Major Project: Research into writer - Steven Moffatt

Another show that has not only impacted my writing but also introduced me to the world of british sitcoms was Coupling. This was a show that was often referred to as the British version of friends. It was written by a man called Steven Moffatt who has since gone on to work on one of the biggest shows in the world as a writer and producer - Doctor Who.

Moffat said in an interview with BBC Writers room that he writes because it is what he has always wanted to do. He makes up stories, and then writes them down and from their it turned into a love of creating storylines. He also discusses how writers block should be embraced as it is your internal editor, it is telling you you haven't got it right yet.
I found it interesting that when he discussed developing characters he starts with a clique. This is something i unconsciously did when it came to dean and during his development i made it more human by adding in-depth details about his family, which came in handy when i realised his character was probably incredibly unlikeable on screen and it wasn't until you really heard about his past that someone might have a connection to him.
Something that hit home for me was when he was giving advice to emerging writers - write what you love. Since bend it like beckham came out i have always wanted to make a film about football. I love it. the first thing i ever filmed was a trailer for a film i wanted to make as a child about a female footballer. So i think creating this major project is defiantly a step in the write direction for me. i have had the freedom to write what i love. I liked what he had to say about writing for what you think other people will like as i agree that it wont work.

I looked on IMDB for his past shows as a writer and found that the first thing he worked on was a tv series called stay lucky where he wrote 1 episode. he then moved onto various other tv series's and tv films before writing every episode of joking apart & Coupling and has since gone onto write for doctor who and sherlock (which he also co created). 

I also learnt that might's wife was his producer and he often gave her his scripts to see if she laughed. 

 “I would go through a script and tick every laugh, to protect the joke.  Once you’ve been rehearsing something all week people start to think it isn’t funny – but I would look and see, I’d put three ticks by that line, so it must be good.  Then I could also see the parts that really weren’t working.” It helped moffat while he was developing the script as it allowed him to edit the work based on his wife feedback. She would often take the script to another room to read it and he could hear her laughing. This is also something i do with my housemate or even aimee/danny/chris. I run an idea past them to see if they think its funny and if they laugh i use it if not i move on or rework. 

I think it was been useful to research into Steven especially as he is a writer of a similar style show as what i am writing. 

Major Project: Contacting Toby Whitehouse

Simon mentioned it would be a good idea to contact some writers that have influenced me or have a link to the kind of show i am writing. I decided to begin by contacting Toby Whitehouse - the writer of one of my favourite shows - No Angels. This show made me not only want ton be a nurse but also was my first taste of how writing can affect someone - i had never been emotionally involved in a show before - i was 14 when this show broadcast and although it might not have been appropriate for me i fell deeply in love with the stories of these characters and it devastated me when it ended. Which  led me to find out more about the writer and what i can learn from him about his methods and storytelling.

I began searching for his agent to contact him but it became clear this wasn't going to be easy so i dropped him a message on twitter to find an address i could write to. I found the same question had been asked my others and came across an address but i wanted to be as professional as possible and approach his agent to check it would be ok to ask a few questions to him and not just have it look like fan mail. So i signed up for IMDB pro's free 30 day trial and found out that his agent is a lady called Cathy King with an agency called independent talent group. I had a phone number and email address direct for her and decided to give her an email.

In my tutorial simon mentioned finding out who the assistant of the agent is, is the best way to get a  response and so that became my next target. Once i had discovered the Assistant i emailed her also and provided a short list of questions:

Why did you become a writer?
Where did the idea for No Angels come from?
You've said in an interview that you like to flesh out your characters before going into plot. How do you go about this?
Research can play an important role in developing storylines especially when your working with established environments - Hospitals/NHS or in my case sunday league football - how do you go about this research?
What would you recommend a young writer do as a starting point in the industry? Is it a good idea to start with running jobs, working your way up and writing on the side?

I hoped that my questions would help with some of the issues i had faced but also give an incite to a writer that has had a big influence on me and the way they work.

Major Project: Post it's

Throughout the 6 drafts of the script i went through i used various methods that have been highlighted in previous posts. Something i found useful was to use post its. 

http://masteringfilm.com/planning-your-script-a-feast-of-post-its/

"My walls are filled with Post-It Notes, divided by project (there are six sections of wall dedicated to six projects), and very few of them contain any notes about plot points."

I took this and applied it to my problem. 

For example Simon gave me the feedback that Don's character needed to be explored further so i made a post it wall to see how many times characters were in the show to see how the distribution of characters fell in the show. It became clear that Don was basically in 2 scenes. I hadn't even given him a reason to turn up to the match on paper. In my head it made sense because i knew the character and why he would show but the audience weren't seeing it. So i added a few short scenes to explain why he might show up at the match. 

This tactic was also useful when i was looking to further develop the tension between the strood team and the Grove green boys. I needed to raise the stakes. Why would this team show up? why would the audience care? I needed them to have a confrontation. 

I used post its again for this problem. I highlighted where Strood were mentioned in order to develop that sub plot. This was interesting lesson as i could see that originally it was when Nath was jumped and then nothing until the match really. So i added a few more mentions, Why Strood would show, a mention from dean at the meeting with don, A confrontation with stood and then the match. 

Another past concern was my subplots i originally noticed i had no other scenes to swap between. I used post it's to help with this problem by writing the various plot points down and then seeing if they made sense. From this it became clear that the pub scene was a little redundant and i changed it to not only something that developed the characters and a sub plot of Nath's attack but also hint at a potential future storyline with Nath and his sexuality. This sub plot post it's also allowed me to further develop the storyline with dean and Lucy, Tom and Abbie and Ollie's comedic relief.

Overall i feel this post it tip has been a great find and i wouldnt have been able to redraft so efficiently without it. I feel i have been able to use a small amount of research, develop it way past its origin and apply it to multiple problems in order to develop my script.

Major Project: Treatment Research

As i had never written a treatment before, i wanted to research what kind of things went in to them in order to make it as professional as possible. I began by searching about treatments on google and found an article on this website:

http://www.charles-harris.co.uk/2013/10/12-essential-tools-for-writing-a-successful-film-or-tv-treatment/

"1. KEEP IT SHORT2. REMEMBER THE PURPOSE OF A TREATMENT3. MAKE IT REFLECT THE BALANCE OF THE SCRIPT4. INCLUDE THE SCRIPT’S ENDING5. MAKE IT READABLE AND MOVING6. SHOW ME AN ACTIVE PROTAGONIST7. AVOID AND THEN… AND THEN…8 CUT NEGATIVES, AVOID IMPERSONALS AND MAKE PASSIVES INTO ACTIVES9. WHILE YOU MAKE YOUR SENTENCES LINK AND FLOW10. STEAL ACTIONING WORDS FROM ACTORS11. STAKE THE FARM12. PUT PICTURES ON THE SCREEN OF MY MIND"

I found the keep it short bit one of the key things. As the script itself is 30 pages, having a concise treatment would help me to sell the idea to potential producers and companies. If i want them to read my script i need them to be interested in the project getting the plot and concept across quickly as in the real world there would be a stack of treatments and scripts and producers don't have time to read them all. I decided writing a 1 page treatment and then writing the entire 6 episode synopsis's as if they get past the treatment it would a good idea for them to see the whole series outline and my vision for where the characters go.

The first thing i had seen from the treatments i had read is to write a logline. This is something that i had practise with from previous years. So i knew that i needed to outline the plot of the show making it seem exciting and in keeping with the tone of the show.

"preparing a log line for your screenplay is a basic marketing tool that I have repurposed for developing treatments. It is similar to the summary given in TV Guide. It is a technique for boiling down a plotline to its essence that has been described as trying to vomit into a thimble. "

http://www.movieoutline.com/articles/how-to-write-a-treatment.html

The next section i thought to include was a premise. This was to outline the idea for the show in further detail. I had already wrote a premise in order to prepare for the pitch session with Simon. I reworked this as i felt it suited the tone of the show well and made it a little more relevant as the script has gone through many edits since the pitch.

http://mikedimartinostory.com/2014/05/21/writing-the-premise/
"The premise discussions are basically a more focused version of the season overview discussions. For me, the episode starts to click when I know the character’s emotional arc for that episode. "
This was something that stuck with me and also in turn had an impact on my episode synopsis's - i tried to show the emotional arc of the characters clearly. I tried to give a snippet of the characters personalities in the premise but in a more comedic way but also tell the drama storyline of the pilot - Nath getting beaten up. 

The final part of the treatment is format. This is vital for professional treatments.

http://www.antonymayfield.com/2012/06/13/how-to-pitch-a-tv-show/

"Your format and pitch to a commissioner need to be clear about what they are… Why you? Why me? Why now?: Sometimes it isn’t the strength of the idea that counts, but its context. One producer said that these three questions that quite often people pitching a format can’t answer."

From this research the why you? why me? part stood out, i wanted to make it clear why the show fitted Tekkers Tv as a platform as it was a sports channel with dramatic and comedy elements. I also wanted to explain why that time of day for releasing the show. It was based on research undertook by the producer. 
I felt having the format of what our show is about would help clarify the platform. As Tekkers Tv is a platform that myself, Chris and Danny founded i sat with them and Aimee to discuss the ideas for why we felt it would suit the channel. As producer Aimee led the discussion and based on feedback we gave to her she decided on the time for show. I also wanted to show the number of episodes and length of the episodes. I decided to create a 6 episode series based on the traditional amount for a UK series and the reason for 30 minutes was because that is roughly the length for sitcoms / drama comedies in the Uk. I could have done the online route where the episodes are usually much shorter but i felt the shorter length of time but more episodes didn't fit my vision for the show. I wanted time to explore the characters. Also this show is something i could see on a channel in the future so although it is currently for Tekkers TV i wanted to keep the format in keeping with what is currently broadcast to be able to potentially use it as a future pitch.

Overall i felt the treatment writing experience was an unusual one but still interesting and helped me to highlight the show concisely for others.

Major Project: Table read

In order to prepare myself for the table read i decided to research a little into them to find out the usefulness of them and why they are needed so as i could use this knowledge to assist me in making the most out of the table read.
I initially wanted to to the table read because i felt it would be a good opportunity to see how the script was coming along. For all the actors to come together, meet and see how their take on the characters had come across. I also hoped that Danny and Aimee would find it useful as Producer and Director and felt it would give Chris a chance to do some filming.
upon starting my research i found this website:
http://www.backstage.com/advice-for-actors/casting-director-note/why-table-reads-are-just-important-auditions/
It is written by Casting Director Marci Liroff who has worked with some of the most successful directors in the world such as Steven Spielberg, Ridley Scott, Mark Waters, Christopher Nolan, Brad Bird, and Herbert Ross.
She wrote:
"We have table reads for a few different reasons. When we’re trying to get the project off the ground, we invite investors and put together our favorite actors to help sell the material. Sometimes the writers and the creative team need the screenplay read so that they can hear how it plays. They often invite other writers so that they can discuss it after and do a “punch-up” for dialogue or for comedy. When I’m casting a feature film or television project, we invite the newly cast actors to a table read for the creative team, along with the studio and network executives. These readings can be very scary for the actor—even if she’s already been cast."

I found this interesting as i definitely was excited to hear it read for the first time and agree that it would be a valuable experience to see how the words bounce around. Is one actor having too much dialogue? Does it fit their character to be saying long speeches?