HOW TO WRITE A DRAMA SERIES TELEVISION OUTLINE

I am fresh back from an amazing time at The London Screenwriter’s Festival, where I did four things of note:

1/ Run my session ‘Sizzle and Substance’with Bafta winning writer and show-runner Barbara Machin and Series Producer of Holby City Simon Harper, about how to navigate the hinter lands between commercialism and creativity in writing and creating series television drama.

2/ Contribute to the session run by the life force that is Pilar Alessandra about how to manage the work/family/life balance.

3/ Flash my cleavage to about 200 people as I clumsily navigated my bra; clipping on my mic before my first session.

4/ Wish Hollywood Legend Joel Schumacher luck, until I realised who he was and attempted to remedy this by adding, rather breathlessly, ‘but you; of course, don’t need it’.

So it was, all round, a rather lovely time.

But what I discussed, with the Prince of Holby City and the Queen Bee of Waking the Dead; the knotty issue in popular television long-form drama, of how to strike a balance between the art form of story telling and the need to keep feeding the ratings machine, still remains fresh in my mind.

For those of you that weren’t there, I wish to share with you some thoughts.

At the Sizzle v Substance Session, we discussed, amongst many other questions:

* What makes a successful drama series/serial?
The answer in a nutshell is the show that has at the point of its creation, the right balance between fresh, creativity and hard-nosed commercialism.
Scott and Bailey.
Shameless.
Broadchurch.

* What works best – pure art or artifice?
Plunging into the nut bowl again; the answer is a combination of both. All successful long form dramas, (essentially those that are episodic and repeating) need a big fat dollop of juicy story at their centre and living in this world, there must be credible, developed, three dimensional characters. They also need a structure, a framework, the scaffolding in place to hold up the creative components of the drama.

Long-form television drama is that illusive hybrid of hard-nosed commercialism and genuine artifice.

With the need to combine the artist and the artisan in mind, when writing successful television drama, here is a story for you:

Back in 1999 I was asked to Produce Holby City series 2. It was expected of me to turn this show around. Holby was then (and still is) a great show, but it was not getting the projected ratings expected of a prime time drama scheduled in the family slot. So I did what any sane producer would do in the circumstances. I appealed to the writers to give me great story.

Within the medical remit of the show (then solely Cardio Thorasic so any condition pertaining to the upper body and heart) writers had to come up with story lines that made a wide demographic sit up and take notice. Cynically, I said we would ‘wrap the medical around’ the essential drive of the stories I was looking for. That is, those that had an emotional heart (forgive the pun) and truth about them. This, in the most part, worked.

But the best episodes of my series, those that gained a 9 million rating and peaked at 10 million at Christmas, where the ones where I had managed to engineer stories that were essentially medical in nature, but those that resonated wider; caused emotional ripples through a variety of characters’ lives.

The example I can give here is the story about a young girl who, suffering from Cystic Fibrosis, had to have both her parents donate a portion of their lung to save their daughter’s life. The father, it turned out, could not contribute. He was not a blood match. And so this story ballooned from a standard ‘I will save you in this medical emergency because I love you’ to a story about long kept family secrets, betrayal and ultimately a fragile re-union between the girl and her real father.

This is an example of a story that has a commercial appeal, and also an emotional root. The Sizzle is there, (the dynamics between a family at war whilst a daughter is dying) but also the Substance (the story ticks all the boxes of a long running drama with a medical precinct).

It’s a knotty problem this. The dual-need to create something fresh, new, different, creative, from a genuinely artistic, credible foundation and that need to also to make this new thing, this new dramatic idea, into a saleable, water-tight, competitive format.

Writers of television drama, have to be multi-facetted by nature.

They are both the creator, or artist, and then the draftsman; they must draw up a blue print for this drama series; make sense of the original artistic splurgings. Then they don the Plumber’s hat. Because they also need to be a hands on practical sort. The sort who can work out all the interconnections between story lines and know how best to maximise the junctions of all those story pipes laid down.

If need be, a television writer needs to know how to make their drama series – flush – or actually work.

You are Jackson Pollock – you splash paint around – but you are also required to bring a bit of Escher to the table; clear thinking, good with line, expert at someone who knows how the bigger picture fits together and to know how to disguise; like all the best craftspeople do, the joints, the joins, the ugly interiors of the drawers and secret compartments of the piece you are crafting out of thin air.

So we need structure as well as innovation in our work as writers and producers of television drama.

Those of you that have bought/shared/looked over someone else’s shoulder whilst they read my book on writing for television; not surprisingly called Writing for Television – Series, Serials and Soaps http://www.amazon.co.uk/Writing-Television-Yvonne-Grace/dp/1843443376/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1400840643&sr=1-7&keywords=writing+for+television – will know that in those pages I go into detail about treatments, story line documents and story lines. I go on a lot about using documents and how to do so to make your stories sing as you write your television scripts – I mention the Series Outline, but I do not go much further than that.

I am remedying this here.

How you write a good SERIES OUTLINE for television:

This document is not a dry thing. It is an exciting, vibrant, layered piece of writing that shows, without the use of mirrors or smoke, what your series drama is all about.

It is a microcosm of all your musings; a distillation of the series as a whole. Like the treatment that goes before this, (in terms of your long running story’s development) it condenses the themes, messages, tone, characters, world, main narrative arcs and episode content down to a manageable number of pages.

It is an extension of your idea, but it is not a sentence by sentence, beat by beat description of your series drama.

Do not confuse your SERIES OUTLINE with an EPISODE OUTLINE or, what is called A BEAT SHEET in feature film circles. We use Beat Sheet too now, more often, in television, (trying to keep it real you know) and I like the term because it does what it says on the tin. A Beat Sheet is just that. Story; laid out, beat by beat.

Producers don’t need to see this in your Series Outline.

They want to see and understand and know the following things from your document:

1/ What is the world in which the story is set? Is it an engaging world and how is it so?

2/ Who lives in this world and what are the characters about? What makes them tick? Are these people identifiable? Who will we love? Who will we hate? Who will we hate loving?

3/ What is the content in broad strokes of the first (pilot) episode? What is the content (again, excitingly, enticing told, not beat by beat) of the middle episode and what again, is the end episode’s content? How does this start? How does this series end?

4/ SET PIECES. Producers of tv drama LOVE a set piece. What is the image, the exchange, the moment, the climax of a story line in each of the episodes you are outlining here?
In every episode, in every long form drama format worth its salt, there will be one moment, one image, one sequence that sticks in your mind, while the credits roll and beyond.

Similarly, having read your Series Outline, there will be (if you get it right) at least one singular, memorable moment, or series of moments that stay with the Producer/Commissioner. You need to make sure you have these in your Series Outline.

We are dealing with images, albeit ones told in words; black and white on the page.
Visualise your stories and your Series Outline will come alive and sell your series for you.

There are practical elements to get across in this document too:

1/ Setting 2/ Number of characters 3/ Period or no? 4/ Genre 5/ Episode numbers/format length

Tone. Use the hybrid terminology here. It always works. Sci Fi / Peaky Blinders (that would be an awful show but you get the idea) Downton Abbey/Rom Com (similarly; bound to be terrible, but we know what it is about in two five syllables.)

If, in the development process, you have got to the Series Outline stage, chances are, someone with potential money to make it and a potential route to transmit it, is interested in your idea.

Don’t give them a reason to say no.

Make them fall in love with the sheer story content, the characters, the set pieces, the tone and the overall message of your drama series/serial.

They will, from this moment on, try to make their budget fit your ideas.

Get busy.

Get writing.

My group Script Advice Writer’s Room is great resource for writers of the big and small screen. Writers all actually; there are poets and novelists amongst us – writers who write or radio, theatre as well as television and pen screenplays. Join me and them, here https://www.facebook.com/groups/237330119115/

Twitter: YVONNEGRACE1

Script Advice is here to help.

CONVERSATIONS WITH A STORY TELLER

Canadian J Lynn Stapleton is a writer, photographer and Geriatric Care Nurse who follows me on Twitter. She also loves to blog and interview when she can. Here is her recent interview with her friend, the American tv writer Jill Lorie Hurst.

‘Guiding Light’ was the world’s longest running soap opera until it was axed in 2009.  Jill, like so many television writers, learnt her trade and honed her craft on the show. I have EastEnders to thank for my baptism of fire.  So here, in solidarity, I post Lynn’s interview.

I particularly like what Jill says about the collaborative process of television series writing.  Thanks Lynn for a great interview and insight into the working life of a talented writer and also for allowing me to share it here.

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In the several months previous to the American soap opera, Guiding Light, being cancelled and subsequently going off the air, I made friends with numerous other fans of the show, resulting in meeting in a large fan gathering in New York City to celebrate the final official fan club luncheon with the cast. It would also be the start of a wonderful friendship with one of the head writers of the series very soon after.

Holding various positions within the Guiding Light family from Assistant to the Writers, Scriptwriter, Assistant Head Writer, Story Producer and Co-Head-Writer, Jill Lorie Hurst has won a Daytime Emmy Award for Best Writing (2007), and a Writer’s Guild of America Award for Best Writing (2004), along with several nominations in both awards ceremonies over the years.

Over the past few years, we’ve talked on-line and in person about just about anything that strikes our interest, from soaps, to photography, to life in general. For a long time, I’d felt a bit odd asking a friend for an official interview, primarily about scriptwriting, but decided just to go with it and I’m glad I did.

Lynn: What got you interested in working in television as a writer when you were starting out?

Jill: I never thought about television writing until I started working at the front desk at the studio where Guiding Light was taped. You get to know about people when you wait tables or work at a front desk. The quality of people and storytelling at GL made me want to stay forever! I’d grown up writing, loved theater and I watched the [Proctor & Gamble] P&G soaps, but had no career plan. I left college in 1982 and moved from Detroit to New York City. I waitressed for 10 years and my life was pretty full. Full of theater going, travel and friends. And it was the 80’s – NYC was crackly and crime filled. A number of good friends were dying of AIDS. There was a lot going on, but I loved the restaurant, my co-workers, the customers. Luckily, one of my customers, Grace Bavaro, loved me enough to send me across town for a tour of the GL studio. A year later I started working part time at the front desk. I was in my early 30’s then. I didn’t officially join the show til I was almost 35, and I was close to 40 when I became a staff writer! A late bloomer by TV standards. I never thought of myself as a WRITER. I just wanted to be there and be part of the storytelling process and help put out the “product” on a day to day basis. If the environment at GL hadn’t been so amazing, I might’ve gone back to the restaurant business. I like working with good people, doing work I care about. Thanks to the generosity of some terrific people I got the chance to do that at Guiding Light for many years.

Lynn: When you look for inspiration for stories or dialogue, what are things that grab your interest/attention?

Jill: I’m not a big picture story teller – I tend to think in scenes and characters. I am inspired by people I see on the street, conversations I listen to on the bus, looking in windows as people live their lives. My husband, friends and family inspire me. Sometimes a really basic challenge or thought grabs you – like when Ellen Wheeler challenged all of us to come up with stories that would use P&G products. My choice of product turned into an idea that I still want to produce. A place – like the 24 hour laundromat in my NYC neighborhood – can get things going. I think writers need to look around and listen – that’s one of the reasons I don’t wear ear buds and listen to music on the street – or watch TV on my phone – I might miss a good character or setting!

Lynn: Creating storylines for groups of characters in a soap drama involves a lot of planning, organization and development before it even gets to the writing stage. What was your favourite aspect of storylining an idea for a group or for an individual? And conversely, the worst part?

Jill: I love being in a room with a group of writers when someone first mentions a new idea for a storyline or a couple – that moment when everyone stops for a split second to take it in – and then starts talking and tossing their thoughts into the pot. Story stew! I like story boards – using different color markers and squares of paper to lay out days/weeks/months of story. There’s something kind of intoxicating about moving the people and the scenes around, then finally coming up with the day, the week, etc that you’re happy with. I like having the end of the story up there first, so that we know what we’re writing toward. My other favorite job is script editing. It’s a great job. The best part was having the opportunity to assign a day to the right script writer, cheering them on through the week as they write and then, getting a beautiful script handed back to me. I can rewrite a not so good day if I have to – but I get no thrill out of the rewrite. I think I’m kind of good at knowing who’s good at what – who’s funny, who’s heartbreaking, who’s good at killing off characters (really) – and assigning accordingly! My least favorite part of the process is breakdown writing. Glad I had to do it. Don’t like it. Not very good at it.

Lynn: Have you ever had characters that get stuck in your head, demanding their stories to be told? Or had a particular scene becoming very vivid in your head and then have to write it down?

Jill: When you work on a show, the characters live with you and they tend to be a chatty group. If you listen to them, a lot of the story will unfold. Telling a story you love is so uplifting and fun. You can’t wait to get into the meeting, or sit at the computer (or grab your legal pad in my case) or get on the phone with the other writers. It just…bubbles. And when you’re telling a story you don’t believe in – it’s very upsetting. I used to carry on conversations with characters, other writers, the network in my head as I walked to work and I’m sure my facial expressions and mumbling scared a lot of people. Once someone actually stopped me to ask me if I was okay and I blurted. “No! We’re killing Ben today and we’re doing it for all the wrong reasons”. Yikes.

Lynn: What are some favourite pieces of writing advice given to you when you were starting out, that really stuck with you throughout your career?

Jill: Here are a few –
“When you’re writing the emotional/relationship stuff, keep it tight, contained. If the show is long and those scenes take up too much time they will be the first scenes cut and often that means losing the best stuff in the day. Protect those moments”. – From actress/director Lisa Brown

“There is no such thing as a stupid question. Ask the question.” – From producer Mary O’Leary

“Can we tell that story (write that scene) in 9 lines?” – From actress/executive producer Ellen Wheeler

“Don’t tiptoe into your scenes. Walk in, you have the right to be there.” – From writer/producer Claire Labine (when I asked for breakdown writing notes)

Lynn: Following Guiding Light’s cancellation, you had joined up writing for former GL actress, Crystal Chappell’s two-time Daytime Emmy Winner, ‘Venice the Series’ web soap for seasons three and four – and currently fifth season – of the series. What’s it been like switching from writing for a network soap opera to writing for a web platform soap opera?

Jill: Network vs. the web – It’s still serial storytelling, which is the great thing. I love the Venice characters. I’m more of a writer on this show and not part of the rest of the production team, which forces me to use different muscles. I’ve learned to collaborate on the phone, which has always been hard for me! I’m still wrestling with technology and realize how spoiled I was at GL, when I could scribble a scene on a legal pad and stand there looking crazy til Amanda took it away from me and said “That’s okay, Jilly. I’ve got it.” I’m glad our characters can swear and kiss and make love if the story calls for it! I love the freedom, but I miss some of the checks and balances that come with working for the network – they force you to try harder and find different ways to tell the stories you care about. Life is all about picking your battles. When I was on GL and we were answering to both P&G and CBS, we won some important battles, which was great – and we lost some fights that broke our hearts, both as writers and people. I learned a lot from all of those experiences.

Lynn: Are there any other series, either television or web, that you’d love to work on/ work with? Or have you any of your own projects that you’d love to start/continue with?

Jill: We just sent Venice 5 to Crystal and will start the edit as soon as we get her notes this week. I love working with Penelope [Koechl, co-writer] and we have a few ideas we’re discussing. I have to finish my book and there’s another project that needs to be attended to! I don’t think about writing Guiding Light any more – but the Guiding Light actors are so talented and inspiring that whenever I am working on anything, their beautiful faces and voices float through my head. I’d like to write them in very different roles. They are a great rep company. Mostly, I’m looking to tell stories that mean something and work with people I enjoy. That’s the plan. Hey, you made me come up with a plan! Thanks, my friend.

Well, I wish I had a lofty answer, but truth be told, we are sitcom junkies at our house. Modern Family saved our lives this year, along with Frasier, Roseanne and Cosby Show reruns – but sitcoms are serials too – family relationships, overcoming obstacles, love stories! I also love Orange is the New Black, The Good Wife and I think House of Cards is fascinating. Still like Grey’s Anatomy. Catching up on Parenthood, Last Tango in Halifax. I miss Friday Night Lights and Gilmore Girls. I like to think, but I like to laugh and cry and connect when I watch a show.

If you would like to see the interview on Lynn’s blog here it is and a couple of lovely pics to boot of Jill and Lynn in NYC Central Park. http://celtic-dragon.me/2014/08/03/conversation-with-a-storyteller/

TV STORY STRUCTURE – HOW TO CREATE STORY LEGS….

Here I am guest blogging for writer/director Charles Harris.

Part One: I delve into the story structure we use in television and show you how you can create the longer run story line.

The Structure of Story. Creating Story Legs Part 1

 

 

THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE: TREATMENTS for series and serials.

Over the last few months, via my work with writers at all levels of experience and development and through teaching writers at my workshops, I have found that for a lot of you, the area of treatment writing is the most tricky.

There is some really good advice out there regarding treatment writing, but much of it covers treatments for the feature film industry, with the occasional nod towards the smaller screen. I felt the need then, to write a blog that focuses entirely on that which the Television Industry expects of a treatment.

Here are the key areas to make sure you get right and get in, when writing.

Your treatment must have:

 * CLARITY

* VISION

* CHARACTER

* STORY

* A MESSAGE

 CLARITY:

The reason why I have seen so many projects fall by the way side over the years I have spent in development, is because often the treatment does not support the original idea.

The irony here is that the writer in question may have delivered a storming pitch for their embryonic idea during our conversation which may have started with something like ‘what are you working on at the moment?’.

Then, in our follow up meeting (in the words of Frank Sinatra) they ‘go and spoil it all by saying something stupid’.  Not, to quote the song; ‘I love you’ (that would put the kibosh on any potential partnership) but more likely something like ‘ this is the treatment for the idea I had. It’s a work in progress, but I wanted you to have the gist of it’.

No. Treatments are not about ‘the gist’. Treatments contain all of the vital elements of your world. Laid out. In a pleasant black and white font. They will be between 4 and 8 pages long and be above all things; easy to read; a linear trestle table of mixed fare, presented clearly, for a potential buyer to see at a glance.

Treatments contain the kernel, the nub, the essence of your idea. They also should contain the extension, the continuation, the development of the idea you first came up with. The centre of this world, in story terms and it’s attendant parts, must be represented here.

The language is simple, but direct. The phrasing is uncomplicated, the tone reflects the subject of your treatment.

You are not writing a shopping list, nor are you constructing a poem. You are not florid, or over flamboyant but you are, in the name of clarity, succinct.

VISION:

This is not a dry document. This is your potential series or serial distilled to it’s most arresting, alluring components. So it must be not only written with an eye on the visual aspect of your story, (never forget that we are in the business of creating stories for a visual medium) but also contain the element of vision; that is, bring to the table a new way of looking at the world.

The treatment shines a light on the story you present via your own special perspective.

I am not advocating that you re-invent the wheel here. Far from it. I hope your treatment contains a dramatic idea that hits the Zeitgeist and that is in turn, both creatively inspiring and also commercially savvy. We don’t want something too crazy. Just different. In a good way. I know…. it’s not easy.

There are the tried and tested areas that producers love; the medical precinct (or backdrop) the fire fighters, the police procedurals, the murder mystery formats and the period drama serials. There will always be at least one of these dramas in the mix of a commercially viable channel, but within these ‘safe’ areas; there is room for experimentation.

If you are going down the route of the ‘been before’ subject than make rock solid certain it has a angle, a take, a vision that is purely new and purely you.

CHARACTER:

Often when I am talking telly, the subject of characterisation comes up. It is one of the legs on which the edifice of television drama is built.

Characters inform the world of your treatment. It is through their eyes that ultimately, your audience will see your world.

Avoid at all costs cliche and it goes without saying, two dimensional, stereotypical characters. You are a story teller; you have a narrative vision and you have created these characters to carry your story across more than one episode of drama. I am probably on fairly safe ground then when I say, ensure you have created characters solid and developed enough to carry your story lines.

Characters enact the text (they do things) and they motivate the subtext (they feel, react, and behave accordingly). So give your characters something to do and something to believe in.

In the treatment, each character you create has a job to do in narrative terms. You need to clarify what this journey is for each character and bring a suggestion forward, of what they are going to learn in the process. Tease here. No need to lay it all out. Keep something back. But engage the reader in a guessing game as to what will happen next for your characters.

A treatment containing fabulous, rounded, likeable, unlikeable, engaging characters will always leap off the page. Often it is at this hurdle that treatments fail however.

This is because carefully crafted characters have to do something, learn something, affect something and say something before the treatment will work. In short. There has to be a story.

STORY:

Well am I stating the obvious here? Probably, but as is the case when I find myself discussing the need for great characters in drama treatments, along comes the sister obvious point; let it have a story.

The hardest part of treatment writing is often the demands a good one makes on your skill in being succinct, pithy and lean when it comes to summing up the idea in an easily digested paragraph.

We call this the logline.

What’s this about? Who is it about? What are the stakes here and How does it end?

This is ‘Full English’; a series I wrote a while back about the world of the Bed and Breakfast.

‘Evelyn Moon makes Boudicca look like Pam Ayers when it comes to fighting the battle of the full house every holiday season. Her bete noir comes from an unlikely source from which not even her Grade II listing can shield her’.

 Next you need to nail the structure. And this is where the all import serial element comes in. Make sure you have created enough ‘legs’ in your story, to go the distance of more than one episode.

You may chose to tell your story through the eyes of one character; originally, in series one of ‘Life On Mars’ for example; we saw through Jon Sim’s character, what the world of 1970’s police procedure looked like. Or, you may want to introduce your world through an ensemble cast. For example; Last Tango In Halifax begins with a couple of characters, sending shock waves through their families, or in the case of The Syndicate, Kay Mellor takes us through the process of winning the lottery via her tightly knit group of characters.

Either way, which ever structural route you chose, you must lay this out clearly in your treatment, so a potential producer can see at a glance, how the story unfolds from the first episode to the last.

At treatment stage, it is not necessary to go into beat by story beat of each episode. It is however, important that you show the broad strokes of each episode, taking the narrative from the first through to the last episode.

You can go into more detail for the first episode, but again, try and write this as engagingly as possible. There is nothing as dull in the drama landscape as a treatment that says ‘then she says, then he says, then this happens after that happens’. We don’t want to know this. We do want to know what the main beats are in the episodes you propose to explore and we do want to know how this affects your characters and the main protagonist(s).

A MESSAGE:

A good treatment does not preach but it does leave the reader with a firm message.

What is it you want your potential producer to be thinking about when they have finished reading?

A special treatment leaves a taste in the mouth that the seasoned producer and reader of many treatments, will enjoy savouring for a while.

A story is only as good as what it says about the world. You are presenting in your treatment, your take on a subject matter and describing a world created by you for the purpose. This is a credible, dramatic world of human dynamic and action, but unless you want the reaction to be ‘so what?’ have something to actually say and say it as clearly as you can.

For example, a story about a group of characters winning big money on the lottery turns out to be a salient commentary on how money changes people. (The Syndicate). A Detective Sargent, via his rites of passage experience on a Caribbean Island, discovers never to judge a book by it’s cover and learns to ditch his preconceptions about other cultures (Death In Paradise).

To Sum Up

A typical treatment will have the following components:

TITLE.

FORMAT.

LOGLINE.

THE STORY TABLE.

THE CHARACTER BIOGS

THE MESSAGE

Learn more about the skills necessary to be a writer for television, in my new book: Television Writing: Series. Serials. Soaps out in June 2014. You can pre-order your copy here:

http://www.kamerabooks.co.uk/creativeessentials/writingfortelevision/index.php?title_isbn=9781843443377

Get in touch via my website if you need me to help get your script on track: http://www.scriptadvice.co.uk

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/YVONNEGRACE1

Join my group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/scriptadvice/

Happy Treatment Writing!

HOW TO STORYLINE A TELEVISION SERIES – WORKSHOP

Chain Link Fence (Photo credit: camknows)

ATTENTION ALL STORY-TELLERS!

If you follow me on Twitter, or are a member of my facebook group Script Advice Writer’s Room, then you will know a bit about how much I am obsessed with structuring and shaping stories for television.

It’s in my DNA. I can’t listen to an anecdotal story without internally strapping the various beats of the tale across my mind. Anyone would think I do this for a living…

Just as well then, that the Indie Training Fund have asked me to run a one day workshop next year for them.

How To Storyline A Series For Television Workshop.

In this, I ape what it is like to attend a Story Conference. You, the workshop attendees, are the writers who have been asked by the Production, to come and pitch, and plot, a particular block of episodes for the (fictional) Series HARKNESS HALL. I am your Executive Producer and I will take you through the process of story creation, plotting, structuring and planning a new season of this series.

It’s intensive, collaborative, creative, exhausting, practical and hugely enjoyable.

Here’s some comments from writers who have attended my storylining workshop for the Script Factory:

“Yvonne is a powerball of energy, humour, and wisdom. There is never a dull moment in this hands-on course, which provides an authentic taste of what it is like to take part in a storylining conference, but in a safe and supportive environment. Never have so many storylines been created in such a short time by so few! A real creation experience.” Gale Barker – Writer

 “Yvonne’s storylining workshop was superb. Her enthusiasm, experience, and ‘tell it like it is’ humour made the course an invaluable learning tool. It stretched all of us, giving practical structure advice that crosses and informs other related media – I loved it.” Sue Nelson – Broadcaster

 ” A highly productive and refreshing experience that showed me how collaborative ’round table’ writing is actually done. An enriching and enlightening practical workshop. Yvonne is an excellent and insightful tutor who creates both a relaxed and productive atmosphere to work in.” Lee Ramseyer – Media Student

WHERE: INDIE TRAINING FUND: HOXTON SQUARE, LONDON.

http://www.indietrainingfund.com/about-us/find-us/

WHEN: FEBRUARY 6th 2014 – 10am – 5pm

 COST: £50.00 to all freelance writers

 MORE INFORMATION: tel: 0207 3487 0354 email: info:indietrainingfund.com

I hope to see you there!

www.scriptadvice.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

SCRIPT ADVICE Newsletter – 5

Contents:

• Hello
• Breathless
• A Day In The Life Of George Jobbing Writer
• Interesting Stuff

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 access my Blog @ http://www.scriptadvice.co.uk/

HELLO

Pushing my son’s toy lawn mower up the garden at a run this morning, in pajamas and wellies I realised three things; 1/ It was only 7am and I was already in the garden playing dragons and dinasours, 2/ I shouldn’t be doing this without wearing a bra, 3/It was warm. Summer is finally here.  Not my favourite season; I was born in a snow storm on Christmas Eve so it won’t come as a surprise to know I dislike being hot, would rather wrap up than disrobe and am never seen outside in the Summer between 9am and 4pm without my sun factor 50. But the garden loves it and with the bees buzzing and the poppies nodding, I feel the urge to get creative and push on with my own script writing, as well of course, reading and script editing your work!

BREATHLESS

Which started me thinking about something I am forced to do on a daily basis. This is something is not necessarily an easy thing to achieve, but it is absolutely necessary and something that I do almost unconsciously in order to keep those plates spinning – I prioritise, organise and multi-task. This does not make me Super Woman. It just makes me, and every one out there who knows what I’m talking about, Able To Cope. It’s as if without any obvious surgery, I now have more arms than a Hindu Godess. It is almost Pavlovian; I log on to my Inbox and while my messages download, I put a washing machine load on cycle D. I am stuck on a dialogue sequence in my script, I ponder the problem whilst I give the bath a good going over. I set the microwave to defrost and finish reading the last scene in a script from a writer client whilst my son’s tea-time chop slowly rotates.

I juggle not only the physical activities in our life: script reading, housework, script writing, cooking, Script Advice admin, household bills but words too; my husband and I are usually having a 2 tiered conversation, the top tier between ourselves underscored by the lower tier nearer to the ground, coming from our son Michael.

It seems to me that from when the rabbit ears on our son’s alarm clock click upwards and the rabbit opens his plastic eyes at 6.30am, and Michael is finally allowed to get up and stop hitting the adjoining wall between our rooms repeatedly with his toy hammer, my feet don’t touch the ground until 9pm when the rabbit and Michael are asleep again and my husband Mike and I are literally pasted across the sofa, trying to talk without drooling from fatigue.

In between those hours I run Script Advice and write myself, attempt to run a household and look after the two Michaels in my life, my husband and my son. It would be great if there were more hours in the day, or less things to do, or more money so I could pay someone to do some of this stuff for me, but if I could afford it, would I ever be able to delegate? No I would not. Because all this comes from someone who gets an inordinate amount of pleasure from knowing that her washing line boasts a full load flapping in the breeze, that she has written a couple of engaging, slick pages of her script, that she managed to disguise a healthy portion of spinach in a meal for her son who will never know it’s there and that according to the feedback I get from my script reading and script editing work, I seem to be giving writers the help they need – so Script Advice goes from strength to strength.  I am a multi-tasker, who is not complaining. Just. Catching. My. Breath…..

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF GEORGE JOBBING WRITER

DEPRESSION

10.00am – SE London – My Bedroom – Under the Duvet

I think I am depressed. I might just be lacking in a vital vitamin, or need to do a cardio workout or have 8 solid hours of sleep. Or, it might be hormonal; if I had the energy I’d look up what the definition of depression actually is. It probably says something about not having the energy to do stuff, it might even mention the need to make lists of things you might be suffering from, it might say something like ‘’a sure sign of depression is indicated when the sufferer does not know what afflicts them and puts it down to hormones’ – God knows – I just wish I hadn’t agreed to go out with Westenders star Phlox Lane ‘for a few drinks’ last night.

10.15am – SE London – My Bedroom – Sticking My Head Out of The Window

Now that feels a little better – perhaps depression is alleviated by fresh air, pity about the pigeons though.  I was so chuffed she had asked me (well, Phlox didn’t actually, she’d Blackberried Hope, Westenders Nice Script Editor and Hope asked me because we were slogging away on my episode 3,957 at the time and she probably thought it churlish not to include me).  I was very excited and positive that it would be a fabulous, glammy sort of evening where us girls tripped across town, linking arms and giggling as the street lights lit our charmed way along Regent Street and into the trendy bars of Soho…but it wasn’t quite like that. I am too optimistic.   It’s a hard and sad fact but I think optimism makes you depressed.

10.30am – SE London – My Bathroom – Under Water My Head in The Sink

Good. This feels even better than the window, SE London pigeons are very protective of their window ledge and I was getting dive-bombed. Total immersion of head in cold water is good for

surprisingly sharp stabbing pains that have begun in earnest in what I think scientists call the frontal lobe. Depression is a seriously painful condition.  Right, time to breath or I think I’ll faint.

10.31am – SE London – My Bathroom – Curled On the Floor

So, Hope and I think we’ve pretty much sorted the problem we were having on episode 3,957. Basically, between episode 3,956 and 3,959 there is a tricky hiatus in the A story which explores the awful marriage of Connie Blaine and her brutish husband Sid. In episode 3, 956 Sid locks Connie in the cupboard under the stairs and episode 3,957 was supposed to be a tight, highly dramatic two-hander, focusing entirely on the characters of Connie and Sid which will explore, as Scary Producer commanded, ‘every nuance of their emotional landscape’.  I was terrified but optimistic (see, there I go again) that I would do a fabulous job and get massive brownie points and tons more commissions from Westenders as a result.

10.45am – SE London – Breakfast Niche/Office – Head on the Kitchen Counter

However, non of us, not even Scary Producer, had reckoned on the fragile ego and raging insecurities of Gordon Bland, the actor playing Sid.  When the rehearsal scripts were distributed to the cast, Gordon apparently blazed a trail to the Producers Office and in a spooky parody of his storyline, shut himself in her beech wood armoire and refused to come out. Apparently it took half a bottle of Bacardi to get him to even open the door, and The Production Office had to taxi his partner to the Scary Producer’s office from Gatwick Airport Terminal 2 where he was about to Trolley Dolly a flight to The Balearics before Gordon finally calmed down.

11.00am – SE London – Eating Toast at the Breakfast Niche

Gordon Bland basically didn’t have it in him.  A lot of soap actors will tell you, if you are more than 5 minutes in their company, that they love their character, but isn’t it about time they had a really meaty storyline to get their teeth into? And why couldn’t we writers come up with something especially for them that would showcase their talents?  Gordon was no different in this respect. Unfortunately for him, the Script team had delivered and he quickly realised what he thought he wanted was not what he really wanted after all. Nightmare all round.  So now me and my long-suffering script editor Hope have a storyline with Connie locked in the cupboard under the stairs by her nasty husband Sid who is now, not available to play out the rest of the storyline.  Fortunately, as often happens in Soapland, when a door closes, a window opens somewhere else and this time, the window was in the shape of Joan Brown, the actress who plays Janice, uber confident mother of Connie. Joan had been let go from the production schedule because of an in-growing toenail operation but apparently, her toes were twinkling again and she was keen ‘to get back in the saddle’.  So, we plunge into the unknown and give Sid a massive heart attack, just at the point in the script where he turns the key in the lock and shuts his wife in darkness.  Janice, played by Joan Brown, then gets her turn in the spotlight and plays a storming two-hander episode with her on screen daughter Connie. Gordon Bland never really lives down the shame.

11.30am – SE London – My Bedroom – Under the Duvet

I think it was because I was so relieved to be free of rewrite horror, that I got a bit over excited about drinks with Phlox.  Hope and I dived into the wardrobe department and the assistant turned a blind eye while Hope kicked off the trainers and took a pair of Louboutins off the shelf and I half inched a nude coloured bespangled number from Phlox’s rail to wear for the night.  Phlox takes us to The Ocean Bar. Very SATC. Phlox is wearing an absolutely tiny Victoria Beckham dress and with me in beige sparkle and Hope in sky scraper shoes, I think we are in for a really good night.  3 bottles of wine and several Tequilla slammers later, Phlox is looking less like a pretty young actress on the brink of her career and more like a 40 year old Amy Winehouse after a session with 60 year old Pete Dougherty. I regret cramming my size 12 bod into this 10 dress because it made me make a stupid decision earlier on in the evening, when Hope suggested food and I said no. Now the mirrored floor is confusing me and I don’t know whether I am looking at myself upside down, or if I am in actual fact on my back looking up at myself on the mirrored ceiling. It’s all too much and I know for a fact that I literally go green, before I manage to run outside and manage to stop being sick just long enough to get my head over the edge of a convenient skip. Not very Sex, more Sick And The City.

12 Noon – SE London – My Bed – About to Go Asleep

I am optimistic by nature, so it stands to reason I will often be depressed – unless of course predicting depression like this, makes me a pessimistic person, in which case, I am feeling happier already. Perhaps I just have a hangover?

Think I’ll have forty winks and live to write another day…..

INTERESTING STUFF

BBC Writers Room

It’s a tough one if you haven’t got representation and you are struggling to get your writer’s voice heard out there in media land. The BBC’s dedicated team of readers are poised to read your work and give you feedback.  Their website is pretty informative too and well worth book marking on your toolbar…http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom

Follow the link below, on the BBC Writers Room website to Writing For Continuing Drama, and you will find plenty of juicy insights into this world from the King Of Soap John Yorke and other notable drama series writers like Jimmy McGovern. I particularly like John’s comment below regarding writing for long running series; truer few lines have rarely been said in my opinion….

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

‘It’s like being in an Emergency Department. You come across every possible problem and you learn how to fix it. And those tricks will stay with you for the rest of your career.’

Writing Competition

There is not long to the deadline on this one, but worth a go at if you are ’well on’ with a script that you are proud of – the guys at Red Planet are a discerning lot and this is a great competition to get involved in.

http://www.redplanetpictures.co.uk

This year’s competition is for an original 60 minute television script, either a single play or a pilot for a new series. You are initially required to submit the first ten pages along with a short synopsis.  The full script should be available on request, you may be required to submit this within a month of the final closing date.  As before, the winner will receive £5000, a script commission and the option of representation if required. Red Planet and Kudos will also mentor finalists for the Prize. The competition is open to anyone within the UK. The RED PLANET PRIZE will close to new entrants at midnight on 31st July.

Workshop From Script Advice – At The National Film and Television Studio

I have been chatting with those lovely people at the NFTS and in November I will be running a 4 day workshop covering 2 disciplines related to writing that you may be interested in. HOW TO WRITE A TELEVISION DRAMA TREATMENT and HOW TO STORYLINE FOR LONG RUNNING DRAMA. Just to whet your whistles, check out their website and see what’s occurring www.nfts.co.ukhttp

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I hope I can help you with your writing; be it television script, short (or full length) film, treatment, outline or full work, radio play or novel manuscript – I read and script edit them all and can definitely help you 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 June 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

hello from script advice

Welcome to my Script Advice Blog.

This blog is all about writing and stuff I hope that interests writers and will be useful for you to tap into when you want to take a few minutes out of struggling with your latest script!

I set up  www.scriptadvice.co.uk because as well as producing and script editing drama, I also write myself and I can sympathise with the problems writers face.

Most writers do not have an approachable, professional, experienced source to call upon if they are struggling with a script, overwhelmed by an impending deadline or in need of a fresh in put of energy and ideas. www.scriptadvice.co.uk is here to give you the writer professional help in a personal, constructive and enjoyable way.

On my website, you will find script editing services, treatment writing, my  script report service and various ways in which I can help you with advice and give you my professional opinion on your work in progress.  Services

I also offer workshops in various disciplines associated with writing for television and writing in general. Workshops

I have a long(ish!) and varied background in television drama production, both from a Script Editor point of view and that of a Drama Producer.  I have also worked on some of the key long-running dramas that still command big audiences today; notably EASTENDERS, CORONATION STREET and HOLBY CITY.   In my experience, working within the ‘factory’ atmosphere of these big shows can be incredibly exciting and there is usually a productive, positive environment in which you are expected to perform at a high level of proficiency and efficiency.  If you have to learn anything about your particular craft, be it Script Editing, Storylining, or writing for a long-running show, you must fill in any gaps fast!  So when I am asked how I got into television and what is the best way for a writer to break into it, I usually turn their attention to the long-running dramas and the opportunities these programmes offer a willing, eager writer. However, there are pitfalls to joining such a fast-moving, deadline-crunching, storyline eating machine that are most of the quality series currently on our screens; and below I have outlined just a few of the more salient points to keep in mind when thinking about working on a long-runner/series/soap.

I also want to take this opportunity to introduce you to George – the ever-positive jobbing writer who has bags of energy but lacks experience – in creating her, I hope to illustrate how to avoid the worst and enjoy the best moments in working on a soap.

WRITING FOR A LONG RUNNER

Many of the leading showrunners today who started writing Soaps and series television see Soap writing as an invaluable experience. So how do you get on to a Soap? What is a story conference really like? Here I hope, I take the mystery out of writing for Soap.

Very few programmes ever reach the Olympian ratings-heights of our much-loved, much-discussed Soaps. Having spent a large proportion of my career as a script editor and producer making them, I can honestly say that apart from a memorable shopping frenzy in Marlylebone High Street back when I had an empty new flat to fill and a concrete credit rating, I have rarely enjoyed myself more.

However, Soapland can be an unforgiving place and an inadequately prepared, wet-behind-the-ears writer can come a proper cropper if he or she is not careful.  Which brings me to George. I would like to take this opportunity to introduce you to her.  She is an optimistic, enthusiastic would-be writer of Soaps. The experience of her first story conference appears below. It may whet your appetite for your own experience or put you off entirely. I include it here in the hope that it’s the former.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF GEORGE – JOBBING WRITER

10.00pm – my flat SE London – night before first Story Conference on Westenders.

Well, sleep is out of the question.  Had loads of good intentions.  Only allowed myself to watch telly till 9.30pm so as to factor in a wind-down half-hour before I got into bed. Even pressed the mute button when the adverts were on to avoid over stimulation.  Hot milk (which really is horrible) and ear plugs in case the tramps living in the bin shed decide to rearrange their furniture again in the middle of the night.

No, I really can’t sleep so just to be really, really prepared, I’ll go over again the list of my story suggestions.  I am so glad I invested in black, sleek notebooks for the occasion – makes just the right impression and that I decided to ditch my gonk pen in favour of a no-nonsense Pental.  The joy is in the detail someone once said and I couldn’t agree more.

It’s important to bring a balance of story ideas to the table and I want to be as punchy and topical as possible. Westenders is an issue-based Soap and I really think impotency is a grade A issue and just right for the show’s heart-throb to get his teeth into.  And I think the producers and script team will like my ironic twist – a torrid love affair between the oldest characters on the show – neatly portraying rampant geriatric sex in stark contrast to the lack of rampant in the trousers of the show’s biggest sex symbol.

Check I have the Story Conference Document they sent me with all the characters, family groupings and storylines up to the present. Very important. Decide to put it in the bathroom so I will see it when I’m cleaning my teeth first thing. Right. Lights out. Night Night.

8.30am – Bedroom. SE London

Cannot believe it. Alarm went off an hour and a half ago – I know I turned it off because I wake up upside down on my futon with the alarm buried in my armpit. Fly out of the flat and managed not only to catch the train to Elstree but also bag a seat. The inside of my mouth feels like a woolly jumper. Should’ve cleaned my teeth at least – it is then I realise I have left the Story Document in the bathroom.

9.30am – Elstree – Production Offices of Westenders

Am bowel-churningly late. I fall in the door of a room with a massive table around which sit what appear to be hundreds of serious looking people (but is more like 12).  A young man with a lot of lip jewellery is in full flow. There’s a fair bit of note-taking going on and an air of a Pitch In Progress. I know I have ruined his timing by his white-hot look of undisguised venom.

I am no longer in control of my facial muscles. I think my expression says sorry but am sure it looks more like cystitis. The woman in designer specs at the end of the table represents my whole future in telly right now. She is the Producer and liked my spec script The Vagina Dialogues.  I smile at her in what I hope is a mature, woman-to-woman way. She doesn’t respond to my stammered apology. It’s hardly English anyway. I seem to have a lot of saliva in my mouth and I keep swallowing like a bullfrog.

I take the remaining seat and die another death when the leather makes a farting noise as I almost fall into it.  My bag, I discover, contains my purse, half a browning apple and my pink gonk pen. I borrow a Bic from the woman next to me and snatch at a pile of A4 like a drowning person.

2.30pm – Story Conference – Mid Pitch

I am aware of an insistent voice, high-pitched, breathy, going on and on.  My internal sensible voice is saying ‘some-one ought to tell that woman to shut up’.  Horrified, I realise the irritating, scratchy monotone belongs to me.  I finish pitching my impotency storyline damply, in a whimpering rush. The Producer, flagged on either side by the Series Script Editor and the Story Editor forms a rocky Easter Island profile.

The Producer tells me something that seemingly everyone else around the table knew.  Rod Kant, the show’s buff star, has recently had corrective surgery and any storyline focussing on penile dysfunction would be seen as insensitive and grossly inappropriate.  As an added body blow, the Story Editor (who, by the way is horribly young and self-assured) informs me that the show’s demographic would not consider 70-year olds having sex a good thing. I attempt to salvage my dignity by telling the assemblage a far too personal story about my grandma and her robust sexual drive thus achieving instead, full frontal, unequivocal Death By Story Conference.

10.00pm – My Flat, night after first Story Conference on Westenders

All in all, things could have gone better. I am not totally down-hearted. I came up with at least five great story ideas on the train coming back and the Nice Script Editor that got me my meet with The Producer told me to keep in touch. Tomorrow is another day and I shall fire off my best story idea to the office asap – a clever twisting tale that ties in two normally opposing themes – murder and true love in a soapy package just right for Buff Star and no mention of his genital problems.  Happy Days!

George is not entirely fictional; everything that happened in her day has happened! So how could she have been better prepared?

TIPS ON HOW TO WRITE WELL FOR A LONG RUNNER

* Watch a lot of television

It may sound obvious to say this but I would recommend you watch a lot of television before honing in on a Soap-writing career.  Most people engaged in the all-consuming task of making Soaps are usually pretty much addicted to the whole process of storytelling and cannot get enough of television drama across all genres.

It’s a highly competitive business, generating storylines, and a producer worth their salt is aware of the storylines being covered by their rivals and are obsessed with the task of generating better storylines to appeal to more people. They will love you to bits if you can aid them in this process.

*  Have strong opinions about the characters

It’s hard to be a shrinking violet in Soapland. As a writer, you will be expected to have strong opinions about the characters who populate this world and, as a result, you will have to prove you can create stories for them. Be prepared to fight your corner (preferably without shedding blood or resorting to name-calling) and nurture your favourite characters like you would your real-life friendships – it’s always more fun spending time with people you like – and in the workplace. This makes for better results and a more enjoyable experience all round.

* Look ahead as much as possible

Generating story and scripts that fill a year of television drama output is no easy feat. The producer and the script team need all the help they can get from writers who not only understand the size of the task in hand, but can clearly help solve some of the problems inherent therein.

The show will need both short- and long-term storylines to keep the audience happy and the character groupings productive. I have found that writers do not come to the story table with long-term storylines as easily as they do the shorter variety. If possible, don’t fall into this trap. If you can get used to seeing the bigger picture and generate material that arcs across a body of episodes and not just one or two, you will be making a vital contribution to the story bank and providing the script team with a firm foundation on which to build a strong through-line of stories across a healthy number of episodes – thus lightening their burden. If you can take the attention, they will all fall in love with you.

* Have strong ideas

As everyone knows in Soapland, stories are like oxygen to the production process. It is vital, therefore, that you make sure the stories with which you arm yourself at your first Story Conference are not just one-note wonders. They could be anecdotes that sounded good in the pub but in fact fall apart horribly when pitched to a room of fellow writers and a story-savvy script team. Many ideas turn out to be turkey twizlers when spoken out loud.

Your story will need a clear shape and, in the telling, you should explore the characters involved and reveal something interesting about them to your audience. If you can’t succinctly summarise your story to yourself in the privacy of your bathroom at home, spare your own blushes – the story needs clarification and talking it up in front of your fellow writers will only highlight its flaws.

*  Familiarise yourself with the script team

Forearmed is forewarned. Do your homework. Find out, before you enter Soapland, the names of the key players and especially those on the script team who will be able – should you make it a pleasant experience for them to work with you – to make your life positively marvellous on the show. Conversely, the opposite can also apply.

*  Find out as much as you can about the production process

Not all Soaps are run on the same lines. Show interest and ask questions (when appropriate) about the process of production without being in the way or a burden.  If you understand something of the pressures your script editor, for example, may be under to deliver your script to deadline, it’ll go a long way to creating a harmonious partnership and that editor will want to work with you again.

*  Be positive and helpful to work with

Script editors are your friends as are the storyliners. These fabulously creative people are here to help your labours run more easily and smoothly. Use them, don’t fight them, they speak on behalf of the producer and so keeping them on side and not fighting every script point because you feel protective about your work will get you a regular slot on the writing team. Being open-minded to script changes, collaborative in your approach to your writing task and even though it may smart, saying yes and doing the rewrites without having a mini breakdown about the time frame they have given you will ensure you are invited back again.

*  Embrace the fast turnaround and keep at it

Like pretty much everything in life, Soap writing becomes easier with practice.

Be organised. You are about to enter a story factory with very fast script turnaround and an ever-hungry camera team wanting to shoot on time with an ever-demanding producer wanting great scripts on time and on budget and an ever-urgent cast wanting their scripts on time and an ever-ready director wanting your script changes to be on time and to make the script better to boot.

Everything is about timing on a Soap.  There is never enough time but you have to work within the deadlines you are given. Don’t panic. The structure and rigours of Soap writing are put in place to help you generate an amazing number of drama hours in very little time.

*  Be collaborative

Show respect and listen to the opinions and ideas of your fellow writers. You will have to top and tail their scripts and having your colleagues on side and encouraging them, especially at Script Conference, will make your life easier when you pitch a storyline you think is a winner and it receives the thumbs down.

*  A word about rejection …

Take the rejection of your storyline as you would the acceptance of it. Both reactions are from the same Soap family and one will more than likely follow the other in rapid succession.

… and last but not least,

Keep your interest fresh and true in the show by taking time out to watch it. When you feel jaded, write a radio play and come back to the show refreshed.

Remember, good Soaps need good writers. If that means you, get out there, get in touch, give it a go and HAPPY WRITING!

Well that’s all for now. Visit my website www.scriptadvice.co.uk if you want any help with your current project and should you want to share your views about this blog, or anything else connected to writing or drama in general, why not join my writers’ group on facebook? http://www.facebook.com/group

Look forward to meeting you there and hopefully working with you in the future.