WHAT THE SCRIPT FACTORY SAYS ABOUT SCRIPT ADVICE:
“We can heartily recommend Yvonne’s workshops – she unravels television like no one else! http://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.
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Hello Again.
It’s a hot end to the Summer, and I have been juggling entertaining a five year old with Olympian energy levels, and keeping the wheels of Script Advice turning, so things have been really busy lately, here at Script Advice Towers.
I continue to help you with your scripts, and if you haven’t used me and my expertise yet, please do, I guarantee after you have used my report service, or my script editing package, you will feel more focused and more confident about your work and be assured of ways to fix the problems you may have encountered.
WHAT I HAVE BEEN UP TO
In October, I will be running a script workshop for the Jersey Arts Trust and taking the members of the Trust through the ins and outs of creating, shaping and writing treatments for television and also editing a draft of their own scripts. I always enjoy working directly one on one with writers.
I am also editing my book TV WRITING – SERIES AND SERIALS (working title) which is to be published in May 2014 by Kamera Books. It will be a jam-packed, entertaining read, about the television industry and how to work happily within it as a writer.
I will soon be supplying the Indie Training Fund http://www.indietrainingfund.com/; suppliers of training to the television and film industry, another packed, entertaining, informative workshop on Story Lining for Television Series. To furnish this workshop, I have written my own bible for a soap/series entitled Harkness Hall. I find it really interesting how each writer’s interpretation of the same groupings of characters with the same backdrop, creates totally individual approaches to story lining the show each time I hold a workshop.
THE LONDON SCREENWRITING FESTIVAL OCTOBER 2013
The Biggest Screenwriting Festival; I spoke there last year, it is a great place to meet, share information, get your work across to people in the industry and learn. Check the details out here.
THE SHOW MUST GO ON/LSWF 2012
Here is a link, to fellow script consultant Michelle Goode’s site where she gives a summary of the talk I chaired at the London Screenwriter’s Festival last year. It makes for interesting reading, and if you were not able to attend, then this is the session in sound bites. The session was called THE SHOW MUST GO ON and we covered just about every aspect of writing for long running shows during the hour long session.
http://www.writesofluid.com/writing-for-soaps-london-screenwriters-festival-londonswf-scriptchat/#.UieAWpVwbIV
INTERVIEW WITH WRITE SO FLUID ABOUT TELEVISION AND WORKING IN IT
Michelle has also interviewed me recently, about the job of Script Editing, and how I got into television and the route I took to become a producer. Here is a link to the chat. There are some useful tips for writers keen to work in television here.
http://www.writesofluid.com/tuesday-chat-interview-with-tv-script-editor-and-consultant-yvonne-grace/#.UiiOM5VwbIU.
In the interview, I say at one point, that the most common problem I come across in script editing writer’s work is: ‘a lack of structural knowledge; how to plan and map the storyline across the duration of the script’.
Here is a link to a blog I wrote a while back about plotting: PULLING OUT THE STORY. I cover most of the main issues regarding story lining in this and hopefully, if you haven’t read it already, it will prove useful for you when structuring your next screenplay or episode of television.
FINDING YOUR SHAPE
There is a lot of information on the Net about plotting and structuring screen plays. The given advice on basic structure for screenplays is the three act structure. However, this is not always suitable to follow if your story is multi-layered, or if you want to strap your storylines across more than a single; and write a series or serial format.
If you want to create a swiftly paced, high octane, impactful drama, with twists and turns aplenty, then you may be looking at creating a structure that has a six, or an eight act structure. It all depends on the type of story you want to tell.
It helps too, if at the inception of your idea, you work with a shape; literally, a drawn outline of the story as a whole, to which you make your storylines stick as you progress through the script.
Linear:
Some stories are mainly linear in shape. The narratives flow in the same time frame, and run parallel to each other, at times crossing when the storylines meet at a given dramatic point.
Non-Linear:
Others have a non-linear shape; a narrative line that travels back and forth through the time line of the story, and the characters’ journey. Here there are flash backs and scene montage.
The Circle:
Others are cyclical. All points begin at the same point and come full circle to meet the end point at the same time.
The Wheel:
The focal plot point in the centre, the main protagonist, like a circus Ring Master, controls the fates of the ensemble of characters who also populate his/her world. Or, there is a single, inciting incident which affects all other stories. Out from the centre then, dart the storylines, like spokes from a wheel.
It helps to visualise your storylines before you commit them to your story board, or your card system, your white board or your computer; (which ever story lining system works for you). In this way, you can keep a sense of the whole thing in your head as you progress through your script.
Don’t let the science of story lining and story structure blind you, and take your confidence away; when it comes to story structure, the rule is simple. All storylines have a natural shape. Identify for yourself where the main drama beats are; where the story peaks and where the dips or troughs are. Then go back. Revisit the storyline and make sure you have as many twists and turns as you can make and as many connections with the other storylines as you can.
Once you have done this, the over all shape or number of acts in the script itself, will be clearer for you.
Start with the storyline. Not the number of acts.
USEFUL INFORMATION:
I blog for other sites too, here I am on two knotty issues facing writers;
TELEVISION WRITING; GETTING INTO SHAPE
My blog for Euroscript: http://euroscript.wordpress.com/
HOW TO MAKE YOUR SCRIPT, SCRIPT EDITOR FRIENDLY
Me on the Screen-Lab Blog: http://www.screen-lab.co.uk/
USEFUL WEBSITES:
BASIC QUESTIONS ON SCREENWRITING ANSWERED
If you are getting started, this is a good site to use which can answer basic questions, to more taxing ones, concerning screenwriting.
http://screenwriting.io/
TV WRITING – WEBSITE – DOWNLOADABLE SCRIPTS
This is a great site to give you a clear idea of what a television script looks like, if you are struggling with format issues.
https://sites.google.com/site/tvwriting/
SCRIPT COMPETITIONS UK
From Script Angel website, a list of current screenwriting contests. These are recommended to writers as a way of getting their work out there and assessed.
http://scriptangel.wordpress.com/2013/08/31/screenwriting-contests-updated-september-2013
BBC WRITER’S ROOM
A good source of information and accessible blogs, interviews and links to screenwriting tips and competitions.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/
THE DAILY SCRIPT
This is another site whereby you can download a script of the day.
http://www.dailyscript.com/
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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!
YVONNE GRACE SEPT 2013
Scriptadvice.co.uk's Blog 