Writing for Television

A Complete Writer's Guide to Series, Serials and Soaps

Yvonne Grace

• Publisher: Creative Essentials
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781843443384
• Topic: Medien & darstellende Kunst
• Subtopic: Drehbuchschreiben

A no-nonsense, direct down-the-lens look at the television industry written from the point of view of a television drama producer who's been there, done it, fought some battles and won the odd award. Written in an engaging, anecdotal tone, Writing for Television provides advice on:

• Getting an agent
• The type of writer television's looking for
• The tool kit a television writer needs
• The writer/script editor relationship
• How to structure a storyline
• How to write good treatments and outlines

Packed full of useful insights, links and information, the book includes interviews with successful television writers working today, pointers on how to work collaboratively in the industry and how to make good contacts with the people who can further your career.

'Yvonne delivers a practical, accessible, no-nonsense guide to the world of writing for popular TV' - Mal Young, Producer, writer and former BBC Controller of Drama Series

'A very comprehensive and informative book on TV script writing. Yvonne covers every conceivable point that will help writers wanting to break into writing for the small screen, whilst at the same time creating a very accessible read' - Tony McHale, Sanctuary Films

TELEVISION WRITERS TALK ABOUT TELEVISION WRITING

I can talk about the world of television writing till I’m blue in the face and do it with conviction. However, my point of view is that of a script editor, a producer, a developer of drama for television. Here, I give the floor (and a chapter) to the writers who are doing the job of getting words on our screens day in, day out.

I chat with Damon, Sally, Lisa, Pete and Robert: the writers of Coronation Street, Casualty, Holby City, EastEnders and Emmerdale (amongst other shows) talking about the highs and the lows of this testing, but rewarding, business.

DAMON ROCHEFORT – CORONATION STREET

'Never give up.’

Damon talks about the circuitous route he followed onto his favourite television show:

I’d been in the music business for many years and had a series of hits as Nomad (‘I Wanna Give You Devotion’ being the biggest), as well as writing and producing for Kim Wilde, Bad Boys Inc, La Toya Jackson and many others. But I always wanted to write for TV. I was slightly obsessed with Roseanne, Cheers, Golden Girls and The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and one of my best friends, Helen Smith (now an established author), suggested I go on an Arvon residential writing course. The tutors for that particular sit-com course were comedy gods Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran (Birds of a Feather, New Statesman, Goodnight Sweetheart) and, after a fantastic week, they suggested that I write a spec script for one of their shows to see – in their words – if I could walk the walk as well as talk the talk.

When I got home, I wrote a Birds of a Feather script, with no training or experience whatsoever, and sent it to them within a few days. They liked it very much and said they’d keep me in mind in future. But, in an extremely fortunate bit of serendipity, I got a call from their office a few days later to say that a writer on the current series of Birds, which they were filming, had dropped out and could they use my script as ep two of the new series? I said yes, of course, thinking, 'Gosh, that was easy,’ and the next week I was down at a rehearsal room, at a table read of my script with the Birds cast and crew.

This stuff does not happen as a rule, as an amused Mo and Lo have pointed out to me many times over the years, but it was a combination of naive confidence on my part on the one hand, and a series of fortunate events on the other.

They encouraged me to write my own sit-com after that, but then my naivety and confidence were as much a drawback as a strength, as I had no idea of the difficulty of a guy with very little experience (two eps of Birds by now) getting his own show away.

The only other show I really wanted to write was Corrie, but again my lack of experience was against me. I phoned Granada and asked for the opportunity to write a spec script, which I did. And they turned me down. Nicely, I might add. But I asked to write another, and they said they usually asked new writers to wait at least 12 months before doing another trial, but I pleaded and begged, and they relented and let me do another straightaway. Which they also turned down; but they told me it was much better than the first and gave me excellent notes. I blush remembering it, but I pleaded and begged to do a third trial, and they must have taken pity on me because they let me do one. Which they turned down again, though, by this time, they had made it clear that they liked my writing very much, particularly – and I can’t stress the importance of this enough for writers starting out – as I clearly understood the tone of the show, and my love of the characters and the show really shone through. This is vital! Don’t try and get on a show unless you know it inside out. It’s insulting to the show and those that work on it if you’re clueless about the show you’re trying to write for.

I’d sort of given up hope by now, so I sent my last Corrie trial script to Family Affairs, and they immediately asked me to write a double episode, which I was thrilled about. I sent a ’thank you’ note to Corrie, telling them this, as it was their notes and encouragement that had helped me to develop my writing so much, and got a response back from the producer at the time asking me to go and see him for a chat.

I finished my Family Affairs double, went to see the producer at Corrie and, after a lively meeting, he asked me to attend the next Story Conference. Nine years and about 150 eps later, and here I am, still writing for the show I love the best on British TV.

The lesson? Never give up, listen to notes, believe in yourself and develop your talent. But above all? Never give up.

Robert and Sally both got their original break into television writing from the BBC Academy, as it was under John Yorke. I include their interviews here because they are both such marvellous examples of how training schemes really work:

ROBERT GOLDSBROUGH — Writer and BBC Writer Trainee

'It’s amazing, actually, how many people are out there, willing to help you out.’

Robert talks here about how important it is to value those that give you a leg up:

What are you working on at the moment?

Right now I’m just starting to work on my episode of Casualty and will go on to do a Holby City followed by a stint in the EastEnders story office before writing an episode of that, too. But you don’t get any special treatment. If you don’t cut it on your episodes, you can be replaced at any time, just like every other writer. We get a shot, but there are no guarantees beyond that.

What is the best thing about writing for an established series?

It’s great to get to write for some truly iconic characters that you’ve grown up watching your entire life. Whether it’s Dot Cotton or Charlie Fairhead, suddenly you get to put words into their mouths. It’s almost like playing with the BBC’s toys! There’s a huge weight of history behind them and incredible production teams who know exactly what works and what doesn’t from years of experience. These are really popular shows, too, with massive audiences. Some people dream of playing at Wembley, but an episode of EastEnders allows you to play for an audience up to a hundred times that size. That’s a big responsibility, but, to quote Matthew Graham, it’s also a privilege. No matter what else you might be working on, at least everyone’s heard of EastEnders!

Are there any downsides?

When you’re dealing with long-running shows that produce 40, 50, or over 200 episodes every year, it can be difficult to find new territory to explore. No matter how good or how original you think an idea you have is, chances are it’s been done three times before and is coming up again in a few weeks! So you have to work really hard to find fresh angles and unexpected twists. Some people on the outside looking in might think it’s easy, but it’s anything but. There are lots of logistics to consider, like cast and set availability, scheduling and so forth. It’s also a huge machine that can swallow you up if you don’t fight to hold on to your voice. But these are the challenges every writer has to meet head on if they’re to succeed – I’m certainly still learning how to get it right.

What television drama most influenced your decision to write for television?

I should probably name something very worthy and earnest but, if anything, it’s probably The X-Files. It was really intelligently written and had such an elasticity of format – it could be dark horror one week and extravagant comedy the next. It told standalone stories as well as having a long-form mythology, and I really think its influence on television has been underestimated. There are all sorts of other shows that have influenced me, too – Jimmy McGovern’s The Street and, more recently, Accused are perfect examples of gripping human drama without the need for any external story machine. Then there are US series like Breaking Bad, which is just incredible.

Who do you admire in the television writing industry?

I sometimes have to remind myself how lucky I’ve been to meet, however briefly, so many writers that I really admire – Jimmy McGovern, Peter Bowker, Sarah Phelps, Frank Spotnitz, Ryan Murphy, Jack Thorne, to name just a few. They’ve all offered words of wisdom and their work is a constant influence and inspiration. Sometimes you hear that the industry is a closed shop, but it’s amazing, actually, how many people are out there, willing to help you out.

SALLY ABBOTT — CASUALTY

'he ambition and aim for it to be brilliant has to be there. It’s not fair on the audience or the team behind it otherwise. If you don’t care passionately, then why should they?’

Sally has a baptism of fire on Casualty:

I’d got on to the shadow scheme for EastEnders already. What I did not expect, therefore, when I started to write Casualty, was that I would totally fall in love with the show.

I had a bit of a baptism of fire. A brilliant stunt had been suggested to me – a rollercoaster accident. My script editor had heard from the art director that it would be relatively easy to do, so I created a story around that. All was going well after a slightly eggy start, mainly due to me doing my own head in with the crippling doubt that I couldn’t do it, as well as a spectacular lack of preparation on my part. We were a week away from shooting when the amusement park, where we were filming the rollercoaster accident, pulled out. Unsurprisingly, they didn’t want to be associated with a huge accident and six deaths – even if the storyline was very clearly about sabotage.

The team brainstormed possible stunts they knew they could afford, could arrange in less than a week, and which wouldn’t change the medicine moving forward too much. I was given a choice of three disasters including, ‘We think we can recreate the ending of The Italian Job – you know, the coach hanging over a cliff?’ I asked if we could push the coach over the cliff. A bit of confabbing later and they said yes. It meant I had about three days to rewrite it to reflect the new stunt.

The stunt looked brilliant!

I do love Casualty to bits. There’s so much I can say!

I also go into filming when I can and often talk directly to the actors about it on the floor and then rewrite – even whilst filming.

So, for example, on my second ep, ‘Eliminate the Negative’ (which got me all my other eps of Casualty), I saw that my guest lead, Rudi Valentino (played by the scarily talented Sean Cernow), was just absolutely incredible. Just amazing. I’d written the part for him anyway, and had crossed my fingers he’d get it. It was an unusual ep as he was the main character in the whole episode. This was at a point when the main stories weren’t really patient ones, more staff-related ones. Mark Catley, the show’s then series script editor, gave me full permission to run with Rudi being big. I remember asking at commissioning if we could have a guest character this big and Mark said, ‘You can when he’s like this.’ Rudi ...