WHAT’S IN A STORY?

On my writer’s group page Script Advice Writers Room the fabulous Lucy V Hay of http://www.bang2write.com and I coined a word for what script editors/writers who are also mothers do every day as we balance the juggle of the writing bit with the muddle of the mother bit – we called it a juddle.

And this is what I was doing today. Writing a treatment for a children’s animated series, making a papier mache alien for my five year old, and servicing the requests and questions I get from my website.

I was denied the joy of being able to blend together these three important facets of my life by telling a writer how to make a wobbly alien with shiny antennae, but no writers needed to know about that – however, if anyone had asked me, I would have been there like a shot with the Prit Stick.

So like so many of us these days, I multi-tasked; constructing an alien (no takers as to how I did this apparently) but also constructing a story for my treatment and this is what a lot of you seem to want to know about.

Having spent a large part of my career script editing and producing television drama; ostensibly telling writers how I would like them to change their scripts to fit my slot or show’s requirements, I am now attempting to walk the walk as well as talk the talk. I write stuff too. The project on the go right now is a children’s idea that I am aiming at pre-schoolers. This is partly because (via being a mum for the past 5 years) there is no cranny of the Cbeebies output that I have not poked around in and also because I genuinely love children’s drama.

I produced in 1998 an award winning drama for CITV entitled My Dad’s A Boring Nerd by the marvellous Joe Turner. We won best children’s comedy with it for that year and at the LWT award ceremony, I met Tom Jones and he shook my hand in a very manly way and said ‘hello lovely’ which was just about my highest point until having my son nine years later.

The most important thing I learned then, producing a children’s drama, and going on to work on a number of popular ‘grown up’ dramas like Holby City, is that there really is very little to separate telling children’s stories from those transmitted way after the Cbeebies Bedtime Hour has been and gone.

Toby’s Travelling Circus (Channel Five Milkshake!) and Holby City have more in common than you might expect.

Both are ensemble pieces, where we see a returning regular cast of characters that we have grown to love lots, or not so much, and both have a familiar backdrop, or precinct to their worlds.

The place, or precinct in which the weekly stories are played out, determines the type of stories that are told there. So in Toby’s Travelling Circus, Toby and his circus gang have circus-related problems (the metal Strong Man is rusted, the naughty monkey has stolen Toby’s Ringmaster hat) and these have to be fixed before their nightly show in the Big Top. Of course, the stories in Holby City are life or death in many cases; the stakes are high and there is always the miasma of the medical world to circumvent in order that the stories feel ‘true’ but in the main, the essence of both are the same.

Toby and his gang are a warm, flawed, talented group of characters who suffer divisions and mal-practise in their ranks on a weekly basis. Their goal is the same, they are ultimately from the same tribe and for this reason, the show has a real soul and a truth that not only my five year old resonates with. His mum does too.

I believe the first series of Holby City was 1998 (the same year My Dad’s A Boring Nerd was winning its award and I was beaming at Tom Jones) now, fifteen years later, their stories have really come into their own and the structure of the episodes is now pretty much flawless week on week. The characters, like those under Toby’s Big Top, are flawed, talented, intelligent, risk-taking people who care and who aim for a single goal. Their precinct (the hospital) both protects and challenges them and the same applies to the rather more flimsy Big Top in Toby’s Travelling Circus.

Each episode holds at it’s centre, a key story; (the A) and one that will colour and affect the storylines around it. The tone and theme of that episode is directly influenced by the content; ‘the meat’ of the story. There can be up to five or six storylines running at any particular time in an episode of Holby City which form the narrative through line, or serial element of the episode and the series as a whole, and it is around these that the A, B and C storylines are wrapped. Toby’s Travelling Circus has less story material to construct, (in that the format is 15 mins as opposed to the juggernaut that is Holby and it’s 60 minute format length) but the construction remains the same. There are serial elements that need threading through each episode and there is a story of the week (the A) with smaller stories (the B and C; usually a comedy storyline) running parallel to it.

The construction of a storyline differs little in both types of shows, mainly because both are ensemble, precinct and serialised.

But what about the emotional stuff? A good story has to have both a solid construction and a heart. The human quality is very strong in both shows. And it is the constant interplay between what the heart feels and what head says, that makes Holby City and Toby’s TC essentially human and ultimately engaging.

Toby’s Travelling Circus has a single, older mum character; a Barbara Windsor crossed with June Whitfield. Dolores is non-judgemental, sometimes forcibly jolly and a worrier. She frets a lot about Toby and flirts in a ‘aren’t you strong?’ type of way with Thor the Metal Strong Man. Her subtext is love her text is fretting and talking too much. Holby City has a stony faced, ice maiden type character called Jac Naylor. She is pushes away soft emotions, and batts off closeness by flinging acerbic one liners at her co-workers. The episode where she reads an ailing ex-newspaper reporter’s subtext and subtly gives him a newspaper scoop that would momentarily give him a lift, is touching and delicately written.

Watching these women tackle their daily lives, battling both with their natures as well as the jobs they have to do, seems to me to encapsulate the essence of what a really good story is about.
Because ultimately, good story telling is a combination of two things: structure and understanding what it is to be human. The head over the heart stuff.

Television dramas express and explore this constant state of being with varying degrees of success, via numerous vehicles and following several formats, the attraction, the engagement, the resonance and the enjoyment of millions (in the case of Holby) means that we all at the end of the day, want to learn more about what it is to be flawed, kind, sad, funny and well, human.

The alien’s name is John Alien by the way.

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WHAT’S YOUR PROBLEM? WRITING ADVICE FROM SCRIPT ADVICE

‘Writing’ said Paul Abbot, ‘is re-writing’ and with more tv drama hours under his belt than most, I would take his word for it. Also, having spent a large part of my career in television and now via http://scriptadvice.co.uk/ helping writers write better scripts, I can whole heartedly endorse his comment.

Your script all planned out, you’ve done the leg work, you have a wall/floor covered in post it’s or postcards, or with pieces of paper festooned with asterix and some doodles. You’ve even written a treatment; the idea is solid – you have the characters and the plot, you think, has no feasible holes. But, a little way through the script, you come to a shuddering halt.

Why is it that although you may have written several painless, fun, exciting, successful scenes all of which push the story on, explore your characters, are literally bowed down with subtext, you suddenly here, for no reason other than a dark and mysterious one, stop writing? There’s a wall. Your brain has frozen. And it is then that you start to think that the fridge needs a clean out and you ought to put a wash on.

Stop. Leave the mucky fridge. Do not put a wash anywhere. There’s a script problem and procrastination doesn’t sort it, it makes it worse.

Plot?
The first question to ask yourself is; where in the structure/layout of my script have I become stuck?

The usual problem area is what can loosely be called ‘the middle’ it may be your second act (if you are following a traditional framework) or approximately half way through the body of your story. This is the yawning pit that appears in many plotlines if the centre is not as strong as the introduction or the ending. In nine cases out of ten, if the narrative flow is getting jammed here, then it will be a lack of plot (things actually happening) that is the problem.

The lack of text is an issue; more storylines, more tangents, more development of your original idea is needed to fill this gap. Go back to your characters; look at their motivation, look at what drives them through your script and what message you want them to convey. What they do, as well as what they say, is essential to a well-balanced story. What a character does is your plotline – why they do it is your subtext. Revisiting your characters, will produce more plot – should you need to fill a hole.

Subtext?
Does this all feel a bit – forced? Do you feel you are working too hard to get your meaning across? Is there too much action and not enough intrigue? Are you spoon-feeding your audience? Your problem could be subtext (or lack of it) .

This is the subtle art of clever screenwriting and without it your story falls flat. So make sure you have underpinned the text of what is said and done with that which is not said (the elephant in the room) or that which is not shown, but suggested, and any sagging narrative problems may well be cured.

If you get stuck again, ask yourself: ‘what is it that I want the audience to know, or feel here, that I don’t want my character to say out loud?’ Remember, you are dishing out this storyline in bite size morsels, don’t go heavy handed, don’t state the obvious and if it’s shown on screen, don’t feel you have to tell it as well. Subtext written right can be delivered with a light touch, but holds a deeper meaning.

Structure?
Plot, subtext, characterisation, are all linked. Structure is the framework you put in place to hold it all together.

If you are finding it hard to continue along the plan you originated, it could be that there are scenes you thought you had nailed, that you placed earlier in the script, or you may have planned for later on in your narrative structure, that are in fact in the wrong place and so are now thwarting your writing progression.

You are an innate story teller – your urge to tell stories and get them down in script form is what makes you a screenwriter, so listen to that nagging sensation, even if you are motoring, through what you envisaged was a coherent, well planned script, because this doubt crawling into your line of vision and spoiling what you ‘see’ as you write, means there could be something wrong with the order in which you are choosing to tell your story.

Structural decisions are not just about where you have decided to place your scenes, they are also dictated by how you have linked storylines and therefore character arcs in your script. Structural problems then are also connected with characterisation, and how you allow them to appear and what you allow them to do within the script framework you have established. So perhaps you have a structural problem that may be solved by picking apart a particular character (or characters’) storylines and re-weaving them together in another way.

Characterisation?
Being able to create believable, credible, engaging characters is one of the skills every screenwriter should have in their lexicon.

The people we see on the screen will carry your story to the wider world and so you must make them ‘live’ on the page to your best ability. That is to say, dig deep when you create character. The people you chose to populate your screen world, have to be as real to you as the people you see in the real world. They all must have motivation at their base root, desires and needs to be met, goals to achieve, flaws to show or to hide and every last one of them must be able to do a specific, (in writing terms) clearly defined, job on the page, which will inevitably translate on to the screen.

If you are finding, in this place of stasis you have reached, that writing for a character is difficult that can be due to several things:

i/ a lack of motivation for the character – subtext comes into play again here. Consider both the surface action that engages this character as well as the below surface stuff we don’t see but we ‘know’.

ii/ a lack of connection with the other characters – in story terms, who do they link/clash with?

iii/ a lack of a specific job on the page – are you duplicating this one with another character?

iv/ a lack of credibility – is this character under-developed? Is this character two rather than three dimensional?

v/ is this character a cypher for the storyline rather than a character in their own right? Often, characters that are created to carry information or establish plot connections between other characters suffer by the nature of their on-screen ‘job’ – make sure you don’t have any ‘vessels,’ only people in your scripts.

Dialogue?
Strongly linked with characterisation; the ability to write cracking dialogue is a gift given by the screenwriting Gods. If you are a natural dialogue writer, then you are very lucky indeed. This is the hardest skill to acquire if you don’t have an innate ‘listening’ ability.

As much as possible, dialogue should be credible and informative at the same time. Use the visual skills at your creative fingertips as well as your verbal ones, to create layered, interesting scenes and avoid always, stating the obvious (talking the text) and over-emphasising plot points or bits of linking information (often called ‘on the nose’ dialogue).

If it’s an uphill struggle writing for a particular character(s) and you can’t make their scenes work, it could be because you don’t ‘hear’ them and your inner ear is not tuned in to how they would talk. Try to make a connection with a real person you know, to get an angle on how they sound and feel to you. If they have a specific role to play in your story, then there is a legitimate place for them. Who do they remind you of? Their voice is as important on screen as they way they look.

Both the visual and the aural elements need to work together in a scene for it to feel right.

Pace?
Linked to plotting and structure, the pace of your script could be a problem for you if you have become entangled in reasons why your script isn’t working.

Keeping the over-view ‘flow’ of your story in your head as you write is a great skill to have and if you are one of those lucky writers who do this instinctively, then you will be able to recognise when your script starts to feel stodgy and will do something about it. If you don’t have this ability, fear not, re-visiting your step by step scene outline (or beat sheet) that you wrote when planning your script, will re-familiarise you with the ups and downs, ins and outs of your various plotlines.

Looking at the way your story progresses (the narrative through line) you will be able to see clearly where you can up the ante in terms of energy, or chose to dip into a quieter atmosphere, or mood. Some sequences you have created will demand a gentle touch, others will take a faster pace, so you must make that decision and get the scenes down accordingly.

Re-reading your script, you should be able to feel when the energy dips and when it increases – always remember your audience will feel the same ebb and flow too – and in this way, you will be increasing their connection with your story on screen.

I help writers write better scripts – you can find me here, read my blogs, follow me on twitter and join my face book group all from here: http://scriptadvice.co.uk/

NEWSLETTER 16 – THE SPRING ONE

WHAT THE SCRIPT FACTORY SAYS ABOUT SCRIPT ADVICE:

“We can heartily recommend Yvonne’s workshops – she unravels television like no one else! www.scriptfactory.co.uk

Find out if I can help you with your current project@http://www.scriptadvice.co.uk offering writers mentoring, training and script editing services in order to develop their work and talent.  Please pass on this link to your fellow writers. Or you can join SCRIPT ADVICE WRITERS ROOM@http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=237330119115&ref=mf

SAWR is all about writing and writers. Here you can share your thoughts about writing, the creative process, the highs and lows of it all. You can also access this group for information about writing workshops that I am currently running, also script editing and mentoring services that I offer. My expertise lies in Television drama but any writer is welcome to share their experiences and their aspirations here. 

I am on TWITTER here: https://twitter.com/YVONNEGRACE1

Or to see my newsletter online, access my Blog here: http://scriptadvice.wordpress.com/

 * HELLO

* DIALOGUE – THE MAGIC ELEMENT

* USEFUL LINKS

 HELLO

Spring came for a bit, kicked a few crocus bulbs out of her muddy bed, shined wanly over the rooftops and buggered off again. It’s raining here at Script Advice Towers as I type this, the Spring Edition of my Newsletter. It’s the sort of rain that lands daintily on your hair and makes a natural curly haired sort like myself, opt for a coat with a hood – better, in my world, to look like a Hobbit than a woman with pubic hair on her head.

It’s been busy at Script Advice since January. I have been head-bent over your scripts, helped some of you towards stronger next drafts and as Spring rolls on, I hope to help more of you get the most of your current project.

I am also currently writing a book. And it is because of this undertaking, that this Newsletter is a slighter sister to the usual, beefier missives I produced quarterly.

 I hope to be announcing the availability of ‘Television Writing – What You Need To Know’ (catchy it’s not, but essential to say what it does on the tin, I am told) in the near future.  I decided I needed to write a book because although I blog about television writing, give lectures about the various disciplines it involves, and generally make a nuisance of myself on Twitter and on the Script Advice Writers’ Room page on Facebook, where I post links and information about writing in general, I always seem to have something more to say on the subject of crafting drama for a wide audience.

So a book it is then, and one that had to be written. I write from the point of view of a Script Editor, Producer and Executive Producer of tv drama that has rather been around the block and worn out a few t shirts in the process. So you will find it more ‘chatty’ than the usual fair of information heavy books on the market. Watch this space for further info.

 DIALOGUE – THE MAGIC ELEMENT

The Dead Poets’ Society

Visual imagery, music, lighting, camera craft, they all add up to a great script if used properly. The story needs all of these components in order to really leap off the page (not so much music in television, but it does, if used sparingly, add a certain frisson to scripts.) But without a steady, confident, relevant, textured, real, dose of dialogue the script will ultimately fail. Film relies less heavily on dialogue, but the best film scripts in my view, are those that take the theatrical premise that all story begins with character, and all character is lit from within by dialogue.

Here is a beautifully crafted, dialogue-led film script which has the perfect balance of visuals and dialogue. The dialogue is aided by the visual – there is a symbiosis between these two vital screen writing elements. The script is parred down to the essential dialogue; that which exposes subtext at it’s most economical and it is all the more powerful for this. The characters are informed by their subtext, which is in turn, reflected in their dialogue. There is no over-laden emphasis on text here, no ‘on the nose’ observations, the viewer is allowed to put together a picture of each character’s personality and personal drives, by what they say and what they do. Perfect story telling. Perfect dialogue. Screen magic.

THE DEAD POETS’ SOCIETY http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/dead_poets_final.html

 Last Tango In Halifax

Television now. Episode one of the highly engaging, beautifully crafted serial Last Tango in Halifax. The first scene, as in all television scripts worth their salt, draws you in by the sheer clarity of character observation. Not much is actually said, but the subtext is so solid, so there in the scene, sat under the table as it where, that the merest line spoken by Celia, in reference to her dead husband, drags to the surface decades of resentment and long-buried disappointment. The way the dialogue is paced too, in this small, domestic, but highly portentous scene alerts the audience to the fact that Celia and her daughter Caroline, do not see eye to eye and again, through subtle, but non the less powerful dialogue, we understand in this first, vital scene, that Caroline really does not now, nor ever has, really understood her mother.

All this knowledge is given to the viewer because of the layers of intrinsic understanding the writer clearly has for her characters. This knowledge the  writer shares via her skill in writing just what needs to be said, and marrying this with a deft control of pace, and of attention to small, characterful nuances. So in a 3 minute scene, we can not only see, but also can understand how a frustrated professional mother and daughter (Caroline) relates to her rather meandering, unfocussed, elderly mother (Celia). Dialogue perfection. Magic on the small screen.

LAST TANGO IN HALIFAX:

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/scripts/last-tango-in-halifax-s1-ep1.pdf

 USEFUL LINKS

In my last Newsletter; link here: http://scriptadvice.wordpress.com/2013/01/04/newsletter-15/, I talked about the need to be clear, structured and coherent in your planning of a television drama. I covered treatment writing, plotting your story using an episode outline and also using a beat-sheet or a step by step outline to really nail the dramatic narrative of your script. I do not mention television Bible writing. I am leaving that to Mike Jones.

Originally from Danny Stack’s marvellous blog site, dannystack.blogspot.com/ I have taken this article by Mike Jones who writes here all about how to put together a series bible for television. If you follow this, you won’t go far wrong.

http://www.mikejones.tv/seriesbible

I found this link recently and just love it. Here you can download and read a healthy selection of tv and film scripts. Some have been removed from the site (Casablanca, I was disappointed to realise has been taken down) but most are still there for you to read and study.

http://www.dailyscript.com/

Join me on Facebook at the Script Advice Writers’ Room; http://www.facebook.com/groups/237330119115/ here’s what Phil Gladwin of http://www.screenwritinggoldmine says about it:

‘It’s run by Yvonne Grace, a seasoned BBC producer, and her … incredible energy, passion, and dedication (in true, old school BBC  style) means new links, new resources, and a very nice community  of like minds on a daily basis.’

I hope I can help you with your writing; be it a television script, short or full length film or screen play, treatment or outline, novel or radio play, I read and script edit them all and can definitely help improve yours.  Drop me an email@

Yvonne.grace@scriptadvice.co.uk and let’s get working!

 BYE FOR NOW AND HAPPY WRITING.

 March 2013 – Script Advice. http://www.scriptadvice.co.uk

FIVE BASIC, ESSENTIAL SCRIPT WRITING DO’S AND DON’TS

Marketting Bods beavering away in the back rooms of Consumer Cathedrals like Waitrose and Sainsburys use the words Basic and Essential to draw the wider slice of the human consumer-pyramid towards products that are vital to the average kitchen cupboard.  It’s no different in the world of writing – here then a list of my FIVE BASIC, ESSENTIAL things to get right and to avoid getting wrong in your script writing, for budget-savvy writers (this advice is free!) who also want to avoid slipping below the Good Writing radar.

1/ SCENE DESCRIPTION – GEOGRAPHY and CONTENT: DESCRIBE WHAT YOU WANT US TO SEE – NO MORE NO LESS

Two things to remember here: don’t under describe your scene but also don’t over describe. Both mistakes on the page cause confusion and irritation in a reader. No-one likes to have to trawl through pages of description to get to the vital information of the scene. But the flip side of that is a tough place to be as well. There is nothing more tedious than having to work out for yourself where characters are at the top of a scene, or what they are doing – what it is, in fact, that we are looking at. So my rule of thumb is this; imagine and visualise for yourself before you put finger tip to keypad or ballpoint to paper where your characters are and what image you want us to see at the top of the scene. It sounds an obvious thing to say, but writing for the small or big screen means you have to use your visual imagination as much as you do your verbal skills to get your story across. Tell the story in pictures as well as words. So what is it you want us to know? Tell us succinctly but with a touch of description to keep the top of the scene alive. Set the scene – literally – paint it in words but chose yours carefully and remember – we need to get a move on here – this is not a novel – so place your characters and prepare for them to move the story on.

2/ CUT TO THE CHASE – KEEP UP THE STORY MOMENTUM – HAVE CONFIDENCE IN YOUR STORY

I know it’s a tough one – but never allow yourself as a writer, to procrastinate. Your characters can, if you demand it, in order to further a plot point or build some tension in the narrative, but you the writer need to ensure you ‘get a wiggle on’ throughout the writing of your script. You are in control of not only the imagery and dialogue, but also the pace and mood of the story. It’s a truism that many writers lack faith in their storylines and worry that if they truely do push the script on they will run out of story before they complete their all important third act. My advice is always to allow the story to build the momentum it will naturally and if the writing begins to stall and the story to wane then more invention is required from you. Do not apply the brakes, thus holding back the plot incrementally scene by scene, do push your foot on the accelorator and give the storyline and your script some welly instead!

3/ CONSTRUCT A SHAPELY SCENE – INTRO/DEVELOP/END

Here’s another cliche but a true one (like most cliches in fact). Each scene must have a beginning, a middle and an end. So many writers forget this basic essential fact when bringing their story together in script form. Introduce your scene, develop it’s particuar theme and end it on a definite, clear note. This might be on a visual image, or an expression, or on a parting word; but do end your scene. Do not leave it and your characters hanging.  It’s sometimes easier to write the meat of the scene and harder to give it a good opening and ending, but it is essential to get this right in order to keep your overall control of your story intact. Ask yourself some basic questions when beginning to write a scene: ‘what is this scene about? What is the job of this particular scene?’ What must I put in and what can I leave out?’ ‘How do I need to leave this scene in order to push the story along?’ Be tough, be exacting and be clear with both yourself as the writer and with your scenes.

4/ VISUALISE, VISUALISE, VISUALISE

I can not stress enough how important it is for the writer to visualise, to imagine, to literally paint with words both your characters and the world they populate. Television, film, are visual mediums and the vitality and impact of your story on the small or large screen is dependant on your skill as both wordsmiths and visual storytellers. A lot of writing pitfalls can be avoided if your visual imagination is strong. Try literally, to ‘see’ the scenes as you write them and in so doing, create an atmosphere or a feeling using a simple but effective description of a room, or lighting, weather, a colour, an item of furniture, a picture. Couple a strong visual imagination with a skill in writing real, grounded, credible dialogue and your script is virtually writing itself!

5/ ONLY CONNECT – MENTAL EDITING

This is a tough one but if you can do this, my guess is that you may have dallied a while in pitfall number 1 and grazed a knee in pitfall 2 but I think you will have skipped lightly over 3 and 4 with little effort. Again, I make the same point but as you are in the business of writing in a visual medium, it is essential that you try and visualise how each separate component of your story, (in scenes) will cut together, and once positioned, how it will look, how the story will hang together and what the overall style and tone of your script will be.  Doing this will ensure you do not fall into another trap (perhaps on a sub-headed list of essential do’s and don’ts!) of allowing yourself too many jumpcuts within the narrative. Where a character literally seems to leap from one set/location to another as if they have jumped time between scenes. When cut together, unless these jumpcuts are explained in the visualisation of the scene, the script will both read and look disjointed. Try and keep in your head as you write, the pace, the tone and the style of your narrative.  The placing of your scenes along your narrative through line is very important. Scenes do not necessarily have to follow a linear pattern of storytelling and chosing to abutt one scene in particular with another can add atmsophere and story intrigue which you may not have actually scripted intentionally. Play with the narrative in your mental edit and in so doing, you will be controlling the pace of your story and where you want your audience to relax and where you want to up the pace.

That’s my TOP FIVE BASIC, ESSENTIAL SCRIPT DO’s AND DONT’s – I hope you find them useful – any feedback is always useful and look out for future DOs and DON’T lists from me@ http://www.SCRIPT ADVICE.co.uk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

script advice newsletter – Spring

SCRIPT ADVICE – NEWSLETTER 08

·        Spring is here!

·        Story telling for Telly

·        Short Courses from SCRIPT ADVICE and other interesting stuff

WHAT THE SCRIPT FACTORY SAYS ABOUT SCRIPT ADVICE:

“We can heartily recommend Yvonne’s workshops – she unravels television like no one else! www.scriptfactory.co.uk

 

Find out if I can help you with your current project@ http://www.scriptadvice.co.uk offering writers mentoring, training and script editing services in order to develop their work and talent. Please pass on this link to your fellow writers.

Or you can join SCRIPT ADVICE WRITERS ROOM@ http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=237330119115&ref=mf

SAWR is all about writing and writers. Here you can share your thoughts about writing; the creative process, the highs and lows of it all. You can also access this group for information about writing workshops that I am currently running, also script editing and mentoring services that I offer. My expertise lies in Television drama but any writer is welcome to share their experiences and their aspirations here.

Or to see my newsletter online, access my Blog@http://www.scriptadvice.co.uk

SPRING IS HERE!

At long last I can see grass where formerly there was mud and the Magnolia is about to burst forth with such a gorgeousness of budding flowers that, typing this and looking out of the office window at the unfurling creaminess of each folded petal, I feel the urge to go all Robert Frost and wax lyrical about sap rising and the strangely lyrical sound of a wood pecker hammering the heck out of the oaks in the nearby wood.  It’s been a long winter but at long last the air smells like the soil is beginning to do it’s job and get stuff growing again, and in this vein of re-birth and new growth – on with SCRIPT ADVICE NEWSLETTER for SPRING!

STORY-TELLING FOR TELLY

If you have ever sat across the table in a restaurant, pub or bar, and listened to a long, boring, interminable, flat, dry, tale told in painstaking detail by a relative, friend or just someone whose chair leg is intertwined with yours, and found that you can not escape this hell because either a/ you are linked to this person by bloodline and gene pool or b/ you can not get past without taking their shin bone marrow with you, then you will no doubt agree with me, that telling a good story is a skill not everyone possesses.

And amazingly, the truth is, that this is even the case amongst writers.  The skill of telling an engaging, teasing, compelling narrative within the pages of a script and in scene form, with a beginning, middle and end which delivers a connective cohesion from the first scene to the last, is very much what the business of television story telling is all about and a particular craft that all writers wishing to get on in television, to pay their bills by writing and to ultimately get commissioned, should definitely get their heads around. Being creative and having a good idea is no longer enough. Being able to creative characters and write good dialogue is also a must, but having the confidence and skill to handle a layered narrative which rattles along and produces the pre-requisite peaks and troughs of an accurately timed television episode is where the real job lies.

Where can you learn this rigorous, exacting skill? Writing for series and soaps, that’s where. I firmly believe that once you have earned your stripes on programmes like EASTENDERS and HOLBY CITY you will be able to tackle absolutely any writing challenge you may meet in the future.

This is not to say (and I must stress this) that our series and soaps much loved by television audiences, are mere training grounds for writers, but they are, by nature of their format and disciplines, excellent arenas within which you can hone and develop your story-telling skills and where you will learn how to structure, pace and deliver a compelling episodic story which will be enjoyed by millions.

Soap-land is where great writers grow up.

Lisa Campbell from Industry Bible, Broadcast Magazine on the value of Soaps –  with which I heartily concur:

It may be going too far to suggest that without EastEnders there would be no King’s Speech, but director Tom Hooper is just one example of the scores of people who have worked on the BBC’s continuing dramas and honed their skills.

And it’s not just directors, writers, producers and commissioners; we can add Kate Winslet, Aaron Johnson and Orlando Bloom to the list.

So it is no doubt with some relief that the BBC greeted the largely positive findings in this week’s National Audit Office (NAO) report into the costs of producing continuing drama.

It showed that the cost per hour has tumbled by 20% over the past eight years at the same time as audience approval has increased – testament to the dedication of BBC in-house teams and the many freelancers who ensure that the continual squeeze in budgets hasn’t led to a continual decline in standards.

The Trust-commissioned report concluded that costs were tightly controlled, but – and it’s a big but – said it is impossible to tell whether the shows represent value for money. This was exactly our reaction when we saw the figures, which are published for the first time.

Without any context or comparisons, they are pretty meaningless. A 2010-11 budget of £29.8m for EastEnders – 3.5p per viewer – sounds like a bargain, but without any benchmark, without any figures from other broadcasters, how can we tell? I can’t see ITV rushing to provide the numbers for Corrie any time soon.

While the report made some sensible recommendations, the Trust has rightly rebutted one: that the series should have some ‘audience-related performance objectives’. This is exactly why bean-counters’ scrutiny of output sets creatives’ hackles rising.

While it is right to expect channels and genres to have key objectives, trying to apply them to individual programmes risks hampering creativity and reducing it to nothing more than a box-ticking exercise. Bafta award-winning series need creative freedom to flourish, and as we’re constantly hearing, there’s quite enough red tape at the BBC already.

The NAO acknowledges that purely financial and quantitative measures only tell part of the story. It fails to mention, for example, the series’ role in our national culture, in refl ecting contemporary issues or in fostering talent. Series such as Holby, Casualty and Doctors are as relentless as they are rewarding, but those who have served their apprenticeship always acknowledge that without it, they wouldn’t be where they are today.

It was a similar story with The Bill, hence the strength of reaction among the drama community after its demise. Its loss places even more responsibility on the BBC and, as continuing drama boss John Yorke asserts, without such series, there wouldn’t be enough jobs in the UK drama industry to sustain it, nor enough trained people to man it.

So to put a value on that? Priceless.

OTHER INTERESTING STUFF

SCRIPT ADVICE COURSES:

Announcing 2 new courses designed by yours truly and hosted by those lovely people at the NFTS.

National Film and Television School: www.nfts.co.uk

Storyline Plot & Development

31 May 2011 to 03 June 2011

This is a four day course exploring the business of creating, plotting, shaping and developing  storylines and ideas for long-running dramas.

SUMMER SOAPS HOW TO WRITE FOR SERIES TELEVISION

I am so looking forward to running this one, it will be intensive, collaborative and challenging and there will be great guest speakers to give you the chance to put your questions to professional writer/developers currently working in the industry.

The dates are July 4^th – 8^th and then a three week gap for writing. Followed by another two days for script editing.

Check out all the details of both courses on the NFTS website. And if you have any questions, email me at Yvonne.grace@scriptadvice.co.uk.

Hope to see you at one or both!

LONDON SCREEN WRITERS FESTIVAL: http://www.londonscreenwritersfestival.com/blog/2011/04/send-in-the-clowns/

This is an informative and all round jolly nice blog from Hayley McKenzie, Script Editor and Script Consultant – what she says here about the need for writers to get their head’s around comedy writing is very true – read and take heed! (Also, if you can, I would check out the London Screen Writers Festival – an excellent place to network and get inspiration!)

I chaired this forum a few years back for the Script Factory and would recommend a visit – they are generally great all round drama types and are always appreciative of the courses I have run for them check it out:

THE SCRIPT FACTORY: http://www.scriptfactory.co.uk/go/Training/Article_963.ht

The Script Factory TV Forum

…is a two-day training and networking event devoted to writing for the small screen (or even the plasma HD-ready widescreen…). While Film and Theatre traditionally require the audience to come to you, television reaches them right where they sit. If you are serious about a career writing drama – and want to actually make some money doing it – then spend two days with us finding out how to get your work into living rooms across the land.

Through a combination of training and guest speakers TV Forum aims to inspire participants to consider how their talents, ideas and aspirations may be suited to the wide range of TV drama opportunities, from soap writing to original single dramas or innovative sitcoms. Over two days, we aim to give screenwriters an essential overview of the current TV landscape coupled with the language, resources and industry knowledge required to further explore how to forge their own TV writing career.

BBC DRAMA WRITERS ACADEMY: Applications for the 2011 BBC Drama Writers Academy will be open on 11th April 2011.  Check out their website for more details http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/writing/writers_academy.shtml

Script Advice meets IN DEVELOPMENT: I will be Guest Speaking at their first Development Meet in London April 12^th at the BFI Benugo Bar, where I will be most likely drinking a glass of something lovely while passing on some of my knowledge and experience of SCRIPT EDITING AND PRODUCING for Series Television. Details below in an email from Sarah:

Dear Development Friends!

Let’s celebrate Spring! April’s In Development drinks gathering is taking place on Tuesday 12th April, at The Benugo Bar, BFI Southbank, from 7.30 p.m.
Our featured guests this month are Yvonne Grace and Philip Shelley, coming along to chat with us about combining work as a script editor and producer in TV and moving between these roles. Both have an impressive list of TV credits on numerous hit shows which you can check out on their profiles.
If you’d like to come along and chat to them informally over a drink, gain some insight from their experience and share some of your own, then please RSVP to this email.
We’ll be in the bar until closing and look forward to seeing you soon!
Sarah and Hannah
In Development
www.indevelopmentuk.blogspot.com

BBC – About the BBC: The real value of Continuing Drama

www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/aboutthebbc

In the BBC official blog, John Yorke writes about the benefits of getting your head around series storytelling

Here’s useful source of info for all budding writers of any genre:

http://essentialwriters.com/

Here is a link to Laurence Timms SAWR member blog NOONE CARES ABOUT YOUR BLOG LAURENCE – I think this link is really useful – thanks L!

http://laurencetimms.wordpress.com/2011/04/06/where-to-find-tv-jobs/

WRITERS GUILD OF GREAT BRITAIN

And a last mention to the WGGB because they do such a lot of work behind the scenes for professional writers

http://www.writersguild.org.uk/

I hope I can help you with your writing; be it a television script, short (or full length) film or screen play, treatment or outline, novel or radio play, I read and script edit them all and can definitely help improve yours.  Drop me an email@ Yvonne.grace@scriptadvice.co.uk and let’s get working!

BYE FOR NOW AND HAPPY WRITING.

Copyright Yvonne Grace Script Advice March 2011

THE SECOND DRAFT EDIT

Welcome to the second instalment in the life of George, my fictitious enthusiastic writer, trying to make her way in the tricky world of television.

A Day In The Life Of George – Jobbing Writer

4.45pm – my flat SE London – Watching Deal or No Deal

Noel Edmunds knows how to milk his moment – he calls it ‘a crucial point in the game’ – we are ‘at 8 box’ and the middle-aged woman on screen is hyperventilating. She’s biting her bottom lip really, really hard. She strokes her lucky gonk, as the music swells beneath an unflattering close-up of ‘Jakki’ (why do game show contestants spell their names funny?) gurning away on National Television. Will number 22 box reveal £250,000 or 1p? Well, will it? I am on the edge of my seat now, don’t care if it’s tacky and television at its lowest common denominator – will Jakki be Deal Or No Deal’s second quarter of a millionaire?  The phone starts to ring – am caught in a vice-like grip of indecision – if I answer it I’ll miss out on watching Jakki either plummet into a penniless hell or instantaneously and without any effort, get very rich. If I don’t answer it I am giving in to the insidious toxin that is daytime television and something that all freelancers worth their salt know, should be avoided at all costs.  Also, I may miss out on a fab telly job or it could just be my mum – again. Noel’s saying some guff about Jakki being a brave contestant and how she’s given the Banker a run for his money – get on with it Noel! I grab the phone as Noel breaks the seal on box 22.

5.15pm – same place

It wasn’t my mum – it was Hope from Westenders – she’s the nicest Script Editor out of the lot but today sounded panicked and a bit pissed off. She tells me a complicated tale of why her script schedule has gone pear-shaped – I manage to catch something about Patty Faulkner (who plays Jessie in the soap) double booking a stint on a cruise-liner, a sorry tale about the main frame crashing and her producer’s smear test as the reasons for this upheaval. The upshot is that I have to come to Westenders Production Office first thing tomorrow for an emergency Script Edit on my second draft.

No Problem! I pipe enthusiastically while trying to swallow the huge lump that is currently crawling up my throat. The truth being (which I naturally don’t tell Hope) is that I haven’t written a word yet – having (I thought) 2 whole weeks to get it done.

Putting the phone down I catch a glimpse of Alan Tichmarsh on a garish sofa gushing away to a celebrity chef – bugger – Deal or No Deal has finished and now I’m wallowing in deadline hell and can’t even take solace in a complete stranger’s fate to boot.

2.00am – my flat – bedroom SE London

I am in bed but not asleep. I am drowning in a sea of paper, whole pages ripped and torn, ink stains from a handful of biros leaking into the pillow case (don’t know why, I like to write with a pen before I laptop my stuff) but at least it’s done; my second draft – in approximately 7 hours (allowing breaks for weeing and weeping) – not bad for a first timer and I am rather proud of the cliff-hanger I have come up with, whereby Stella (Laundromat assistant to the cruise-liner bound Jessie) and her secret lover Davey (on-screen husband of Jessie) get down to it during the spin cycle of his white wash. Done. Thank God. In my bedroom mirror a red-eyed alien stares back at me – whoever said television was a glamorous job was not a writer and did not work in television.

9.30am – Westenders Production Office – Hope’s Desk

I have a murky-looking coffee in a Styrofoam cup, I have blood-shot eyes, my mouth is totally without moisture and the coffee is sticking my tongue to the roof of my mouth. My script is no longer in one piece but approximately 5,000. Hope is ‘re-arranging’ my scenes – she says it’s not the dialogue that’s the problem – it’s the structure. She says it’s not the characterisation that’s at fault – it’s what the characters are saying (doesn’t that mean the dialogue’s no good?) Apparently not asserts Hope, it’s merely a matter of context – scene context – which is why she’s just ripped apart the best part of my third act, ruining in my view, the build up to the sex on the washing machine dénouement. But Hope is no longer listening to me. A Script Editor on a 4 x a week soap under pressure is a terrible sight to see and Hope is under more than most. I got here at 8.30am as requested and she has spent the last hour speed reading my episode so she can tear it apart to try and make sense of the pre-planned storyline centring almost entirely on Jessie and her brave fight to combat breast cancer, before Patty Faulkner who plays her, took herself off to sing ‘Memories’ around the Canaries. I really want to cry but Hope has just started so I do the decent thing and give her the floor.

1.30pm – Westenders – The Canteen

Well. Am I glad that’s over. The episode is now to length, it has characters in it that are available to play the scenes, it has 2 ad breaks and instead of a sexy dramatic cliff hanger, it has a comedy one, featuring Beckam, the laundromat’s Great Dane and his fatal attraction to the Pekinese from the pic ‘n mix next door.  But at least Hope is happy. Or I hope she is – the last I saw of her before I crawled to this over-lit, over-heated canteen for a bowl of something cheap but nourishing (I settled for just cheap) was her scurrying figure clutching my annotated second draft, with Jane H the scary PA trying to grab it out of her hands bleating about not having enough time to do a shooting schedule…I reckon if I get a wiggle on I’ll get back in time to catch Noel’s recap of yesterday’s episode of Deal Or No Deal and find out if Jakki got lucky or not….

Thanks for reading and WATCH OUT FOR THE NEXT INSTALMENT OF GEORGE THE JOBBING WRITER, SOON TO APPEAR ON THIS BLOG!