Writing for Television

Sir Basil Bartlett

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781138123700
• eBook ISBN: 9781317301776
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Media Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

This book, first published in 1955, was written at the request of the BBC in an attempt to help the professional writer to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the television medium. This title will be of interest to students of history, literature and media studies, and will also appeal to the general reader who is interested in knowing how television programmes were constructed.

QUOTATIONS FROM SCRIPTS

1. The Small Victory

2. Return to Living

3. The Emperor Jones

4. The Comedy of Errors

5. Shout Aloud Salvation

6. The Bespoke Overcoat

7. The Disagreeable Man

8. The Six Proud Walkers

9. ‘1984’

10. The Eye of a Gypsy

THE SMALL VICTORY

by Iain MacCormick

Produced by Julian Amyes

In 1954 Iain MacCormick wrote a cycle of four plays for Television. All four were complete in themselves, but each was bound to the other three by the same characters and by a continuing theme. I have quoted here the beginning of the third play. It is the script as the author submitted it, and before the producer had started to work on it. This play is true Television. The author wastes no time on background. He picks up his characters at a moment of crisis in their lives and plunges straight into his story.

FILM-ESTABLISHING SHOT—MISSION GATES—MLS—DAY

The mud-brick pillars are almost intact, except for the top of one, which is missing, blown somewhere by the blast of a shell … but the gates, between, lean drunkenly to one side, as if they had been pushed there by a heavy body anxious to make a way for itself….

The scene is desolation….

Two ragged, tiny children, hand in hand, come timidly past the CAMERA and into the scene. They pause for a moment as if afraid to go on, then slowly advance to the gate itself where they stand, peering inside to the courtyard that we cannot see … the little boy peeps around the corner of the pillar … there is nothing for him there … they go right up to the gate where, in the centre of it, is a plaque….

We go into a close-up of the plaque which reads merely:

KOREAN MISSION OF THE SACRED HEART FOR CHILDREN

Now, back in Medium Long Shot, we see the little boy reach up, touch the plaque with his fingers … he rubs a little dust from it which he later wipes-off on his clothing … then, hand-in-hand, the two children slowly turn away and, together, move out of sight … we have not seen their faces….

TITLES

… As the titles fade we begin slowly to TRACK IN towards the gates and DISSOLVE TO

FULL SHOT OF CLASSROOM—MORNING

Now we are in a small classroom in this old, battered building and, although the room is not very well lighted, we can see all around us the evidence of children … some flowers are in a cup of water on what has been the teacher’s desk … books lie open upon the forms … not books of great culture or learning, but simple books with pictures of fairies and flowers and ships and ‘The Lord is my Shepherd’… and on the blackboard are more pictures of simple, elemental things and some Korean words chalked at the side of each … then, to the right of the blackboard has been built a tiny alcove, surmounted by a cross … the Crucifixion … and on the left, in a similar place, hangs a small, wooden Madonna….

In one corner is a tilted heating stove with the great flue running back across the room … one piece of it hangs down, gaping, shaken there by a blast … some of the windows are broken, too and, in one, a length of hair-ribbon flutters in the draught, caught there by some freak of blast-wind.

As the camera wanders quietly through this room, we become aware of a door that is open and which leads to a small ante-room beyond … and another door which leads from that to the stair-head….

The ante-room is obviously the teacher’s room and a place for meditation … it is very barely furnished—only a table and two chairs … and a crucifix on the wall by the single narrow window….

At the far end of the classroom is another door which gives directly on to the landing … this, too, is open.

As we have moved ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Original Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• I Television and other Mediums
• II Choice of Subject
• III The Viewers
• IV The Layout of a Television Play
• V Other Programmes
• VI Planning a Programme
• VII The Creation of a Script
• VIII Production
• IX Money
• X Conclusion
• NOTE
• QUOTATIONS FROM SCRIPTS