Northwest Vision and Media, create the bigger picture
Nations and regions 2007
SO YOU WANT TO BE A WRITER?
Writing for the UK from the Regions
IN an age of blogging, YouTube and all styles of user-generated content, it may be difficult for aspiring television writers to fathom which direction to take in order to achieve the holy grail of writing: a commission. One aspect that is largely agreed upon is that the fundamental traditions of writing remain unchanged; a keen writer needs ideas, a script and a passion and determination to succeed.
Edward Pugh, North West Vision’s Talent Base Manager, chaired a session highlighting these issues at the 14th Television from the Nations and Regions Conference on January 12th 2007.
Speaking at the Lowry Centre, Salford Quays, Ed’s panel included Keith Temple (Allotment, Angelcake and Doc Martin), Debbie Horsfield (Making Out, The Riff Raff Element and Cutting It.), Henry Normal (Managing Director of Steve Coogan’s Baby Cow Productions) and Morag Fullarton (Director, Producer and Drama Development Executive at SMG).
Keith Temple started the debate by explaining how his career began as Script Editor for programs such as Emmerdale, Heartbeat and Casualty. He admitted that when he first sat down to write an original drama, there was a lure to rush back to the restraints and rules that scriptwriting naturally brings.
Joking about a temptation to give it all up and apply to be a Paramedic, he suggested that inspiration comes when it is least expected.
Angelcake, (a one-off drama starring Sarah Lancashire), was ultimately inspired by a small but significant moment when Keith discovered a picture of a Danish pastry on the Internet; one that looked like Mother Teresa. Having completed Angelcake, many months passed by before it was accepted by Celador Productions for BBC One.
Speaking on behalf of other potential writers, Keith explained: “There are ups and downs, peaks and troughs but ultimately, you must have faith in yourself.”
Debbie Horsfield agrees, and suggested that timing is key, for although an idea may be rejected at one point, it can pay to keep trying. Debbie pitched her script for The Riff Raff Element numerous times and to no avail, until her third series of Making Out was a resounding success. After Making Out, The Riff Raff Element was accepted: “You have to be prepared to keep going back,” says Debbie.
There can also sometimes be pressures from TV companies to make changes that may seem irreverent to the writer’s original concept. Henry Normal outlined this with an example of Marrion and Geoff, the acclaimed BBC Comedy starring Rob Brydon.
At a time when it was known that Rob would play the main role, Henry was asked to make the character Scottish, even though Rob has a broad Welsh accent and the whole script was centred around his character living in Wales. Henry’s message is simple: sometimes advice should be acted upon but if you have strong feelings about your work then you cannot always compromise necessary features.
Comparing television writing to theatre, Debbie said that TV can be more challenging in the sense that theatre-goers will tend to stick with a performance from start to finish. “In TV, the single biggest factor in story-telling, is by way of the remote control,” says Debbie. She adds that this was the reason she also worked as Executive Producer on her pitch-black comedy True Dare Kiss (BBC One). “Since Making Out I’ve done this role, being part of casting, watching the final rushes…I’m effectively the only person who has an overview of the whole thing.”
Henry added that for comedy shows to work at Baby Cow Productions, it is also natural to have the writer in the edit suite. “It’s like maths, it’s either funny or its not, and the writer needs to know”.
Edward suggested to Henry that certain channels, particularly ITV, are relatively unknown for Comedy. Henry said that comedy tends to work better on the smaller channels in the current age of freeview and digital. “They don’t get Porridge and Steptoe and Son figures these days,” says Henry. “But when it does work… look at The Royle Family.” The final hour-long special of The Royle Family (Granada for the BBC) was broadcast in October 2006 to an audience of 8.5 million.
The panel then debated whether Comedy is currently being squeezed by the demand of reality TV. “I find it weird when comedies are packaged together, I’d like to have a laugh every day… I don’t understand the ghettoising of the genre,” says Henry.
Giving advice to current and up-and-coming writers, Henry says: “I ask which channel a potential writer would put their program on and often they don’t know.” He adds that some thought must go into the fact that an idea has to be sold. “You have to keep in mind what you want to write and that it’s a commercial business.”
Morag adds: “There’ll always be the cop/medical dramas, but the Holy Grail is to find a different, imaginative voice. It also depends who you’re pitching to. Channel 4 are generally more receptive to new writers,” she says. “The amount of people who have input on a writer’s script is staggering. You mustn’t let this put you off and have confidence in your script.”
Henry adds: “There are particular pressures with comedy and drama being so expensive to make compared to football and the likes of Big Brother and even Location, Location, Location.” Interestingly, comedies such as the Mighty Boosh (Baby Cow for the BBC) have sold more copies on DVD than its BBC3 audience figures.
In light of this, it was agreed that it can be off-putting that a program’s longevity (for example, The Innocence Project and Goldplated), often depends solely on audience figures and the complexities of monitoring processes such as AI; the Appreciation Index. “The mysteries of that, we will never know,” says Henry.
After viewing an extract from Alan Yentob’s BBC Documentary Imagine…World Wide Web, the final part of the discussion was opened up to the audience and focused upon the portrayal of the regions and the presence of Digital Media.
“It adds something to a drama if there is a strong visual identity and I love hearing accents from around the country. It’s important to reflect this,” says Morag.
People are undoubtedly starting to create their own shows and content which is apparent with popular websites such as YouTube. When asked if this is detracting from the quality of big-budget productions, Keith said: “There will always be blockbusters. There will always be people watching different modes. It’s an extra thing rather than a challenge to TV.”
Speaking of how other people’s blogs may also help writers research their topic, Keith adds: “Nothing beats seeing the real thing and talking face to face with individuals.”
Referring to the possibilities of new technology, Debbie said: “It’s exciting that you can perhaps sidestep going to a commissioner. However, it’s a means to an end.” She explained how broadcasting was still a strong focal point of many audiences, giving the example of her children who have seen films at the cinema, bought the DVDs, and still sat down to watch the premieres on National TV.
“At the end of the day, any commissioner is looking for a unique voice; writers need to know their subject inside out so that they don’t seem patronising. And it’s important not to try and be like anybody else.”
On that, everyone agreed. But the final word fell to Keith: “It may take time for a writer to find their style - so keep writing and writing and writing!”
