Screenplay Research

Screenplay research

Responsive, proactive and an open door to writers, BBC writers room is always looking at new ways to find and champion talent for all BBC platforms.

We know how hard it is to be a writer and we believe in finding ways to inspire and inform you, to keep you across changes, giving you access to commissioners and production departments but most importantly to the skills and experience of established writers.

We are not here for the short term, we understand how long it can take for a writer to find that first and second commission, but if we think you have talent then we will do everything in our power to support and develop you for the long term.

When you’re new to writing, just getting to the end of that first script is really hard. This section of the website is for those who want to write, who have an idea that is itching to get out, and who would like a guide or structure to help them take it from idea right through to a first draft. What you get here is a series of steps in the writing process with essential elements, questions and challenges you will face. It’s not designed to be exhaustive. But it’s not just a basic ‘how to’. It’s the essentials of what we believe go in to making a good script.

All ideas are only as good as the characters that drive them, and all good ideas need to be dramatic.

Dialogue is not just about what characters say – it’s about what they express by what they say.

 

Kate Rowland leads the team and is the BBC's Creative Director, New Writing. Previously Kate was the Head of Radio Drama at the BBC before setting up writersroom, and she continues to commission The Wire slot of original new drama on Radio 3.

Paul Ashton is the Development Producer, overseeing writer development, script calls and talent searches, development schemes, partnerships and production projects.

Henry R. Swindell is the New Writing Manager working out of Salford and across the north of England, overseeing writer development, talent partnerships and development projects.

Writersroom is one team sited in two places. In the London office there is also a New Writing Coordinator, Website Producer, Assistant to the Creative Director, and Script Assistant; and in Salford there is a Project Coordinator.

Channels in competition with BBC include such channels as 4 which in turn have shown which people like. This is mainly evident by such TV shows as homeland. Not only this but many people also have a tendency to tune into the Simpson's.  All together although the majority tune into the Simpson's, it shows here that channel 4 are capable of creating quality programming.

 

Another channel which competes and is probably BBC’s main competitor is ITV1. They have programming which contends with BBC. As shown here the main show with the biggest turnout was ‘Coronation Street’ which can be seen to contend with BBC. This show tends to contend with ‘Eastenders’ as the shows are both similar in its soap status and both contend with each other. Not only this but both use competition based shows which are also constantly contending with each other. Between these two the main ones are ‘Strictly come dancing’ which would be contesting with ‘I’m a celebrity’. Although as shown hear the main contender is ITV1 channel 4 still are shown to have a lot of views but not enough to be considered a contender.             

 

Research Task       Silent Witness,Choices: Part 1&2         

In the opening scene for 'Choices' it shows Ainsley and Helen talking in the back of a car which details that they are in fact engaged. After this slightly romantic scene they get out of the car to the club in which they go in their separate directions as Helen approaches her friend,a car slowly starts driving past. As Ainsley turns towards the car a gun points out of the window aiming outside the club. The gun starts shooting which in slow motion you see the havoc caused by the bullets being shot.

The main audience for this is mainly middle age people as the show features quite mature content however the contents and style of programming put the primary audience at around 35-50's as the show features content of crime dramas but not only this but has a lot of content which is more drama related in which the narrative is pushed forward by the characters.

The secondary audience would be around 20's- 30's in which the whole crime drama would come in a appeal to people of this age group. Also the whole mature content and investigative action would attract viewers of this age.

In this I liked the investigative procedures used and what they learn was quite cool in using forensics.  Also I liked how the show was set out by separating two stories with the death of the girl and the night club shooting. However the crime aspect was very good, no matter how cheesy it became, it was likable. In terms of my particular screenplay I think that the whole crime drama looks quite good.

What I didn't like was how information in which the police didn't know was displayed as it took away from the build up. However I did like it when the viewer would receive information as the character would. However I would stay away in my screenplay by keeping the mystery rather than knowing something the main character does not.

Edge of Darkness, Compassionate Leave

In the opening scene this details how Ronald Craven is assigned to the miners voting case in which the votes have been tampered with. The vote was about the switch to nuclear power. James Godbalt was arguing with him about the votes they have got about the miners.

There are 3 characters in the opening scene. The main character Ronald Craven, James Godbolt and his boss in which they are having a three way conversation.

The primary audience for this would be around 30's to 50's as not only does it feature mature content but also the fact that the main character is around that age and is also a father who has lost their daughter which would appeal to an older generation initially.

Secondary audiences would be younger from around 20's to 30's who may of caught wind of the nature of the tv show. Also the subject matter of the show of being about nuclear power may attract younger left wing people. But not only that but the crime genre would also draw in the younger audiences.

The thing I liked most about this was how you received information at the same time as the protagonist. This gives it a investigative aspect in which makes the whole journey a lot more thrilling. Not only this but the aspect of having a mourning father doing the investigating makes the investigation a bit more stylish and emotive.

Things I did not like was how slow it was all though it releases information slowly I think it releases it in such a way were there is no pay off for watching such a long episode and learning anything. So in doing my own screenplay I would like to try work the information received by although withholding information make it worth while to watch.

Sherlock, A Scandal In Belgravia

At the start of Sherlock after the recap has a series of clips in Sherlocks apartment in which he is having people coming in with particular problems for Sherlock however for each one he says "boring". After this there is an investigation into a death of a man in the middle of no where in which details the car that back fires and the sportsman is suddenly dead with a blow to the head. Then Sherlock is approached by men in suits which intend to take him away somewhere. Without saying the location of where they are going a helicopter turns up for Dr Watson at the crime scene.

The characters in this are the main protagonists; Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson. However there are other minor roles like the series of people asking for Sherlocks help. Also the is the police inspector as well as the victim.

The primary audience for this would be around 30's to 50's because of the shows investigative nature as well as the main people who are likely to be fans of Sherlock Holmes would be middle aged. However the general genre of a crime/thriller would attract older more mature audiences.

The secondary audience would be around 20's to 30's as the cleverness of it would attract the younger audiences. Not only that the mostly the characterisation of Sherlock would be enough to attract a younger audience.

What I liked about Sherlock was the investigative nature as well as how they showed Sherlock analysis of things like the text on screen as well as the extreme close ups on the subject being analysed. Rather than stating this directly to the audience in dialogue it is brought up as text on screen. In my screenplay I will look at innovative ways of presenting information without dialogue. This will give my screenplay a unique look and feel without trying to rip off the style of Sherlock.

There is not much I had disliked about Sherlock as I found the show embodies the person well and the structure and style is also very aesthetically pleasing.






 

Understanding the requirements for working to a brief.

In working to a brief you must understand the terms and restrictions in the creation of the project. In understanding this and being able to work to this, you demonstrate initiative while working with the structures and guidelines in which the brief entails. There are many example of briefs.
          Contractual briefs in which are outlined in the employment contract in which the brief would come under the same guidelines as the contract. This could detail the contracts promises for the project and so their employment is based on the brief. For example production companies could always go forward to other companies and ask to promote them in which the company would say what they wanted for the promotion. This would end up as a contract based on the brief.
          A negotiable briefs is a brief in which both parties would discuss what the brief would entail and in turn coming to a conclusion. This however must be an agreement on both sides. For example this would be the BBC having to discuss brief ideas with the 'Sherlock' producers and so must come to an appropriate agreement.
          Another is a formal brief in which the company would outline what they wanted from the advertisement and the advertisement company would make it happen. This would usually entail a meeting in which the restrictions and all of the thing that the company would like in terms of the project. In this sense the formal brief would involve formal meetings as well as discussions on the terms of the brief.
          Next is the informal brief. This could be as simple as a email which would detail the requirements used for the brief. This could also be a company calling you to detail the brief rather than an overly formal meeting to detail the brief. The email would most likely detail the restriction and what they would like as a client.
         A commission brief would be where a client would simply commission a worker. This is like simply commissioning the work straight off. For example a advertisement company would be commissioned in order to make a particular advertisement. This would be a brief based on the commissioning of a advertisement or project to be made.
         Tender briefs are to do with briefs which would be sent to several companies by post or email which would detail the requirements for the brief. This would mean that the companies would be in competition to come up with the best idea for an advertisement and then pitch it. This entails creating a idea which would be unique about the idea in order to make them stand out in front of the other companies.
         Companies can host competitions as well like the E4 esting as there is a brief posted on the website but it is up to the general public to create these videos and which ever one stands out would have the Esting shown on TV.

Looking back at the brief I had to go by for the creation of our esting the brief we had to work by wasn't demanding in terms of its restrictions. The main one was to only have it 10 seconds long in order for it to slip into the gap between programs. Not only this but we had to produce a blog post detailing the aspects and technical side of stop motion animation. Not only this but according to the brief you must show a understanding of all aspects of your own animation and show that you can work with the constraints of a brief.  Furthermore you must also record the responses you got from the brief as well as using them to your own benefit in the evaluation. Reading the brief the things that were most implicit was the fact that you must show understanding of the stop motion animation and also the techniques used in the Esting. These are all important to pay attention to as being able to work to a specific set of instructions as well as showing the understanding of not only stop motion animation but also an understanding of the industry.

In the initial planning we had to consult with the tutor in order to get a better understanding to guide what we were doing and in doing this ensuring we had a direction. In lesson we briefly spoke to our tutor regarding the content and what would look good for the Esting. However the general content could be changed and essentially molded to what we had thought would look nice. However we had to consult our teacher first about the Esting to make sure it wasn't a stretch to far or unsuitable for E4 viewers.
          The brief was available to be read at any point however the brief wasn't specific on what we had to do with the esting. The main restrictions were that it had to be stop motion animation and that it had to be 10 seconds long. However we could change the theme and have fun with it trying to find cool and innovative ideas. Also as was the case with our own Esting we had to change the main theme because of the lack of talent. However we could pretty much do anything we wanted with the stop motion as long as it was 10 seconds. In this sense the brief was a bit vague however we could not diverge from the 10 seconds or stop motion animation.
           In terms of the constraints we had to make sure our animation was suitable for the target audience on E4 as well as making sure it was suitable to be on TV in the first place. That means that we have to follow the channel 4 guidelines regarding the to make sure that the video would not cause any legal, ethical or regulatory problems. Such problems may arise from legal issues which include copyright infringement. We had initially dealt with this using only the E4 sounds. But also we had to make sure we were not doing anything which would offend anyone. This meant that there was nothing to do with race or religion to avoid the whole idea of offending anyone of any race or ethnic group. If our video did infringe on this then the video would not be allowed and regulatory action may in fact be taken. The Ofcoms code suggest that anything which can be taken to offence can not be broadcast.
          In terms of amending the video the feedback recieved pointed towards the issue of the logo. The only issue was the fact that we lacked the technical knowledge to position the E4 logo behind my head when I hit the locker. However the intention was in getting the feedback to try and make the positioning of the E4 logo look a lot better however no matter how we tried to tweak the final esting the worse it looked and so we decided to keep it the way it was mainly due to the fact we simply were unable to find a way around it.
          We had to make considerable changes to the project as we had issues with the talent not turning up. Because of this we had to change our entire project which meant we had to film and edit in only around 2hours which was very difficult as we had to rush the final cut.  However there was no changing to any budget or fees because it wasn't required. However the conditions had to change to make it work and make sure we had enough time.

When making the video I had learnt several potential opportunities. On of which I have just stated which was the editing as because of the trouble with the editing, there is a potential to make my editing skills a lot better.Furthermore I could also educate myself in editing and try figure out potential ways of fixing problems such as the E4 logo. Not only this but I have also learnt to give orders and organise people. This was learnt because of trying to make sure people are organised and go to the right place and positioned themselves correctly. In terms of multi skills, we all had chances filming and getting down and being practical. Also we all made suggestions on what we were to do and the angles and shots.
        The main new skill I have learnt was some leadership skills and taking control of the situation. Not only this but I have learnt to use new equipment to my advantage as well. Also getting the right planning down and risk assessments.
        When contributing to the brief we all made suggestions about what we were doing espeacially when we had to come up with a contingency plan. In this the group started discussing the thinks we may be able to do and eventually came up with a fight in which we just discussed the type of thing we would do. We discussed doing a long fight scene however we decided on doing a single punch in which we could do the impossible with someone flying through the air and hitting into some lockers. The idea was to have me slide down revealing the E4 logo however we couldn't.