Writing Television Drama

by Nicholas Gibbs

  SW: You work from series to series; you never know whether you are going to get another series. It’s like Scott & Bailey – I’m so glad we got a second series but we don’t know whether we’ll get a third. We are optimistic that we will, but you never really know. Apart from that Scott & Bailey, Braithwaites is the only time I’ve had a second series in ten years. No matter how successful you think you are, it is never easy.

  NG: Did you feel any pressure or were you just delighted to get it?

  SW: I was absolutely delighted. It does do your head in sometimes and having to write two episodes of the Braithwaites in one week at one point, which basically meant being locked in Carolyn’s office and not being able to sleep but you kind of love it at the same time. It’s mad! I think how lucky am I doing a job I’ve always wanted to do. I have a different agent now – I’m with Bethan Evans now – she’s very good at getting things through. I’ve always had a lot of control over what I do. I think I’ve had a lot of control since the Braithwaites as I got really angry that a lot decisions were made without me. People sort of deciding that it was their show rather than mine. Initially, I was associate producer. In a way it is just a title but it means you are more involved and people have to invite you to meetings. Now I’m co-executive producer with Nicola Shindler on Scott & Bailey, although Nicola is the one who carries all the responsibility. You’re a bit invisible as the writer because nobody sees you work. Everyone sees the crew and actors working. No one sees what you do. You’re sort of someone who disappears after production begins.

  NG: Do you get more noes than yeses?

  SW: I usually get things commissioned to script but that’s when, particularly at the BBC, you fall down. I wrote a project for the BBC about three years ago now and it went into that stupid situation you only get with the BBC – ITV don’t do it – ITV will say yes or no. BBC don’t actually say no and they don’t say yes and so you end up with: ‘Can you write it as a two-parter?’ That doesn’t work: ‘Can you write it as a 90-minuter?’ ‘No, we actually like it as a two-parter.’ You just want to know and you end up fighting about it. They don’t know what they want. That’s why I like working with Nicola because she knows what she wants and you achieve very tangible results. Whereas at the BBC you just feel you are in a very vague place; people don’t know quite what they want.

  NG: With The Amazing Mrs Pritchard, did you know that story was going to be told over six episodes or did you expect that to come back?

  SW: I wanted it to come back. I’d hoped it would come back. I didn’t know what was going to happen in the whole six episodes when it was greenlit. I’d gone in with this brilliant idea of a cabinet of women. I think that was the hardest thing I’d ever written. I had a political advisor who was brilliant but the amount of research I had to do was the equivalent of doing a degree in politics in about six weeks. It was quite scary because I didn’t know after Episode 1 what was going to happen. That’s often the way, you know. We got Series 2 of Scott & Bailey and we had a lot of ideas but we didn’t know where it was heading. I’m writing Episode 8 now. I’ve kind of just decided what happens in Episode 8 because of the speed you have to turn these things around. They commissioned it three months later this year than they commissioned it last year. ITV wanted to transmit it earlier than they did last year and they also wanted two more episodes. Essentially, we have got a lot less time to make more episodes. You try to make it as considered and thoughtful as you can, but essentially you are making it up as you go along. It is having the confidence to do that. It’s having the confidence to take your time when you know you haven’t got time!

  NG: How do you find handing your characters over to another writer?

  SW: It’s hard. It’s one of the hardest things in the world because it’s evolving as you’re doing it. A writer came in, and it’s not her fault, but it just didn’t work. It wasn’t what she did was bad; it just wasn’t part of the evolving thing.

  NG: In that instance, were they pitching an episode or were you giving them the episode?

  SW: We went in giving her ideas about what she should do but a lot of stuff was the continuity with the personal side. I modelled Scott & Bailey on Nurse Jackie because I love Nurse Jackie, in that every episode is a complex weave of about 300 stories! And when you tell stories very lightly, you can tell one story in three scenes. As my script editor says: ‘You don’t need to see people buying the milk to make the tea; you want to see them drink the tea.’ It’s that kind of show where you really attack your stories, and to do that with the continuity of the characters is really tough. The only script that has worked out is written by Amelia Bullmore who plays DCI Gill Murray and that’s because she knows the characters as well as I do. She has that minute knowledge of those things. It is really hard for other people coming in to do it. I’ve been there when I did Playing the Field.

  NG: Did you find the urge to want to change things or did you leave it to the script editors to sort?

  SW: It is really interesting because when I saw the script I thought – and she is a really good writer – I just wanted to get hold of it and change it, whereas the one Amelia has written, I absolutely don’t want to touch it. She’s got the voices right, she’s got the humour. It is a really tough call.

  NG: How did you approach developing your own material like Scott & Bailey? Do you come up with a concept? I know there was an idea that Suranne and Sally Lindsay had and then there was this other idea through Diane Taylor?

  SW: Sally and Suranne came up with the idea of being Cagney & Lacey in Manchester. They wrote a document with various stories about female working detectives, but it was about them being in Division. I wrote the original script with them being in Division, which is general crime. That got turned down by ITV and the BBC. We were filming Unforgiven and the production designer on that, Grant Montgomery, and I were chatting. He’d worked on See No Evil. I was interested in Myra Hindley at the time. He said you’ve got to meet Diane Taylor. He said you’ll get on with her like a house on fire. We met and we did and we really got on straight away. She had worked all her life in homicide. What happened was ITV just changed their mind and said they did want Scott & Bailey. I think this was after Unforgiven had been on and that worked really well. I think they wanted me to write something else with Suranne in. So they decided to go with Scott & Bailey, but because I’d met Di by then I decided to change it completely. It became about them being in the Major Incident Team. The whole thing was going to be about murder. It just became more vibrant, more dark.

  NG: Character or concept first? With Unforgiven I assume the central character was your starting point?

  SW: I think the concept and the main character are closely knitted together. You start with a germ of an idea and then the rest is hard work. With Unforgiven I decided to do a story about this woman who was in prison and what it must be like to come out after 15 years. The rest of the story was just hard work after having that initial kernel of an idea.

  NG: Knowing what Ruth in Unforgiven was supposed to have done and you don’t really know until right at the end. Obviously you, as the writer, know, but the audience doesn’t. To all intents and purposes this is an unpleasant character. How do you take the audience with you?

  SW: I didn’t know actually because the way it transpires in the original idea for the story she really did kill the policeman. It was only when I got on to write the final episode and I had a conversation with Nicola from which came the idea of ‘What if she didn’t do it?’ That was unique. In my mind, Ruth was always heroic no matter if she had done it. Somebody who was born in a very difficult situation, and did the best she could, found herself on the wrong side of the law, in a situation but for the grace of God any of us could have chosen to do the wrong thing in the heat of the moment. I found her quite heroic. For me it was the fact that she was clearly broken when she comes out and has no confidence. She’s still sort of slightly aggressive but you can see she has been absolutely destroyed by what she has been
through. I think there is a massive amount of sympathy for her when you first see her, even though she is a tough-looking woman. And by making little elements like when she carries that bloke’s shopping upstairs – I mean, she doesn’t have to. You think she’s going to nick it but she doesn’t. It is little things like that where you can see in that character in any other circumstances she has a heart of gold. Born in any other world she would be a really perfectly nice person.

  NG: What advice would you give to new writers? In the end all those writers need to be better than you or at least on a par?

  SW: I think you’ve just got be passionate about it. I think you know if you are. I was obsessed with writing from about 13. I use to spend a lot of time being shut in my room being sad, writing. I don’t think I was sad because I loved it. Right from an early age you just know you’re going to get there because it’s your passion. The only advice I can give is be honest about how passionate you are. Even if you’re like me, I was just so shy but I was never shy about trying to put my work out there and trying to do things with it. I found it hard but I did it because I knew I had to do it because I was absolutely driven to it. There was no way I wasn’t going to do it. I think you have to have the courage of your passion and obsessiveness.

  15

  Where to send your script

  In this chapter you will learn:

  • about the BBC’s Writersroom

  • about various initiatives and competitions in the UK and US that offer new or relatively new writers routes into the industry

  • how to get – and keep – an agent.

  BBC Writersroom

  ‘Our job is to take scripts as a means to an end and that end is people rather than things. So scripts are things that lead us to people and if the scripts are good we assume the people are interesting. We’ll lead them to other people in the BBC and that’s when you start talking about things.’

  Paul Ashton, BBC Writersoom

  The BBC Writersroom is a unique institution. It accepts unsolicited scripts – around 10,000 every year – and its primary remit is to uncover new UK-based writers, champion them and try to help them into the industry.

  Once you’ve completed your script and made it the best you can, you will need to download a cover sheet from the Writersroom website to send with your script and include an stamped addressed envelope if you want the script returned.

  The BBC Writersroom has three windows a year in which writers can send scripts to the Script Room – Spring, Autumn and New Year. All the scripts received during each window are dealt with as one group. The process is as follows:

  1 Initially, the first ten pages of the script are read. Based on those opening ten pages the script reader will either decide to read on or pass and return it to the writer. The latter is the fate for around 80 per cent of the scripts submitted.

  2 The next stage is a full script read. Once again, some of those scripts will now be returned to writers, who will get a brief script report and feedback.

  3 The remainder that have impressed will be put forward for the Script Room. This group of writers will have direct contact with the Writersroom team and be offered master classes and/or workshops. These have the goal of helping the writer to make useful contacts with people in the industry, which could potentially lead to representation by an agent or a commission.

  In addition, the BBC Writersroom also runs one-off competitions and specific initiatives with other industry partners.

  There is a wealth of free information on the BBC Writersroom website including blogs, articles, tips, advice and a library of downloadable BBC TV, film and radio scripts. In terms of television drama, there are episodes from series, serials, one-offs and continuing drama.

  Details: www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom

  Competitions and other scriptwriting initiatives

  Scriptwriting competitions and initiatives have become a way of unearthing new talent for both agents and producers and really do open doors for some scriptwriters. However, there is a plethora of different competitions and not all are beneficial to the writer. Before entering, you need to check the credentials of the competition. Ask these questions:

  Who is running it?

  Who is judging it?

  What are the benefits for the winning writers?

  Exactly who are the industry contacts which the competition promises to pass the best scripts on to?

  What are the success stories?

  Also be wary of ‘terms and conditions’ since some unscrupulous competitions get you to sign over the rights to your scripts. The established, good ones don’t.

  The best competitions have a lot of credibility in the industry and, if you achieve something with these competitions, it is worth adding this to your CV. Also, note that some competitions have an entry fee. This is not necessarily a negative thing but only you can judge whether a particular competition is worth the investment of your hard-earned money. As I’ve said before, however, if you are not willing to invest in yourself then why should others?

  Below are some of the leading competitions and initiatives in the UK and US.

  BBC WRITERS’ ACADEMY

  ‘You can’t teach writing. What you can teach is structure, and if writers master that, it allows them access to their voice – and it is those voices that will keep the industry thriving.’

  John Yorke, Controller of Drama Production

  The BBC Writers’ Academy was conceived by the BBC’s Controller of Drama Production, John Yorke. Each year the academy selects eight writers to undergo an intensive 15-month training programme designed to equip them with all the skills necessary to write successfully for BBC Drama. The selected writers write a broadcast episode of Doctors and, if successful, will write commissioned episodes for Casualty, Holby City and EastEnders.

  Eligible are writers who have had, and can prove they have had, at least one paid commission for radio, theatre, film or television. Academy writers have included Mark Catley, Daisy Coulam, Rachel Flowerday, Ian Kershaw, Karen Laws and Justin Young.

  Details: www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/about/the-writers-academy

  COMING UP

  ‘There is a lot of really interesting new talent out there. We’ve seen that from the results we’ve had over the years on Coming Up. For us it’s an opportunity to find, work with and nurture some pretty exciting new talent. The likes of Jack Thorne, Jann Demange, Tom Harper – all sorts of interesting writers and directors have come through Coming Up who then go on and work for all sorts of people, but they’ve often gone to work for Channel 4 as well.’

  Ben Stoll, Channel 4 Development Executive

  Coming Up is currently the only talent scheme in the UK where emerging film-makers have the opportunity to make an authored drama with a guaranteed network broadcast. Launched in 2002 by Channel 4 and Touchpaper Television, the aim of the scheme is to create eye-catching, innovative, challenging films.

  For successful applicants, the scheme can lead to an original 30-minute film on Channel 4. Coming Up looks for scripts which are bold and original and which feature surprising ideas, and for strong voices that are unafraid of ambition, wit, urgency and fearless entertainment. The budgets are limited, so the scripts must be able to be shot in four days.

  To apply, writers must not have had an original single, series or serial broadcast on UK television. Writers who have contributed episodes to series and serials (e.g. a long-running soap) are now also eligible to apply. The scheme is also open to directors without a primetime TV drama credit.

  Details: www.touchpapertv.com

  4 SCREENWRITING

  ‘The intention is to give writers from all sorts of different backgrounds and disciplines the opportunity to experience the development process. The idea is over the course of how many months those writers will attend various workshops, meetings and will work with a script editor on a new script. Nearly all of these writers haven’t been through that development process. It’s a very valuable learning scheme.’ />
  Ben Stoll, Channel 4 Development Executive

  The 4 Screenwriting Competition is an annual event run by Channel 4 and was launched in 2010. It is open only to writers who do not have a broadcast credit as a television or film writer (although short films of 20 minutes or less are exempt).

  The competition is launched in the autumn when writers need to submit an original writing sample of a minimum of 30 minutes along with their CV. In 2011/12 there were approximately 3,000 entries.

  Twelve people are selected for a place on a course which gives an insight into how TV drama, with a Channel 4 slant, works. Over a five-month period each writer gets to work on their own one-hour pilot script for an original series or serial, alongside an experienced script editor. In addition, they attend two weekends of talks and script meetings at Channel 4. A small fee is paid for attending the course.

  Many writers who have taken part in the scheme have got noticed. Channel 4 commissioned a different version of one of the projects developed on the course; a second writer has been commissioned via an independent project, while two others have gone on to earn broadcast credits on Coming Up.

  Details: www.4talent.Channel4.com or www.script-consultant.co.uk

  RED PLANET PRIZE

  ‘Drama in this country is written by the same 12 old farts – and I include myself in that – you’ve got to have new blood coming through. You need the next generation of writers, so that was the idea of the prize really. The Red Planet Prize is to find the next generation of writers.’

  Tony Jordan, Scriptwriter and Executive Producer, Red Planet Pictures

  The Red Planet Prize was launched by Tony Jordan in 2007 in order to nurture aspiring writers and find new talent through his production company, Red Planet Pictures. The annual competition, run in partnership with Kudos Film and Television, awards the winner £5,000 and entry into a mentoring scheme. Other writers who impress may also find their way onto the mentoring scheme.