Sir Charles Hood: "Star of Bethlehem"

I've been doing a lot of research, off and on, over the last few years (much of it paid for by the lovely Wellcome Trust).  I'm slowly putting together a proposal for a TV drama series based in Bethlem Hospital in the 1850's and 60's, so I've been digging around in the Hospital archives.  Need to find someone to buy it, of course, but that's a different battle.

Anyway, slightly to my surprise, I've been invited to give a little talk on the stuff I found out.  It's at the new Museum of the Mind at Bethlem Royal Hospital in Beckenham (which is well worth a visit even without the added attraction of a talk by yours truly).

I'll be talking about him, up there.   He's Sir Charles Hood - Resident Physician at Bethlem in the 1850s.  And he's a bit of a Star.

So, if you're in my part of the world on Saturday 25th April...

Details here...

http://museumofthemind.org.uk/whats-on/event-info/sir-charles-hood-star-of-bethlehem

Script Frenzy

Remember me?

Just a quick update. Haven't done one of those in many a long month.

Keeping busy with Doctors at the moment - see up there in the top right hand corner...

But have been ridiculously neglectful of spec projects. They're floundering at various stages between outline and second draft. And I'm feeling directionless.

So...

... although the timing is not auspicious (with a Doctors first draft due on Thursday, and rewrites thereafter), I'm having another go at Script Frenzy.

"Script What?!" Why, Script Frenzy, of course. Write a script from start to finish in April. It's a daft idea, but I'm going for it.

If you're doing it too, come along and say hello. My name's Paul C, and the project's called "Emperor"

It's the first part of a 6 part TV drama thing. Probably. We'll see.

What with Doctors and the fact that I don't have much more than a concept at the moment, I probably won't start Scene One until halfway through the month. I'll report back here on 1st May and let you know whether I reached FADE OUT.

The Dover Castle

It's a pub. An ordinary London pub.

Who would have guessed that some of Britain's finest scriptwriting minds gather there from time to time? And that so much wisdom is shared so selflessly within its unassuming walls?

Honestly, if the controllers, commissioners, producers, directors, script editors and critics of this world could only have access to the collective insights we shared last night, then British (nay, global) television would truly enter a Golden Age.

Opening the Genre Floodgate

Ben Stephenson (him at the Beeb) has been widely quoted for a Broadcast interview in which he said, inter alia, "We'll also be focusing on how we can reinvent genre drama like crime and to a lesser extent sci-fi." See here for a bit of context.

Well, funnily enough, Ben, I'm working on something in that kind of area right now. Give me a few weeks to polish it, and all your problems are solved!

Except that I have a feeling there might be one or two other writers out there who think they've got a crime/sci-fi reinvention that'll tickle his fancy.

Mine's the one you want, Ben. Drop me a line, and we'll do lunch.

Starting

OK, so I've been working on my spec project, Project X (I must stop calling it "Project X" or people will start thinking that's what it's called. From now on it's "OPFK").

It's 6 x 60 minutes. Series with a wee bit of serial. Post-watershed. Genre. Think CSI meets Minority Report meets Casualty meets... hmm.

Anyway, the intention was to write a pilot. A first episode.

But you have to know where you're going, right? And you have to know the world inside out. And you have to be confident that you've got enough stories to fill six hours of prime time television to bursting point. With something in reserve for Series Two.

So, I've been working on the outlines of a Series Bible - character sketches, story outlines, fleshing out the world of OPFK, tying down the structure of a typical episode.

It's been fun. And, the more I do it, the richer it all becomes. But, sooner or later, I have to do some actual real proper writing.

I love this concept. I love the stories. And I really can't wait to start writing it. So why, now the moment has come, do I feel reluctant to get started?

TV's James Moran reveals the Big Secret

Finally, the world's most productive, workaholic screenwriter has found the time to finish his long-awaited Q&A.

If you've come to Scriptuality looking for advice, you're in the wrong place. So, just pop over to James' place and get the complete picture. All truth is here.

Okay, this is a closely held secret, that all of us professionals try to keep you from discovering, but I'm going to break the code of silence and tell you: TV/film producers are looking for GOOD STUFF. That's it. Don't waste time wondering what genre or type of story is "in" right now, as by the time you write it, sell it, get it made and released, something else will be "in". Any time a producer or channel says "we're not looking for X, and Y doesn't work", ignore it - if they got a script that was fucking amazing, about X *and* Y, they'd snap it up. Things don't work until they do. The second you start trying to tailor something to the market, your script will suffer. If you have a story to tell, something you're dying to get out into the world, write that. Write from the heart, put your soul, blood, sweat and tears into it. And it'll get you noticed (if it's good, obviously). Producers want to see your original voice, not something you think they want, or a carbon copy of whatever's popular at the moment.

James Moran 2009.

Project X

February is looking like it's going to be "Write-a-spec-month".

So, I've waded through my ideas file, talked it all through with my wonderful agent, and settled on a project. I'm going to have a go at developing "Project X"

A while back on this Blog there was a moment of excitement as this idea came into being....

I've been working on this great idea for a TV Series. Let's call it Project X. I'm excited about it. I'd watch it. But I have a sneaking suspicion that nobody else would. Still, I'm seeing what happens, doing a bit of research, letting it bed down.... I'll just let this one gel/brew/stew/bubble/mature and see if there's still anything worth the pitch when I get back to it.

And now, here I am, getting back to it. It's a bit way out, so I need to do some serious work to see whether it has legs, or whether it's just daft. ANd it's completely on spec.

Obviously, it's all terribly Top Secret. But I can tell you that it's not comedy, nor is it gritty drama. It is "genre television". Daft term, really. Everything on telly is one genre or another. But anything with a hint of sci-fi, fantasy or the supernatural seems to get labelled "genre TV" - and that's where I'm heading with Project X.

Wish me luck.

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.

Dr Horrible Rocks

Well, he sings anyway.

Dr Horrible

Pure, unadulterated genius.

Watch it. Or regret it.



Yeah, I know. Been a bit thin on the ground, blogging-wise, recently. Not a problem. EE seems to be going OK. Enjoying it, in fact. But got nothing much I can share at the mo.

One of the things about EastEnders is that you get definite breaks while they cast their eyes over your work. So, I handed in draft number two on Monday, and they won't get back to me until Friday (probably). Which means I get a bit of time back to make up for the time spent writing over the weekend.

And I've been working on this great idea for a TV Series. Let's call it Project X*. I'm excited about it. I'd watch it. But I have a sneaking suspicion that nobody else would. Still, I'm seeing what happens, doing a bit of research, letting it bed down. I'll be back on the EastEnders horse over the weekend and most of next week, so maybe I'll just let this one gel/brew/stew/bubble/mature and see if there's still anything worth the pitch when I get back to it.


* It's not actually called "Project X", of course. You knew that.

Tonight - How to Write for the BBC

The Writers' Guild are hosting a special session this evening with a host of BBC production talent, based round the theme of Moving From Long Running Series to Taking the Next Step

I know a lot of folks might be more interested in a session called Taking the Next Step Without Doing the Long Running Series First, but this might still be valuable stuff.

And for those of you with an interest in the Writers' Academy, this would be a chance to see what you'll be getting in the form of Mr John Yorke. And, Ms Ceri Meyrick will also be there, and she's the lady who organises the entry process (and everything else) - well worth getting to know.

And, I'll be there too. Just sitting in the audience mind.



THIS EVENING, Thurs 24th, 6:45 for 7pm
WGGB, 15-17 Britannia Street, London WC1X (near Kings Cross)

Following the success of the Guild event on long running BBC series last year, we're delighted to announce a sequel from John Yorke: 'Moving from Long Running Series to Taking The Next Step'

John Yorke is Controller of Drama Production Studios for the BBC and over the last three years, has been committed to putting writers back at the heart of EastEnders, Holby City and Casualty. He has also been responsible for introducing and implementing the new BBC Code of Conduct, in response to our members' complaints and suggestions about long running series.

We are pleased to announce that John will be accompanied by a cornucopia of BBC production talent. Members will be able to get advice from:

Hilary Salmon - Executive Producer, Drama Production. Hilary has Exec Produced some of BBC drama's most prestigious recent dramas including "Criminal Justice", "House of Saddam", "Five Days", Silent Witness", "Soundproof", "The Line Of Beauty", "The Long Firm", "Babyfather", "Nature Boy", "Gormenghast" and "Madame Bovary"

Claire Armspach - Producer, Waking The Dead. Claire also helped set up the writing team for BBC Scotland's "River City". Produced for "Holby City" and assistant produced "Rough Diamond" for World.

Ellen Taylor - Development Executive, Drama Production. Ellen has produced and written for "Casualty" and "Dream Team". Currently developing two new teen dramas for BBC3.

Ben Evans - Exec Producer with special responsibility for BBC 4. Ben Exec Produced the recent BBC4 "Curse of Comedy" season and also produced "Frankie Howerd: Rather You Than me", "Most Sincerely: Hughie Green". Also produced "Fear of Fanny" and "Kenneth Williams: Fantabulosa!" for BBC4.

Ceri Meyrick - Producer. Ceri runs the BBC Drama Writers Academy and other Training Academies for Directors, Scripts Editors, Producers and other writers' schemes.

This is a golden opportunity to speak to the powers-that-be of the TV industry. Please come along and join us. This can be just what your career needs.

The event will once again be chaired by Gail Renard, Chair of the WGGB TV Committee.

Tickets for this event will be £5 for Guild members and £7.50 for non-members. If you would like to book for this event, please email moe@writersguild.org.uk or call the Guild office on 0207 833 0777.

Progress report

A quick progress report, on the off-chance that anybody's interested.


My application for the BBC Writers' Academy was submitted on time. Mine and a few thousand others. Fingers crossed (mine and a few thousand others).


Draft #1 of Episode 111, Series 9 of Doctors was well-received. A couple of pages of notes.

Considering it's totally unlike any other episode of Doctors (ever) and anyone tuning in after the first five minutes might think they've entered a parallel universe, that's pretty good.

I sent in Draft #2 last night.

Interestingly, there are two new regular characters in my episode. One I can't tell you about (all very hush, hush), but the other, Vivien, made her first appearance just the other day and I caught up with it on the Sky Plus box last night after I'd sent Draft #2 off. She isn't anything like I'd imagined! I might have to tweak her a bit in Draft #3. But I won't have the chance to tweak the other newcomer so it's going to be interesting to see how they turn out. My first episode co-starred Joe, and I didn't even know what he looked like when I wrote it.


It's dawned on me that, once this is done and dusted, I'll be back to square one. I currently have no other Doctors ideas in the bank. Something must be done about it. I think a day of sitting somewhere comfortable with a lot of coffee and an open note pad might do the trick.

And then there's writing up all those series ideas, and getting something sorted for the Film Council's 25 Words or Less by mid July. And there's work (ie the real stuff wot pays). And then there's a family trip to Disneyland Paris at half term. And the garden's a right old mess at the moment. And the garage needs to be knocked down and replaced. Hmm. Busy, busy.

To do...

The weather's turning warmer. My daughter insists that she wants to wear her summer dress to school. Must be time to review those New Year's Resolutions and see how I'm doing...

1. Inundate the BBC with story ideas for Doctors, so that they have no excuse for not giving me more commissions. Hmmm. Well, my inundating was going OK, until my script editor left (familiar story?). So, there's a new script editor in town. He seems a nice chap. But it's a question of starting from scratch. And, it is so difficult staying enthusiastic about a process which, nine times out of ten, results in several days work being rejected outright. But, there was a reason why this resolution was #1 - Doctors is the only show in town for writers of my level of experience, and, until I build up a decent portfolio there, nobody else is going to take me very seriously. Probably. So, more work needed there, Paul. More inundation, please.

2. ... get at least three more commissions for Doctors over the course of the year. Yeah, well, not so much a resolution as a wish. And it won't come true unless I put the work in (see above).

3. Apply for (and be accepted into) the BBC Writers' Academy. Nothing's happened yet in this department. No word from the BBC about whether or not the Academy will continue, but I'm watching all 4 BBC continuing dramas on a regular basis now. This one's still my main hope for the year.

4. ... and, as a result, get at least one commission for Eastenders, Holby City or Casualty. Naturally. But now I'd like to add The Bill to the list. Nothing to do with the BBC, of course. But I attended an excellent TAPS course on writing for The Bill and it has whet my appetite.

5. Get my radio play commissioned by BBC 4 for The Afternoon Play. Well, that didn't happen. I had the usual nice words, but no banana. But there's another submission round coming up soon, and I have a few ideas which I'll be discussing with my friendly independent radio producer shortly.

6. Get at least half a dozen TV series ideas to my agent, and have her hawk them around the industry. I have been promising this for so long now, it's becoming embarrassing. But I am one step forward at least. I have done some work on one of them, Bloodline, and my agent thinks it has promise. More work to be done there, and then repeat the process for the other ideas.

7. ... and get at least one meeting out of the process. That would be nice.

8. Go to the Cheltenham Screenwriting Festival again. I think so. They've just announced the dates (3-6 July), and I think I might go for the Thursday and Friday. Anyone else care to join me there?

9. If the Film Council ever get around to running another 25 Words or Less, apply for it and (this time) win the £10,000 (rather than just getting within sniffing distance). No word from the UKFC on this one.

10. If the UKFC don't run the scheme again, work up at least one feature film concept, write the opening ten pages and get my agent to hawk it around (including to the Film Council). Yeah, right! Well, once I've finished my inundation of the Doctors' team, and written up 6 TV series concepts, then maybe I'll turn my hand to this hopeless cause.

11. Make some money from writing. Income from writing this year so far - £0.00.

12. Have fun. Well, this one's easy. It's still a lot of fun. And I got see my name on the screen for the very first time this year (see screen shot, above right).

Any more TAPSters out there?

I'm heading off to the studios of The Bill for a two day course next week run by TAPS. Should be fun - it's a masterclass on writing for continuing series, focusing, of course, on The Bill.

I've just been sent the pre-course reading material, consisting of the series outline for a block of ten shows, a beat sheet for one of those episodes, and the first draft of the same episode. We have two days on it next week, then we have to go away and do an exercise before coming back for another two days at the end of Feb.

I'm really looking forward to it - anybody else going?


My own stuff's going OK at the moment. My Doctors script editor has commented favourably on three of my story outlines - a bit of editing and we should be there. She's already passed another on to the series producer. It's a slow old process, but I am optimistic that there will be other commissions at some point.

And right now (well, once this is posted) I'm actually doing work on a TV series outline. Yes, I know I've been promising this for months, but it's actually happening right now. I'll let you know how it goes.

New Year's whatjermecallits

Resolutions, resolutions, resolutions. So difficult to make, even harder to keep. This year, the most important resolution is to keep all the others. And here they are...

1. Inundate the BBC with story ideas for Doctors, so that they have no excuse for not giving me more commissions.

2. ... get at least three more commissions for Doctors over the course of the year.

3. Apply for (and be accepted into) the BBC Writers' Academy.

4. ... and, as a result, get at least one commission for Eastenders, Holby City or Casualty.

5. Get my radio play commissioned by BBC 4 for The Afternoon Play.

6. Get at least half a dozen TV series ideas to my agent, and have her hawk them around the industry.

7. ... and get at least one meeting out of the process.

8. Go to the Cheltenham Screenwriting Festival again.

9. If the Film Council ever get around to running another 25 Words or Less, apply for it and (this time) win the £10,000 (rather than just getting within sniffing distance*).

10. If the UKFC don't run the scheme again, work up at least one feature film concept, write the opening ten pages and get my agent to hawk it around (including to the Film Council).

11. Make some money from writing.

12. Have fun.


* It's a good job I wasn't blogging at the time when I got shortlisted. It was very frustrating, and I might have been tempted to say something very indiscreet.

Staring into space

I've been doing a lot of staring into space for the last week or so.

I'm back at home, writing. Which is great. But my first two tasks are both about coming up with some fresh ideas, and that does inevitably mean a lot of sitting around apparently not doing very much, attempting to harness some inspiration.

A new 'Bible' has just been produced for Doctors, and I'm working on a whole batch of new story ideas which I will pass over to my new script editor, probably on Monday. She's kindly offered to glance at some rough outlines and tell me which ones are so pathetic or off the wall that they're not worth writing up. Hopefully, that will leave me with a few that are not entirely crazy, and I can work them up into two-pagers. After that we keep our fingers crossed. It would be very nice to get another commission or two before Christmas (unlikely, though).

And I'm working on TV series concepts for my agent. I've been promising these for so long it's embarrassing. But she should get them on Tuesday next week (just in case she's reading this!). Again, I'm giving her a load of ideas in rough outline and we'll see whether any of them are worth doing more work on.



I went for a run this morning. I think it's the first 'exercise' I've taken for about four years. It wasn't comfortable, but it's got to be done.

Back... sort of.

Well, I don't seem to have said very much recently. I don't imagine I've been missed!

I had two weeks very enjoyable holiday in South Devon with the family. Sand, sea and sun much appreciated by all of us.

Then back to the real world with a horrid jolt with the news that a close friend from university has died. I don't want to write about it, so I won't.

Much better was the family wedding, followed the next weekend by a family 90th birthday.

But, if you add all that to a horribly busy time at the office, perhaps it's not surprising that, frankly, I've almost forgotten I'm a writer.

I must remind myself every morning when I awake, "I am a writer. I am a writer. I am a writer."

Mind you, I did get some confirmation of that status because the BBC have paid the second half of my fee for Doctors. They've accepted my script, and they'll be shooting in the not too distant future. I seem to remember promising that I'd give a run down on how the whole process went. I'll do so in the next day or so.

But, having made such a successful job of the episode and worked really well with my script editor, I discover he's leaving and heading off to Casualty (the show, not the hospital). Good luck to him, I say (and can I come too?). But it puts me back a step or two with Doctors and a new script editor. She seems very nice, but it means starting from scratch all over again. And, with a new man in charge overall, I suddenly find myself without any stories banked. So, right back to square one, and, until the new man decides what he wants to do and where he wants to take the series, there's no point even thinking about new story ideas right now.

But what I do have to do is sort out some more radio ideas, because it's that time of year again. A nice little commission for a radio drama would be great. I've got the idea in my head, it's just a matter of finding the time to sit down and get it onto one or two sides of a piece of paper.

Talking of which, there's at least four TV series knocking about in amongst the little grey cells too. And I've been promising them to my agent for far too long.

But I've got to go the office tomorrow. And it's going to be another long day.

This writing thing would be so much easier if I didn't have to earn a living at the same time.

It's been a while...

... since I posted anything here.

The whole point of this Blog was to force me to create a public record of what I've been up to and shame me into avoiding procrastination. So, I'd better come clean about what I got up to all last week.

Er...

OK, well I finished the Doctors Scene by Scene and sent it off.

And I spent a lot of time thinking about new material. Specifically, I've been trying to come up with ideas for new TV Series. After a lot of head-scratching, and far too much coffee, I came up half a dozen concepts, which I am now refining. Two or three of them might be worth developing into outlines after I've discussed them with my agent. Or she might hate them.

And I've just written a one-minute short for this competition. They provide the dialogue...

"Hi"
"Hey"
"You nervous"
"A little"
"Why"
"It's my first time"
"Really, you've never"
"No"
"OK"

And you have to fill in the gaps. Since so many people seem to think that screenwriting is just about providing the words for the actors to speak, this is quite a fun exercise.


Oh, and I've been negotiating a brief return to the real world in order to earn a bit of cash. It's a shame, but it had to be done.

Done

Finished.
Well, first draft is complete. School holidays started an hour and a half ago, so I only just made the deadline.
I've sent Obadiah over to my agent. Just waiting for the "terminate agreement" letter now!

fine-tuning

Today's tally?

Mainly a whole load of polishing and fine-tuning. My spec features a tall crane - so how tall is a tall crane? About 120 feet if you google the experts. And what rank should my police officers be? Detective Chief Inspector and Detective Sergeant, I think, having queried various police websites. And where should I add something to build on the budding relationship between two of my minor players - still working on that one. etc. etc.

So, it's been a day of fiddling really. But the spec's much better for it.

Tomorrow's a day with my daughter. A bit more fiddling on Friday and it should be in a good enough state to be shared with a few trusted folk. Then the nail-biting begins.


A little bit of good news today. An independent radio producer has read some of my work, seen some of my ideas - and likes them. We have a meeting next week some time to discuss submissions to the BBC.

28 March

No writing today, but that's OK.

Spent the morning reading a script off Zoe (you do know Zoetrope.com?). It was a spec pilot for a British crime drama, so I thought it would be useful to read it, criticise it, and then sit back and see whether the same criticisms applied to my spec. It was a useful exercise. Read it, enjoyed it, wrote to the author, and then re-read Obadiah. Generally speaking, I'm happy with it. But there's still quite a bit to do before I'll feel happy sending it off to my agent (I'm terrified she'll hate it).

So, that's tomorrow sorted.