. Basically, what the logline was. When they got that (“Teachers are as immature as the children they teach”) it informed the whole series, everything fit into place, and they had something to refer back to when deciding on plots, scenes, etc. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Treatment: The story as a short story. NO dialogue. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Step Outline: Write a single line for scenes – this enhances clarity because you see the need or not for that scene.</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">It is usually at this stage and only at this stage ( or rather, if your idea passes this stage) that you get paid. And you get to write the script!</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">A little note about writing specific song titles into scripts. It’s fine to do so, to suggest tone, but that particularly song will very likely NOT be used.</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">AGENTS</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">They are your best friend. You NEED one, make no mistake, and the real reason you want one is not because they find you work or because they sort out your contracts, but because they know the business better than you. You have to think about the advantages of big agencies against small – big and successful and they know everyone but you are one of many, OR small and more personal approach to your career but may not have the same contacts. Finally, it obviously is a lot easier if you are approaching them, not just with a spec script, but with a contract/job offer already. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Finally, Tim saved the best till last. Three quarters of his work, and his best work, is sitting on a shelf in his office. There are SO many instances of things being commissioned and then not made, falling at various hurdles, at various stages. Still, at least you get paid!</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Next time – Radio and Agents….</span></span></span></p>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03888867108777389254noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3118621506983946579.post-72940657514382506532010-07-07T14:13:00.004+02:002010-07-07T14:29:51.535+02:00360° Festival 2010, Report 3: BBC Comedy Academy<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The day’s first session was with Michael Jacob from the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/writersroom/2009/03/college_of_comedy.shtml">BBC Comedy Academy</a>.</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; ">Michael stated off by giving us a bit of his background. He was in a band with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Marks_(British_writer)">Marks and Gran</a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. When they made it big as comedy writers they employed him as a reader in their company. From there he became a Script Editor on their sitcoms Birds of a Feather and then Goodnight, Sweetheart. Since then he has worked on My Family, Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps and Smoking Room. Recently, he has headed up the Comedy Academy. In the current scheme there are two writers from Northern Ireland and he has also run a BBC Northern Ireland radio comedy scheme. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And he had this to say:</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Screenwriting Gurus – he doesn’t hold much store to taking a script and de-coding it. That’s only for people who can’t tell stories very well. So there!</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">You can write a script but directors and producers and casting can completely alter it. Never mind all the commissioners and controllers who put there tuppence worth in and can ruin it completely. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And with that he showed us an episode of Fawlty Towers, "The Kipper and The Corpse", details of which are <a href="http://www.fawltysite.net/episode10.htm">here</a>. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And God, was it funny! Having not seen it in a while, it was interesting to see how well structured, written and performed it was. Every scene counts, every word, every action. And even though it is, at heart, based on farce, EVERYTHING that happens is character-based. When you look at it, there are actually only two or three true “gags” in the episode. Anyone wanting to seriously write sitcom could do worse than go study those episodes. Except, of course, that’s only for people who can’t tell stories very well…. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">It was also interesting to compare it to the sitcom we’d seen the day before. Humphrey Barclay had played us an episode of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agony_(TV_series)">Agony</a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> (yes, I know, I didn’t mention that in yesterday’s write-up. So, sue me). Anyway, Agony was so much of it’s time – slow and not very believable and quite a “stock” sitcom. Fawlty Towers could still be shown today (in fact, it still is) and be a huge success. In going through the episode, Michael showed us how the first scene expertly sets up the hierarchy of the characters and the main plots, and is funny at the same time. There is also a sequence of 16 continuous scenes in the middle of the episode which creates huge forward energy and a sense of disaster. Michael described it as writing as choreography, and yet it feels and looks very unforced. Agony, by contrast, had lots of time shifts which really slowed it down. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Oh, and apparently it’s a well-known comedy rule that words with a hard “C” or a “K” are inherently funny. So get plenty of those in your scripts!</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Michael then moved on to talk about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Family">My Family</a>. Reiterating Humphrey Barclay from the day before, he reinforced teh point that you can’t change the characters too much. The audience wants to see the people/characters they know and feel comfortable with. Familiarity is the name of the game. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Unlike most UK sitcoms, My Family is based on the American model, in that it is team written and has a writer’s room. The creator is an American and was brought over to do just that. The writers all sit around in a big room and pitch in ideas and jokes, which doesn’t exactly allow for the w</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">riter’s voice, but should mean a higher percentage of jokes and also allo</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">ws for more episodes, not just relying on the same writer to come up with all the episodes. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Birds of a Feather, in contrast, also had a team, but individual writers wrote specific episodes. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The writers on My Family get a salary and if they are credited with individual episodes (someone has to write the final script) they get a script fee too. However, there are writers in the room who have been there for years and never written an individual script. The show also has standing sets (as opposed to only putting the sets up on recording days) so that the cast rehearse on the sets all week and change things as they go along, with the writers in the “room” on hand to make those changes. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Finally, Micheal gave us the lowdown on the Comedy Academy. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">It’s there to find writers and to give them a push.</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Each writer has a mentor and they attend talks and take part in a residency week, at the end of which they all have a showcase of their work (15 minute pieces). </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">There are 6 places. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">It's unclear how the academy will work in the future as funding isn’t clear. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">An interesting point Michael made is that there are more sitcoms on CBBC than on BBC1 at the moment, so it’s a good thing to keep in mind when coming up with ideas. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Finally, as a word of warning, everyone is much more cautious at the moment because of funding issues. Sitcoms are very expensive to produce and rarely succeed. They are very hard to get right and you can’t second guess what the audience will go for. There are also more and more layers of people who can stop it at any stage of its development, or ruin it. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">But hey, that’s not going to stop you, is it?</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Back next time with Tim Loane and his excellent TV Drama writing session!</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Be there. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Or don’t.</span></span> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman""><o:p></o:p></span></p>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03888867108777389254noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3118621506983946579.post-71974906698451214942010-07-05T15:23:00.004+02:002010-07-05T15:38:57.017+02:00360° Festival 2010, Report 2: Writing Sitcom<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">After Paul Ashton's great <a href="http://randomwitteringsofthefox.blogspot.com/2010/07/360-festival-2010-report-1-bbc.html">introduction</a>, Humphrey Barclay and Vanessa Haynes were next up with a session on writing sitcom.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Humphrey is a comedy legend who directed The Cambridge Footlights (John Cleese et al) and lots of radio and TV sitcoms, including Doctor in the House, A Fine Romance, Desmond’s, Spaced, etc. He is no</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">w, bizzarely, a Chief in Ghana! </span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Anyhoo, his Q & A was with </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Vanessa Haynes, </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">who he worked with during the nineties</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. Vanessa has </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">worked as a script editor on The Bill and now develops comedy and drama for</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> Kudos Generator in the new office they have set up in Belfast, with the hope of finding new writing talent to take to network television and the nation. So, that’s all right then.</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">So, how did Humphrey start out?</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">He went to Cambridge, where he joined the drama groups, got lots of comedy parts, and was picked to do The Footlights. It was at about that time that the Monty Python lot came along and they all worked together, with Humphrey taking on the role of director. BBC radio, looking for new comedy talent, turned up and offered them all loads of work. Oh, the good old days! As a result, Humphrey developed and produced a lot of radio comedy. When Rediffusion was setting up (for you youngun’s, Redifussion was one of the original ITV contract holders for London) they offered him a job. Once there, Humphrey helped create shows such as “Do Not Adjust Your Set”. He also got Eric Idle from Monty Python to come up with ideas and people – Terry Jones, Michael Palin, Denise Coffey, David Jason. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Sitcom –there are some great ones and some truly awful ones. What is sitcom? What defines it?<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Humphrey came up with a great definition of what makes a sitcom a sitcom. He really nailed it. Except our hero (me) didn’t manage to write it down in time. But it went something like this:<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">“An open-ended thirty minute TV series of comedy in narrative form, with some characters, in some setting, in some episodes. It’s called comedy because it’s primary intention is to amuse. And situation because it is always held/set in a permanent situation – occupational, familial, etc.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And there you have it. Now, didn’t you think you knew that already. More to the point, could you write one? There were a few more words of wisdom Humphrey had to impart, which may help you on the way to sitcom heaven.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><ul><li><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The audience has a deep desire for the familiar. Like chess, like </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Wimbledon. Now, keep with me on this one, cause Humphrey had a good point here. What he meant was that we all know the rules of chess (errr…) and Wimbledon (err…) and, more to the point, we know what to expect from a game. At the same time, each game is different. So, great desire for the familiar, but surprise them.</span></span></span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small; ">It has to be enclosed, so that we don’t waste time with setting and setting up. Compare the amount of sets and settings for something like My Family or Gavin and Stacey and dramas like Spooks.</span></li></ul><p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">VARIETIES OF SITCOM</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Character based – Fa</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">wlty Towers<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Relationship – Men Behaving Badly<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Team – Doctor in the House<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Romantic – Gavin and Stacey<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Satire – The Thick Of It<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Family – My Family<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Occupational – The Vicar of Dibley<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Star-based – The Cosby Show<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Sci-Fi – Red Dwarf<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">What do they all have in common? They are all comic stories, featuring funny, original, interesting characters in conflicting relationships, built around a strong central idea that inexhaustibly generates comedy. That’s another sitcom definition in my book!<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">WHERE DO YOU START?<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Humphrey gave the example of Desmonds (have a look at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desmond's">this</a> pronto, young whipper-hipper-snappers</span></span></span><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">). It’s basically a barber-shop comedy, but the barber-shop is </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">West-Indian. It’s a family setup. It’s also a work comedy. And in the tradition of West-Indian barber shops, it’s the local drop-in centre for all and sundry. So far, so great, in terms of having a setting which allows for inexhaustible comedy ideas. A couple of other important points:</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small; ">Universal: you could take that show and set it anywhere. It was universal. And that is another important factor that you should have if you want a hit on your hands and lots of money in the bank – your concept has to be universal. However…</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small; ">Don’t try to appeal to everyone, or it won’t have a voice.</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small; ">Find your producer. They’re all different, and they all like different things. This is a good thing. The producer is out there who is gonna love your idea as much as you do, even when no-one else gets it.</span></li></ul><p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And what makes a bad sitcom?<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l2 level1 lfo3"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">·</span></span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span></span><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Too long.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l2 level1 lfo3"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">·</span></span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span></span><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Lack of focus.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">It really comes down to characters in the end, and the two most important things to realize about character are:</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small; ">When they walk on we should know who and what they are.</span></li><li><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">You, as a writer, walk all around them, and see all the other sides of them. Yes, you have to write types, but not stereotypes. Archetypes. And if you don’t know the difference between the two, don’t worry, that’s why I’m here. Well, that’s why wikipedia’s here. Have a gander at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archetype">this</a>.</span></span></span></li></ul><p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">PITFALLS<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">15 page introductions to ideas and scripts are NO GOOD and NO USE. It has to be on ONE (count ‘em…) ONE page. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Look at American sitcoms. They don’t have long speeches. Ours do. Which is better?<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">What makes the sitcom work has to be in Episode One. ie we have to know why we love it in episode one, and also what we are getting, so avoid making episode one all set up and not funny. It has to be the funniest episode. We will get the premise as it goes along, just give us a typically funny episode. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">DON’T put things in brackets that the viewer doesn’t know and can’t see (ie character description). However, write things in the order they are seen. Ie. In the order you want the shots to pan out. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">MULTI-CAMERA SITCOM<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Played like theatre in front of a studio audience, with sets across a stage. There is ONE week of rehearsal and it is played out in real time, like a play, usually with 4 cameras in front of the stage to pick everything up and to move between sets, and then everything is mixed in the control room upstairs. Well, it used to be. Nowadays, it tends to be all recorded at this point and then mixed together later, which allows the director to choose the best shots. There are no LAUGHTER TRACKS, contrary to popular belief. Although, Humphrey did admit that the laughter was sometimes “augmented”.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Studio sitcoms also tend to have more jokes, which you should consider when deciding whether to write multi-camera with an audience or single camera. An audience-based sitcom usually has about 3 jokes to the page – if you have an audience sitting there, you have to keep the laughter coming. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">When they were deciding on Spaced they decided NOT to go for a studio audience as the texture of the script was so reverential to film that it had to be cinematic in the way it was shot. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">SINGLE CAMERA SITCOM<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Shot like drama. Often on location. No audience. Not so many jokes. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Last minute advice from Humphrey?<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Make page 1 fly!<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Make sure your idea is open-ended, so don’t change or develop the situation too much. Surf your franchise – don’t change it!<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The ideal pitch? 1 line, followed by a 3 line, followed by a paragraph.</span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And that's it! Thanks to Humphrey and Vanessa.</span></span></span></p>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03888867108777389254noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3118621506983946579.post-24355619320811670172010-07-01T22:05:00.010+02:002010-07-02T08:31:36.280+02:00360° Festival 2010, Report 1: BBC Writersroom Paul Ashton - "The Perfect 10"<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Right, so apparently everyone's gone off to <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/insight/television_drama_writers_debate.shtml">Leeds</a> to hob-nob with the great and the good, leaving the rest of us here to... to.... </span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">well, gnash our teeth in jealously. </span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">But! Not to be outdone! I thought it might be a good time to post the reports from the<span><span> BBC NI/<a href="http://www.tinderbox.org.uk/">Tinderbox Theatre Company</a> 360° Writing Festival held this year (and, by the way, isn't that just th</span></span>e snappiest blog title you've just about ever read up there? Go on, have another look... Back? Classy stuff, eh?) They've already appeared elsewhere, but if you haven't seen them, or you're slogging away on the first 10 pages for your entry to this year's <a href="http://www.redplanetpictures.co.uk/prize.php">Red Planet Prize</a> (you are entering, aren't you?), these pearls of wisdom from Mr Ashton might just be what you've been waiting for...</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">For those of you who didn't see the reports from last time (have a </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:arial;font-size:small;">look down the sidebar of the blog and you'll find the links), it's four fun-packed days of talks, workshops and mingling with other writers on Film, Theatre, TV and Radio. And lots of BBC tea. And biscuits. Lots of biscuits.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">So, without further ado (I’ve never written “ado” before. Is that how it’s spelt? Call myself a writer…) here’s the report from Day 1.</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">Paul Ashton – BBC Writersroom: The Perfect 10</span></b></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Paul is the Development Producer at the Writersroom and a very nice bloke he is too. He started off by giving us an overview of their work, and revealing a recent success story for the writersroom.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Jo Ho had never been commissioned as a writer before sending in a script to the Writersroom. That script was read and she was discussed at a regular meeting the Writersroom has with drama department heads, etc . Even though they didn't commission the script, they liked the characters she had created. So Jo was called in, met some producers from CBBC and was commissioned to write a new series, “Spirit Warriors”, which is one of the most expensive series CBBC have ever produced. </span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">So it does happen!! Paul did point out though that this is quite unusual...</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">There is an interview with Jo on the Writersroom, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/insight/jo_ho.shtml">here</a>.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Paul then went on to “The Perfect 10”. Even though this was based on the same talk Kate Rowland gave last year, Paul came at it slightly differently, and there was loads of great stuff in what he was saying. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">A few opening facts/advice....</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"></p><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:arial;font-size:small;">15% of what gets sent to the Writersroom gets past the 10 page sift.</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:arial;font-size:small;">The first 10 pages have to grab the audience. Theatre and television have the luxury of a captive audience. Television and radio don’t, so get them hooked quickly! The first 10 pages have to do a lot! Even if it is a multi-character, multi-strand story. Even if it is a “slow-burner” story, it HAS to grab us immediately.</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:arial;font-size:small;">DON’T send your script to them in a decorated box, with a hose inside and a poem on the lid. He then showed us a pic of someone who had done just that… And no, the script wasn’t very good.</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:arial;font-size:small;">Very often the best letters they get with scripts are very simple. “Hello. This is me. Here’s my script. Hope you like it.” Let the script speak for you.</span></li></ul><p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">And on to the Perfect 10…</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l2 level1 lfo1"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">1.</span></span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> <b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;"> </span></b></span></span></span></span><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;">MEDIUM AND FORMAT</span></b></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Choose the right medium/form and then challenge and subvert it. By form, Paul was talking about the form of television writing and the rules that go with that. You don’t need to re-invent the wheel. KNOW the wheel and then you can worry about trying to improve on it, but you can’t do it the other way round. There is a reason that tv writing works in a certain way and has certain rules – because it works. TV writing doesn’t come naturally to anyone. You have to master the form. To give a simple example, the more white on the page the better. Not to do so doesn’t mean that you are being clever, it means you have not mastered the form.</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Say what you mean and mean what you say. Quite often they find with scripts that people think they know what they are saying, or that they are saying something, when in fact they’re not. Your theme needs to be stated early on, and stated clearly, and then followed through. It’s no use sending a script through saying “this is about loss” if that isn’t stated and followed through. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">You have to write things that actors can do/show and you have to show in the script not tell. And by the way, there is a n actor on the Writersroom reading team. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">In relation to putting camera angles, etc in your script (which has come up often on this site!), Paul said something which I thought was quite interesting. As a writer your job is to be in control of the character, story, plot and dialogue (and everything else that conveying the story might mean), so you don’t need to be in control of camera angles too! Don’t direct the camera. Mmmm… That’s gonna ruffle feathers…</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l2 level1 lfo1"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;">2.</span></b></span></span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;"> </span></b></span></span></span></span><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;">GET THE STORY GOING</span></b></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Hamlet. Act 1. Scene 1. A ghost turns up. Something’s wrong…! Shakespeare gets straight in there. There is no time to warm up. Hook the attention and hit the ground running. This does NOT necessarily mean an action sequence, but it does mean that the story should have already started when we come in. If the writer is using the beginning to work out the story and where it is going, fine, but that is a first draft. Don’t include it in the script you send in. Your story should have:-</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:arial;font-size:small;">Momentum, purpose and direction</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:arial;font-size:small;">Show characters in action</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:arial;font-size:small;">Scenes should be the middle of a moment or near the end, not before the moment</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:arial;font-size:small;">Don’t preface, set up, introduce – show, show, show!</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:arial;font-size:small;">Beware of exposition and backstory</span></li></ul><p></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l2 level1 lfo1"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">3.</span></span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span></span><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;">COHERENCE</span></b></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo3"></p><ul><li><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">·</span></span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span></span><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Know your world and story.</span></span></span></li><li><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">·</span></span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span></span><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Don’t try to do too much.</span></span></span></li><li><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">·</span></span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span></span><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Know your genre and tone.</span></span></span></li><li><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">·</span></span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span></span><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Give us a focused way in.</span></span></span></li></ul><p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">It works for Paul if he reads a script and he DOESN’T take notes, because he’s caught up in the script and in the world of the story.</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">A lot of writers want to be ambiguous. Be careful of this! It often means the writer doesn’t know what they want to say. Having said that, complex is brilliant! But ambiguous is tricky. To do either needs clarity in the writing. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:small;">Genre is not a bad word. It guides you and the audience. This comes back to that idea of some writers wanting to re-invent the wheel. Take something like “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” It is incredibly complex, but it is still, at the end of the day, a rom-com. So, you don’t need to be slavish to the genre, but you do need to use it, know it, and know how to use it. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Have a focused way into the script. This comes back to the first 10 pages. Take Shameless. It’s the story of a whole family of complex, mad characters in a very particular world, all of which needs to be set up. The usual way of doing that would be to open episode 1 with them all around the breakfast table. We meet them all. They all get to show who they are and where the live. What does Paul Abbot do? He takes the daughter (the driving character in series one) and opens with her in a disco far from the estate. She meets a guy and they have a bit of a run around over a stolen handbag, his gallant effort to get it back, etc. Their relationship will drive the opening episodes in many ways so this is what he opens with. Then they go back to the house, trip over a drunk dad and wake up the next day to… that breakfast scene with everyone. Seen through the eyes of an outsider – the boyfriend (for us the audience). So, he still sets up everyone, but it’s focused. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l2 level1 lfo1"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;">4.</span></b></span></span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;"> </span></b></span></span></span></span><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;">CHARACTER</span></b></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">This is the one thing you CAN’T get wrong, in the sense that, if you get this right, people (meaning the Writersroom and all those prodcos out there) will forgive you a lot. In fact, Paul said that it is really distressing to see a script that is perfect in every other way, in form and content, and yet you feel nothing for the characters. If you are going to get anything right and everything else wrong, get the characters right!</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><i>Definition and Definitions:</i> Character comes from Greek and means a stick which makes a mark, an indelible mark you can’t rub out. What is it that is DISTINCT about your characters? There have been hundreds of characters on EastEnders over the years. How many do you remember? Those are the ones you need to create. And its HARD!</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><i>Vivid and Compelling on an Emotional Level:</i> If you don’t make the audience FEEL something for the character, you’re in trouble. The audience has to want to spend time with them. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><i>Desire/Need/Problem/Obstacle/Journey:</i> If your characters don’t REALLY need anything or have a journey then you are in trouble. We want to watch people trying to get something, and trying hard, and having lots of problems getting there, or not getting there. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><i>Individual, not cliché, distinctive:</i> What makes your characters not like characters we have already seen. Your characters individuality is shown by action, by what they do. In Robert McKee’s ‘Story’ he gives the example of a group of characters at a bus stop when suddenly there is an explosion. What each person does after that – runs away, helps, leaves their friend to help someone else – REVEALS character. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">See the world from their point of view: Everyone sees things ever so slightly differently. How does your character see things differently?</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l2 level1 lfo1"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;">5.</span></b></span></span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;"> </span></b></span></span></span></span><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;">EMOTION</span></b></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Stories matter on a human level: Why tell your story? And why does it MATTER? Your story should not be a distraction, it should be ESSENTIAL. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Explore concepts via characters: It’s easy to get lost in concepts, but they have to be coherent. Always pull yourself back to the character. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Empathy/connection/vulnerability/fear: You have to feel something for the characters. How will the audience connect with them?</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Emotion = the universal element: They Full Monty was a story which was VERY particular to a time and place in recent history and yet the emotion of a disenfranchised man who has lost his job is told well, so it works. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Physical Effect: A good script should have a physical effect on the reader. It should make you laugh, cry, sweat, have palpitations, and hopefully all of them. What is the physical effect that you are hoping each of your scenes will have on your reader? Every scene. That’s a good test of the worth of a scene! Make sure you have this in your plans for each scene. If the effect is “That’s okay”, well, that’s not good enough. And that works for all genres.</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l2 level1 lfo1"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;">6.</span></b></span></span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;"> </span></b></span></span></span></span><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;">SURPISE</span></b></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">What have you done in your script that no other writer would do? Remember:</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo4"></p><ul><li><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">·</span></span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span></span><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Cliché and predictability kills story.</span></span></span></li><li><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">·</span></span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span></span><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">There are a finite number of archetypes</span></span></span></li><li><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">·</span></span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span></span><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">You need to have a fresh take, a unique perspective, an original touch.</span></span></span></li></ul><p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">In “Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou?” the writers told the story of Odysseus by Homer. It has all the elements of the Homer telling, but it is totally different. Take the archetype and do something surprising with it. What are YOU going to bring to the story? Which is of course linked to your voice as a writer. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l2 level1 lfo1"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">7.</span></span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> <b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;"> </span></b></span></span></span></span><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;">STRUCTURE</span></b></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Unfortunately, Paul began to run out of time at this point and had a plane to catch (!), so the rest of the perfect 10 were summarized, but…</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Story IS structure. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Beginnings, Middle and Ends – know the beginning and the end and then get your characters as lost and all over the place as you possibly can in the middle. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The story must be going somewhere, even if as an audience we are not aware of it, so that we get to the end and we think “ah, that was where it was going. Of course, it makes so much sense now.”</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Make sure the structure has lots of peaks and troughs and is not just a flat line. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Make sure there is a dynamic purpose for EVERY story beat, sequence, scene, moment. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l2 level1 lfo1"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">8.</span></span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> <b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;"> </span></b></span></span></span></span><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;">EXPRESSION</span></b></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">People don’t tell each other things they already know in an obvious way, so don’t have characters do it in your script for the sake of exposition. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Good dialogue expresses character.</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Bad dialogue relates/explains.</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Don’t write on the nose – subtext is key! However, you can’t write subtext, but with good writing and characters it will be there. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l2 level1 lfo1"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">9.</span></span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> <b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;"> </span></b></span></span></span></span><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;">PASSION</span></b></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Does your story keep you up at night?</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Are you compelled to write it?</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Expedience = Dilution and Second Guessing is Pointless i.e. don’t write what you think you should be writing to get on, or what you think Writersroom or anyone else wants.</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l2 level1 lfo1"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;">10.</span></b></span></span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;"> </span></b></span></span></span></span><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000099;">YOU</span></b></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Have an individual, distinct, original writer’s “voice”</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Write a script that no other writer could have written the WAY you have written it. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">And that’s it. Easy!</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Oh, and one final piece of advice from Paul…</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Send us a script, but not before it’s READY!!!</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Paul gave a great session, full of lots of useful advice, a lot of which we may have heard before, but sitting there mentally ticking off whether I was including everything he was talking about in my latest script, I realized there is always something you need to go back to, something you’ve missed, something you can improve on. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">So, get writing!</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Actually, that was the first part of day 1, but I think that’s enough for now. And I’m falling asleep. And the cat’s trying to catch the cursor on my screen, stupid animal, so I’m going to bed. The second part of Day 1, Humphrey Barclay on Comedy Writing for TV, will come tomorrow. As will the lowdown on the networking session. Bet you can’t wait…</span></span></span></p>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03888867108777389254noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3118621506983946579.post-60549932843337920512010-06-29T13:54:00.008+02:002010-07-01T14:03:21.220+02:00Episode Breakdown to scene...<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#33CC00;">Update: Just noticed the dodgy formating. Fixed! Sorry about that!</span></b></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><b></b>Right, so having had </span><a href="http://randomwitteringsofthefox.blogspot.com/2010/06/stroll-around-carrigstown.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">my little Carrigstown tour</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, I was sent off with my Episode Breakdowns and given a week to write up my scenes.</span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">So, what is an Episode Breakdown, John?</span></span></b></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I'm glad you asked that. Basically, the Scene Breakdown Document (to give it it's full title) is a (roughly) 10 page document which describes/breaks down the episode in question for the writer to then write up in to the full episode. It starts off with a cover page detailing general info - the episode number, transmission date, the time it takes place in that day (from 8:30 to 20:30 for example), what the daylight is for that day (so you know if the sun sets at 20:00, anything you set after that will have to be a night scene). There's then a list of the studio sets available that week and the scenes due to take place in each one: </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">THE PUB - scenes 2, 5, 7, 10, for example. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> There is also a similar list for the lot:</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">OUTSIDE THE PUB - scenes 3, 8, 11.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Next there's a list of the characters due to appear that week, again with a list of scenes they are </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">due</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> to appear in for that episode. As I said </span><a href="http://randomwitteringsofthefox.blogspot.com/2010/06/stroll-around-carrigstown.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">last time</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, you do have the option of putting extra (available) characters in scenes, if it fits with the story.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Next, the SCENE LIST. In Fair City, the episode breakdown lays out the A, B and C stories, already worked out and in the order they should appear. Generally, there are between 18-20 scenes per episode, with half before the commercial break and half after. Obviously, more scenes are given to the A story, then the B and finally the C. There may also be a bit of a D story in some episode. The balance of scenes between A, B and C really depends on how important each story is in that episode. If you have two very important story strands coming to a head in one episode, your A and B stories may well be fairly equally balanced. The A story </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">tends</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> to open the episode in scene 1. We will then come back to it throughout the episode but it usually also includes the scene before the commercial break, the scene immediately after, and the last scene leading into the cliff. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">So, the scene list will have something like:</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">SCENE 1: </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">LOUIE TELLS YVONNE THAT HE DOESN'T THINK </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">THEY HAVE A FUTURE</span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small; ">LOCATION: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; ">LOT X </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; "> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small; ">BEER GARDEN</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small; ">CHARS: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small; ">LOUIE, YVONNE</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">and so on. The scene list provides a brief overview of the episode. Next up, we have the breakdown proper, which takes the Scene List and adds a bit more detail for the writer. So, taking the same scene as above, we'd also have:</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: -webkit-xxx-large; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: -webkit-xxx-large; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">TIME: 8:45</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:16px;"><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(192, 0, 0); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Louie and Yvonne are setting up for the day. Louie </span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(192, 0, 0); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">doesn’t feel </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(192, 0, 0); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">he can trust Yvonne and doubts their future</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(192, 0, 0); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">together. Yvonne </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(192, 0, 0); font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">tries to convice </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(192, 0, 0); font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Louie that nothing </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(192, 0, 0); font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">happened with her ex. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(192, 0, 0); font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Yvonne becomes </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(192, 0, 0); font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">irritated </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(192, 0, 0); font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">when </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(192, 0, 0); font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Louie wont believe her.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And that's it. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">So, how did you choose the scenes, John?</span></span></b></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Well, now. Therein lies the rub. For the trial, the task is to take 4 episode breakdowns, choose one and then choose 4 scenes from that episode to write them up. And, to be honest, for me that was the most difficult bit. Choosing the scenes. I read the breakdowns and saw loads of potential scenes and storylines and nice character moments all over the place - some nice comedy, lots of drama, good stuff. And so it should be. That's the point. The episode treatments should be full of drama and intrigue and comedy and character. But it doesn't make that choice very easy. Basically, with 20 scenes per episode and 4 episodes, that's 80 scenes to choose from. Too much choice! Aaarrgh! </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In the end... well, in the end, I just chose. I didn't apply some scientific rationale, or process of elimination, or... anything. The main decision to make is do you take one story from an episode and follow it through? Thereby showing you can tell a story over an episode, follow the arc, develop the characters sufficiently, </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">know</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> the characters sufficiently to do it and keep up the pace/interest. OR, do you choose a mix of scenes? Showing that you can do comedy and drama. And that you know a whole host of the show's characters well enough to write them. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And the answer is... I have no bloody idea. I just went for it, chose an A story from one episode and wrote it up. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">That did mean I'd restricted my characters to only three because of the story, but there you go. What can I say? </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I liked it, I wrote it. If I'd thought about it any more, my head was going to explode. The only thing I did do was that the last scene before the cliff was set in the pub, so I took loads of other characters from the episode, looked at their storylines during that week, and then added loads of little moments in for them in that last scene, in and around the core scene from the breakdown. It wasn't much (and made the scene </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">much</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> longer than it needed to be) but I hoped it showed that I could (and wasn't scared of) writing for the other characters. Or it showed that I was incredibly stupid, had no clue what I was doing, didn't understand how the show worked, and didn't get the characters. But hey, at least there'd be no sitting on the fence!</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">So, how did you approach writing the scenes, John?</span></span></b></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">My, you are asking very intelligent questions, if I do say so myself. Ok, so, without stating the obvious (which I'm going to do anyway), how do you write scenes when you already know what is going to happen, you don't have to invent the plot, someone else has decided what is going to happen, where and with which characters? So, you just have to write the dialogue, right? Easy. Well, not quite. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">First off, the script editor had given me the 4 episode breakdowns and the corresponding scripts for the week following "mine". So, I sat down and read the breakdowns and then the scripts. And boy am I glad I did that. It was a real eye-opener. The writers had taken those scene descriptions, completely respected them, but then added loads to them. How? It depended. Sometimes they'd added characters to the scene, which just gave it a different dynamic. Or they added little character moments before the scene breakdown bit, just to contrast with the main scene, or create humour, or to give the scene more of an arc. Sometimes they even changed what was in the breakdown which is fine, as long as the characters get to the same point by the end of the episode (and you don't invent a new family member for them in your "change"). And sometimes they just... enriched the scenes. Which I think was a combination of all the above, combined with really knowing the characters and the show. I've read many times that the key to working on a soap is to know the show, know the characters. Now, I was beginning to see why that was so important. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Right, having had the pants impressed off me by what the show's writers had done, how was I going to make my scenes sing? I went back to my notes from my meeting with the script editor of how to approach the scenes. I then combined these with things I'd picked up from various blogs, websites, books and real live people on scene structure and approach. And came up with a list:</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:arial;font-size:small;"><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Dynamic?</span></i></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i></i></span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">How do characters arc through the scene? e.g. starts off happy and content, then confused, then angry, then shocked and broken. How does this dynamic contribute to the characters dynamic through the episode? What could you add to the scene to increase the difference between a character's dynamic at the beginning to the end of a scene? You should be able to draw this dynamic as a line on a graph. The position of the line should be different for each character at the end of the scene than it was at the beginning. The same for the beginning and end of the episode. The more ups and down in the graphs, the more dynamic the scenes, the better the episode. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Other chars?</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Could you add other characters to the scene? Who is available? How would various characters change the scene? Do they add anything worthwhile to the story of the scene?<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Who Gains?</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Who gains in the scene? What do the gain?<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Who loses?</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Who loses? What?</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Conflict?</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Where is the conflict in the scene? Are you starting the scene as the conflict starts? Are you ending it before it is resolved? Do you want to resolved it here? Is there inner conflict for char(s)?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">NOTE: Conflict is NOT always arguing!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">What do chars want?</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">What do they actively want in the scene? Do they achieve it?</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">What do chars need?</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">What do the characters need to learn/know/realise (they may have no idea that they need to learn/know/realise anything)? Do they? Why? Why not?</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">How do chars change by the end of the scene?</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In mood, dynamic, resolve, character. They ALL should change in some way.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Jeopardy?</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">What is at jeopardy for each of the characters? What are they fighting to save?</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Choices they make?</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">What character-revealing choice does each character make? Is this choice forced on them? Could it be?</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Where is the truth of the scene/char/situation?</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Take a step back and look at the situation these characters are in. What is the truth of that situation? What does/could it tell us about human nature? What does it tell us about them? This doesn't need to be something huge. It could be something fairly banal, but revealing the truth of a banal situation. The scene is set in the morning? How can you make it less generic than the "morning" scenes we usually see on the telly? What do you do in the morning that you've never seen on telly? Keep it clean, now! Remeber that 8 yr old viewer.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">What does the scene reveal about the chars?</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Where is the potential in the set up/scene to show the truth of that character? What would they </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">really</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> be like in the morning? What would be </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">so</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> them to do? Or where can you show their insecurities, secrets, inner self in this situation?</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">What is the thing that we relate to as an audience?</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Where is the universal truth in this little morning scene? Again, pulling it out of the generic, what will draw the audience in because they recognize and relate to how you are presenting these characters in this situation.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Ideas?</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Anything else that I think might add to the scene?</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">References?</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Any references to previous storylines, character traits that might add to the scene. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Physical/Visual?</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Is there any way of using anything other than dialogue to tell the story and change the dynamic of the scene?</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Cliff? Hook?</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">So, there's the cliff at the end of the episode. And another half-way through for the commercial break. But could you have a little cliff at the end of your scene? Can you make your scene end with a question, reveal, doubt that will make the audience decide they want to sit through the next couple of scenes because they want to see what happens next?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Of course, you don't have to answer ALL these questions for ALL the characters in all the scenes. Some of them just won't be relevant. But I found that asking these questions and writing down the answers forced me to push the scenes and characters in different directions. I started coming up with loads of different ways of looking at the scenes, making them more/less dramatic, seeing how those characters would really deal with that situation. I probably spent an hour or so on each scene going through this stuff, but it added so much. Most importantly, I got to the end and felt that I wasn't just joining someone else's dots in the episode breakdown. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Then I wrote the scenes and changed everything. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">But that's cool. Going through the scenes, looking at the possibilities was what allowed me to come up with the scenes that I did. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Anything else, John?</span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Now, let me see. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">If the show is 20 scenes on average and 23 minutes (or thereabouts) then you are talking about 2 pages a scene. Not much when you are trying to show conflict, character reveal, arcs, truth, what the chars want/need, and the rest. But hey, who said it was easy?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Having chosen my scenes, I realised that they depended on knowing what happened during the story in the previous week. That created a bit of a dilemma - call the script editor and risk annoying her by asking lots of questions? Or find a way of writing around those story elements?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I really liked the scenes I'd chosen, but if you'd asked me which characters I would have chosen to write about for my trial, I would never have chosen the characters in that plot. I didn't feel as if I knew them particularly well. Or that they had very distinctive voices. How wrong I was! Going through the scenes, exploring the characters, I got to know them much better and realised how much watching the show for the past year was paying off. It goes back to the same thing I was saying earlier - you suddenly realise that knowing the show and the characters is key to writing soap.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And that was it. Except to say that I absolutely and thoroughly enjoyed it. I'd always felt that I'd love to write for soap. I'd always felt that I'd enjoy it. And it was a great kick to have that confirmed. I had a ball. And going back to that whole "where's the fun in writing when you can't make up what happens?" thing, it really wasn't an issue. There were other challenges, other ways to be creative, other satisfactions in feeling I was getting the voices right or knowing how a character would behave. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">So, what next, John?</span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I'm glad you asked that, faithful reader. So, I finished the scenes, did a bit a re-writing and cutting, decided they were still too long but to hell with it. So, I hit "send" and off whizzed my email and my scenes.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I sat in front of the computer, staring at the inbox. I'd heard that an answer could take between 4 and 6 months. Having spend a week thinking about nothing but the ups and downs of Carrigstown life, the thought of a 6 month wait wasn't exactly what I wanted to hear. Still, that's the way it goes. It's always the waiting game. So, I decided not to stare at the inbox any more. 6 months of that was going to do my head in. And off I went to make a cup of tea and think about what was next. Finish that script I'd been writing...? Still enough time to do Red Planet...? </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I sat down in front of the computer to make decisions. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And an email in my inbox. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">From the script editor. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Oh, Jesus...!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">She'd had a quick read and liked the scenes! Wey-hey! And she'd be back in a few weeks to discuss the edits.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Eh?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Edits?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">No idea what that means, but I don't care. Looks like I got past the first post! </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Now, for passing all the others. Posts, that is. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Whatever. </span></p></span></div></span></span></span></div></div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03888867108777389254noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3118621506983946579.post-13755001837305965832010-06-28T17:44:00.000+02:002010-06-28T17:44:10.396+02:00Loving this...<div><br /></div><div><br /></div><object style="background-image:url(http://i3.ytimg.com/vi/J0davHuJeBg/hqdefault.jpg)" width="480" height="295"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/J0davHuJeBg&hl=it_IT&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/J0davHuJeBg&hl=it_IT&fs=1" width="480" height="295" allowscriptaccess="never" allowfullscreen="true" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03888867108777389254noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3118621506983946579.post-1144972831361683412010-06-24T22:20:00.005+02:002010-06-25T12:34:34.256+02:00A stroll around Carrigstown...<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Right, so where were we?</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">As I posted <a href="http://randomwitteringsofthefox.blogspot.com/2010/05/nice-end-of-week-news.html">here</a>, a few weeks ago I got an invite to come and meet a script editor from <a href="http://www.rte.ie/tv/faircity/">Fair City</a>, see the sets, meet the team and talk a bit more about the trial scenes process. So, a couple of weeks ago I headed down to Dublin on the good old </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Enterprise</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">. No, not that one, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Enterprise_train_Newry.JPG">this one</a>. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">[We like our cross-border ideas big in Ireland… I love it though. Chugging along through the Mournes and down the coast to Dublin couldn’t be more different from Star Trek. Still, if you’ve never done it, parts of it are absolutely beautiful. And rainy. Obviously.]<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">I arrived at Connolly Station and took the Dart out to Sandymount – suburban and leafy and all rather nice – and with plenty of time to spare to find RTE HQ. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> I then got completely lost. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Which wasn’t helped by the fact that four different Dubliners sent me in </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">completely</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> different directions. And to put this in context, this is like asking where the BBC is when you’re in standing in White City. Or arriving at Wembley and asking where the stadium is. Ok, so you can’t </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">see</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> it from the station, but it’s big, famous and close and these are</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> locals</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">, and… well, let's just say that as I stamped <i>back</i> down a road I’d just walked down for 10 minutes, I was not best pleased. It was hot. I had a rucksack on my back. And I had images of me arriving at an air-conditioned RTE and having to wait for the script editor to arrive with </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">just</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> enough time for me to soak my t-shirt through in sweat <i>and</i> develop a nice film on my forehead. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">And now I was late! Doing that thing of trying to keep calm. Cause it won’t help to panic. And people are nice. And they’ll understand. But… I. WAS. LATE.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Anyway, I found it eventually (cause it’s freaking </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">huge</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> and how could anyone who lived there </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">not</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> know how to find it, and… ok, it’s over. Let go… Breathe…) and waited in reception. Sweating. Did I mention it was air-conditioned?<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The script editor arrived and was lovely and fab and funny and interesting and interested. She didn’t even screw up her face when she shook my clammy, sweaty hand. Instead, she took me to the canteen. Which was full of actors from the show hanging out and… well, not doing much really. Drinking coffee and having a fag. Still, I was impressed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">We found a table and she took me through what they are looking for in the show and how to approach the trial scenes. This is the point where I give you lots of insight into the process, invaluable to your scriptwriting and your future television career. But to be honest, a lot of it was the kind of stuff that we see and read about all the time. Common sense stuff about writing scenes which are true for all scriptwriting, not just developing soap episode treatments into scripts. So, the usual suspects - turning points, conflict, character arcs across the episode and the scene. Who gains in the scene? Who loses? How have the characters changed by the end of the scene? What’s the dynamic of the scene for each character? Make sure each character ends the scene in a different place from where they started. What do the chars want? What do they need? What is the difference? Where’s the jeopardy? What choices are they forced to make? </span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:arial;font-size:small;">Which is not to say that this stuff wasn’t useful. It was great to sit down with her and go over it. And it was even better to know what the hell she was talking about, which I may not have done a few years ago. At least I felt I should be there. And there were a couple of things that were new or that I didn’t necessarily expect to be on her list, or that she made me think about in a different way. And so I shall repeat them for your benefit. Cause I’m good like that.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">What’s the truth of the situation? <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Ok, so we should always be looking at this in any scene or story we are developing. But what struck me here was that you’re being given the story. It’s not yours. You have to then find the truth for </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">you</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> in that story. That’s what will make your take on that scene different from everyone else’s, even if they’ve been given the same treatment. So, dig deep for the truth of the situation for the characters.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Other characters.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">At the beginning of the Scene Treatment is a list of the characters who are available to appear that week and the scenes they are due to appear in for that episode. Now, you may have a scene breakdown which says, “Scene 1: Char A tells Char B that their relationship is over. Char B says that they never loved A in the first place.” So far, so good. But what you can do is look through the character list and see who else is available and add them in to change the dynamic of the scene. If it makes sense. And doesn’t impact on other episodes. So don't have Char C come in and say that they are glad the relationship is ending cause they have always secretly fancied A and now want to propose to them, even though they’ve been having an affair with B for the past year.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Format<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">She actually went on about this quite a lot – spelling, punctuation, etc. For Fair City, the script has to be in a certain format, as it is then taken and “read” but a program which creates scripts and documents for the various departments. I didn’t really understand the ins and outs of it, but basically you have to get it right and not leave out punctuation or put it in the wrong place or it messes up the system and someone has to go through your script and fix the problems. And that’s annoying. Very Important Rule: Don’t be annoying!<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">What can the audience relate to in the scene?<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Soaps are slated for being melodramatic and silly. But when they work well, they reflect the audience’s lives back to them. This can we in huge plots and experiences that the characters go through, which the audience can relate to. But it can also be in tiny little moments. Again, this goes back to finding the truth in the characters and the situation. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">What’s the hook?<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Ideally, every scene should have a hook at the end, not just the scene before the ads or the end scene. Find a little hook for the scene that makes the audience want to wait for the follow up scene later in the episode which comes back to that thread.</span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Remember the eight year old.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">It’s a family audience. That means there are lots of eight year olds out there watching with their parents (or on their own). Keep that in mind in terms of content and language. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> After all that, it was on to the exciting bit – onto the sets! The script editor took me around the standing (permanent) sets, which are all in one studio. These are mostly the community “meeting” sets – McCoy’s pub, Vino’s, Phelan’s shop, the Community Centre, etc. and are all together in one studio. Then there is another studio with sets needed for that week, and which relate to that week's stories. So, the way the stories are told for that week are dictated to a large extent by the sets. But on Fair City you don’t really need to worry about that as the story team set out where each individual scene takes place in the Episode Treatment. So, it’s all done for you. With other soaps, they give you the stories for the episode – A story, B story, C story and a list of possible locations, and you have to match them up. That’s how Emmerdale works, and I think EastEnders does the same. Anyway, the most striking thing about seeing the sets is realizing how </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">small</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> they are. Incredible. Next up, it was off to the lot!<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">We headed out the back of RTE and to the Fair City lot. This is where they’ve build streets of the fictional Carrigstown. It’s amazing. There’s the run of shops and pubs along one side, a row of houses, the garage. It all looks fab. And everything ends half way back. So the roof extends up and… nothing. They were filming the day we were there, so there were lots of extras at each end of the street and cars piled up, ready to stream past in the background of the scene. Makes you realise how complicated it all is, but great fun to see. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">And… that was it. The script editor gave me a week’s worth of episodes to read for July (ooh, spoilers!) and the relevant episode breakdowns, so that I could see how the writer had developed what was in the treatment to the final script. She also sent me the scene breakdowns from the week before. I had to choose four scenes from one episode and write them up. Fabulously. And I had a week. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Which is loads of time, right?<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Eek!<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Next time, I’ll go through the Episode Breakdowns and writing the scenes. And believe me, it ain’t </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">nearly</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> as easy as it sounds…</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03888867108777389254noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3118621506983946579.post-18095381586233941192010-06-03T23:23:00.004+02:002010-06-04T18:20:06.632+02:00Red Planet Prize 2010 Announcement.... Update...<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">So, it's finally arrived...</span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The Red Planet Prize 2010 launches tomorrow - 4th June.<br /></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Details...</span></span></b></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(196, 196, 196); line-height: 20px; font-family:Arial;"><div id="blackbgtextblock" style="float: left; width: 450px; min-height: 300px; padding-top: 12px; padding-right: 12px; padding-bottom: 12px; padding-left: 20px; text-align: center; "><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">This year the competition is being run by Red Planet Pictures and Kudos Film and Television.</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">This year’s competition is for an original 60 minute television script, either a </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">single play</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> or a </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">pilot</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> for a new series. </span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">You are initially required to submit the first ten pages along with a short synopsis. The full script should be available on request, you may be required to submit this within a month of the final closing date.</span></span></span></div><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">As before, the winner will receive £5000, a script commission and the option of representation if required.</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Red Planet and Kudos will also mentor finalists for the Prize.The competition is open to anyone within the UK. The RED PLANET PRIZE with close to new entrants at midnight on </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">31st July</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Here's the link:</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><a href="http://www.redplanetpictures.co.uk/prize.php"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">http://www.redplanetpictures.co.uk/prize.php</span></a></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">There is also some additional info and rules here</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><a href="http://www.redplanetpictures.co.uk/competition"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">http://www.redplanetpictures.co.uk/competition</span></a></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">which is where you can also upload your entry. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">So. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">There you go.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Who's going for it, then?</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#009900;">UPDATE!!</span></b></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Couple if things which people have asked about, are talking about, don't seem to have noticed in the rules. As far as I can work out...</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">1. Only ONE submission per person.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">2. You can't re-submit something that has already been rejected in previous years.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">3. I could of course be wrong, but the's what the rules says from what I sees.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">I have nothing more to add.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><p></p></div></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div><br /></div></div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03888867108777389254noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3118621506983946579.post-65132207294695461132010-06-03T22:55:00.003+02:002010-06-03T23:20:26.006+02:00The Marvellous Sally Brockway...<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">My mate just won a competition. </span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">BBC Writersroom announced a competition just after the election for 5-10 minute "quick reaction" plays to post online. And my old mate Sally Brockway from <a href="http://groups.google.com/group/sharpshooter?hl=en">Sharpshooters</a> got shortlisted and a good old mention <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/writersroom/2010/06/five_days_in_may_1.shtml">here</a>. Which I think is all rather marvellous. The divine Ms Brockway was also a runner up in the last <a href="http://www.redplanetpictures.co.uk/">Red Planet Prize</a>. Talent oozing from her. She's one to watch, I tell you...</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">What a star!</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03888867108777389254noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3118621506983946579.post-9670972033860584192010-05-28T15:34:00.006+02:002010-05-28T16:43:29.913+02:00Nice end-of-the-week news...<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Hello!!</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">So, </span><a href="http://www.rte.ie/tv/faircity/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Fair City</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I’ve blogged about this show before, </span><a href="http://randomwitteringsofthefox.blogspot.com/2010/04/how-it-all-started-2009-part-2.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">here</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, </span><a href="http://randomwitteringsofthefox.blogspot.com/2010/04/how-it-started-2009-fair-city.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">here </span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">and </span><a href="http://randomwitteringsofthefox.blogspot.com/2010/04/how-it-all-began-2010.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">here</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. Basically, if you don’t want to go read those, the short version is that it’s a Dublin-based soap produced by the Irish State Television broadcaster, </span><a href="http://www.rte.ie/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">RTE</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, and I’ve managed to blag a trial with them. The last time I spoke to them, the script editor told me to keep up with the show, get to know the characters better and get back in touch in a few months. So I did. I’ve watched all the eps, made some notes on the characters, did some background searches on the internet. Put in the work, basically. When I thought I was ready, I sent a nice email saying so.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">So, yesterday the script editor got back in touch to say my trial scenes are go and can I come in to see them and meet the team. That way she’ll give me the low down on exactly what it is they’re looking for. And she’d also (here’s the best bit) SHOW ME THE SETS!!!</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I dunno why, but I got all excited about that last bit.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Anyway, the way it works is that once we’ve met up and talked through what it is they need, she’ll give me some trial scenes to write (four scenes of my choice from one episode out of a week’s run of four. The Fair City episode documents are scene-by-scene breakdowns). These will be from episodes already broadcast and which I will probably have already seen. She’ll then tell me to go away and come back with the scenes in a week.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">If that goes ok, I go on to the next stage, which is writing a shadow script. Basically, I write the script for an upcoming episode, going through the same procedure as the actual writer of that episode, with the same deadlines, feedback time, etc. As if it was the real deal, but they know they have someone writing the actual episode and that mine is just a try-out. It’s a great way for both sides to see how it works and whether you suit each other.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">If THAT goes ok, then it’s the real deal. Hopefully. But that’s way down the line. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Anyway, they also said they’re looking for storyliners, which means that you go and work 9-5 but not full time. A week here, a week there. Which would be perfect for me. So, separately, they’re booking me in for a week during the summer doing shadow storylining.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">They do blocks of episodes at a time (16 I think, which would be a month’s worth). A team of storyliners will work on that block, taking the already-established general plots for that period and fleshing them out. Yes, I get to kill all the characters. And make them have affairs. And find long-lost brothers/wives/sons. And someone may even have a comedy moment involving a small dog and a bike! And a balloon!</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Ok, maybe not that last bit.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">So, a bit chuffed with all that. I know soap is not everyone’s cup of tea, but I’ve always loved it. I think it’s what television does best – reflecting back the lives of the people watching, allowing the audience to live with characters and a community, following characters week by week for years through all the human dramas of birth, relationships and death.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">And the occasional dog on a bike holding a balloon. But things like that are usually held back for special episodes, so don’t get your hopes up.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Anyway, the idea of sitting in a room and talking about all that stuff excites me as much as writing one of the episodes. It’s my bag completely. Couldn’t be happier.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Have a good weekend!!</span></span></p>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03888867108777389254noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3118621506983946579.post-46843906769034836232010-05-26T14:29:00.005+02:002010-05-26T15:17:25.235+02:00Coming Up Dos and Donts...<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:7.5pt;line-height:13.5pt"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">After the marvelous Mr Nugent’s review <a href="http://randomwitteringsofthefox.blogspot.com/2010/05/coming-up-belfast-review.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">yesterday</span></a>, I thought some of you might be interested in some feedback from the event that Northern Ireland Screen posted on their website <a href="http://www.northernirelandscreen.co.uk/newspage.asp?id=100&sid=2627"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">here</span></a>. But rather than have to do clicky-clicky all the way over to their site, I’ve copied it all below for you.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:7.5pt;line-height:13.5pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">How good am I to you…?</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:7.5pt;line-height:13.5pt"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#990000;">Norther Ireland Screen Feedback</span></span><o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:7.5pt;line-height:13.5pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(76, 65, 29); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Following a successful </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Coming Up </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">event in Belfast yesterday Ben Stoll, Channel 4’s </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Coming Up</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">commissioning editor, Elinor Day and Emma Burge, Touchpaper producers, very kindly gave us a list of dos and don'ts for applicants.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 12.75pt;mso-outline-level:2"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(192, 34, 2); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">DOs <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; margin-left:15.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;line-height:13.5pt;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo1; tab-stops:list 36.0pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol; color: rgb(76, 65, 29); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">·</span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(76, 65, 29); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Be distinctive. Coming Up is always looking for subjects they haven't done before.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; margin-left:15.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;line-height:13.5pt;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo1; tab-stops:list 36.0pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol; color: rgb(76, 65, 29); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">·</span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(76, 65, 29); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The films are 24 mins long, so the central idea/hook needs to be strong and clear, and with some room for dramatic development. More complex than a 10 minute film, but not too complex a plot.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; margin-left:15.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;line-height:13.5pt;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo1; tab-stops:list 36.0pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol; color: rgb(76, 65, 29); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">·</span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(76, 65, 29); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Remember it's for Channel 4 so the films need to appeal to their post watershed audience.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; margin-left:15.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;line-height:13.5pt;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo1; tab-stops:list 36.0pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol; color: rgb(76, 65, 29); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">·</span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(76, 65, 29); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Do send comedies, tragedies and anything and everything in between which reflects our society in all it's diversity.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; margin-left:15.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;line-height:13.5pt;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo1; tab-stops:list 36.0pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol; color: rgb(76, 65, 29); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">·</span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(76, 65, 29); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Surprise us with your approach to storytelling<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; margin-left:15.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;line-height:13.5pt;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo1; tab-stops:list 36.0pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol; color: rgb(76, 65, 29); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">·</span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(76, 65, 29); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Send ideas with 5 characters or less that can be shot in 4 days<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; margin-left:15.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;line-height:13.5pt;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo1; tab-stops:list 36.0pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol; color: rgb(76, 65, 29); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">·</span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(76, 65, 29); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Do be ambitious with your idea while remembering the practical considerations of the scheme.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; margin-left:15.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;line-height:13.5pt;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo1; tab-stops:list 36.0pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol; color: rgb(76, 65, 29); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">·</span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(76, 65, 29); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Do think about the tone of your story and if that might work well in 24 minutes.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; margin-left:15.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;line-height:13.5pt;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo1; tab-stops:list 36.0pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol; color: rgb(76, 65, 29); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">·</span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(76, 65, 29); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Do send in samples of your work that you think represents the best of you - it's your individual voice that we're interested in.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 12.75pt;mso-outline-level:2"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(192, 34, 2); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">DON’Ts<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; margin-left:15.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;line-height:13.5pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops:list 36.0pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol; color: rgb(76, 65, 29); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">·</span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(76, 65, 29); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Don't try and second guess what Coming Up is looking for. We always want to be surprised.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; margin-left:15.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;line-height:13.5pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops:list 36.0pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol; color: rgb(76, 65, 29); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">·</span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(76, 65, 29); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Don't be nervous about submitting comedic material. Coming Up is always looking for a range of tones.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; margin-left:15.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;line-height:13.5pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops:list 36.0pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol; color: rgb(76, 65, 29); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">·</span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(76, 65, 29); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Don't shy away from subjects off the beaten track. Its your approach to them that we're interested in.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; margin-left:15.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;line-height:13.5pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops:list 36.0pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol; color: rgb(76, 65, 29); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">·</span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(76, 65, 29); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Don't send soap or continuing drama scripts as writing samples - we want to see your original approach to story and character.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; margin-left:15.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;line-height:13.5pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops:list 36.0pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Symbol; color: rgb(76, 65, 29); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">·</span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(76, 65, 29); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Don'’t send hollywood style trailers as your showreel - we need to assess your storytelling skill.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; margin-left:15.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;line-height:13.5pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops:list 36.0pt"><span style="font-family: Symbol; color: rgb(76, 65, 29); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">·</span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(76, 65, 29); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Don’t send multiple applications.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:7.5pt;line-height:13.5pt"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(76, 65, 29); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The closing date for receipt of applications is WEDNESDAY 9th JUNE 2010</span></span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(76, 65, 29); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:7.5pt;line-height:13.5pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(76, 65, 29); "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Details on how to apply can be found <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#C02202;"><a href="http://www.northernirelandscreen.co.uk/newspage.asp?id=100&sid=2587#2587">here</a>. </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:7.5pt;line-height:13.5pt"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">There you go. Useful stuff. So, what you waiting for? It’s only a couple of weeks. Get writing!!!</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:7.5pt;line-height:13.5pt"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Has anyone entered in other years, by the way? Or planning on entering this year?</span></span></p>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03888867108777389254noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3118621506983946579.post-36955009227753348812010-05-23T16:43:00.010+02:002010-05-25T09:54:57.020+02:00Coming Up Belfast - The Review....<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Ok, so remember I said<a href="http://randomwitteringsofthefox.blogspot.com/2010/05/channel-4s-coming-up-comes-to-belfast.html"> Channel 4/Coming up were coming to Belfast</a> via Northern Ireland Screen and how fab that was and expect a post soon on how it went, etc, etc, blah, blah, blah.? So, after writing that post I sent my little email requesting my place and...</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">It was sold out!</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Well, it was free. But you know what I mean. They had over 100 places and they all went in a couple of days. They also had a waiting list of 30-odd people. So, that was me out of the picture. But, not to be deterred, I got in touch with the rather marvellous and talented Mr Ian Nugent, who had rather fiendishly managed to snag a ticket, and asked him if he would do the honours. And being the mucker that he is, he came up trumps. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Based in Belfast, Ian works as a script writer, copywriter and TV researcher. He has supplied commissioned work for TV and radio, and has just finished writing episodes of Sesame Tree for Cbeebies in London. Ian considers a world without curry to be a world without hope.</span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Coming Up presentation – Belfast</span></b><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Wednesday evening saw an event get underway organised by Northern Ireland Screen in the Dublin Road Moviehouse in Belfast. The event was organised to tell Northern Irish writers about Coming Up, an annual competition run by Channel 4 in conjunction with Touchpaper Television. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In short, they guarantee a commission on prime-time Channel 4 to 7 competition winners. Each successful entrant will get their 24 minute film made (filling a half hour slot: last year’s winners – being screened this year – will have their film go out after Big Brother in the summer), edited, and professionally finished by Touchpaper Television. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">To that end, the presentation was hosted by Andrew Reid, Head of Production at Northern Ireland Screen, and his guests were Ben Stoll, Channel 4’s Coming Up Commissioning Editor, Elinor Day along and Emma Burge – producers from Touchpaper, along with Ronan Blaney, one of last year’s winning writers who’ll have his film ‘Boy’ broadcast this summer.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Attendees were given the opportunity to see a preview of 3 of last year’s winning entries, all of which are yet to be aired on Channel 4. We saw the previously mentioned Boy, along with Would Like To Meet and Half Term. A variety of stories, told in a variety of styles, with varying degrees of success. All were finished to a remarkably high standard, with both sound and vision illustrating a high degree of professional finish. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The three films dealt with, in turn, handling a spouse’s terminal brain tumour, a suicide attempt, and child abuse. Not surprisingly, in the ‘Questions and Answers’ session after the screening, the Touchpaper producers admitted they’d like to see more comedy entries into the competition. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Saying that, all three films handled their subjects with sensitivity, and managed to mix heart-warming and light-hearted moments of comedy in their weighty stories – possibly reflecting the consultative script development process that the winning writers enter into with Touchpaper Television.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">As well as the call for more comedy, various other points came up in the Questions and Answers (in no particular order) – <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Although Coming Up will be 10 this year, this is the first time that the producers have made it across to Belfast to encourage submissions from Northern Ireland. They are aware there is a pool of talent based here, and feel the entries leave us under-represented every year. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Coming Up is the only national annual scheme which guarantees a commission on Channel 4: the channel will also agree to screen winning entries at least once more, and the final 7 films are screened in June at the Edinburgh Film Festival, which is always attended by industry insiders looking for the next new emerging talent. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Channel 4 Commissioning Editor for Coming Up said that the competition stands for ambition, boldness and variety of tone. Writers should take note of this when considering their entries. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This year’s closing date for applications is June 9</span></span><sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">th</span></span></sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The competition is open to writers, film-makers and directors. Writers should submit a 2 page treatment, along with a script (no shorter than 10 pages, no longer than 60 pages) which best illustrates their individual tone. Scripts can be excerpts from bigger pieces, but must be a complete scenes showing coherent character and story arcs. Directors must submit showreels, and they should submit full scenes rather than flashy montage edits. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">From successful submission, it takes about a year to get your film from a 2 page idea to a finished piece ready to broadcast. About 6 months of this time is taken up with the selection process, as the hundreds of applicants are shortlisted and (some) then invited to workshops before the finalists are selected. Last year they had about 1000 applicants.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The producers took the opportunity to urge writers to be as bold, imaginative and ambitious as possible. As for content/tone (sex, swearing, drug abuse etc), if it’s a scene likely to appear in Shameless, it can appear in your script. Winning films will always be screened after the watershed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">They always look for work of distinction – i.e. it MUST stand out. Anything with a strong voice will stand out. If you do respond to their encouragement for comedy, it must be comedy with a purpose ... comedy with something to say. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Whatever the subject, make sure it is something you want to say, and you must be prepared to speak from the heart. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">When considering your script, involves no more than about 5 characters, and think practically about production – budget will dictate that your story must be filmed in about 4 days max. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">It’ll help your film if it isn’t geographically specific. For example, of coure it can be set on a beach, but if it’s that little sheltered cove at the furthest north shore of the furthest Hebridean Island you’re not going to get anywhere. Likewise, Apache helicopter attacks on fully armed aircraft carriers may prove difficult to bring in on budget. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Submissions can be made as writer/director pairs, though in the 09-10 round they separated some of those writers and joined them with directors of Touchpaper’s own choosing. They do this to give as many varied people a chance as possible. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">It’s cheaper and easier (therefore more likely to result in a commission) to keep your story contemporary. Historical or futuristic stories eat set-up time and budget. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The same crew work usually across all 7 projects, and they block film them back-to-back to try and keep costs down. Budget for all 7 projects is roughly one hour of series drama – this get split across all the films. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Writers don’t need to have a previous credit as a writer, though they can still apply if they have. They can’t apply if their credit was for a prime-time commission. Same story for directors. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Directors can’t usually choose their writers, and writers can’t choose their directors. That selection and pairing process is down to the competition organisers. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Touchpaper will hold the rights to the story and characters you create, though if your winning film leads to a series, you will get first refusal on whether or not you want to write the series. Though Touchpaper will make and own the series. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Industry insiders pay a great deal of competition to the winning films, and make a point of seeing them. As far as the organisers know, every previous successful writer now has an agent. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Your story has to exist as a one-off piece. There will be an ad break roughly half way through. Aim for 25 – 30 pages. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">You will get help writing your story, from writers, readers, scripts editors and industry professionals. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">They don’t do boring. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">More details about the competition can be found on Channel4.com, Tochpapertv.com, and RDF.com</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> (Touchpaper’s parent company).</span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px; font-size: small;">That's it! And marvellous it all sounds too. Thanks for that, Ian!</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; "><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; "><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 115%; "><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height:115%; Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height:115%; Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03888867108777389254noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3118621506983946579.post-19581454424024847492010-05-12T14:00:00.009+02:002010-05-12T14:44:03.085+02:00360° Festival Report 3: Kate Rowland/BBC Writersroom...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqdwepAit7AsR9B2Us4INVHpeZLSbXx7eEjyebn44KPMrT09uYevZc-XUItc21c-PeGxSUEV0O9AaxIdVKd6610tDweztFpXuXHG4r7gcZivTSHPCedU6LaXsLWxpi4tcBlDKFwNbCHYef/s1600/logo.gif"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 70px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqdwepAit7AsR9B2Us4INVHpeZLSbXx7eEjyebn44KPMrT09uYevZc-XUItc21c-PeGxSUEV0O9AaxIdVKd6610tDweztFpXuXHG4r7gcZivTSHPCedU6LaXsLWxpi4tcBlDKFwNbCHYef/s400/logo.gif" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470355555758877554" /></a><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:arial;">More of the occasional series from the BBC NI/Tinderbox Festival...</span></div> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><b>Day 2, Part 2</b></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Ok, so after Nuno had brought us up to speed on <a href="http://randomwitteringsofthefox.blogspot.com/2010/05/360-festival-report-2-nuno-bernardo.html">what the “kids” are doing “online”</a>, we all felt very uncool and unworthy, and slunk off for a bit of a break before the BBC Writersroom Roadshow. Which reminds me of Swap Shop, or one of those Radio 1 roadshows. Do they still do those? </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Hope Keith Chegwin isn’t gonna turn up…. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Oh god, I’m old.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Anyway, this was the most attended event of the Festival, reflecting the amount of interest there is in the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/">Writersroom</a> and how is works. Which is a good thing. Just makes you realize how many other writers there are out there. Even in a place as small as </span><st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Northern Ireland</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">. And these are only the ones who’ve shown up... Eek!</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">The talk was led by Kate Rowland, who runs the Writers Room, and very nice she was too. She comes from a radio background, and indeed still commissions for the Radio 3 strand, The Wire (no, not the cop show …. find out about the </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Radio 3 </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Wire <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/insight/the_wire.shtml">here</a></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> and listen to it <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/thewire/">here</a>)</span><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Kate started off by telling us that the Writers Room receives about 10,000 scripts a year. The first thing they do is the 10 page sift, where they look at the first 10 pages of the script and if they like it, give it a full read. So, those first 10 pages are important. We then went on to have a look at the first ten minutes of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funland">Funland</a> (you can read the whole script on the Writer’s Room site, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/insight/downloads/scripts/funland.pdf">here</a>).</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Kate got us to talk about what we had noted in those first ten minutes. For those of you who haven’t read or seen it (and you should have a look), it started with a guy on Blackpool tower, in an ape’s uniform, falling to his death (suicide...?) and.... then got even stranger. Lots of story, lots of characters, lots of quirkiness, in your face. You REALLY knew where you where with it tonally after 10 minutes, and it had also raised lots of questions. Whether you liked it or not, it was definitely different.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Kate then took us through the important things for the first 10 pages of your script. Well, some of them. Someone will always come up with others.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> </span></o:p></span></p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Medium and Form. Use industry formats, don’t handwrite it, the usual stuff. They (The Writersroom are fairly flexible about this (although it's good to remember that a lot of prodcos may not be), as long as it is readable and in some kind of recognizable/standard format. Don’t direct from the page. </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">This</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> was interesting. We are constantly debating on this <a href="http://groups.google.com/group/sharpshooter">Sharpshooters</a> and blogs about whether or not this matters, or rather </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">how much</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> it matters, and it was interesting to hear that Kate described it as a definite, unequivocal no-no.</span></span></li><li>Get the story going – hit the ground running, show characters in action, don’t waste time with too much preface, set up, introducing characters/world and beware of exposition/backstory. Of course, you also DO have to set up the world and characters. Just don’t waste time doing it.</li><li>Coherence – know your world and story, know your genre and tone, give the audience/reader a focused way in, don’t try to do too much and beware beguiling distractions…. which means cut that scene you love if it isn’t essential!</li><li>Character is everything – they should be vivid and compelling on an emotional level. Make the reader want to spend time with them. Make sure they have an active goal, journey, obstacle, dilemma. Make sure they are an individual – not a cliché or stereotype and know the moral line that they will or will not cross. What is the world through their point of view? What is their “faith”? Not necessarily religious, that last one.</li><li>Emotion. Stories matter on a human level. Explore the concept via the characters. Kate also spoke about the “squelch” principle. Meaning, make the reader/audience have an emotional response to the characters and story. The thing that makes them go “ooh…”</li><li>Surprise. Clichè/predictability kills story. There are a finite number of archetypes, so you need a fresh take, a unique perspective, an original touch. Have you seen your basic idea before? What’s different about your version?</li><li>Structure is key. Begin in the right place. The story must be going somewhere. There must be a dynamic purpose for each story beat, sequence, scene, moment.</li><li>Exposition and Expression. People don’t tell each other things they already know. Good dialogue expresses character, whereas bad dialogue simply relates or explains. Inarticulacy is what you are after, strangely – the fact that people struggle to express themselves, and will often talk about something else rather than express what they really feel – subtext, not writing on the nose.</li><li>Passion – gotta have it. Is your story keeping you up at night? What keeps you up at night? What are you compelled to write? Don’t try to be expedient. Don’t try to second guess.</li><li>Be yourself – which kind of comes from your passion. Have an individual, distinct, original voice. Write a script that only you could have written.</li></ul></span><ol style="margin-top:0cm" start="1" type="1"> </ol> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Finally, don’t think first draft, but first read. Make sure it’s ready!</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">So, easy then….</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Paul Ashton goes into the whole "first 10 pages" deal in great detail on the Writer's Room blog, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/writing/perfect_10.shtml">here</a>. And, indeed, Paul came over to the next festival to give his take on the whole first 10, which I'll put up at a later date. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Kate then took questions from the floor. One of the most interesting things here was the amount of questions around “So, will my script be produced if Writer’s Room likes it?” And the answer was...</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">...that’s very unlikely. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:arial;">Most people’s scripts are taken as specs, and can lead to getting writers to come in for a talk, putting them on a scheme, etc, rather than actually producing that script. Very few scripts will be taken up through Writer’s Room and be made. There have been a few. But the BBC is not going to give a completely new, unknown writer 6 episode of a new series to write. Think of your script as a calling card for your writing, and as a way in through the door, not as a way of getting it produced.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">People also asked about the readers and the process at the Writer’s Room. Basically, they have a team. They do read everything. If it gets past the first 10 pages shift, then it will have a full read, and if the reader has any doubts, they will err on the side of caution and send it to another reader, rather than dumping it. Most scripts do fall at this first hurdle, however (only about 20% get full reads). After the full read, the writer will get feedback and could be asked to send further work. And at some stage they could be asked to come in for a meeting or to go on a radio/tv/comedy workshop or course. It’s also a good idea to indicate when you send a script it, what it is you are interested in writing for. All writers/scripts are logged, so they can “follow” you, and they do check on a writer’s progress. They are currently “developing” about 150 writers – following their work, sending them on workshops, etc.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">And that was it. The thing that came across most I think was the feeling that it is a huge system, and they have a lot of scripts, but they are very dedicated to what they do, and genuinely looking for that great script that they will get excited about. It’s not just a slush pile. If you have talent, they <i>will</i> find you.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Oh, and she collected a VERY big pile of scripts to take back to that big </span><st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">London</span></st1:place></st1:city><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">. I hope Kate wasn’t expecting to check-in online going home. That lot wasn’t going in the overhead locker as handluggage…</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">That’s it for day 2!</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Oh, and there was no Kieth Chegwin.</span></p>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03888867108777389254noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3118621506983946579.post-65977128960781768332010-05-11T10:50:00.007+02:002010-05-11T11:38:08.993+02:00Channel 4's "Coming Up" comes to Belfast...<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZDDe_gRZ4IlKCwJozKQ5BCTFKCWZ5f6KIxC1zIbva1vTVivjBVPR5FLvWG-6MRnYF92zRWuPbySTESDcVXo3MH03JZgxjC70AGLNQmwTUBHL1PtKU2R5Itolb1eF2_yOuXyVIe7AM4VGQ/s1600/COMINGUPjpg.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 76px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZDDe_gRZ4IlKCwJozKQ5BCTFKCWZ5f6KIxC1zIbva1vTVivjBVPR5FLvWG-6MRnYF92zRWuPbySTESDcVXo3MH03JZgxjC70AGLNQmwTUBHL1PtKU2R5Itolb1eF2_yOuXyVIe7AM4VGQ/s400/COMINGUPjpg.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469933852801298658" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">As most of you are no doubt already aware, Channel 4 and Touchpaper Television are running the "Coming Up" scheme again this year,</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 18px; font-family:Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> where new writers and directors have the opportunity to make an original film with a guaranteed network broadcast. A brief rundown for those who don't know about the scheme:</span></span></span></div><div><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">7 films will be made</span></span></span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">scripts should be 30 mins</span></span></span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">applications are invited from writers, directors and writer/directors.</span></span></span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">the closing date for applications is Wednesday, 9th June.</span></span></span></li></ul><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">There are more details </span><a href="http://4talent.channel4.com/extra/coming-2011"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">here</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. One thing to be aware of. They say that you can apply even if you have no broadcast credits. They also say that the scheme is not entry level. Mmm... So, what does that mean? It would be interesting to know if anyone without credits has ever won. Anyone know? </span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Trebuchet, 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">By the way, if you want to have a look at past winners, go to the Channel 4 website and there is a whole Coming Up section with 3 series worth of produced scripts. Or you could just click on this handy little link right </span><a href="http://www.channel4.com/programmes/coming-up"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">here</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. Oh, I am good to you.</span></span></span></div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Any road up, the comp was launched a couple of weeks ago. The main reason for this post is that those lovely people over at Northern Ireland Screen have invited the Coming Up lot over to Norn Iron to give a talk on the whole thing for all NI scribblers. Which is rather fab. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Details </span><a href="http://northernirelandscreen.co.uk/newspage.asp?id=100&storyID=2598"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">here</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, but you don't need to go </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">all</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> that way to the other part of the wicky wild wild web, cause I've reproduced it for you below. Read on, my lovelies.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(76, 65, 29); line-height: 18px; font-family:Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif;font-size:12px;"><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">"Northern Ireland Screen has teamed up with Channel 4 and Touchpaper TV to host a special</span></span></span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">Coming Up</span></span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"> event in Belfast on Wednesday 19th M</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">ay. </span></span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">Coming Up</span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"> is the only talent scheme currently in the UK where emerging film-makers have the opportunity to make an authored drama with a guaranteed network broadcast.</span></span></p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">Ben Stoll, Channel 4’s </span></span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">Coming Up </span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">commissioning editor, Elinor Day and Emma Burge, Touchpaper producers, will be in Belfast along with local writer Ronan Blaney, who wrote </span></span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">Boy</span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"> one of the successful 2010 </span></span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">Coming Up</span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"> films. Three of this year’s diverse 30 minute films will be screened, including </span></span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">Boy</span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">.</span></span></p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">Applications are now open for </span></span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">Coming Up</span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"> 2011, after the screening Ben will explain what Channel 4 is looking for. Emma and Elinor will discuss how the production works and Ronan will speak about his experience of the scheme. There will also be time to network following the event.</span></span></p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">This is an excellent opportunity for writers and directors who are trying to break into the film and television industry.</span></span></p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">The event is free of charge and Northern Ireland Screen strongly encourage all local writers, directors and emerging short and feature film makers to attend. Places are limited so please contact </span></span><a href="mailto:ursula@northernirelandscreen.co.uk" style="text-decoration: none; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">ursula@northernirelandscreen.co.uk</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"> as soon as possible to secure a place.</span></span></p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">Date: Wednesday 19th May</span></span></strong></p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">Time: 6.00pm</span></span></strong></p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">Venue: Moviehouse Cinema, Dublin Road</span></span></strong></p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">Contact: </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://northernirelandscreen.co.uk/ursula@northernirelandscreen.co.uk" style="text-decoration: none; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">ursula@northernirelandscreen.co.uk</span></a></span></strong></p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">See you there!!</span></span></p><p style="padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></p></span></div>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03888867108777389254noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3118621506983946579.post-86140573619767395442010-05-10T12:42:00.003+02:002010-05-10T13:48:06.355+02:00360° Festival Report 2: Nuno Bernardo – Sofia’s Diary and Writing Online Drama...<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:arial;">Hi guys</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Following on from yesterday’s report on the first 360° Festival and the <a href="http://randomwitteringsofthefox.blogspot.com/2010/05/festival-report-1-tony-jordan-and-red.html">Tony Jordan session</a>, here is something a little bit different…</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">And now for Day 2….</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Hope you enjoyed the report on Day 1. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">I'm only doing the first session of Day 2 today because.... well, it's a long enough post as it is and I think you'll probably have had enough of me wittering on by the time you get to the end of it. BBC Writer's Room Roadshow thingy for tomorrow then.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">In the meantime....</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">The first session of Day 2 was with</span><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> <a href="http://summit.kidscreen.com/2010/speakers.html?a=628613">Nuno Bernardo</a>, from <a href="http://www.be-entertainment.com/">Be Entertainment</a>, who gave a talk on “how to structure and write scenes for drama distributed via the net and its world wide audience”. Nuno created the original “</span><st1:city st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Sofia</span></st1:city><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">’s Diary” in </span><st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Portugal</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">, an online drama with videos, blogs, interactive sms, message boards and a TV show. It was a huge hit in Portugal and went on to spawn versions around the world, including the UK. He then created a new show, “Flatmates”, for an older audience, but working along the same lines, and is working on other drama and non-fiction projects.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">If you haven’t seen </span><st1:city st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Sofia</span></st1:city><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">’s Diary, you can find (part of) the </span><st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">UK</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> version <a href="http://www.bebo.com/sofiasdiary">here</a>.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><b>BEGINNINGS</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Nuno comes from a marketing background and this was his starting point for Sofia’s diary. The teenage audience was becoming difficult to reach, especially through TV, and was increasingly more interested in the internet – as both a channel of entertainment and information (music, gossip sites, blogs, etc) as well as a way of communicating, through messenger services such as msn. What set internet use apart from TV was the interactivity between users. This is also borne out by the fact that teenagers are the heaviest users of text messaging. Nuno quoted a figure of 200 texts a day for some teenage groups, which blew me away. I thought I was bad enough sending about 20!</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><b>SOFIA'S DIARY</b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">From this, the idea for </span><st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Sofia</span></st1:place></st1:city><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">’s Diary was born. From a writing/storytelling point of view, the interesting thing is that it was about creating a whole virtual world for the character and audience, and making a lot of this real time. This included – </span></span></p> <ul style="margin-top:0cm" type="disc"> <li class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">phone texts, sent directly to subscribed users, telling them about something that had just happened in the character’s life (and sometimes asking for advice).</span></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">internet diary blogs, updated every day at 8:30pm – “a daily experience” for the character, always leaving a problem for the next day and asking advice. For example, “I’ve just found out that my boyfriend kissed my rival. Should I forgive him?” Users were then invited to leave responses on message boards. This created debate amongst users, the “characters” also joining in at times. And there wasn’t just a blog for Sopia, but also for her friends, giving different points of view. </span></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">There were weekly/monthly magazine diaries, published in teen mags.</span></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">There was a radio soap, available for download, again “a daily experience”. </span></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">A mobile alert service.</span></span></li></ul> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">The idea for this mix of ideas was to connect with the teen audience by creating the world of Sofia in terms/media they themselves use, to communicate with them in ways that they communicate with each other. And all of this through a story which reflected/mirrored their lives/concerns.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Launched in Portugal, it was an instant success, and in 2003 it was extended to a television show on the Portugese PBS. 5 minute episodes where produced each day. There was also a weekend 30 minute episode. This debuted to some of the best ratings on Portugese TV. Unlike all other aspects of Sofia’s Diary, the TV show was not a year-round experience, but ran for 26 weeks.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">The brand also moved into books, DVDs, a </span><st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Sofia</span></st1:city></st1:place><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">’s Diary magazine, sponsorship and product placement deals, and product licensing.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Sofia</span></span></st1:place></st1:city><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">’s Diary then went international, adapting to the local audience and culture. For instance, the South American version had a more sexually active teenager than the one in </span><st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Portugal</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">. In the </span><st1:country-region st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">UK</span></st1:country-region><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">, instead of </span><st1:city st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Sofia</span></st1:city><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">’s family consisting of mum, dad and brothers/sisters all living together, we had a more dysfunctional </span><st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">UK</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> family. Go figure…</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">The show launched in the </span><st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">UK</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> with 5 million hits in its first week. After 6 months that was up to 30 million. The show then began running on Channel 5.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">There were two aspects I found particularly interesting. First Sofia's Diary was an ongoing, “live” experience – 7 days a week. Radio, blogs, “live” texts, magazine articles, comment boards. It was all a constantly developing story, “living” the story, like a great big multi-platform soap. Elements were created to interact with each other (the radio show fitted in with the blog, which fitted in with textss) but could also be viewed/experienced alone. In other words, most of the audience would listen to the radio show one day, receive texts another day, read the blogs for a couple of days, spend an hour on the message boards at the weekend exchanging views and advice. It wasn’t necessary to “view” everything to understand the story. However, all the different platforms were supporting and cross-promoting each other. A really interesting concept for writers to think about. I think a lot of people are very wary of the whole idea of writing for Online drama, or are simply not that interested (“it isn’t “real” writing”), but viewed in the above terms, it suddenly seems like being given a big box of tricks, in every medium and platform possible, to tell your story.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">The other interesting thing was the extent to which the whole thing was hugely interactive. The audience’s view and opinion with what was happening to Sofia (and her friends) was actively sought. And as that opinion came in, it could affect the story. This is where there we got into a bit of a debate with Nuno about story ownership (we’re writers! waddya expect?). It’s a fine line, but as Nuno explained, the audience felt ownership of the show, but they weren’t writing it or dictating where it went. This was especially true when it came to adding the TV show element, which was filmed way in advance so could never have reacted to the views of the audience anyway. There was also another very particular reason Nuno gave for NOT giving the audience power over the direction of the storyline. The audience will always protect the protagonist (if you are telling your story correctly!) and punish the antagonist, leading to boring stories without conflict or drama.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">However, the use of interactivity became obvious when it became clear through the online discussion boards that the audience hadn’t understood very clearly why a character had behaved in a particular way, or had misconstrued their motives because the story, in that instance, had just been told too fast, the writers were able to go into the blogs or send out texts the next day and clear those kind of issues up (in character of course), reassuring the audience. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Therefore, and this is an interesting for writers, the fact that this rolling multi-platform highly interactive story (and not only the audience interacting with the story through message boards, but it interacting with them, “interrupting” their lives with unexpected and unplanned text messages from the characters, “Oh my god, I’ve just found out Dave kissed Francesca!”) means storytelling which apes life-like experiences, blurring the story/reality lines. Not that I believe that the audience isn’t capable of distinguishing the two. Of course they are. But it questions HOW we tell stories. Anyway, Nuno’s next project would take that even further…</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><b>FLATMATES</b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">For “Flatmates”, again created originally for Portugal, Nuno took a group of 3 flatmates (and therefore 2 protags) and an older age group. From a storytelling point of view, this complicates the relationship between the audience and the characters. The audience has favourites, and the three flatmates can “fight” it out online with their blogs, the users then “fighting” on the message boards. This obviously leads to a different, and potentially more interesting, dynamic between audience and characters.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Another thing they found was that teenagers didn’t like the usual websites associated with TV shows. They seemed tacked on, with no interactivity, and histories and blogs which started the day before the show’s debut. Therefore, when creating the blogs for Sofia’s Diary and Flatmates, the team created a past for the characters, even using the actors family photos, etc to fill that past out.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">The audience chose the actors for Flatmates through online auditions which the audience voted for. This had also happened with </span><st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Sofia</span></st1:place></st1:city><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">’s Diary.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">The community/fans were invited to come along to the bar featured in the show, to mill around as extras, but also to interact with the actors, who stayed in character the whole time.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">The actors appeared on a daytime talk show as their characters, and the show introduced them as such, blurring the lines between reality and fiction, or at least playing with them…</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">And that’s it. Nuno then took lots of questions from the audience, a lot of which were related to the business model and marketing aspect of the show. A writer from </span><st1:city st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Sofia</span></st1:city><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">’s Diary </span><st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">UK</span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> also gave a short talk about her experiences writing the blogs for all the different characters each day.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">I found the talk, and the whole idea, fascinating. Before, writing 3-5 minute episodes which fit together like a big jigsaw with blogs, radio, magazine articles, etc and which interact with the audience, seemed like a huge unmanageable… beast to me. But I suddenly realized it’s potential. It’s not TV. It’s not meant to be. It’s something else. It’s a hugely different and exciting way of telling a story. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Get writing!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">PS Mr Danny Stack wrote for Sofia's Diary, and blogs about it <a href="http://dannystack.blogspot.com/2008/03/sofias-diary.html">here</a>. Anyone out there done any writing for online drama?</span></p>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03888867108777389254noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3118621506983946579.post-3858244645640840212010-05-07T15:41:00.009+02:002010-05-10T12:39:09.838+02:00360° Festival Report 1: Tony Jordan and the Red Planet Prize...<p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Hi guys</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">I’ve been thinking about doing an occasional series of reports I have on the BBC NI/Tinderbox 360° Festival (which I wittered on about <a href="http://randomwitteringsofthefox.blogspot.com/2010/03/how-it-all-began-2009.html">here</a> and <a href="http://randomwitteringsofthefox.blogspot.com/2010/04/how-it-all-began-2010.html">here</a>), as they may be of interest to some people. And, what with the Red Planet Prize 2010 about to be announced any day now</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">(“When? When? WHEN….?” I hear you cry.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Ok, calm down…)</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">I thought I’d begin with this little article up, which seems particularly timely. It’s an edited and updated version of something I wrote last year for Sharpshooters, after the first festival opened with a talk from Tony Jordan on all things writing and Red Planet… So, with no further ado…</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">(But, oh, isn’t that a weird little expression? What the hell is “ado”? Where did it come from? ADO. Like Agadoo. Kind of… Anyway, I’ll shut up now. You just want Tony, don’t you..?)</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">So, with no further ado… over to Tone….</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">The BBC Writer’s Room roadshow in Northern Ireland was tied in with a 4 day writer’s festival run by BBC NI, the Tony Doyle Bursary (for new screenwriters from Ireland) and Tinderbox Theatre (a new writing theatre company in Northern Ireland). And rather splendid it all was, too!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">This is what happened, from your reporter on the ground….</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Day 1</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Tony Jordan</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">The man himself took time out from Red Planet Prize-ing, inventing new shows, producing, writing and generally saving western civilization as we know it, to tell us how he does it all. He’s a great speaker – funny, warm, full of interesting stories and insight. But more than that, what sets him apart, and what you really come away with, is a feeling of the man’s passion. This man LOVES what he does.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">He started off talking about “the secret” and the fact that when he first started in TV, and specifically EastEnders, he felt as if everyone knew something that he didn’t – the secret of writing. And that if he knew that secret, he’d be a writer. Many courses, screenwriting manuals and episodes of EastEnders later, he realized that no-one has a clue, there is no secret, and everyone is just trying to work out how to write a good story. Once he realized that, he was off! His message being, no-one knows anything, let’s all admit that, and try to work out together how to tell the story we’re trying to tell.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Mr Jordan then gave a breakdown of what his process is…..</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">CHARACTER.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Character is king. Not story. Work out who they are. Tony normally spends a couple of weeks developing his characters until, as he put it, his forehead bleeds. Some things to think about when developing character are:-</span></p> <ul style="margin-top:0cm" type="disc"> <li class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">something they will always do</span></li> <li class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">something they would never do</span></li> <li class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">apply for a job in their name. He meant this literally. He REALLY applies for jobs in his character’s name. It forces him to answer all those questions on the application form that are really useful in understanding the character. He even posts them off sometimes…</span></li> <li class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Paradox for the character and their situation. This paradox creates a natural conflict within the character that will (or wont) be resolved. Bit it makes them interesting to watch. The example for this was a man who wants the finest things in life, is a wannabe, a snob, hates “lower class” thinking. His paradox is that he works in a run-down, crappy second-class hotel. Therefore he is going to hate his customers. And thus Basil Fawlty was born. The more extreme the paradox, the better (for comedy or drama).</span></li> <li class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">I loved this one… 30 secs before you fall asleep at night, you reveal the real you. The raw thoughts you have. That’s when we have all our secret little thoughts that we don’t tell anyone else. What does your character think about just before falling asleep? What does that say about them? How can you use it?</span></li> <li class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Who fits with this character? Friends? Good marriage/relationship? Bad? Who are the group of people around them?</span></li></ul> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">RESEARCH </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Write about what you know about. That is the best research you can ever have. Use the internet. Talk to people. If you want to know about cab drivers, talk to one. Just tell them you’re a TV writer. If they ask what you’ve written for, just ream off a list of TV shows. They’ll never know you’re lying and will be only too pleased to help!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">DRAMATIC NEED</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">What does this character need? Do they want to win the </span><st1:metricconverter productid="100 metres" st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">100 metres</span></st1:metricconverter><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">? Do they want to save their marriage? They must need something. Drama is:-</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Character + Dramatic Need + Obstacles.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">There is also dramatic need and dramatic want. A character’s WANT is</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">“to win the </span><st1:metricconverter productid="100 metres" st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">100 metres</span></st1:metricconverter><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">”</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">which they would admit and tell you.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Their NEED is:</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">To win the </span><st1:metricconverter productid="100 metres" st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">100 metres</span></st1:metricconverter><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> to please their father because they NEED an expression of love from him which they have never had.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">This need may not be something they necessarily realize (but we do). Whether (and how) they achieve this need is what we as an audience and writer are interested in. Between their need and want, they could also achieve one and not the other (win the race, but dad doesn’t show love or lose the race, but dad expresses love for the first time, etc)</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">OBSTACLES</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">The type of obstacle that you give your character will determine the genre and story. For example, your character wants to save his marriage. Whether the obstacle is then</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">him finding out his wife is having an affair</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">his inability not to have an affair </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">a series of mishaps on his surprise “save-my-marriage” holiday</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">will determine whether it is a comedy or a drama.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Obstacles give the ability to test your character and everything you have developed in research about that character. Therefore, choose obstacles based on character. What is the obstacle that will really test them (thinking about what they would never do, what they think about when they go to bed at night, etc.)? They are uptight, never show their emotions but want to get a dream job? Give them a job interview which is a “workshop”, where they have to “share”. Then pair them up with a touchy-feely type who is more qualified for the job than they are. Then have them turn up late. Then they lose their voice. And on it goes….</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Also, character is ACTION, not what they say. They may say they would never steal, but you might show them doing that.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Then we came to</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">THE DOOR…..</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">The door is what Tony called that part of our minds that we need to look at, the part that other people don’t see. We have to look inside ourselves, as deep as we can, to discover the truth of whatever it is we want to write about. That’s what’s behind the door… We need to open that door as a writer and look inside in order to reveal something, vomiting it out if we need to. That is what makes you a writer. He gave the example of a child abduction story in EastEnders that he had to write. He could have written the “stock” version. Instead, he chose to think of his daughter and what would it be like if that were to happen to her. He thought of horrible things, things that disturb him to this day, and then sat and wrote the story, typing on a keyboard full of tears and snot and fag ash, because he was so emotional but wanted to get it down. He was incredibly passionate about this. It really struck home for me how important this is to our writing (probably because, deep down, I think it’s something I could work on. Although, to be honest, that’s the point. You have to be working on this ALL the time) and fundamental to writing something that is both truthful. Ultimately, it’s also what sets you apart. It’s your…</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">VOICE</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Protect, at all costs, your voice. Tony gave the example of being asked to come in and speak to the Casualty people. They liked his work on EastEnders and asked him to pitch an idea. He had an idea for a disaster at a fancy dress party. A guy, dressed as Frankestein, is brought in, nearly dying. The team have to shock him with the paddles, at which point he sits up. “He’s alive!” You get the idea. Tony loved it. It was his sense of humour but they thought it was silly, to which he replied, “Why have you asked me to come in and do ME when you don’t like what ME is?” He walked away from the job. Protect your voice.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">FEEDBACK</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Part of working on continuing drama is that you have to take notes. There is a game and you have to play it. The only question that you have to ask yourself is, “Will it change my script dramatically?” and “Does it go against the character?” Okay, so it’s two questions. Anyway, if the answer is no, take the note. After all, working in TV is about collaborating. Take the 9 notes that don’t matter and save your fight for the note that you really DO disagree with. Tony said there are lots of TV writers out there that are better than him, but they aren’t working because they are difficult/couldn’t take notes. People want to work with writers that they get along with and are going to have fun with.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">CONTINUING DRAMA – HOW IT WORKS</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Writers receive a story document which gives a detailed outline for the episode. How detailed this is depends on the show – anything from a few pages to 20/30. His big advice was to NOT just write what is in the document. Those writers who are still doing soaps after years, who are kept on, and who progress onto other things, are those who do something more, who add something of themselves. That’s right. You’ve guessed it. Those who bring their original voice to the script/show. Therefore never do everything in the story document in 30 mins, if the show is 30 mins. Do it in 25 and leave 5 mins for your own stuff. Show them your original voice.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">UNSOLICITED SCRIPTS</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">If you want to send an unsolicited script to Red Planet, they do accept them. Probably better to wait until the Red Planet comp however, but if you do want to send one at another time, you can. He did, however, say that they were changing their policy, as the amount of scripts they receive makes it unfeasible. Therefore, in future, they are going to ask for a two page treatment. If they like that, they’ll ask for the full script.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Finally…</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Tony Jordan – lovely, passionate man! So, when they make the announcement for the Red Planet Prize 2010, keep all that in mind.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">And remember THE DOOR...</span></p>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03888867108777389254noreply@blogger.com4