Saturday 17 January 2009

Unforgiven

Just caught up with this on ITV's sorry excuse for an iPlayer.

Pretty darn good (the drama, not "ITV Catch Up", which I notice is now branded itvPlayer - that's shameless!)

But what made me really jealous was the simplicity of the the premise. I've been spending some time recently trying to come up with new ideas for TV drama. It's almost always doomed to failure. My best ideas tend to just happen when I'm not looking, so sitting down with pen and a blank sheet of paper trying to be spontaneous doesn't often produce the goods.

Or, it does. And I think I've got the next big thing. And then I look again a few days later and all I have is some convoluted mish mash that's impossible to pitch.

But...

Imagine a 15 year-old girl put away for the cold-blooded murder of two policemen. Flash forward 17 years, and what happens when she's let out?


That is such a great idea.

Can't wait for Part 2.


EDIT...

I've just read in Broadcast that Sally Wainwright "dreamt the story one night in 2007". So, there I was expressing my admiration for the clarity of her vision and wishing I could replicate it, and it was all a dream! I think I'll spend the afternoon in bed.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I dream all my best ideas. Which is why they always put people to sleep, I guess.

John Soanes said...

I, too, thought 'itvplayer' was shameless as a name, but I've just seen an ad for Skyplayer!
J

Paul Crosland said...

The question is really how to create the best conditions for the best dreams? Do you need to spend the day hanging out with the kind of characters you might want in your story and also with their archetypal equivalents in literature?

Paul Crosland said...

And here's another perspective on dreams: "PSYCHIC Stephany Cohen wowed the nation with a confession on TV’s This Morning that she beds aliens called Greys. She confessed to presenter Holly Willoughby: "I call them Team Spirit, and we have a UFO, a flying saucer, we go off to planets within our own solar system but also to way out in the solar system.

"It happens in my mind as it happens when my physical body is asleep. My spirit will then leave." When pressed by Holly that she might just be dreaming, Stephany explained: "A dream is a friendly way of letting you know what you've been doing without scaring you."

Paul Crosland said...

In my dreams I encountered the first three relevant "archetypes", then, on waking, added a fourth for good measure: 1) The guy who let himself go & is reactive to challenge, however well intended. (i.e. my slobbing-out self); 2) The attentive friend at their best e.g. on holiday. (i.e. my helpful and amiable self); 3) The hard-edged friend's wife (i.e. my awkwardly suppressed feminine critic) & 4). The Pier Fire Damage Denier (i.e. another manifestation of resistance to "what is" that if unlocked holds hope/promise of great(er) community)

Now how did this dream arise? By hanging out over recent weeks with people who some called "low-life's", and with friends who are both kind and challenging, as well as by watching a multi-superhero movie last night in which each had a different role, and by reading my friend, PC's scriptuality blog in which he bemoans not having the kind of dream that translates directly into an epic script.