NG: The rules of a particular drama are set up anyway. What is the process for you on a show like Blue Murder?
HM: It’s a hugely enjoyable process because it is very creative; it is very collaborative and you’re starting from a one-line idea that’s interested you. The process with the writer is a lot of conversations and developing the story.
NG: At that stage are you sourcing known writers for a show like that?
HM: At that stage it is about fifty-fifty. I would bring in writers I have worked with before but I am also open to ideas from writers I haven’t worked with before but whose work I probably know. With Blue Murder it would be unusual to commission a writer with no credits because there is no hiding place with a show like that and the budget is substantial compared with an episode of EastEnders or Hollyoaks. So you need to be sure that the writer you commission will be able to deliver.
NG: What is the schedule for an episode of a series like Blue Murder?
HM: It is still pretty tight. When I first started on the show we’d just been greenlit and the first episode was due on camera six weeks later and we only had one script at that point and some first-draft treatments. So within a couple of months I had to have all five hour-long scripts pretty much ready to go almost from scratch.
NG: Writers love deadlines because it is amazing what can be achieved. So generally speaking for an hour drama like that are you saying that is the norm that a script has to be ready to be shot within six weeks?
HM: It could be six to twelve weeks depending on where they sat in the shooting schedule because obviously with Blue Murder you’re single camera and shooting them as discrete hour-long films. We didn’t shoot them in the order that they would TX [transmit]; we shot them in the order we knew we could get the scripts ready. It is about knowing your writers. It is about knowing the state of your stories, how much work you still have to do and knowing which writers can deliver at what kind of pace. We knew there was one story that needed a lot of work from a writer who was brilliant but not great at speed, so we scheduled that to shoot last. You’ve got to make those decisions pretty fast because you’re already in pre-production.
NG: If a writer is slow but brilliant, do you tolerate and accommodate that?
HM: Whether you’re on Blue Murder or Hollyoaks, your shoot date doesn’t move and there comes a point where you have to shoot what material you can or you have to recommission. You have to get another writer in to deliver a script good enough in the time given because that time given can’t be extended. You can’t move a shoot because the script isn’t ready, which is tough but quite motivating.
NG: Do you get writers who think they have made it when they get on shows like Hollyoaks?
HM: I’d say quite the opposite. I’d say every writer that I know is incredibly insecure and usually assume that this commission will be their last. There are very few complacent writers around that I know. Mostly, no matter how good they are and no matter how many times you tell them that they are good, they are never quite convinced and expect to be sacked any minute! Sometimes the problem is not complacency and that they feel they have made it but a belief that they are better than the show they are working on. I have come across that. Those writers tend not to stay on that show for very long.
NG: One of the arguments against continuing drama is that the originality can be taken out of writers. In your experience is that the case?
HM: No. I don’t think it is the case, particularly over a reasonably short space of time. I think – and individual writers will have their own view on this – when writers have written on one particular show for a considerable number of years I think it is healthier that they have other things going on creatively at the same time. I think there is a danger of losing a sense of creativity and originality but only after a long period of time because the range of stories you can tell on any continuing drama is pretty broad.
NG: Tell me about your Script Angel work? Presumably you get work of variable quality so what you’re asked to do in response varies?
HM: Yes, I have a very broad spectrum of clients. I do get a lot of inquiries and commissions from writers who are very, very new to it who are just finding their way into the industry. It can be the first time they have ever sent a script to anybody. Equally, I could be working on feature films and TV dramas with experienced writers. I think experienced writers also find a value in having editorial help to develop projects, particularly if they are moving into something new, like TV writers who want to move into feature films or vice versa. I am engaged by writers and I’m also being engaged by directors who have been brought onto projects and by producers and production companies as a freelance script editor through Script Angel.
NG: When writers come to you they are looking to get their scripts enhanced and improved by having the script problems identified so they can be addressed?
HM: New writers are often looking for a professional critique of their writing and their ability as a writer. Obviously, the advantage of being a script editor who is doing this as opposed to a script reader is that I don’t just critique it but am able to offer suggestions on how they can improve it in a way a script editor would. I don’t look at it as if I’m filtering their work as a script reader would. I look at it as if it’s my job to help them develop this project to a point where it’s filmable. That’s how I come at any project whoever the writer is. I think there are some script consultants whose only experience is as readers. The feedback the writers are getting is often more of a reader’s report. As a reader you’re not giving notes to a writer to encourage them; instead your job is to produce a report that says well this bit’s all right but this, this and this are the reasons you are rejecting it and the reader’s report often forms the basis of the rejection letter. That is very different from a script editor’s job which is to be much more constructive and more nurturing.
NG: Do you get people who think: ‘I’ll do what Hayley says and then that’s it, the script will be commissioned’?
HM: I don’t think so because as diplomatically as I can I’m quite honest about how much work needs doing. Again, I think that comes from years of experience in writing notes for writers. Your writer needs to be able to read those notes and understand how much work needs to be done but not feel like giving up. That’s your job when you’re delivering written notes because those words you put on the page they can keep reading over and over again and your job is to give them encouragement but not to be falsely hopeful about how good a script is. I think that another key is not always to offer solutions but instead to ask a lot of questions. What I never want to do is just criticize a piece of work and leave the writer kind of floundering as to what to do, but equally I don’t want to be prescriptive and say if you just make this character do this here it’ll be fixed. I offer possibilities to consider and ask whether that is the story they want to tell. What I’m doing now is less focused on written notes and more focused on discussions with the writer about the work.
NG: You’re trying to help the writer improve the script to the point it is seen in a favourable light?
HM: Trying to improve it each time to the point where other people who are not being paid to work on it will read it and be interested in the project and the writer.
NG: Of course there are limited places an unsolicited script can go?
HM: If you engage somebody like myself at Script Angel, although that costs you money you not only get feedback to help make your script better but if we come across writers who are brilliant we will absolutely mention them to people that we know. I don’t separate out Script Angel from the other aspects of my script editing work. If I take a job script editing on a show, I would happily recommend someone I’d come across through Script Angel if I thought they were right for it. Good writing, good ideas and good projects lodge in your head for ever. There are still times now when I’m having conversations with producers and directors and they say they are looking for a certain thing and I’ll remember a
project I read ten years ago by a writer I haven’t been in touch with for five years – you don’t forget it and you don’t stop thinking about those writers.
NG: What are the things you find in scripts you don’t like seeing?
HM: I’d like to get to the end of the story and I should be able to sum up what that story was. ‘It is about a girl who…’ It might have lots of things going on underneath that or running alongside that but it should have one driving story that you can sum up at the end. It might be subtle and only a small shift but I’m looking for a clear sense of story. I also don’t want to have to ask what the point of that scene is. How has it changed anything? What have we learned about those characters? Has the story moved on? If it hasn’t done any of those things, then why is it there?
NG: The writer should be asking those questions to a degree?
HM: The thing is to think of it as a process and as a writer you do have to learn to become brutal about your own work because a scene that was fantastic three drafts ago becomes redundant because of the bigger changes you make in the story or the way you’re telling the story or the focus of the piece. If it doesn’t sit well anymore, it has got to go. No matter how much you love it. It’s the hardest note to give as well. To be an editor on the phone and say: ‘I love this scene; you know I love this scene but you know it has got to go.’ A good writer might be keeping that scene in because they love it but when you have that conversation they recognize the truth of the note. The bottom drawers of good writers are littered with brilliant characters, ideas and scenes that just didn’t work in the script anymore as the project developed.
www.scriptangel.co.uk
5
Creating characters
In this chapter you will learn:
• how to create an engaging, fully rounded protagonist
• how to create drama by making different aspects of a protagonist’s life come into conflict
• how character shapes the development of a scenario.
The most important element of all television drama is the characters. If your characters don’t come alive, don’t leap off the page, then no matter how good your premise the script (and drama) is destined to fail. The importance of character cannot be understated. By researching audience reaction to new shows, organizations such as the Television Audience Programme Evaluation have learned that the decision viewers make to commit to a series is based mainly on character appeal rather than story content.
Good, engaging, memorable characters are a must for any script. Good characters can overcome a poor premise but poor characters can kill a great premise. For example, compare smash US musical series Glee with UK musical flop Britannia High. The success of Glee can be attributed to the characters (and the music). It is certainly not the storylines which are predictable and are there to hang the songs on for each episode. It is the characters that really make the show, from the Streisand-wannabe Rachel to the sassy Santana to the naive comic brilliance that is Britney.
Think about Britannia High and, if you did watch it, can you recall the characters? Go on. Name me one of the characters? Go on. Nope, it’s not going to happen because the characters weren’t strong enough (among other things) to resonate.
Make a list of the most memorable TV characters from television drama. Separate them into UK and US characters. To help you, here is a list of five from both sides of the Atlantic:
UK US
DCI Gene Hunt (Life on Mars) Jack Bauer (24)
Harry Pearce (Spooks) Dexter Morgan (Dexter)
John Luther (Luther) Gaius Baltar (Battlestar Galactica)
Sherlock Holmes (Sherlock) Alicia Florrick (The Good Wife)
DC Rachel Bailey (Scott & Bailey) Detective Jimmy McNulty (The Wire)
What makes those characters interesting? They are all, to varying degrees, larger-than-life but more importantly quite complex individuals who are deeply flawed in some way. So, your characters need to be complex, compelling, strong and distinctive. They have to matter to the audience. Let’s now look at how to create such characters and let’s start with your hero – the protagonist.
The protagonist
The protagonist is your main character – your hero or heroine. It is the character the viewers are going to tune in for every episode. In Chapter 4 we talked about the logline for your idea and saw that invariably any story is about a ‘someone who…’. So, who is your who?
Writers approach creating their characters in many different ways but with the same goal – namely, by the time they write the script they will have a set of characters they know so well that they will act consistently as themselves and not merely to service the plot.
You are telling a story about a particular part of a character’s life. So you, as the writer, will want to know how they came to be by the time that we first meet them on screen. Create a biography, a backstory if you will, for that character and list everything of importance before the story begins, including their upbringing, their career, their relationships and their education. Look at their favourite things in terms of possessions, hobbies and so on. You can make an extensive list – most of it will probably never be used in a script but which will nonetheless help in creating a three-dimensional character.
Character background sheet
1 Full name (and aka)
2 Age (date of birth)
3 Single/married/partnered/divorced/widowed (and to/from whom)
4 Children (age) – and the character’s relationship status with them
5 Best friend
6 Education
7 Occupation and responsibilities
8 Are they good at their job? What are their strengths/weaknesses? Do they like their job?
9 What is their dominant attitude – that is, how do they see and interpret the world?
10 What do they do in their free time? With whom do they socialize?
11 What are the significant moments of their life?
12 How have those moments affected them?
The questions above are opening gambits of inquiry. The answers you provide should provoke other questions that need answering as you delve deeper to create your fully rounded characters. It will help to colour their attitudes and behaviour so that they act consistently within your script.
Now look at the character as we meet him/her at the start of the script. Everyone has three distinct parts of their life that tend to be kept separate but which may occasionally overlap or collide: the public, personal and private personae. When that happens, conflict is created.
PUBLIC PERSONA
This is where we see our characters most – namely, in the public arena. They are usually defined by their occupation or position. What is their job? In cops and docs shows it is very obvious that the character’s job in these circumstances will have a profound effect on the drama but it applies equally to any occupation.
Think of the protagonist’s start to their working day – their daily routine from the point the alarm clock starts the day through to how they get to work. Do they travel by public transport? If so, is it by bus or train or boat or plane? Or do they travel by car? Is it their car or a company car? Is the car new or second-hand? Do they get a lift in a friend’s or work colleague’s car? Is it because they share fuel costs? Is it because your protagonist doesn’t own a car or because they have never learned to drive or have been banned from driving? Do they walk to work? Do they even have a job to go to?
Just looking at that commuting aspect of their day can reveal so much about their status and wealth (or lack thereof) and potential problems in their lives. Immediately, you can get some insight into that character and this leads to further questions and yet deeper insight. If they have been banned from driving, for instance, is it because they are reckless? Is it because they drink? Is it because they couldn’t afford to insure the car? Is money tight? Are there debts?
What about the job to which they are commuting? What does their actual job involve? What position in the work p
lace hierarchy do they hold? How do they get on with their work colleagues? How do they get on with their boss? Are they responsible for any staff? Do they deal with anybody from outside their company or organization? Do they deal with the public? What is their attitude to the public? How long is their working day? How do they commute home? Do they bring work home? Are they on call? Do they like their job? Is it a vocation or just a job?
In all aspects of their lives, ask questions of your characters and answer them. Those answers will help contribute to a full-rounded character by the time you start typing.
PERSONAL PERSONA
What is your character’s personal life? Are they married? Do they have children? Are they divorced? What age are the children? What is the character’s relationship with the husband/wife and kids or ex-partner? What are their relationships like with other family members?
Look at the character’s social circle. Who are their friends? How do they interact? Where do they meet and what do they do? What are the character’s perceptions of their friends? Who is their best friend? Do they fancy their best friend’s wife? How long have they known their friends? Are they part of a group of childhood friends who have grown up together? Are they a newcomer to an existing group because they have moved to a new town for a new job? What music do they like? What football team do they support? To what degree do they support that team – just via the scores, via the TV or as a season ticket holder?
With family, friends and work relationships, examine how those relationships unfold and change as you tell your story.
PRIVATE PERSONA
The other aspect and arguably the most important of a character’s existence are the moments when they are alone. This is when we can see what they are really like and see what they really feel. Are they crying alone in the dark? Are they secretly drinking? Do they obsess over their secret folder of cuttings about their brother’s death? Does their brave public persona crumble when they lay awake at night? Do they have a sinister secret? Do they have a vice that is socially questionable?
Writing Television Drama Page 4
