Danny Cohen: BBC3 is up 15%, year on year, and up nearly 50% since it's relaunch in 2008. The channel's offering a more consistent drama story, with Being Human as the lynchpin of that. New drama series Lip Service is coming in the autumn.
BBC3 struggles most in pre-watershed [the channel starts transmission each day at 7pm]. Competition before 9pm is fierce, especially soaps. Noise about the channel and its future has quietened down from two years ago. BBC3 doesn't get criticims from its core audience of 16 to 34-year-olds. There's been a 12% budget cut since 2008.
Being Human is the crucial BBC3 drama. The channel's drama slate is in a settled state for 2011. Big new show is Touch, a supernatural zombie drama created by Jack Thorne. That was commissioned to series last week. High concepts work very well for BBC3. The channel's now developing drama for 2012. Doesn't get as many scripts and projects as it would like. More choice would be better.
BBC3 always sees the world through the eyes of young people, whether the shows are drama, factual or factual entertainment. E4 and ITV2 are the main competition. BBC3 required to have a 30% maximum of imported acquisitions, such as US cartoon series Family Guy. Last year the balance was 73-74% homegrown, 26-27% imported.
Tariffs for BBC3 shows average £450,000 for drama, £100-160k for factual, £120-140k for comedy or entertainment shows. That's not far behind some terrestrial channels.
BBC3 feels confident about new drama series Touch, but there's more work to do on it, so the pilot won't be transmitted. [Touch was one of several drama pilots commissioned by BBC3. All the others - including a hospital-set horror pilot called Pulse - were broadcast, but didn't get commissioned to series.]
The decision about which series to commission was not determined solely by audience numbers. BBC3 looks hard at Appreciation Index responses, how good they thought a series might be. Pulse got an okay AI. There's a range of reasons. It's about which one you think creatively - instinctively - has the most mileage.
[Mention was made of Paul Abbott's claim that making pilots was spunking money away. Cohen:] I respectfully disagree with Paul Abbott. I believe you can learn a lot from pilots. And not all dramas go through the pilot process. Lesbian drama Lip Service went straight to series.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Monday, August 30, 2010
Paul Abbott at the Edinburgh TV Festival
Paul Abbott: I do have quite a lot to say. My aim is to stimulate interest in high quality returning drama. It’s the single most magnetic element for channels. I’m not talking about continuing drama. This is about adult drama, the things HBO and Showtime make.
The credit crunch should force us to fix this glaring hole in British TV. I suspect we’re about to come under further attacks from the coalition government. It feels like we’re being shut in a Portakabin on Ritalin, with a dog shagging our leg for four or five years.
Enough bitching, there’s a big task ahead. We’re not producing drama of a sufficiently high standard to deserve repeating viewing. The US culture of commissioning is very different. Obviously, we only see the best of the best imported here.
But we’re addicted to a dangerous level of safety. Everything’s become safe and less expansive; we’re so far away from the outrageous. We haven’t got the balls, the guts to blow the audience’s tits off.
The audience is sitting there, begging for better stuff. [On audience analysis reports] We are the ones who are meant to be qualified to take them to places where they don’t know they want to go. [On suggestions audiences want to influence the outcome of stories] The audience pays the tickets. We shouldn’t be expecting them to fly the plane as well.
Channel 4 has committed to 22 episodes of Shameless for next year, but it’s taken eight years to reach that point. We don’t have a culture of growing long-running returning drama for adult audiences – but that’s what the US wants to buy.
For the US series of Shameless they went straight to 12 episodes – here it was seven, then eight, then ten, and then sixteen per series. We have a bad habit of expecting things to finish. That expectation stops us being creatively fizzy.
I think British drama’s too expensive. I shouldn’t be saying that as a manufacturer of British drama. But in the future we’ll be making dramas for £500,000 an hour. State of Play cost more than a million per ep.
We keep testing things in dribs and drabs, it’s exhausting. People love making pilots but it’s a waste of money. Takes a year to make a pilot, as long as it takes to make a series. It’s a bit like spunking money away.
We haven’t got the scale and guts to commission – six 1-hour episodes are seen as a big commission for a drama but it’s not enough to grow a series with the audience. Sky is committing to several 13 episode drama series, Stuart Murphy is starting to put things right there.
Longer runs of returning series and we could attract back a lot of people we’ve lost. We suddenly went cosy twenty years ago. To change that needs investment. We should test-drive stuff on paper, not with pilots. Indie production companies are exhausted by the piece-meal approach.
Takes an audience five weeks to realise they’ve missed the one transmission of a new pilot. Audiences need time to find affection for a series. I think audiences are desperate for long-running adult drama. On the US version of Shameless, 60% of the writers are first timers. They all contribute to each episode. There’s an incredible lack of vanity, their contract is with the audience.
I’m not saying we shouldn’t be making authored pieces, but that’s all we train writers to do. We could have made 20 episodes of Cracker a year if we could’ve kept the actors. The writers’ room system is only used on continuing drama in the UK – why?
So much money is wasted on scattered development. It costs nothing to develop ideas. You pay for scripts but that’s the cheapest part of the process. I think we’re close to being bone idle in the UK. Once a writer makes their name here, they won’t do team shows.
I believe audiences are craving a five-course meal; we give them dribs and drabs. It’s a cupcake culture. We only get short order drama, yet the audience for Shameless built when it went up to 16 episodes a series.
The credit crunch should force us to fix this glaring hole in British TV. I suspect we’re about to come under further attacks from the coalition government. It feels like we’re being shut in a Portakabin on Ritalin, with a dog shagging our leg for four or five years.
Enough bitching, there’s a big task ahead. We’re not producing drama of a sufficiently high standard to deserve repeating viewing. The US culture of commissioning is very different. Obviously, we only see the best of the best imported here.
But we’re addicted to a dangerous level of safety. Everything’s become safe and less expansive; we’re so far away from the outrageous. We haven’t got the balls, the guts to blow the audience’s tits off.
The audience is sitting there, begging for better stuff. [On audience analysis reports] We are the ones who are meant to be qualified to take them to places where they don’t know they want to go. [On suggestions audiences want to influence the outcome of stories] The audience pays the tickets. We shouldn’t be expecting them to fly the plane as well.
Channel 4 has committed to 22 episodes of Shameless for next year, but it’s taken eight years to reach that point. We don’t have a culture of growing long-running returning drama for adult audiences – but that’s what the US wants to buy.
For the US series of Shameless they went straight to 12 episodes – here it was seven, then eight, then ten, and then sixteen per series. We have a bad habit of expecting things to finish. That expectation stops us being creatively fizzy.
I think British drama’s too expensive. I shouldn’t be saying that as a manufacturer of British drama. But in the future we’ll be making dramas for £500,000 an hour. State of Play cost more than a million per ep.
We keep testing things in dribs and drabs, it’s exhausting. People love making pilots but it’s a waste of money. Takes a year to make a pilot, as long as it takes to make a series. It’s a bit like spunking money away.
We haven’t got the scale and guts to commission – six 1-hour episodes are seen as a big commission for a drama but it’s not enough to grow a series with the audience. Sky is committing to several 13 episode drama series, Stuart Murphy is starting to put things right there.
Longer runs of returning series and we could attract back a lot of people we’ve lost. We suddenly went cosy twenty years ago. To change that needs investment. We should test-drive stuff on paper, not with pilots. Indie production companies are exhausted by the piece-meal approach.
Takes an audience five weeks to realise they’ve missed the one transmission of a new pilot. Audiences need time to find affection for a series. I think audiences are desperate for long-running adult drama. On the US version of Shameless, 60% of the writers are first timers. They all contribute to each episode. There’s an incredible lack of vanity, their contract is with the audience.
I’m not saying we shouldn’t be making authored pieces, but that’s all we train writers to do. We could have made 20 episodes of Cracker a year if we could’ve kept the actors. The writers’ room system is only used on continuing drama in the UK – why?
So much money is wasted on scattered development. It costs nothing to develop ideas. You pay for scripts but that’s the cheapest part of the process. I think we’re close to being bone idle in the UK. Once a writer makes their name here, they won’t do team shows.
I believe audiences are craving a five-course meal; we give them dribs and drabs. It’s a cupcake culture. We only get short order drama, yet the audience for Shameless built when it went up to 16 episodes a series.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Legacy: play the online game, listen to the radio play online
In Legacy, two siblings come to terms with their family’s shocking past, but their unwanted legacy leads them into a menacing labyrinth beneath the streets of London. This conspiracy thriller is a unique multiplatform drama which combines radio drama and an online adventure game.
You've got until midnight to hear the first episode of the radio drama, written by the lovely Louise Ironside. I've written the second half which was broadcast by BBC7 at 6.30pm today, and will available for the next week here, via the iPlayer. Alternatively, you can play the online audio adventure game of Legacy here. Enjoy!
You've got until midnight to hear the first episode of the radio drama, written by the lovely Louise Ironside. I've written the second half which was broadcast by BBC7 at 6.30pm today, and will available for the next week here, via the iPlayer. Alternatively, you can play the online audio adventure game of Legacy here. Enjoy!
Doctor Who masterclass @ Edinburgh TV Festival
I was lucky enough to be in the audience for the Doctor Who masterclass at the Edinburgh International Television Festival this morning. The big announcement was that Doctor Who in 2011 series will effectively be two series. Moffat said the next series would begin at Easter with a run of seven episodes. The seventh ep would feature an earth-shattering climax that means nothing will ever be the same for the Doctor, Amy or Rory.
"It's an enormous, game-changing cliffhanger," Moffat told delegates. "Doctor Who will return in Autumn 2011 for another six episodes. We're not splitting it, we're making two separate series. It means you will never be more than a few months from the next series. Tart that I am, it means I get twice the number of first nights, twice the number of finales. The cliffhanger will be a doozy, a big one, a belter."
Moffat said the decision was inspired by watching his first series as showrunner when it was being transmitted: "I thought this show needs a big event in the middle, a mid-series finale." For him the show is epic, like climbing a mountain so large you can't see beyond it. "We have to take it series by series. Each one fills the horizon."
Moffat said he'd never worked so hard in his life. "For these years [while I'm running Doctor Who] I am a lazy bastard stuck in the body of a workaholic." It was confirmed during the festival that Moffat's other show, an updated version of Sherlock [co-created by Mark Gatiss], would be returning for another trio of 90-minute stories. "Two enormous BBC hits," Moffat observed, "that's not too bad."
"The Doctor and Sherlock are similar in intellect, but the Doctor is more human than Sherlock. I like to think of the Doctor as an angel who aspires to humanity. Sherlock starts as an amoral, autistic bastard who will be redeemed by friendship, made human by a psychopath." Moffat said Benedict Cumberbatch was cast as Sherlock before casting for the 11th Doctor began, so Cumberbatch was never considered for Who.
Moffat believes he has the best job in the world: "It's the only job where I get referred to as a supremo and as a dark overlord." He said Matt Smith's audition was so good, the tape could have been shown to the public and they would have made the exact same choice. "We knew we couldn't improve on that. Matt's version of the Doctor - he's like a young man built by old men from memory."
Moffat first saw Karen Gillan via tape, and claimed it made her look wee and dumpy. When she turned up, the actress was "this flame-haired goddess. When she wears heels, she's terrifying. You feel like the sidecar on a motorbike next to her." Gillan was also at the masterclass. She choose Amy's mini-skirt costume. "That came from her being a kiss-o-gram. She isn't going to wear big, massive trousers."
Moffat laughed about an article complaining Amy Pond was too sexy to be a companion on Who. "One of his past companions wore a leather bikini!" He said anyone taking an episode to a stag party because of its supposed sexiness would be disappointed.
Moffat is jointly responsible for the creative vision, but doesn't want writers replicating him: "I say to the writers, don't imitate me. You have to behave as if the show's yours." Predecessor Russell T Davies sent Moffat long, enthusiastic emails after each new episode. Moffat does take a pass at scripts by other writers if required, but tries to give it back to them before the script gets locked.
He didn't dismiss the idea of the Doctor regenerating into a woman in the future, but wasn't worried the character is supposed to run out of incarnations at number 13. "If we got to the 13th Doctor dying, we would involve the emergency protocol of making something up." Moffat just does the stuff he wants to see. "With my level of emotional maturity, that's perfect for any three-year-olds watching," he quipped.
Gillan said the Weeping Angels were her favourite monster on the show. Moffat admitted being proud of them, but they do offer creative challenges: "It's hell to write chase scenes with inanimate objects."
A brief trailer for the Christmas episode was shown, with the tagline [Christmas] Time Can Be Rewritten. The trailer suggests this will be Who's version of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, but that could be subterfuge. Moffat will be seeing a first cut of this year's Christmas special on Tuesday. Beyond that, he confirmed the next series will reveal the true identity of River Song.
"It's an enormous, game-changing cliffhanger," Moffat told delegates. "Doctor Who will return in Autumn 2011 for another six episodes. We're not splitting it, we're making two separate series. It means you will never be more than a few months from the next series. Tart that I am, it means I get twice the number of first nights, twice the number of finales. The cliffhanger will be a doozy, a big one, a belter."
Moffat said the decision was inspired by watching his first series as showrunner when it was being transmitted: "I thought this show needs a big event in the middle, a mid-series finale." For him the show is epic, like climbing a mountain so large you can't see beyond it. "We have to take it series by series. Each one fills the horizon."
Moffat said he'd never worked so hard in his life. "For these years [while I'm running Doctor Who] I am a lazy bastard stuck in the body of a workaholic." It was confirmed during the festival that Moffat's other show, an updated version of Sherlock [co-created by Mark Gatiss], would be returning for another trio of 90-minute stories. "Two enormous BBC hits," Moffat observed, "that's not too bad."
"The Doctor and Sherlock are similar in intellect, but the Doctor is more human than Sherlock. I like to think of the Doctor as an angel who aspires to humanity. Sherlock starts as an amoral, autistic bastard who will be redeemed by friendship, made human by a psychopath." Moffat said Benedict Cumberbatch was cast as Sherlock before casting for the 11th Doctor began, so Cumberbatch was never considered for Who.
Moffat believes he has the best job in the world: "It's the only job where I get referred to as a supremo and as a dark overlord." He said Matt Smith's audition was so good, the tape could have been shown to the public and they would have made the exact same choice. "We knew we couldn't improve on that. Matt's version of the Doctor - he's like a young man built by old men from memory."
Moffat first saw Karen Gillan via tape, and claimed it made her look wee and dumpy. When she turned up, the actress was "this flame-haired goddess. When she wears heels, she's terrifying. You feel like the sidecar on a motorbike next to her." Gillan was also at the masterclass. She choose Amy's mini-skirt costume. "That came from her being a kiss-o-gram. She isn't going to wear big, massive trousers."
Moffat laughed about an article complaining Amy Pond was too sexy to be a companion on Who. "One of his past companions wore a leather bikini!" He said anyone taking an episode to a stag party because of its supposed sexiness would be disappointed.
Moffat is jointly responsible for the creative vision, but doesn't want writers replicating him: "I say to the writers, don't imitate me. You have to behave as if the show's yours." Predecessor Russell T Davies sent Moffat long, enthusiastic emails after each new episode. Moffat does take a pass at scripts by other writers if required, but tries to give it back to them before the script gets locked.
He didn't dismiss the idea of the Doctor regenerating into a woman in the future, but wasn't worried the character is supposed to run out of incarnations at number 13. "If we got to the 13th Doctor dying, we would involve the emergency protocol of making something up." Moffat just does the stuff he wants to see. "With my level of emotional maturity, that's perfect for any three-year-olds watching," he quipped.
Gillan said the Weeping Angels were her favourite monster on the show. Moffat admitted being proud of them, but they do offer creative challenges: "It's hell to write chase scenes with inanimate objects."
A brief trailer for the Christmas episode was shown, with the tagline [Christmas] Time Can Be Rewritten. The trailer suggests this will be Who's version of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, but that could be subterfuge. Moffat will be seeing a first cut of this year's Christmas special on Tuesday. Beyond that, he confirmed the next series will reveal the true identity of River Song.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
MGEITF & end of Year One
Yesterday ended year one of the MA Creative Writing degree I teach part-time at Edinburgh Napier University. We had final tutorials with the graduating students, talking through their personal development plans and offering some final pieces of advice on what they should be doing over the next two year.
Unlike most Creative Writing MA courses in the UK, we focus on vocational skills, popular genres and commercial storytelling media [screenwriting, games, radio drama]. Why train writers to fill out grant forms, as some courses do? Far better to equip them with skills so they might earn a living, instead of relying on handouts!
Rant over. Anyway, a new cohort turns up on September 9th, plus nine part-timers return for their second and final year. We've learned so much from our first running of the course. No doubt there are unforeseen challenges ahead, but second time around is a much less daunting prospect. Can't wait for it to start.
Dashed from uni to the Edinburgh International Television Festival, switching changing my metaphorical teaching hat for the jaunty chapeau of a writer. Not many writers attend the festival. It's not cheap, for a start, and populated by upper industry echelons. Writers are the other end of the food chain in this context.
Still, it's an opportunity to listen and learn. Went to Mark Thompson's MacTaggart lecture last night. Thought he gave a good defence of public service broadcasting, took a few pops at Murdoch empire. I just wish the BBC was less apologetic and reactive when its enemies stir storms in teacups about trivia. [You can read the full text of his speech here.]
Right, must return to a scene by scene I'm writing. Got up at six this morning to make sure I nudged it forward, before heading into Edinburgh for TV festival day two. I'm at the different coloured post-it notes section, playing with a jigsaw puzzle of plot points and story beats. Onwards!
Unlike most Creative Writing MA courses in the UK, we focus on vocational skills, popular genres and commercial storytelling media [screenwriting, games, radio drama]. Why train writers to fill out grant forms, as some courses do? Far better to equip them with skills so they might earn a living, instead of relying on handouts!
Rant over. Anyway, a new cohort turns up on September 9th, plus nine part-timers return for their second and final year. We've learned so much from our first running of the course. No doubt there are unforeseen challenges ahead, but second time around is a much less daunting prospect. Can't wait for it to start.
Dashed from uni to the Edinburgh International Television Festival, switching changing my metaphorical teaching hat for the jaunty chapeau of a writer. Not many writers attend the festival. It's not cheap, for a start, and populated by upper industry echelons. Writers are the other end of the food chain in this context.
Still, it's an opportunity to listen and learn. Went to Mark Thompson's MacTaggart lecture last night. Thought he gave a good defence of public service broadcasting, took a few pops at Murdoch empire. I just wish the BBC was less apologetic and reactive when its enemies stir storms in teacups about trivia. [You can read the full text of his speech here.]Right, must return to a scene by scene I'm writing. Got up at six this morning to make sure I nudged it forward, before heading into Edinburgh for TV festival day two. I'm at the different coloured post-it notes section, playing with a jigsaw puzzle of plot points and story beats. Onwards!
Friday, August 27, 2010
Season 4 of Mad Men comes to BBC early
Great news that the BBC is rushing season 4 of Mad Men to British TV screens. Can't wait to see the new agency of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce in action. In the meantime, here's a promo for this Sunday's Emmy Awards featuring host Jimmy Fallon, set in the SCDP offices.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Darth Vader Sessions: "You dig what I'm saying?"
This is an old favourite but it never gets old. Some scamp has pulled James Earl Jones dialogue from various films and overlaid on Darth Vader scenes from Star Wars. NSFW in places, but bloody funny IMHO.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Why a dream come true could be a nightmare
While having a natter via Twitter DM, Bang2write script reader goddess Lucy Vee revealed there's a right old glut of 60 pages TV drama pilot scripts clogging up the piles of agents and production companies at the moment. Why? Most likely it's a side effect of the Red Planet Prize and the BBC TV Drama Writers' Academy.
Flashback to 2005 and everybody wanted to write features. But the advent of the Writers' Academy got people thinking maybe they should developing TV drama scripts. [In fact you don't need a TV drama script as your sample. Only nine of the 24 shortlisted applicants this year submitted TV scripts, as Ceri Meyrick details here.
When the Red Planet Prize launched in 2007, you could submit anything - TV drama, feature screenplay, whatever. The following year that got narrowed to 60-minute TV drama pilot scripts, which stayed the same for the contest this year. RPP got 1500 entries this year, that's a lot of TV dramas looking for a home.
My pilot script FAMILIES AT WAR was a finalist in the last RPP contest. Since then it's done a nice job for me as a calling card script, but it's unlikely to ever get made. The period setting [WWII] is a major disincentive on cost grounds, plus it's a soapy returning drama series - a huge risk by any measure.
But I got to thinking what would happy if somebody did decide to make my show? Once I'd finished doing the dance of joy, my next logical move would be voiding my bowels. Because I don't yet have the experience to run my own series. Two or three years back ITV commissioned a drama series from a new writer and...
...let's just say the results weren't pretty. Happily, the writer has worked on other series since, but I wonder how much better the series could have been if they'd had a few more credits under their belt first. Be careful what you wish for, in case you get it before you're ready.
Flashback to 2005 and everybody wanted to write features. But the advent of the Writers' Academy got people thinking maybe they should developing TV drama scripts. [In fact you don't need a TV drama script as your sample. Only nine of the 24 shortlisted applicants this year submitted TV scripts, as Ceri Meyrick details here.
When the Red Planet Prize launched in 2007, you could submit anything - TV drama, feature screenplay, whatever. The following year that got narrowed to 60-minute TV drama pilot scripts, which stayed the same for the contest this year. RPP got 1500 entries this year, that's a lot of TV dramas looking for a home.
My pilot script FAMILIES AT WAR was a finalist in the last RPP contest. Since then it's done a nice job for me as a calling card script, but it's unlikely to ever get made. The period setting [WWII] is a major disincentive on cost grounds, plus it's a soapy returning drama series - a huge risk by any measure.
But I got to thinking what would happy if somebody did decide to make my show? Once I'd finished doing the dance of joy, my next logical move would be voiding my bowels. Because I don't yet have the experience to run my own series. Two or three years back ITV commissioned a drama series from a new writer and...
...let's just say the results weren't pretty. Happily, the writer has worked on other series since, but I wonder how much better the series could have been if they'd had a few more credits under their belt first. Be careful what you wish for, in case you get it before you're ready.
Take the blue pill: Scott Pilgrim vs The Matrix
From Slashfilm.com, via Scott Myers' excellent Go Into The Story.
Monday, August 23, 2010
No Law for the next 2000 miles, punks
Apparently Karl Urban's casting as Judge Dredd has now been confirmed, with the film due to start shooting later this year in South Africa. Can't wait. In the meantime, enjoy this teaser trailer for a fan-made short film project called Judge Minty.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Legacy - the online game, the radio drama
Set in and beneath the streets of London, Legacy combines a two-part radio drama and an online adventure game to tell the story of Jules and Harry: two 20-something siblings coming to terms with their family's shocking past. Brought together by the death of their grandmother Rose, Jules and Harry uncover more than they bargained for as they seek out their inheritance, discovering a mysterious legacy left to them by their enigmatic grandmother.You play the game as Harry, attempting to escape an abandoned bunker complex hidden beneath the streets of London. You'll need to keep your wits about you as you explore the dark underground world in which you find yourself trapped. Listen carefully and think logically to solve the puzzles and crack the codes that will reunite you with your sister, Jules. Solve the mystery of your grandmother's past and escape your unwanted legacy.
Jules's story is told through the radio drama. Episode 1 will air at 1830 BST on Sunday 22 August when the game will also be available. Making time for both the radio drama and the game will reveal further secrets of Legacy's hidden labyrinth and ultimately bring Jules and Harry's story to a conclusion.
Devised by David Ian Neville, both the game and the radio drama were written by Louise Ironside and me. Legacy is a collaboration between BBC Scotland New Media, BBC Radio Scotland and Radio 7. The game was built by independent producer, DESQ. Audio design by Nick Ryan. Find out more here.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Go beneath the surface with Legacy...
The online audio adventure game Legacy that I helped write goes live at 6.30pm BST tomorrow, Sunday August 22nd. You can find out more about it [and the two-part BBC7 radio drama that accompanies the game] here. Dare you go beneath the surface?
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Monday, August 16, 2010
Radio Days: listen to Legacy, play the online game
The BBC has spilled the beans about a project that occupied a lot of my time in the first half of this year, called Legacy. Devised by BBC Radio drama producer David Ian Neville, BBC Radio 7 broadcasts the first episode by Louise Ironside at 6.30pm this Sunday. I wrote Episode 2, on BBC7 at the same time next Sunday, August 29th. BBC Radio Scotland's repeating them on consecutive Fridays in September, 17th and 24th. [Pictured are Jenny Hulse and Nick Underwood, two of the main actors in the plays.]There's also an online audio game, linked to the two-part radio drama. The Legacy adventure game will be available at the Radio Scotland website when the radio dramas are broadcast. Like the plays, the game will be released in two parts. Brendan Crowther is producer for the game, and the whole shebang is a BBC Scotland Radio Drama and BBC Scotland New Media co-production. But what's it all about, you ask?
When twins Jules and Harry go in search of their grandmother’s legacy, they uncover a deadly secret from the past. Their grandmother Rose worked for the secret services during WWII and helped develop the Legacy Project - a devastating weapon only to be activated if Britain was invaded. Due for decommissioning after the war, it remains in waiting. Unless Harry and Jules stop Legacy, tens of thousands will die...
By some bizarre coincidence of scheduling, Legacy is just one of three projects by people involved with the Creative Writing MA at Edinburgh Napier University that dominate BBC Radio drama schedules for the rest of August. Starting today, Book of the Week on Radio 4 is Scott-Land: The Man Who Invented a Nation, by the MA course's Reader-in-Residence Stuart Kelly. Hear extracts from his book at 9.45am.
Starting next week the Book at Bedtime on Radio 4 is And The Land Lay Still by James Robertson, the MA course's Writer-in-Residence. This will be broadcast in 15-minute episodes every weeknight from Monday August 23rd until Friday September 3rd. You can read more about all of these programmes by downloading the latest BBC Scotland Radio drama newsletter as a pdf here. Onwards!
Friday, August 13, 2010
Genius: Perfect Day with Doctor Who Toys
Gotta love the casting for David Bowie. In case you can't put names to some of the voices, here's the original:
What on earth does a Reader-in-Residence do?
The Creative Writing MA course at Edinburgh Napier University where I teach has many unique features - no workshops, no poetry, a love of genre fiction and commercial storytelling media, ten hours of professional editorial mentoring for each student, a private writers' room with a library with thousands of books, graphic novels and DVDs. The course also has its own Reader-in-Residence, Stuart Kelly.
Literary editor of Scotland on Sunday, Stuart seems to have read every book, story and graphic novel published in English. In his Copious Spare Time, he comes in and advises our students on further reading that might illuminate their own writing, to encourage them to be original and not simply reinventing the wheel already wrought by others. He's been a real boon for our first cohort, a marvelous asset for the course.
Stuart has written a book called Scott-Land about Sir Walter Scott, who was once one of Scotland's most acclaimed and best-selling authors for books like Ivanhoe and Rob Roy. There's a massive memorial to Scott in Edinburgh that best resembles an ornate Gothic spaceship, waiting to blast off from alongside Prince's Street. Yet the writer's work is largely forgotten, neglected by current generations.
Stuart's book assesses Scott's work, life and legacy. Scott-Land has been getting some glowing reviews and prompted an entire edition of Newsnight Scotland last night. If you live in the UK, you can see the 20-minute programme through the marvels of the BBC iPlayer - just click here. Alternatively, you could go read Stuart's droll blog McShandy's.
Literary editor of Scotland on Sunday, Stuart seems to have read every book, story and graphic novel published in English. In his Copious Spare Time, he comes in and advises our students on further reading that might illuminate their own writing, to encourage them to be original and not simply reinventing the wheel already wrought by others. He's been a real boon for our first cohort, a marvelous asset for the course.
Stuart has written a book called Scott-Land about Sir Walter Scott, who was once one of Scotland's most acclaimed and best-selling authors for books like Ivanhoe and Rob Roy. There's a massive memorial to Scott in Edinburgh that best resembles an ornate Gothic spaceship, waiting to blast off from alongside Prince's Street. Yet the writer's work is largely forgotten, neglected by current generations.Stuart's book assesses Scott's work, life and legacy. Scott-Land has been getting some glowing reviews and prompted an entire edition of Newsnight Scotland last night. If you live in the UK, you can see the 20-minute programme through the marvels of the BBC iPlayer - just click here. Alternatively, you could go read Stuart's droll blog McShandy's.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Writing that goes unmade, and often unread
Before embracing screenwriting, I used to be an author. I had twenty novels published, although chances are you won’t have read any of them unless you have a fondness for particular branches of licensed fiction [Doctor Who, Judge Dredd, etc].
As a tie-in author I always wrote to commission. Back then, I thought the sole purpose of crafting stories was to share them with as many people as possible. When I turned to screenwriting, I discovered that isn’t always the case. I found out about the spec.
Seems to me the vast majority of speculatively written screenplays never get made. Often the challenge for writers is not getting their spec made, but simply getting it read - by producers, development executives, agents, script editors – by anyone.
Knowing that a spec will likely go unmade can be demotivating. Why pour your heart, soul and countless unpaid hours into a script destined to remain unseen, unmade? Because a great spec can get you noticed.
It might help secure representation from an agent, or a trial on a continuing drama series if that’s what you want. It could get you among the finalists in a high profile competition, like the Blue Cat contest in the US or the Red Planet Prize in the UK.
The freedom offered by a spec can be a double-edged sword. Do whatever you like, but the further you venture from the mainstream, the less chance your story will find an audience. Indeed, it’s possible to create a spec designed solely to win competitions.
[By the way, if anybody needs a heartbreaking but potentially expensive script for an animated short film, I’ve got one called DANNY'S TOYS. It’s won awards, you know.]
Even if you’ve got a regular writing gig, nobody wants to see what you wrote for someone else. They want to see your original work, to experience your voice as a writer. So developing a new spec is a necessary evil to keep your portfolio fresh.
I suggest one way of tackling a new spec is to see it as a chance to rediscover the joy of writing. When your passion becomes your career, your way of paying the bills, it’s too easy to forget why you wanted to be a writer in the first place.
Of course, once you’ve written your new spec, there’s the need to get feedback from trusted readers. And then rewrites. And more feedback, and more rewrites. Eventually, finally, the day comes when you have to release your beloved creation into the wild.
Sending out a new spec is like being a pushy parent at some weird beauty pageant. You watch helpless as your creation goes out to demonstrate its passion, its beautiful lines, what it has to say about the world. Be grateful there's no swimsuit section.
As a recovering author, I miss the certainty of knowing my stories will get printed, bound and distributed for sale. There are no such certainties with a spec, but it’s still your ambassador to the world, so make it the best you can. Onwards!
As a tie-in author I always wrote to commission. Back then, I thought the sole purpose of crafting stories was to share them with as many people as possible. When I turned to screenwriting, I discovered that isn’t always the case. I found out about the spec.
Seems to me the vast majority of speculatively written screenplays never get made. Often the challenge for writers is not getting their spec made, but simply getting it read - by producers, development executives, agents, script editors – by anyone.
Knowing that a spec will likely go unmade can be demotivating. Why pour your heart, soul and countless unpaid hours into a script destined to remain unseen, unmade? Because a great spec can get you noticed.
It might help secure representation from an agent, or a trial on a continuing drama series if that’s what you want. It could get you among the finalists in a high profile competition, like the Blue Cat contest in the US or the Red Planet Prize in the UK.
The freedom offered by a spec can be a double-edged sword. Do whatever you like, but the further you venture from the mainstream, the less chance your story will find an audience. Indeed, it’s possible to create a spec designed solely to win competitions.
[By the way, if anybody needs a heartbreaking but potentially expensive script for an animated short film, I’ve got one called DANNY'S TOYS. It’s won awards, you know.]
Even if you’ve got a regular writing gig, nobody wants to see what you wrote for someone else. They want to see your original work, to experience your voice as a writer. So developing a new spec is a necessary evil to keep your portfolio fresh.
I suggest one way of tackling a new spec is to see it as a chance to rediscover the joy of writing. When your passion becomes your career, your way of paying the bills, it’s too easy to forget why you wanted to be a writer in the first place.
Of course, once you’ve written your new spec, there’s the need to get feedback from trusted readers. And then rewrites. And more feedback, and more rewrites. Eventually, finally, the day comes when you have to release your beloved creation into the wild.
Sending out a new spec is like being a pushy parent at some weird beauty pageant. You watch helpless as your creation goes out to demonstrate its passion, its beautiful lines, what it has to say about the world. Be grateful there's no swimsuit section.
As a recovering author, I miss the certainty of knowing my stories will get printed, bound and distributed for sale. There are no such certainties with a spec, but it’s still your ambassador to the world, so make it the best you can. Onwards!
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Pushing Daisies creator to adapt The Lotus Caves?
Entertainment Weekly is reporting that Pushing Daisies creator Bryan Fuller is to adapt the John Christopher novel The Lotus Caves for the SyFy channel in America. I read the children's book when I was a boy and loved it, though other Christopher books like The Guardians and his more famous Tripods trilogy are [arguably] superior. I'm guessing it's a TV movie, as there ain't a whole mess o' plot in The Lotus Caves - certainly not enough for a series without major augmentation. Curiously, Walden Media had already announced plans to release a film adaptation, written by Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal and directed by Rpin Suwannath. Guess Syfy has trumped that, or the rights have changed hands.
"Sometimes I wish it was the American national anthem"
Groovy arse titles for the original incarnation of Hawaii Five-0. Below, the new version launching this autumn. But which one's the best? There's only one way to find out... No, not having a fight. The original version's the best. Obviously.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Glamorous life of modern comics artist
See D'Israeli [aka Matt Brooker] at work! Draw like the wind, Matt!
Sunday, August 08, 2010
Saturday, August 07, 2010
Guest blogger for London Screenwriters' Festival
My witterings here at Vicious Imagery have attracted attention, as the London Screenwriters' Festival has asked me to be a guest blogger on its site. For those who don't know, LSF 2010 is a three-day festival about the art, craft and business of screenwriting happening at the Novotel Hotel [next to London St Pancras station] at the end of October [29th-31st, to precise]. [Hmm, too many square brackets.]
There's an impressive array of guest speakers lined up and more to come, apparently. If you're passionate about screenwriting, events like this offer crucial opportunities for networking and learning more about your chosen field. Plus they offer that rarest of things: the chance to be a room of screenwriters. You don't get that elsewhere, bar screenwriting courses [which are not cheap, especially at postgrad level].
Click the icon at the right of this blog and it'll take you to the booking page. Type in the discount code VICIOUS and you'll save £37 on a ticket for the festival. [In the interests of full disclosure, I get slice of the action if you do.] In the meantime, you can read my first LSF guest blog here, where I witter on about learning the long journey that is the life of a screenwriter. Speaking of which: onwards!
There's an impressive array of guest speakers lined up and more to come, apparently. If you're passionate about screenwriting, events like this offer crucial opportunities for networking and learning more about your chosen field. Plus they offer that rarest of things: the chance to be a room of screenwriters. You don't get that elsewhere, bar screenwriting courses [which are not cheap, especially at postgrad level].
Click the icon at the right of this blog and it'll take you to the booking page. Type in the discount code VICIOUS and you'll save £37 on a ticket for the festival. [In the interests of full disclosure, I get slice of the action if you do.] In the meantime, you can read my first LSF guest blog here, where I witter on about learning the long journey that is the life of a screenwriter. Speaking of which: onwards!
Friday, August 06, 2010
EastEnders Xmas 86 - with a laughtrack
This is kind of cruel, but funny. Some wags have added a laugh track to the final minutes of [what I think is] the 1986 EastEnders Christmas special. Alas, the dialogue gets a bit muddy in the middle - but the final minute is pure class. Especially the choice of substitute music from the piano. Play, maestro!
Thursday, August 05, 2010
Blimey, what's happened here?
Apologies for the sudden change in template here at Vicious Imagery. Felt like a change of scenery. Not sure I'm completely in love with this or how well it reads. Answers on the back of a postcard or, more usefully, in the comments section. I'll happily change back to my usual basic black if this is not working. Time will tell. Onwards!
Classic Tyra scene from Friday Night Lights
Scenes like this are why I love this show. Big, open-hearted moments that on other series would be mawkish and crass just work on Friday Night Lights. Great actors and a directorial style that's at ease with itself don't hurt either, but I'd argue it comes from the writing. Sigh. I'd like to write like this. One day. In the meantime: onwards!
Wednesday, August 04, 2010
Wonderful Don McGlashan concert in Edinburgh
Couple of weeks ago I got to see Don McGlashan play a solo gig at Cabaret Voltaire, a tiny dungeon of a venue in central Edinburgh. It was a brilliant show, full of old favourites from iconic Kiwi bands Blam Blam Blam, the Mutton Birds and the Front Lawn. Ian Rankin's a McGlashan fan and was gutted about missing the show - sorry Ian!
Happily a few people were filming the gig and one of them has posted nine tracks from the show up on YouTube. Decided to embed Anchor Me here, despite my horror of harmonica music. The song's become associated with French spies blowing up Greenpeace vessel the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland's Waitemata Harbour. Hard to believe that happened 25 years ago. Anyway, do check out the other clips from the gig on YouTube.
Happily a few people were filming the gig and one of them has posted nine tracks from the show up on YouTube. Decided to embed Anchor Me here, despite my horror of harmonica music. The song's become associated with French spies blowing up Greenpeace vessel the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland's Waitemata Harbour. Hard to believe that happened 25 years ago. Anyway, do check out the other clips from the gig on YouTube.
Tuesday, August 03, 2010
Watching filming of my second Doctors ep
Spent yesterday in Birmingham watching my second ep of Doctors being filmed. One of my ambitions is to be executive producer on a TV drama of my creation [akin to the US showrunner, but without the writers' room element]. So part of for making the trip was to learn about the journey scripts take from page to screen.
There was a more immediate benefit, too. The more I know about how Doctors is made, the better I can write for the show [hopefully]. I went down last autumn to watch location filming for my first ep. Yesterday I got to witness shooting in the studio, thanks to the kindness of script editor Caroline, producer Carol and director Sarah.
Can't tell you much about the story, which is due to tx Thursday November 18th. But I can share a few impressions from the day. Firstly, Doctors is an immensely efficient machine. That's born of necessity, as the show makes 230+ eps a year and is always double-banking [two crews simultaneously shooting two blocks of eps].
Second was the camaraderie of the cast and crew. Doctors is not a lavish production, but everyone strives to do the best possible job they can within the constraints of time and budget. And they do it with a smile and bit of banter too. There were moments of tension, but they were few and far between. A happy place to be, it seemed.
Most striking of all was the difference between on location and in the studio. Much of Doctors is filmed in real houses and offices, real streets and parks. The show only has a handful of controlled environments, such as the Mill Health Centre where I spent much of yesterday. Even that's a converted space, not a purpose built studio.
Out on location filming's at the mercy of so many uncontrolled elements: the weather, traffic, the flightpath to Birmingham International Airport, pedestrians, and more. Doctors doesn't have the budget to close roads, it has to grab takes between cacophonies. Shifting locations eats time at a terrifying rate.
The converted space at the Mill makes for far brisker switches from one scene to the next, enabling studio days to get through more pages. I had to leave before the final set-up [a shame, it's one of my favourite scenes in the script], but was full of admiration for how much crew and cast got through. Like I said, immensely efficient.
I'm still processing all the things I saw and heard yesterday, but I learned a lot from the experience. One example: if you're writing a big part for a guest character, have them appear in more than one location. That means two days of filming, which means more money for the part, potentially attract a bigger name actor.
Right, time for some lunch and then I'll be watching today's episode of Doctors at 1.45pm on BBC1. Healer is written by Paul Campbell, author of the excellent blog Scriptuality. Onwards!
There was a more immediate benefit, too. The more I know about how Doctors is made, the better I can write for the show [hopefully]. I went down last autumn to watch location filming for my first ep. Yesterday I got to witness shooting in the studio, thanks to the kindness of script editor Caroline, producer Carol and director Sarah.
Can't tell you much about the story, which is due to tx Thursday November 18th. But I can share a few impressions from the day. Firstly, Doctors is an immensely efficient machine. That's born of necessity, as the show makes 230+ eps a year and is always double-banking [two crews simultaneously shooting two blocks of eps].
Second was the camaraderie of the cast and crew. Doctors is not a lavish production, but everyone strives to do the best possible job they can within the constraints of time and budget. And they do it with a smile and bit of banter too. There were moments of tension, but they were few and far between. A happy place to be, it seemed.
Most striking of all was the difference between on location and in the studio. Much of Doctors is filmed in real houses and offices, real streets and parks. The show only has a handful of controlled environments, such as the Mill Health Centre where I spent much of yesterday. Even that's a converted space, not a purpose built studio.
Out on location filming's at the mercy of so many uncontrolled elements: the weather, traffic, the flightpath to Birmingham International Airport, pedestrians, and more. Doctors doesn't have the budget to close roads, it has to grab takes between cacophonies. Shifting locations eats time at a terrifying rate.
The converted space at the Mill makes for far brisker switches from one scene to the next, enabling studio days to get through more pages. I had to leave before the final set-up [a shame, it's one of my favourite scenes in the script], but was full of admiration for how much crew and cast got through. Like I said, immensely efficient.
I'm still processing all the things I saw and heard yesterday, but I learned a lot from the experience. One example: if you're writing a big part for a guest character, have them appear in more than one location. That means two days of filming, which means more money for the part, potentially attract a bigger name actor.
Right, time for some lunch and then I'll be watching today's episode of Doctors at 1.45pm on BBC1. Healer is written by Paul Campbell, author of the excellent blog Scriptuality. Onwards!
Sunday, August 01, 2010
Cormac McCarthy's No Country For Old Toys
Three years ago writer/artist Ruben Bolling speculated what would happen if Cormac McCarthy - author of No Country For Old Men and The Road - was employed to write Toy Story 3. You can see the whole thing at the Village Voice website. Poor Mr Potato-Head!
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