HOW TO MAKE YOUR SCRIPT, SCRIPT EDITOR FRIENDLY

Charles Harris of @screen_lab.co.uk asked me to guest on his site. Here I dissect the sort of script an editor likes to read http://www.screen-lab.co.uk/

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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SCRIPT ADVICE NEWSLETTER 17 – CRITICISM – HOW TO TAKE IT

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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: https://scriptadvice.wordpress.com/

 * HELLO AGAIN

* CRITICISM AND HOW TO TAKE IT

 HELLO AGAIN

Well it’s still not quite Spring yet, so am following my Nanna’s maxim; ‘don’t cast a clout till May is out’ and putting on a cardi.

Following on quickly from my last newsletter of March, I felt the need to write to you all about criticism and how important I think it is in the development of any creative individual.

CRITICISM AND HOW TO TAKE IT

Those of you who are members of my group on facebook The Script Advice Writers Room will know that I started my career in television as a Script Editor on Eastenders and that I am passionate about the job that got me there in the first place.

Talking to writers via my job at Script Advice Towers and on Facebook and Twitter I often declare Script Editors to be the unsung heroes of drama and at every turn will champion their place on any drama project.

 Those of you that have used my Script Editing, reading and report services via http://www.scriptadvice.co.uk will also be familiar with my approach to this delicate, taxing, rewarding job of helping you write better scripts, one draft at a time.

 The process of working with a Script Editor should never be:

Negative.

Scary.

Depleting.

A waste of time.

Lousy value for money.

 Of course, non of the above apply to working with me(!) I enjoy the work and that comes across to my clients. They enjoy the process of having their work analysed by someone who clearly gets a kick out of bigging up the great bits of their script and sorting out the not so great. And they know they are in safe hands because I have done this before and know what I’m doing. This is key. You have to trust the person script editing your work. They must come up to scratch in your view too. This is a symbiotic relationship – it should never be toxic and never be parasitic.

 And I am not talking exclusively here about the script editor/writer relationship; when I talk about criticism I also mean all criticism. Any criticism. The feedback that you get from having your script read by a professional reader, or the opinions you garner from having your script read by someone close to you, or a friend of a friend who is somehow connected to the industry. However you chose to expose yourself to criticism, when it comes, (which is most certainly will) you must be prepared for it.

 This whole business of combing through a body of creative writing ultimately aimed at a critical, savvy audience; of pitching your lot into an already teaming pool of writer talent, can be and often is, very galling. So it is not lightly that I say, if you want to be a happy, productive, successful writer, start growing a second skin. Now.

 Taking criticism is a really hard thing to do well.

You need broad shoulders. Strong chin. Thick skin. Not a good look, admittedly, (unless you’re Robert Downey Jr’s understudy) but still, those qualities will hold you in good stead when you have opened your work up to scrutiny from the outside world, and are standing on the crumbly bank of the River Criticism as it flows swiftly by.

 Come to criticism in the same way you came to the writing process in the first place. Open minded. Without agenda. Positively. Ready to do good work. With a smile. With a bucket of energy. And take the highs with the lows. Always remain open to suggestion and when you don’t agree with the opinion/note (which will most certainly happen) do not take personal offence.

 Hard not to. I know. I have been on the receiving end of good and bad criticism in my time both as a Producer and as a Script Editor. And believe me, when you have a body of people decrying the work you put your spine and most of your blood count into, (whom you are never likely to meet, but who still feel they have the right to get personal about your abilities) it’s a tough call. It’s also quite difficult to find your ‘happy place’ when you have a disgruntled, sleep-deprived writer querying whether you have a brain at all between those ears – but taking it personally never works. Get clever instead. Get critical. Get tough on your script and on yourself. Get up, keep doing it and firmly request clarification on what you don’t agree with from your reader/script editor. Without swearing. (Not always possible.)

 Why open yourself out in this way? Because it is a necessity for all creative types to have at least another opinion on the work they produce. Look at the work of now famous writers and performers that has been allowed to go unchecked. Uncriticised. The work suffers. Ego takes over. The craft of what they once did, is lost in a destructive sense of ‘knowing’ that dulls the original wit and drive of what they used to stand for.

 Most of us don’t have this problem. We are not surrounded by yes men but are struggling on a daily basis with this ‘stuff’ this writing business, that needs sorting. So you need someone to fight your corner or to face you with some criticisms.

 Without this un-biased eye, this un-emotional, critical pass over the work you bled for, you will never know if it is truely what you meant your work to be. Because you wrote this script to communicate something – didn’t you? And by definition, this script needs another (several others in truth) opinion to get it right for what it is intended to be for.

 A commissioned television script will have to go through several layers of criticism, opinion and ultimately, drafts,  before it becomes the ‘thing’ you envisaged when you started your outline all those months ago. You may fear it will not be what you set it out to be, but if you want to get your work seen, appreciated, talked about, you need to be open to all that criticism and that change.

 Your spec script, the one that isn’t commissioned, but may get you through Producer doors, is also open to criticism. There will not be as many critical layers here – money, in this case, is not the issue – but your voice is. Here again, you may find you have to listen to someone young enough to be your off spring say something nebulus like ‘I’m just not feeling empathy here’ and bite back your knee-jerk response; ‘give it time, you’re still growing’.

 Criticism can be direct and personal (see above). Can be general, unfocussed, and faceless (see above). It can be well-intentioned, it can be down right bitchy. Negative and positive. But in all cases, criticism is what makes you grow as a writer, as a creative individual and ultimately into someone who can not only take criticism well, but give it too.

All thanks to your kind heart, your writing talent and of course, your thick skin.

 Join me on Facebook at the Script Advice Writers’ Room; http://www.facebook.com/groups/237330119115/

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‘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 APRIL 2013

QUALITY CONTROL

Holby City 1999. I had been asked by Mal Young (Head of Series drama at BBC1) to produce the second series of this critically acclaimed medical drama. The first series had not been the ratings success the BBC were looking for to cement it’s place in the prime time on channel 1. That’s not to say it was floundering, no siree, this fledgling (as it was then) series was regularly attracting 6 million to the telly box on a weekly basis but the Beeb wanted to build on this potential. So I had to do something about it.

Mal was instrumental in shaping my approach to the scripting and storylining side of the process and I was glad to learn at his side as it were, because coming from Brookside, as he had, there was nothing much he didn’t know about series drama and about long running story telling.

So I thank him here, for what he taught me, and now, 13 years later, I still use the basic facts I learnt then about making great, popular television drama series.

Holby City had already proved itself in terms of it’s healthy, strong, returnable premise or as it’s known in telly circles, the Precinct. This clearly was a great backdrop to the sort of stories we wanted to tell, given that the sister show Casualty, was doing (and still does) great storylines and delivering repeatedly solid ratings.

Holby had to be the same, but different. A conundrum definitely, but not an insurmountable problem.

Series 1,thanks to Tony McHale and his collaboration with Mal Young, had made sure this new kid on the medical block was up to the task, but I had to make sure I didn’t do the unthinkable, which was fixing something that wasn’t broken in the first place.

So, the precinct was in place. We also have a solid core of characters to which we return on a weekly basis to pick up their particular on-going storyline in conjunction with the story of the week, which is brought in (often at speed) through those increasingly familiar double doors.

But I needed, (with the help of my talented script editors and team of writers that I had managed to create in record time), to come up with storylines and characters that not only fitted the established formula, but ones that gave a fresh approach to the new series aswell.

I also had another problem. Quite a big one. This series, the BBC had ordered 16 x 60 mins. Series 1 of Holby had been 9 x 50 mins so I had a lot more drama to create and for 10 minutes longer per episode. 10 minutes. It’s a life time on screen.

And there are two major elements of each episode we had to keep in control of as the series progressed. 1/ The on-going series element 2/ The story of the week.

Taking the series element first, here are the 3 main questions I constantly asked myself, my script editors and writers as we began the process of creating story for this unwieldly drama beast.

1/ Is the storyline Dramatic?
2/ Is it engaging?
3/ Does it allow for character growth and development?
The storylines that did not deliver all three and did not immediately strike as ‘having legs’ or to put it another way, to be able to go further than one or two episodes, was rejected at the Story Conference.

Character was a major factor in determining whether the story made the cut or not. Holby City 2 had great characters, my favourite being the arrogant Surgical Consultant Anton Meyer (created by Tony McHale) and played by George Irving. Then there was Michael French as Registrar Nick Jordan and Lisa Faulkner as senior house officer Victoria Merrick. Angela Griffin as Jasmine Hopkins and Nicola Stephenson as nurse Julie Fitzjohn. The girls in particular presented a raft of great storyline possibilities and even though Michael French rather infamously left the series half way through, we felt he was a great character and delivered some lovely emotionally real scenes. Michael came back to Holby but a little later on. Perhaps it was something I said, but I know that it probably wasn’t. (!)

The story of the week was where we made the most difference to the series format.

This time, what concerned me more when coming up with story of the week ideas, was what not to do. We mustn’t therefore:

1/ Repeat the same operation in the hope it was dramatic (like too many prosthetic heart ops).
2/ Chose a storyline too reliant on medical voracity to make it dramatic (too much ‘medi-speak’ in the dialogue that only managed to ostrocise, not include the audience. Also a storyline would be rejected if we had to bend too many medical rules to fit the story we wanted to tell).
3/ Exclude the series storyline and create a story ‘bubble’ that had no connection with the rest of the hospital.
Finally, after much walking around the carpark at Threshold House (I used to smoke in those days!) I hit on what we should do in order to guarantee a different take, but still deliver a solid story of the week.

I told the writers they were in fact writing a single piece of drama. They had to fill 60 mins of television with a truely resonant, layered, emotionally engaging story. I suggested they look to favourite films. Look to fairytales. Look to folklore. Look to popular music and the stories told in songs. We, the Holby City team, I said, would wrap the series element around the central A story that they, the writers, created.

Their choice of story had to resonate with a least one member of the regular nursing or surgical staff, and it must also bring out elements of the characters involved that we hadn’t seen before.

I also said that the medical side of the storyline, had to be maliable enough to create a relevant, human storyline and not be reliant on merely the condition to create drama.

Maybe this doesn’t sound so revolutionary now. But then, Producers were pretty much fixated on creating storylines that presented the opportunity to blow something up, or rattle a few cages by featuring a risque kiss, or making the storyline Issue, rather than Emotionally, based.

And so Holby City Series 2 featured stories about isolation and fear of the unknown via the interaction of an Aspergers boy and Nick Jordan as he proposes to leave his beloved hospital. ‘Faith’ was written by the late Al Hunter Ashton and delivered a whopping 9.8 million rating. We did a Holby City take on the story of the Nativity ‘Tidings of Comfort and Joy’ by Tony McHale which easily brought home 9.64 million.
It wasn’t the fact that we chose to do a story about Cystic Fibrosis that was important. We chose it because the need to find a blood match in either parent so they could donate a part of their lung to their dying child, ultimately revealed the mother’s infidelity.

The medical story of the week had to have resonance with the fraility of us, as people, as flawed human beings.

If the job is too create popular (and by that I mean audiences in their millions, regularly watching the show; making an ‘appointment to view’ it, then the following elements must be there in it’s makeup.

1/ Relevant to a wide audience base. (the ‘what would I do in that instance?’ factor)
2/ Engaging on an emotional and or an entertainment basis.
3/ Contain enough jeopardy to engage initially. (not necessary edge of the seat tension, but ‘what’s going to happen next?’ factor has to be there)

There was quite a lot of negative press at the time regarding the forumlaic quality of the show, but there was also a ton of great responses to our intensely researched, emotionally engaging, relevant and above all dramatic storylines which explored the human condition at it’s most vulnerable.

I am a fan of structure. I am a fan of pattern. I am a fan of commerically viable, dramatically engaging storylines. I am not a fan of something formulaic without a soul, but I am most defintely 100% behind a formula that works, time and time again. Year on year. Series after series.

Holby City series 15 is currently airing. Holby City series 2 was a wet baby compared with the lively young adult it now is, and although some changes have had to happen to it’s forumla, the overall shape and tone of the episodes remains the same.

Back in 1999 we were creating a blue print that is still used today. Love it or hate it, formula has won out.

SCRIPT ADVICE Newsletter – 6

Contents:

• Morning!
• I’ve Got An Idea For A Script….
• A Day In The Life Of George, Jobbing Writer – ‘Networking’
• A Bit Of Extra

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

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

 

MORNING!

I used to be a morning person. Happy to embrace the day, full of optimistic energy. Then again, I used to be a late-night let’s party till dawn person and during a particularly fecund period in my life, I also achieved the happy condition of being both at the same time. But then you get a bit older, parts of your body start to creak and other bits grow creases where there weren’t any previously and suddenly, your body tells you that drinking the same amount of alcoholic units as your BMI and staying up talking rubbish till 2am is no longer an option. Not unless you actually enjoy embracing the toilet bowl like an old friend and the dubious experience of greeting your 3 year old at 6am still drunk from the night before. No I don’t do that any more (honest) and am now a fully paid up member of the ‘I hate mornings’ club and hold a supplement subscription to the ‘going to bed before 10pm’ group.  I now hate mornings because mine start so eye-wateringly early. Having a 3 year old puts paid to the once entirely un-appreciated joy of a morning lie in. He gets up with stuff to talk about (cars, trucks, dragons and knights) and lots of jobs to do (playing with cars and trucks and dressing up as a knight. I have to be the dragon, (which at such an un-godly hour and without any special makeup or lighting, I manage to do very well indeed) and all of this before those techy types at Cbeebies have turned their transmission switch to the ‘ON’ position.  Between the hours of 6 and 8am I take the view that mummies over the age of 35 should be seen and not heard. Children under the age of 5 however, are seen and heard all too much. I try and hide in the kitchen, attempting to look busy when in fact all I manage to do is un-stick my eyelashes and unload the dish- washer. Michael finds me lurking there, hogging the kettle, trying to keep my eye bags from hitting the lino and jabs me in the bum with his sonic screwdriver:

 

Michael:  Mummy?

Me:  Yes Michael?

Michael:  Are these my eyebrows?’

Me: Yes, and they are blonde and sandy. What colour are mummy’s eyebrows?

Michael: (close scrutiny) Grey.

 

I hate mornings.

 

I’VE GOT AN IDEA FOR A SCRIPT…..

I hear this a lot in my line of work. It often makes my heart sink a bit when the enthusee says something like ‘I was on the bus the other day and over heard a conversation between two women – very funny – it would make a great script’. Yes, there is no doubt that wigging in to other people’s conversations is a great way of ‘tuning in’ your ear; to getting used to listening to the rhythms of natural speech, and to learning how to control the ebb and flow of realistic, colloquial conversation. The Demon of Bad Dialogue lurks in the wings of many a professionally turned out script and not every writer finds it easy to write credible dialogue. The tone and style of writers such as Russell T Davies, Paul Abbot, Kay Mellor and Jonathon Harvey, to name just 3 writers capable of packing a strong, pithy dialogue punch is formed in my view, by their obvious love of language and the way people actually speak.

 

It is often the context in which the writer sets the dialogue spoken by a particular character, that really makes the scene sing. Often, it is the subtext of the scene that underpins the strength and appeal of the dialogue spoken and if a writer does not pay attention to the interplay between text and subtext within the scene, even lyrical and interesting dialogue can fall flat.

 

So an idea can start with language, but must actually contain a story to tell. This may sound obvious, but honestly, it is all too often that I find myself labouring through a script that actually does not contain enough plot, or enough things happening. So many scripts are created enthusiastically by writers who believe they have something to say, but who, in actual fact, have merely the kernel of an idea that started with something they overheard or an article they read or a event that occurred.

 

At the risk again of stating the obvious, stories have to have a beginning, a middle and an end and somewhere during and between these stages, there has to be a qualitative, clear, engaging journey taken and a progression shown throughout the narrative, via the characters and what they actual say and do. An idea becomes a script when text, subtext, character, dialogue and plot all come together. Now the writer can explore and describe visually and emotionally, the message, the moral, the theory behind their story. Now the writer is free to teach us something we might not have known, or show us lives that are not our own, but with which we can empathise. Now, with a strong narrative through line, like beads hanging on a string, the scenes within the script push the story on inch-by-inch and the characters in those scenes grow and develop and we, the audience are taken along for the ride.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF GEORGE, JOBBING WRITER

NETWORKING

7am – INT – MY FLAT – BEDROOM

Wake up to a feeling of foreboding and dread. Can’t think why. Do a bit of head rocking to see if I have a hangover. No. Check the pillow next to me, yep, empty. So, no over indulgence and no naughty one night stands. Why the creeping flush of anxiety under my PJs? Can’t be the menopause. I couldn’t be that unlucky surely. Better get up.  Cleaning my teeth sometimes aids mental clarity – must be something to do with those red and blue stripes.

 

7.30am – INT –  MY FLAT – BATHROOM

Fiercely brushing, then suddenly, like being hit in the head with a Space Hopper, I remember. Today is the first of a 4 day writer/agent/producer of telly drama jamboree called WriteUp! The organisers are friends of Scary Producer at Westenders and she has sort of almost-definitely-without-trying-to-hide-it forced the writer team to attend.  WriteUp! It’s going to be hell and I hate it already, even the thought of that bloody irritating exclamation mark is making my cuticles curl. I spit toothpaste into the sink and in the mirror; my reflection gurns back at me. I look like Westender’s heavyweight griever Poppy Lemon; crumpled in grief at her toy-boy’s funeral, face collapsing inwards like a punctured vacuum flask.

 

10.00am – INT – THE ONEDIEN LINE SUITE – THE PLACE – LONDON

Am trying to look interested in the WriteUp! display board while up on the little stage, Viv Cholmondley (WriteUp! Festival Director) stoically chairs an earnest and humourless debate about the importance of comedy in dramatic writing. I stare blankly at a group photo of Viv and her WriteUp! Associates grinning inanely, perched on the steps of their new premises off the Goldhawk Road, and wonder why it is that these writery type events seem to happen in venues that actively drain the creative juice out of any one remotely creative or juicy.  Speaking of which, Jaz Verge, the enfant terrible of new writers, whom at 17 is the youngest writer to have a play staged at the Royal Court, is currently deeply embedded in his own ego and is struggling to breathe whilst managing to continue to wax on about how, in his latest play ‘Torture in Tooting’ he likes to insert ‘moments of intense joy’ into scenes ‘unashamedly graphic’ in their ‘diabolical depressiveness’. God, I would like to punch him in his pretentious tattoo.

 

11.00am – INT – THE ONEDIEN LINE SUITE – THE PLACE – LONDON

Coffee Break. Viv, it turns out, is not a bad sort. She was very patient in her explanation of how to say her surname (not, apparently phonetically, you actually pronounce it Chumley – which beggars the response WHY THE FECK DON’T YOU WRITE IT LIKE THAT THEN?) and asked me if I had enjoyed the earlier ‘locking of horns’ and wasn’t Jaz marvellous? I think I managed to nod before Miles Cuban, gripping Viv like she was a muffin and he was carb-starved, dragged her away for a conflab with his celebrated new client Jaz. I have seen Miles suck the marrowbone out of a chicken’s windpipe, so I know how ruthless and thorough that man is. Jaz, I have no doubt, will go far and he doesn’t need me to swell the numbers currently circulating in his orbit. I cross the acrid blue shag pile in search of like-minded types.

 

11.15am – INT – THE ONEDIEN LINE SUITE – THE PLACE – LONDON

Now this is more like it. Holly (Westenders Nicest Script Editor), Colin Clipboard (Westenders archivist) Dylan and Su (both writers) and me are gathered in the ante-chamber having a metaphorical group hug before we have to go back into the Blue Room and get Networking. Dylan and I are discussing the merits of the series our suite is named after. We both agree that it is fab and shabby in perfect proportion. I also rather worryingly find Peter Gilmore, the leading man, a bit on the buff side. Su thinks sideboards are a massive turn off and we get confused for a bit because Holly thinks we are talking about furniture and says she’s always loved her mum’s welsh dresser. We put her straight over Peter Gilmore’s mutton chop face-do and then Scary Producer swoops down on us. She’s not happy. Neither is Di Featherstonehaugh (WriteUp! Co-Director) who is apparently, trying to get bums back on seats in the Blue Room to begin the next forum, ‘Traversing The Emotional Landscape of Contemporary Drama’.  We do as we are told and disband.

 

6pm – THE BATTERED BADGER PUB – SOHO

Thank God that’s over. I am now pebble dashed by pretention, masquerading as good intention. Di Featherstonehaugh (not pronounced phonetically either, but as Fanshaw – these WriteUp! girls are taking the piss surely?) dragged us by the hand and we traversed the hills and dales, clinks and grykes of dramatic writing in modern Britain. Then, alarmingly, we were split up into ‘discussion groups’ and forced to collate our thoughts on ‘Characterisation and Its Role in Long Running Series’. I could have killed Dylan, because he shot his hand up and said my name when Viv asked us to nominate a group spokesperson. I don’t think The Onedien Line Suite appreciated my garbled, convoluted, rambling summary of our collective findings and now, half way down a bottle of Sauvignon, feet swelling up like warm bread in the heat of the pub, all I can recall of the most agonising 15 minutes of my life is a visual image of me, stammering and gulping, over-lit by strip lighting, my top clashing horribly with the lilac Venitian blinds, trying to avoid saying the phrase Emotional Landscape.

9.30pm – THE BATTERED BADGER PUB – SOHO

The Battered Badger smells of sweat, cork and corduroy. The talk is bouncy, fun, irreverent and loud. Shelly Croon, Dylan’s agent is half way down a second bottle of Fitou with Miles Cuban (we wonder if she will survive such a close encounter and I drunkenly vow to keep an eye on her windpipe for her, which she (naturally) does not understand.) Su is engrossed in a heated debate a table away, with some writing regulars from our rival soap Rossaman Street about how to keep writing for a series 40 odd years old, still fresh.  Over by the now defunct cigarette machine, a nugget of established playwrights share anecdotes with a flank of fledgling telly writers and arranged up the stairway, Radio writers discuss the rigours of writing for a non-visual medium.  Everywhere there is talk, argument, a sharing of experience, a swapping of knowledge and a lot of laughter. Di (of the improbable surname) starts the singing and at the end of it all, I think everyone agrees that this year’s WriteUp! Jamboree has got off to a flying start.

 

 

 

 

A BIT OF EXTRA

If you are a student, or have been during 2010 this is the competition for you:

National Student Film Association Announces Free Screenwriting Competition

Today the National Student Film Association (NSFA) invites all student film-makers to submit their short film scripts to the National Student Screenwriting Competition. The competition is run in partnership with the BFI and boasts a host of professional judges including BAFTA winner Asitha Ameresekere, the organisers of the London Screenwriters’ Festival, and board members of Euroscript and Women in Film and Television. The competition is aimed at UK students of all kinds who are looking for a career in film but have not yet had the chance to present their work to industry professionals. Not only does the competition offer fantastic prizes such as a mentoring meeting at BAFTA as well as BFI and IMAX vouchers, but students will also have the opportunity to get their scripts read by two members of the high calibre jury.

The competition is hosted online at Circalit, an online platform for aspiring writers, where all the entries will be visible to the public, and talent scouts will be paying close attention to the winning writers. Raoul Tawadey, CEO of Circalit, commented, “The NSFA are doing student film makers a great service by connecting young artists with industry professionals. Starting a career in film can be a difficult process and the gap between writing your first screenplay and seeing your work produced can be very daunting. I hope this competition and the work that the NSFA are doing will give students the opportunity to kick start a career in the film industry.”

Screenplay submissions can be up to five pages long and of any genre. The deadline is the 7th November 2010.

For more information please visit, www.studentfilm.org.uk

Contact: Franzi Florack  franzi.florack@studentfilm.org.uk

SCRIPT ADVICE AT THE NATIONAL FILM AND TELEVISION SCHOOL

 

4 DAY WORKSHOP – PLOT AND DEVELOPMENT:

November 8 – 11^th for those interested in HOW TO STORYLINE FOR LONG RUNNING DRAMA and HOW TO WRITE A TREATMENT FOR TELEVISION. Check out the link below

http://www.nftsfilm-v.ac.uk/index.php?module=Shortcourse&action=Schedule

Or go direct to their website http://www.nftsfilm-tv.ac.uk and browse through their NFTS Shortcourses pages.

BBC WRITERS ROOM

http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/

This website is always a very useful font of info for writers. Their Opportunities web page is full of competitions and initiatives for writers new to the game and also those with a little more experience. I particularly like the look of this one, but there are many more opportunities listed so check out their website:

 

Little Brother’s Big Opportunity

BAFTA award winning television and film production company Little Brother Productions is offering a talented new writer £1,000.00 to develop an original television drama idea of theirs through to treatment stage.
Little Brother’s Big Opportunity is an endeavour to discover further new writing talent, and to develop with them compelling, original drama for television.

To be eligible, writers must have had one piece of their work professionally produced or, at the very least, have had a professional reading of their work.

Writers who have contributed episodes to UK television series or serials (e.g. a long running soap) are eligible to apply, but writers who have already had an original single, series or serial broadcast on UK television are not eligible to enter. No prior writing experience for television is required.
To apply, writers must submit their writing CV and the piece of their work of which they are most proud, that best demonstrates their talent, (this could be a stage play, a radio play or a screenplay) to:

Little Brother’s Big Opportunity
Little Brother Productions
155x Northcote Road
London, SW11 6QB
Deadline: December 31st 2010.

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 November 2010

SCRIPT ADVICE NEWSLETTER 4

Contents:

• Hello
• Mother or Media Mogul?
• A Day In The Life Of…
• Interesting Stuff
• Forthcoming Workshops with Script Advice
  

Find out if I can help you with your current project @ www.scriptadvice.co.uk and please pass on the link to your fellow writers. Or you can join SAWR (script advice writers room) at http://www.facebook.com/group or my Blog @https://scriptadvice.wordpress.com/

GOING STRONG IN GORDON ROAD

Hello again. We, (Big Mike, Little Michael and Me) are still here.

I had to fill in a form recently which said ‘Give previous address if you have lived at your current address for less than 3 years’. I realised that I have rarely stayed anywhere longer than 3 years, which I found mildly shocking.  More of an eye-opener however, was the length of the list I ultimately produced by laboriously recalling all the houses I have lived in and places I have moved to and from, since leaving home in 1982. In total I have lived in 21 houses and have been slowly orbiting the country around the M1/M62 corridor between The North and The South for the greater part of 28 years. Like my friend Vania once wisely commented I am ‘an ocean liner not willing to dock’.

So I am pleased to say I am still in Gordon Road but the 3 year milestone approaches and who knows, I may have to haul anchor again….

I am glad to say that at last Spring has finally decided to get out of bed, moisturise and face her impatient public. The countryside around our little village is becoming greener by the minute and there are snowdrops tentatively waving from the hedgerows. Even the snow-bogged, mud splattered, rain-drenched, sodden, mildewed mess that is currently our garden has started to look less like a flattened cow pat and more like a cow pat in the process of rapidly drying out. Hurrah! The lid has come off the Early Learning Centre Water and Sand Table (a must have for all 2 year olds) and the toddler lawn mower is finally able to phtt phtt without a splutt splutt.

MOTHER OR MEDIA MOGUL?

Broadcast magazine are doing a survey at the moment.  If you are female, work in the media and have ever asked yourself the question ‘can I have a family and a career in telly?’ click this link and have your say www.broadcastnow.co.uk Or if you are currently trying to break in to the industry and also have an idea you might want to be a mum at some stage too, then read on….

Ann Diamond on Five live recently said that she wished when she was a teenager someone had told her to consider when thinking about a career, the fact that she may want to have children also and to decide whether that was going to be sooner or later. Nicely said Ann, but I can not help thinking that if our career advisor had done just that to me and my girlfriends between the ages of 16 and 19 we would most definitely not have been listening (being far too distracted by the problems of finding a pair of truly fabulous fitting jeans, getting away with hitch –hiking to Eric’s in Liverpool without our dads finding out and how to get good grades but still do as little work as possible).

I used to love script editing and producing television programmes and I still sometimes miss the structure, the camaraderie, the deadlines and the buzz of working on the front line. But it was difficult trying to find that elusive thing social commentators call ‘a life/work balance’. I was working too much, not spending time with my friends and missing out on family occasions. But making drama is an all encompassing thing to do, it is both fun and incredibly stressful. While you are in thick of it, the production crew, the script team, the cast et al became a sort of family and for me at least, piling down to the local bar after a heavy script session or a day’s filming was all the down time I needed from the pressures of work.  For a while anyway…and then I woke up one morning, realised I was over 40 and my sub-conscious voice that had been whispering ‘don’t you want a family of your own one day?’ had started to shout.

So now I love writing from home and working with writers via my website and running my workshops and giving my 2 year old growing up time with his mum. This has been my choice and I have had to make a ton of compromises along the way. Having tried to write with my son attempting to hog the keyboard saying ‘I want to tap and colour mummy’ (thank you Fisher Price online colouring!) I now pack all my writing and thinking time into the days I can afford to have my son in nursery. I still want to work but I want to be a mum too and between those two things there lies an ocean of compromise.

The question so often trotted out on television programmes and magazines with a female demographic is ‘Can Women Have It All?’ The inference here is that we ought, according to some unwritten rule, to be able to do just that; have our babies and a marvellous career too.

My son was born in my 46^th year. This, according to the NHS made me as old as the Peat Bog Woman but he turned out healthy and happy in spite of my Neolithic status. So I for one am happy to concede that I can not have it all and am very lucky that I had the career had and still managed to get the opportunity to be a mum before my bits turned back to peat bog.

DAY IN THE LIFE OF GEORGE JOBBING WRITER

DEVELOPMENT HELL

10.00am – My flat – SE London – breakfast niche/office

My flat is compact. It has to multi-task in order to accommodate my needs as Single Girl About Town and up and coming writer of Very Famous Soap. My mate Martin says my flat has ‘the look of a lost kitten’ by which he means it is small, unloved, could be cute but badly needs a stiff brushing. I don’t have time to do any brushing. Or anything remotely domesticated. Am in Development Hell and it’s getting hotter by the minute.

It all started exactly 20 minutes ago when I was not in Development Hell, but happily working on the storyline of episode 2,345 and catching toast as it popped out of the toaster at the same time (there are distinct advantages to having your office in the breakfast niche). The A story (or the main story to the uninitiated) involves Penny Asher (blonde be-wigged owner of the King Vic and Madame of a string of lap dancing clubs) and the return of her prodigal son-gone-to-the-bad Ryan. Penny’s initial joy at having Ryan in her life again turns to horror when she learns that her son and Mr Orange the ruthless and scheming businessman who has been trying to undermine her lap dancing empire are one and the same. This story is a mare to write because it all depends on the audience believing that Penny could entrepreneur anything, not least a lap dancing empire (the woman is about 103) and there’s lots of figures and percentages to get into the dialogue about the club takeover which makes any scene as dull as cardboard.  Anyway, I was happy compared to what I am now because then the phone rang.

It was Hope (the nicest Script Editor) from Westenders and she had something Top Secret to tell me.  She said that Scary Producer and Sauvignon Deane’s agent Sooki  were ‘in crisis talks’ about the actress coming out of the soap because she wanted ‘fresh challenges’.  I thought the real reason Sauvignon wanted to leave was common knowledge – she had lost her septum to cocaine abuse and had to have it reconstructed. Hope told me not to be cynical and could I just focus on the job in hand? Apparently we (Hope and me) had agreed to come up with a drama vehicle for Sauvignon that would: a/please the Network by keeping her on the channel and fulfil the terms of her current contract b/please Sooki the agent who represents 80% of the cast of Westenders and could cause us major problems if we didn’t treat her right c/ please Sauvignon.

My heart sank. We were caught in a no-win situation. Whatever pleased Scary Producer was guaranteed to piss off Sooki and as I pointed out to Hope, no-one has ever managed to please Sauvignon. Hope optimistically pointed out that Sauvignon was probably smiling all the time, but you couldn’t tell because of the Botox.

Hope said she was coming round to work up some ideas with me. I have exactly an hour to conjure out of thin air a pre-watershed, family orientated idea that 3 of the biggest and most unstable egos in the business will like at the same time. But first I’d better check the bathroom for bio alerts just in case…..

11 o clock – My Flat – Living Room

We have retired to the Living Room. The Office cum Breakfast Niche scenario did not work with 2 of us and our laptops and our angst. We decided to Abandon Niche when Hope’s elbow flicked the switch on the kettle and she nearly got an impromtu face peel from boiling hot steam.

Once spread across the Axminster I pitched my baby – ‘Star Gazer’; my Who Dunnit Zodiac Idea. Thought it was a winner. New, quirky, family-based (to appeal to the widest demographic) and sexy without having any sex in it. Sauvignon Deane will play Scorpio the feisty young sleuth who learned the tricks of her trade at her daddy’s knee, the hard-bitten old cynic Leo. Along with the gorgeous but misguided help of Aquarius and the super efficiency of the office administrator Virgo, Scorpio solves each week, a series of seemingly unsolvable crimes using her skills at reading the astrology charts and the skies at night through her designer telescope. Hope did listen but then dismissed it. I found that tough. She said it had ‘holes’ and anyway she knew that Sooki was totally anti-‘crystal ball stuff’ because her psychic had predicted she would have the upper hand in the acrimonious split with her husband only to have his decree nisi delivered to her hand at the office the same day she had decided to divorce him.

We stared at each other for a bit then I started Google-ing like mad and Hope began cutting my magazines to bits. She made a collage. There was a wheelbarrow full of pumpkins in an idyllic garden scene, a landfill site, girls in bikinis on a beach, boys on motorbikes and a sweet picture of a puppy wearing a Cath Kitson apron. She said she was trying to capture the zeitgeist – I gave up Google-ing and helped her try to capture it.

6pm – My Flat – Bedroom

Hope has just gone back to base. Westenders called her in, some script crisis that I am really glad is not mine. The collage of ideas took 4 hours, 20 back copies of Heat magazine and a lot of PVA glue to finish. If we were entering some alternative art competition we might be in with a chance but how this is going to get a drama vehicle off the ground in time for when the glue on Sauvignon’s septum has set is beyond me. As well as my Zodiac idea, Hope came up with ‘Self-made Splash’ a comedy drama series about a synchronised swimming team and their bid to win the Nationals. We both got quite excited about it until I remembered how we had to change a recent storyline where Sauvignon rescues Poppy the pub pug, from the canal, to a non water rescue (we opted for a wheelie bin) because Sauvignon has a phobia about water. So for the moment at least, all we have is a very textured and rather eclectic mix of magazine cuttings and I think I have scissor blister.

Hope is confident we will get ‘a flow of conversation going’ with ‘the key 3’ using this collage as a ‘spring board’ – I reckon it’s more likely a case of back to the drawing board…..hey ho, development hell continues tomorrow when I am going to Hope’s house for a ‘brainstorm’. At least there’s room to swing a cat there. Swing a Cat? Title for a sitcom starring Sauvignon Deane as hard-working single mum of 3 struggling to run a Cattery in the Cotswolds?

Think I need to lie down.

INTERESTING STUFF

I recently came across these interesting souls on the net (which wasn’t hard, as they are just about everywhere!) http://www.bluecatscreenplay.com They are based in LA and do a smart, sassy job of supporting and promoting new and interesting writers and their work. I have pasted below an excerpt from their recent newsletter; an interview Blue Cat did with the programme director of a new initiative promoting writing in the community. I think Script Frenzy is a great idea and a concrete way of getting just about anyone to write something to a deadline.

Interview with Script Frenzy Program Director Jennifer Arzt

Script Frenzy Begins April 1

“Script Frenzy is an international writing event in which participants take on the challenge of writing 100 pages of scripted material in the month of April. As part of a donation-funded nonprofit, Script Frenzy charges no fee to participate; there are also no valuable prizes awarded or ‘best’ scripts singled out. Every writer who completes the goal of 100 pages is victorious and awe-inspiring and will receive a handsome Script Frenzy Winner’s Certificate and web icon proclaiming this fact.”

–(ScriptFrenzy.org)

Every year, thousands of writers take part in Script Frenzy. The goal: write 100 pages of scripted material during the month of April. Late last week, Script Frenzy’s Program Director, Jennifer Arzt, was kind enough to share some time with BlueCat. Inspiring thousands of writers to produce material under a strict deadline, Script Frenzy continues to grow year after year.

BlueCat: Where did the idea for Script Frenzy come from?

Jennifer Arzt: From running NaNoWriMo, we’d seen that all it takes to transform a book-lover into a book writer is a deadline and a supportive community. We’d also seen that the process of writing a book can completely change people’s perceptions of themselves.  Once you discover that you can write a passable novel draft in 30 days, you start to wonder what other things you’re capable of. It opens doors that lead to some really interesting places.  

We knew that scriptwriting could also work as a similarly great springboard to creative exploration, and the length of a standard script made it an ideal fit for a month’s labors. Unfortunately, we found that people who loved movies or plays shied away from penning scripts because they mistakenly believed it took months to learn the formatting rules (or hundreds of dollars to buy expensive software).

We thought that running a sort of anti-contest writing contest along the lines of NaNoWriMo but focused on movies and plays could help everyday people just dive into the creative process. When we asked NaNoWriMo participants what other kinds of things they would like to write, happily movies and plays were at the top of the list. And thus was Script Frenzy born!

BC: What was the first Script Frenzy like?

JA: It was great! At that point, NaNoWriMo had about 50,000 participants and we had achieved a reasonable degree of stability. It was nice to get in over our heads again by doing something for the very first time. We learned a ton! The first Frenzy had a 20,000-word goal, took place in June, and only allowed screenplays and stage plays.

It turns out that scriptwriters become somewhat violent when you ask them to count words rather than pages, so the following year we changed the goal to 100 pages and everyone was a lot happier. June also turned out to be a tough month because it was the cusp of summer, students were on vacation, and the writerly mojo was low. We also got a lot of emails from folks who wanted to write long TV shows and graphic novels scripts who felt left out of the Frenzy. So we broadened the event’s reach in 2008 to include all kinds of scripts. We haven’t looked back since.
BC: What kind of feedback do you receive from Script Frenzy participants, in terms of what their participation accomplished for their writing?

JA: A couple things seem to come up time and again. I’d say the two biggest comments are about the motivating deadline and the habit of writing daily. The deadline is set by us, an external force. We start on April 1, no matter what. There is no wiggle room given and no excuses taken. Either you’re in or you’re out. I think that the finite quality of an externally set deadline and the rush (or pure fear) of missing it works as an incredible motivator for so many people.

The ticking clock of a timed writing event also gets folks writing everyday. (The easiest way to write 100 pages in 30 days is to consistently write 3.3 pages a day.) We hear so many stories from our participants about how easy it is to say no to invitations because they are taking part in Script Frenzy and need to write. I think it gives legitimacy to writing.

The habit of writing every day gets formed in April and continues through the rest of the year.

SCRIPT ADVICE WORKSHOPS LATER IN THE YEAR….

www.nfts.co.uk

If you want to be a professional, successful writer, is it better to develop your talent by sheer dogged application and will power; writing better scripts because you write so many, or would you get better results, if you went back to college and did a course? The answer of course, is purely subjective. What ever you think fits you best. And let’s be honest here, there are a lot of mediocre courses out there for writers and not all media colleges live up to  their glossy prospectus.

The National Film and Television School however does. And they also run short courses open to any member of the public who wants to learn something about the crafts involved in film and television production.

I am happy to say they have let me in!

In November I will be running a 4 day course entitled PLOT AND DEVELOPMENT which is split into 2 workshops each covering 2 days.

The first 2 day workshop is called HOW TO WRITE A TELEVISION DRAMA TREATMENT and the second workshop is HOW TO STORYLINE FOR LONG RUNNING DRAMAS. I know that some of you may have already been to one or perhaps both of these, as I also run workshops for The Script Factory and these two workshops were in their programme in the recent past. If you would like to see the sort of work I do, then please come to one or both of these workshops and click on the NFTS website for more details.

Well, that’s about it for this newsletter but do check out my website and my facebook group (links at the top of the page) and Thanks For Reading.

BYE FOR NOW AND HAPPY WRITING!

Yvonne

Copyright Yvonne Grace Script Advice MARCH 2010