Screenplay Research

The BBC Writers Room

The BBC Writers Room is an organisation set up as part of the BBC that seeks to identify and support potential new writing talent. They do this by setting up a format that informs you of how things are changing on BBC platforms. However, they also give you access to commissioners, production departments and, what they describe as “most importantly” to the skills and experience of established writers. As part of the help they give, they offer advice on elements of writing such as an introduction to writing a good script and information on how to go about sending a script to them. They also inform you about other opportunities that are open to you.

Currently Existing BBC Dramas

If you want to take advantage of BBC Writers Room and the opportunity it offers to write, then it is important to research what type of dramas they usually commission. One way to do this is to look at the sort of work that is by an experienced BBC writer such as Accused writer, Jimmy Mcgoven, who announced earlier this year a one-off drama, set in Liverpool and entitled ‘Common’, that he has had commissioned. There are also ways to look at scripts of recently broadcasted shows by visiting the Writers Room’s script library such as this link to the script for an episode of brand new BBC drama, Last Tango In Halifax written by Sally Wainwright. http://bbc.co.uk/writersroom/scripts/last-tango-in-halifax-s1-ep1 

Sally Wainwright has previously written other BBC dramas such as The Amazing Mrs Pritchard (2006) and Sparkhouse (2002) as well as doing a lot of writing work for ITV including Scott and Bailey (2011) and Unforgiven (2009).

Listings

BBC often broadcast dramas in the late evening, not including soaps which generally run at peak times between 6pm and 8pm. As the BBC is one of the biggest broadcasters, millions of people are likely to be watching the channel at this time and this means that competition is also likely to be strong. Other dramas, particularly crime or horror dramas, are usually broadcast from 9pm onwards as this is after the watershed so they can show employ more taboo language and shocking imagery that would otherwise disturb young children.

Ratings

If you look on the BARB website at the top 10 BBC ratings for November, we see that the majority of them are either soap operas like Eastenders or drama series such as New Tricks, both gaining viewing figures of between 7.5 million and 10 million audience members.










Silent Witness
In order to learn about the conventions of screenwriting for BBC dramas, it is important to look at some existing dramas that they have broadcasted in the past and currently. Firstly, I watched parts 1 and 2 of the episode of the BBC Crime Drama, Silent Witness entitled 'Choices' which were originally aired on 1st August 2005 and 2nd August 2005 respectively.

In the opening scene, we are introduced to some of the important characters for the episode's narrative. For example, a club owner known as Ainsley Modest and his now fiancé as well as the unknown gunmen. As the episode opens, we see Ainsley and his fiancé talking in the car and looking at the engagement ring. This is what gives us the backstory of them being engaged to be married. This sentimental element of the plot gives us a slight emotional attachment to these characters right from the off. However, just as quickly as they are given to us, they are taken away by a machine gun drive-by outside Ainsley's club.

Throughout the episode, the plot develops to involve family issues, drug taking, organised crime and more violence. Due to this fact, I am sure that the programme would have been broadcasted after the watershed and I would suggest a primary audience as being aged 35-55 as it incorporates the mature themes that are appropriate to that age group. A lot of dramas are conventially female but this features violence and other elements that are likely to appeal to a male audience also. This higher level of excitement and action is also likely to attract a secondary audience that is slightly younger, perhaps from the age of 20+.

Personally, I enjoyed the way that the episode tied together the backstories of several of the characters, particularly with the 12 year old Wayne Devlin (played by Perry Allen) who actually turns out to be the pivoting point for the entire narrative to come together at the end because of the people that he knows (the gun smith).

There was an element which I noticed when watching this episode of Silent Witness which I would try to avoid in the construction of my own drama. They made a point of the fact that Wayne's mother took pills near the start of the episode and then, for the majority of the plot, this was ignored giving Wayne little reason tor explanation o end up in some of the locations and situations that he did. I was also irritated by the completely irrelevant side plot about a heroin overdose. I felt that this took the focus away from the main story as well as being written in a non-realist fashion. It gave off the impression that it was a common thing for people to do in college and I am firmly against the way that companies such as the BBC encourage these stereotypes in their programming.



Sherlock
I also watched an episode of another BBC Crime Drama, Sherlock, called 'A Scandal in Belgravia', originally broadcasted as part of the second series on Sunday 1st January 2012.

The opening scene follows directly on from the end of the last series where characters Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson are talking to Holmes' arch-nemesis, Jim Moriarty, whilst surrounded by his off-screen snipers. This introduces new viewers to these characters but the situation is written under the assumption that you watched the end of the first series. However, it is not essential for your viewing pleasure to do so as each story is written as a stand-alone plot which ties into the overall narrative of the series. This plot structure makes the action of the episodes very easy to follow.

The episode features a myriad of witty remarks and clever plot twists which suggests to me that the primary audience starts from teenagers, ranging up to adults in their early to mid-30s. In terms of other people who might enjoy viewing this drama, I do not think that the secondary audience would be any younger because of the mature themes that are featured, particularly in this episode with the  character Irene Adler who is a dominatrix. However, I think that an older audience than the primary audience may also find viewing pleasure from Sherlock.

When watching this episode, the elements that I enjoyed which I feel I would like to include in my own drama included the attention to detail which the characters have; this is shown through on-screen text highlighting the subject of the character's interest. I also like the complexity of the main characters, particularly Sherlock Holmes who has a lot of interesting quirks such as being a violin prodige and demonstrates evidence of Aspergers Syndrome. This sort of unsual behaviour makes it very difficult to understand the way his mind works making his actions and thought processes marginally unpredictable. However, one thing I was less keen on is some of the alterations that have been made to the original character for the sake of reaching a wider audience and making more money. For example, it is well-known that Holmes takes drugs such as opium to help him think. I am against such changes as a film maker as I believe that characters should be shown in their full glory.



Edge of Darkness
Next, I watched the first two episodes mini-series called Edge of Darkness which was originally broadcast on Monday 4th November 1985. The genre of this series was a combination of crime drama and political thriller.

In the opening scene, the two characters Inspector Craven and his daughter Emma Craven are driving home. During this sequence they are talking about Emma moving in with a boyfriend. This is a slight hint to some of the plot that is to unfold later in the episode such as her involvement with Gaia, a group focussed against nuclear weapons. This occurs shortly before Emma is shot by a mystery gunman with a double-barrelled shotgun. We are not totally sure who he wanted to shoot as he only says the surname, Craven, which they both share.

This drama features some mature themes which would be inappropriate for a younger audience such as the featuring of murder and a sex toy; it deals with the psychology of how Inspector Craven is coping with the killing of his daughter. I would say that, overall, the primary audience would range from the age of around 25 to 45. However, some people slightly either side of this range may also enjoy watching but it is important to consider that this was broadcasted in 1985 so some of the more difficult subjects shown would have been even more shocking than to a contemporary audience who are more accustomed to seeing gore etc with the power of modern special effects.

In this drama, I enjoy the way that much of the attention is focussed around Inspector Craven's solitude and his mindset but I do think that more details could be given regarding Emma's background activities earlier on because it seems that this side of the plot is dragged out quite unneccessarily. I also do not like the characters such as Pendleton whose identity changes without much explanation making it confusing to follow exactly how he is involved with the Inspector.



Eastenders
The BBC's Eastenders is one of the biggest Soap dramas in the UK and it is continuous running five days a week, every week. I watched an episode broadcasted on 17th December 2012.

This structure involves many different characters side plots that tie into an overall depiction of life on Albert Square. There is usually a main plot as well which generally involves a large scandel around one of the characters which is revealed over several weeks. The opening scene of this episode focusses on the 'main' plot at the moment which is Kat and Alfie. We know that Kat has been having an affair and the first thing we see after the title sequence is Alfie looking solemn which we are lead to believe is linked to the situation with Kat. However, it is revealed shortly afterwards that it's the anniversary of one of Alfie's relatives.

As Eastenders is broadcast before watershed, it does not feature anything that would be grossly inappropriate for a younger viewer. The primary audience, however, would be people from around the age of 16+ as it deals with issues relating to that age group and above. This leaves very little room for a secondary audience but people younger than 16 may very well enjoy watching it or be encouraged to as part of family viewing at peak time.

I like the way that many of the side plots for different characters tie together and, because of the way that the soap is constructed, we can cut between these very smoothly in one location such as the Queen Vic pub and the market. However, I do not like the way that other, totally irrelevant, events are put in the plot just to make up the time and spread the plot development over a longer period of weeks so that they keep their viewers watching just to find out what happens. In this episode in particular, a lot of attention is paid to Alfie getting into the Christmas spirit with a german theme at the Queen Vic.

 

Understand the requirements of working to a brief

When working in the creative media industries or even on a smaller scale (like as part of a course), you will be required to work to a brief at some point. A brief is an outline of the requirements that your media product must fulfill.

Structure of briefs
A brief may be presented to you in a variety of ways which could decide the way that you approach the project. With a contractual brief, the outline is given to you in an employment contract; this will be discussed between the client and the company but allows for an easier to read, yet detailed, brief. This helps create stricter guidelines for the company to work around and allows the client to have more control over the process. A negotiated brief is when the worker will help the client with the actual development of the brief so that  aims and objectives can be agreed. By working more collaboratively in this way, it becomes easier for the company to meet realistic expectations.

The brief can be given formally or informally. A formal brief will involve a face-to-face meeting with the client where they will inform you of the requirements for your work whereas an informal brief is given indirectly in the form of a telephone call or conversing through emails. In many cases, the client will approach and request to contract a specific person for the job that they have in mind. This is known as commissioning the worker. A client will usually make this decision based on previous work or a new portfolio that they have seen by that person which makes them suitable to work on your brief. A tender brief is one that is published and sent to several different companies who can respond with any ideas that they have. Depending on which idea the client likes the most, they will make a decision as to who will work on their project. For example, with my brief, it was published on the E4 website and a decision will be made around all of the ideas submitted as to which they will air. The brief which I was working towards for my E-Sting is also an example of a competition. It was an open brief which anyone could submit an entry for.  As well as keeping it appropriate for the E4 brand identity, entrants were also required to follow guidelines including use one of the provided selection of 10 second audio plugs in the creation of your ESting. If you are successful in winning the competition (based on a public voting system), you receive £5000 as well as having your ESting aired on the E4 Channel; there is also a £500 runner-up prize.

Reading a brief

When you are given a brief, it is important to read it very carefully; doing this allows you to guage how much freedom you have in your creation of the final product. A more specific brief will give you less freedom to do what you want so it is important to be knowledgeable of what you must and must not include. The rest is up to you. In the brief that I was given for the creation of the E-Sting, there were very few specific instructions as to what needed to be included. The main element which was implicit in the creation of a winning E-Sting was to conduct sufficient research into the E4 brand. So as long as you are aware of what would be suitable for their target audience, you have free-roam on whatever concept you choose to run with for your product. Other limitations that were set included a 10 second time limit and a submission deadline on the 9th November 2012. If a deadline is missed in this competition, you will not be able to take part. However, in the real creative industries, if a film does not meet its deadline, legal action can be taken by investors to reclaim their money.

Negotiating the brief
When working to a brief, it is important to confer with the client as much as possible to negotiate what you intend on doing for your project and to find out about any relevant constraints. For the purposes of this unit, by tutor was my client whom I consulted with daily for interim feedback as I began to build up my final product. This allowed me to spot and resolve any problems that came about as well as foresee some of the problems that could develop later on. Items that were discussed included the deadline and my production schedule as well as creative changes such as having a printed background as part of my set. As I previously mentioned, your discretion in interpreting the brief is important as it allows you to accurately judge what could be twisted or changed to accommodate some of the features that you want to include in your E-Sting.

With any project that you take on, there are always going to be constraints that you need to be conscious of. In terms of legal constraints, it was important to be aware of any copyright issues that might occur in your production. This could include the use of copyrighted characters, concepts or soundtrack in your E-Sting. This was less of a problem for me as I used stock characters and concepts meaning that I could not accidentally copy a piece of somebody else's work. I also created my soundtrack with copyright-free sound effects from my college network. If I had chosen to use them, E4 also provided E-Sting soundtracks for you to use if you wanted to. When working to create any media product, it is important to be ethical. When thinking about ethical constraints, one of the main elements that must be considered is the treatment of all cast and crew which should be reasonable and friendly. After all, you are all ultimately working towards the same thing. This was less relevant to me in this unit as I was a one man cast and crew but this is highly unlikely to be the case in the professional industry. Another ethical issue which also comes under the legal category is the way in which you attain information that you require. For example, you should only have information about a person if they want you to. Having information about someone without their permission is unethical and should not be encouraged, particularly with the phone hacking scandal in recent years. In the aforementioned paragraphs, I have discussed the importance of researching the brand before working for them as this will give you information about regulatory issues that may arise for you. In this case, it was important for me to read Channel 4's editorial guidelines. This is based on the code set down by the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) and says what can and cannot be broadcast on any of their stations, including E4 upon which the winning E-Sting would be shown. Budgetary contraints mat also affect the way that you approach the production as certain materials and equipment may be expensive unless already owned by the filmmaker. Alternatively, some equipment can also be outsourced from elsewhere such as a film studio if working on a professional production.

Upon completion of my E-Sting, it was necessary for me to receive feedback so that I could make ammendments accordingly and, overall, improve the quality of it. I asked for criticism as well as positive feedback through YouTube, questionnaires and a focus group. Whilst much of it was positive, many of the critical comments regarded confusion about the concept. Since I did not consider it time or cost-effective to recreate the whole animation, I chose to work on the other amendments including continuity with lighting and sound as well as adding some extra shots to demonstrate other animation possibilities. This included the facial expression at the beginning. In order to make these changes, amendments needed to be made to the timescale of the project. In the professional industry, it is possible that alterations would need to be made if any of the production stages do not go to plan. It is common practice in the film and television industry to have 10% of the budget extra as a contingency for this kind of situation. It is also important to keep your client involved in these proceedings so that they are aware of any issues. Communication is key to keeping your client and investors happy with the way production is going.

Opportunities
Now that I have completed this animation unit, I can reflect upon what I have learnt and the new skills which I have developed. I discovered that much of the beauty of animation comes in that it makes an impossible action become a feasible one. However, I also learnt several things about myself and my personal compatibility to animation. Whilst I see what is great about the end result, I find the entire process painstakingly longwinded and repetitive. Due to this fact, I have decided that it will never be my intention to work in this area of the creative media industry but I am glad that I have discovered this as it will help me to decide which area I do want to work in. This could, for example, be a designer, a technical specialist in animation or a storyboard artist.

Despite my aversion to the process, I have gained several new skills. For example, I have learnt how to create a character and set out of the raw materials such as plasticine. Whilst I have never been talented with hands on art, I have still developed my skills in this area to a degree. This could come in handy should I need to complete a similar task in the future as well as them being transferrable skills into other design tasks. There were also times where I had to multi-skill such as when I was animating my character whilst needing to be aware of how it would look in the cinematography. This sort of awareness is important in the creative media industry as it involves the attention-to-detail which is necessary to create an aesthetically-pleasing, professional media product.

When working to the brief, I had to bring my own creativity to try and create something unique. I had to ensure that I kept within the running time of 10 seconds that was specified. I also had to keep to the timescale that I had set to complete the task. Therefore, when planning my E-Sting, I could not be too ambitious with what I wanted to do; my idea worked around a fairly basic concept with obvious actions that my character (a boxer) would do (punches and intimidation). Overall, I am pleased with what I accomplished as I planned and brought to life my own concept despite having no previous experience of stop-motion animation before this unit.