O P E N D O O R

NEW ENERGYI've always felt that September is the real NewYear.

Summer is fantastic of course, but nothingserious ever really seems to happen.

As I write this, I can see the light is changingsubtly and the leaves are beginning to turngold on the trees on the way into the office.The summer heat is definitely fading and thereis an occasional cool breeze to make the aircrisp. It's all fresh and new and exciting:definitely time to get going!

This new season has been kicked off by thefantastic LSF this weekend – and how many ofyou are sitting at home right now, headspinning after an incredible adventure?

All you have to do is scan this issue's massiveGreenlit and Coming Soon sections (fivepages!) to see the optimism about drama thatis currently filling the corridors of power.

When I look at these listings, I'm remindedonce again what a good time this is to be ascreenwriter. All this massive variety ofdrama, with so much more to come – we'veeven got the BBC commissioning musicals !

The fragmentation of the industry because ofpeople like Amazon, Netflix and YouTube hasled to the breaking of the vice­like (and let's behonest, rather stultifying) grip of theterrestrial broadcasters here in the UK. That'sso good for writers (and anyone with animagination in fact) and there really is a placefor almost every kind of voice out there.

So why not let one of those voices be yours?

THIS MONTHI've already mentioned the massive listingssection, and you are going to enjoy ourinterview with Daisy Goodwin. Daisy is an

#6, September 2016

O P E N D O O R

In This Issue...

• LA Productions• Colin McKeown• Damian Timmer and Daisy Goodwin• It's Just a Polish• The Economics of Writing• Keeping Strong

Bottersnikes & Gumbles © 2016 Cheeky Little Media /

Mighty Nice / CBBC

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industry insider without doubt, but she isnevertheless also a brand new writer who wastrusted with an eight part original series of herown doing.

We talk to Damien Timmer, who explains howthe decision to hire her was based on what shebrought to her writing, and we also have aterrific in­depth interview with ColinMcKeown from LA Productions. Colin explainshow they are constantly on the lookout for newwriters, and how they and Jimmy McGovernhelp them get off the ground.

Oh, and don't miss the feature on the shapes ofcontracts and the way you will make money asa writer once you get going. (The section aboutthe Inland Revenue is only marginally born ofbitter experience, honestly.)

CONTEST SEASONYou've probably noticed that some of thebigger contests are opening round about now.Over the last year or so I've heard more andmore from agents and script execs that placingin a couple of the right contests does actuallyattract their attention these days, so it's wellworth your time to study the scene andconsider investing time and a little cash toenter a handful.

But they have to be the right ones. Myrecommendation as always is that you studythe list of judges, and work out just who will bereading the finalist scripts. Make sure you arebeing read by people who have done solidwork in the industry, and that the contestoffers clear connections onwards for those whodo well.

One such is the Channel 4 competition, whichhas just launched, and is looking for scripts forthe next three weeks until midnight on Sundaythe 25th September. You have to be the sort ofwriter who wants to write for Channel 4, (so domake sure you watch some Channel 4 showsbefore sending your script in to make sure you'get' what they're about) but it's a very wellrespected contest inside the industry, and hasconsiderable clout (as well as being free toenter!) so overall it's well worth your attention.

You can find more details of that at: script­consultant.co.uk/channel­4­script­submit/

SCREENWRITING GOLDMINE

AWARDS 2017The big news around here is that our very ownScreenwriting Goldmine competition opens itsdoors in just four weeks, on Thursday October8th, and will be accepting entries untilThursday December 6th.

In this, our fifth year, we have another massivepanel of British TV industry players assembledto read, and hopefully fall in love with, thefinalist scripts.

I'm going to be teasing you with the detailsthroughout September, including details ofwhere last year's writers are now (clue, at leastone has been commissioned for a BBC longrunning series directly off the back of thecontest), who exactly is on the mightilyexpanded judging panel, and the things thecontest can do for you, but for now, all youneed to know is we'll be looking for scripts ofbetween 45 ­ 125 pages in length, any genre,any period, any budget.

What's more, we're looking for writers with afresh voice, who want to get noticed by BritishTV, but that doesn’t mean you can only enterTV pilots — our panel wants interestingwriters who have something good to offer, anda great movie spec can point directly to anamazing TV writer.

Do you have a great idea? Is there a storyyou've always wanted to tell? Did you enter aSeven Day Shorts and think, actually, there's afull length story there to be told?

You have just about thirteen weeks till thedoors close, so get going on that.

I'll email out more news as it happens.

Very best,

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LA Productions was founded by ColinMcKeown in 2000. Since 2009 the companyhas been making the BBC One series MovingOn. The show has Jimmy McGovern at thehelm and champions new writers.

A new series called Broken for BBC One hasjust been greenlit which will star Sean Bean asa Catholic priest.

Their slate includes the BBC One­off Regabout Reg Keys, the film Common and the TVseries Liverpool 1.

Colin McKeown began his career at GranadaTV as a trainee broadcast engineer. He workedin the Middle East before returning to the UKto help launch Brookside. He also created andproduced the police drama series Liverpool 1and produced the feature film Commonwritten by Jimmy McGovern, which receivedan Emmy nomination. He is also founder ofthe Liverpool Film Academy.

Donna Molloy Head of Production overseesLA’s development slate. She has workedalongside Colin as an associate producer, lineproducer and series producer.

Andrew Morrissey Head of Development.Andrew is the point of contact for all writerand script queries. He worked on Moving On

Series 5­6 and Common as DevelopmentAssistant before script editing Moving On 7­8and Reg.

Sarah Deane Development Executive. Beforejoining LA Productions as a developmentexecutive, Sarah worked as a journalist andfreelance scriptwriter. She has written severalepisodes of Moving On. After leavinguniversity, she was a writer and designer forpub quiz machines.

Lois Frost Junior Researcher. Before joiningLA Productions as a PA in 2015, Lois was aMedia Production Student at Liverpool JohnMoores University.

LA Productions Ltd,Old St Lawrence School,Westminster Road,Liverpool,Merseyside,L4 3QT.

Tel: +44 151 933 8282

info@laproductions.co.ukhttp://laproductions.co.uk

LA PRODUCTIONS

T H E P R O D U C T I O N C O M P A N Y

Industry

LA Productions: Moving On / Dress To Impress

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Interviews

Back in the 1980s when Colin McKeown wasexecutive producer on Brookside, he gave abunch of new writers a break. They were thelikes of Kay Mellor, Jimmy McGovern andFrank Cottrell­Boyce who are now some of thebiggest names in screenwriting. Colin whohas an MBE for services to drama productionand the Liverpool community, now heads uphis own production company, LA Productionsand he continues to give new and emergingwriters a break with the BBC One TV seriesMoving On, which consists of standalonedramas about people who are at a crossroadsin their lives.

Wow, you’ve had an illustrious career inTV Colin.

I have been lucky really. One of the big thingsthat happened to me was to be an ex Granadalad and to be trained in every singledepartment: that is when they used to trainpeople properly. That has stayed with me andit is what we try to do now at LA Productions.

Back in 1982 when Phil Redmond createdBrookside we made sure we had a very hardand fast training regime. I always use thisanalogy – if the chairman moves on fromLiverpool football club, then employ a cleanerand move everybody up. That’s what we didand still do. We create opportunities all thetime.

I remember that first storyline meeting onBrookside. Round the table we had JimmyMcGovern, Kay Mellor, John Godber and AndyLynch, stalwarts of the industry really. Lateron, this guy came to us and said he would liketo apply for the job as a production trainee. Itold him that I’d looked at his CV and seen hehad a PhD in English, so I asked him ‘Whydon’t you want to write?’ and he said ‘I do, butI will never get a break’ so we gave him abreak. He was Frank Cottrell­Boyce.

Do you think it is even more difficult tobreak into TV as a writer now?

I would say that it is, but we are doing lots ofthings to try and help. A list writers like JimmyMcGovern do their bit. If he puts his name tosomething, then it is more likely to becommissioned. Our Moving On series headedby Jimmy gives breaks for first time actors,writers and filmmakers. With daytime dramathey tend to leave it alone a little bit more thanhigher up the food chain, so you can take morerisks.

How do you find the writers for MovingOn?

People say that in Liverpool, if you throw astick out the window, you won’t hit one writeryou will hit two. They are out there and welisten to what the word on the street is. Wehave just been recommissioned for our ninthseries, which means we will have completed 50hours of telly. Moving On episodes are allsingle plays, they have all been written byrelatively different people and there are anawful lot of first time writers who have gotthrough which has just been amazing.

There is an episode going out by a writer calledVivienne Harvey who is the common law wifeof Hugo Speer. She is a new writer who hasjust been on the Channel 4 ScreenwritingDevelopment Scheme and she’s written anexcellent piece for Moving On. We got itdirected by Reece Dinsdale. We have had a fewactors who have directed them – Paul McGannand Dominic West from the Wire, how aboutthat? If you give people these opportunitiesthen the reward is in the material itself.

How does Moving On work?

When we have chosen our writers, we tellthem: ‘Write us a story about a character orcharacters who reach a cross point in their life

COLIN MCKEOWNFounder, LA Productions

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and move on’ so you can imagine the scope inthat. We have had stories about cross­dressing, drug related stories... the interestingthing is, people think that because it isafternoon drama it can’t be controversial; yesit can, but you have to be creative andinventive. Some of the most traumatic scenesin TV and film are implied. When David Leandirected Oliver Twist, the beatings of Nancywere depicted as the dog trying to get out ofthe room. You can do great things withouthaving to see graphic violence. You can implyit. If you learn that skill you can add it to yourvocabulary and you don’t have to be lockedinto any restrictions, you can just go for it.

Does Jimmy work closely with theuntried writers?

We are very sneaky as we ask the BBC tocommission six scripts for five slots andnobody knows if they have a slot or not. Thatgives people incentive. Jimmy is very strongon story and will work with the writers to getthe best possible story. That is the hardestthing to do. It is interesting to see whatemerging talent there is out there when yougive them the right sort of help. The peoplewho ask the right questions and use theguidance well are the ones who will succeed.

Any there any common areas wherenewer writers come unstuck?

Structure. Every time. Also practical things,people will write: ‘And a thousand Russianscome over the hill’ and you think ‘Really?Who’s going to pay for that?’ We give themguidance on what is and isn’t practical and tryand get them to think about the genre they aredoing, how it will work and what personalstory will drive it. Again really it is to nurturewhat they come up with. If you look at all thegreat Liverpool writers like Bleasdale, WillyRussell and Jimmy, they are all Englishteachers, so they all know how to teach, theyare all passionate about text and words and soforth. Jimmy McGovern says to me things like:‘There should be an inverted comma here, aninverted comma is like an island, it goes all theway round the world, all the way round theworld, you can take a rubber and what do youget, you get an inverted comma....’ He has apassion about commas, you think Jesus! If youcan’t be inspired by that, well you can’t write.

Is he a hard task­master?

I don’t think he is really, I would say hedoesn’t suffer fools and I think he has lived inthe game and experienced rejection a greatdeal and therefore he wants to have anelement of tough love about the whole thingreally. He is demanding, but also helpful withit. Three of the writers he worked with onMoving On are now co­writers with him onBroken, a new six­parter we are doing for theBBC with Sean Bean as a Catholic priest inNorthern Ireland. Most of them haven’t got tothe stage where they can handle a six­partseries so this is a great opportunity. I thinkthere is a fine line between being ambitiousand knowing what your limitations are – ittakes a long long time to be in a positionwhere you as a single writer can handle a six­part series. Some people think they can and

Interviews

Tim Roth in Reg, LA Productions

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they can’t, so it is wonderful to be able to putthe stabilizers on the bike and then go on ajourney and gradually take them off.

That is unusual

It doesn’t happen a lot. Paul Abbott did it onShameless where he again acted as anumbrella, an A list writer over the whole thingand stood behind it and nurtured a wholeculture of writers coming through. Kay Mellordoes it to a degree too.

Do LA Productions accept spec scripts?

Yes, we have a development department whoread everything and will flag up anything theythink could be interesting. We often find a fewgems.

Very few indies read spec scripts thesedays.

That has never been my policy. Though if we'reinundated, we might tell people it will be a bitof a wait and employ some readers.

Is now a good time for TV drama? Arewe in a golden age?

I think it is a good time. There are morewindows. The market has changed so muchnow with Netflix and so forth. There arepeople out there who are prepared to takemore risks. To back a script isn’t the biggestinvestment in the world. It is on a project,when you are throwing £850k at an episode ofsomething, but if you are just buying a script,it’s not a lot really.

When you sat round that table with thelikes of Kay Mellor and JimmyMcGovern, could you tell then that theyhad that special something?

Yes, they had this competitiveness. We wouldall agree on various storylines and let’s say one

was about a nurse. I would say ‘Anybody gotany experience?’ and suddenly everybodyround the table was a nurse or could relate toone and I’d think ‘You’ve never been a nurse inyour life.’ They would say ‘My sister was anurse’ and I’d go ‘You haven’t got a sister!’They had this fantastic, committed,competitiveness and the need to provethemselves. Everybody was really keen ongetting it out there and the funny thing aboutthat sort of thing is, there is an opportunity tofail. Where you have volume you can try thingsout and they all did.

What three pieces of advice would yougive to new and emerging writers?

• Say my ambition is to bring an Oscar back toLiverpool, what should I do? Perhaps I willwrite an American movie, but I don’t knowmuch about America so what the fuck am Idoing that for? It will improve my odds bypicking subject matters that I can relate to.Pick something close to you. You don’t have tohave lived through it; you can be a goodobserver or read a lot. Find something that youreally do relate to and write about that.

• I think the big thing that we say to ourwriters is – please share something with usthat is real, share an experience you have hadthat will wound you, that you are uneasy aboutsharing, you are embarrassed by, it is difficultto tell. Have a go, because it will be catharticand people will relate to it.

• Don’t give up, because it all comes in cycles.There was a time when I left Brookside when Iwas on a roll and everybody’s favourite personand then somehow that changed and I didn’thave a clue why. Somehow your face doesn’t fitor the timing is not right and then you justhang in there and have belief in yourself. If youkeep going you will make it.

Interviews

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Interviews

It’s the new, hugelyambitious Sundaynight drama thateveryone is talkingabout, yet ITV’sVictoria is penned bya first­timescreenwriter.

Daisy Goodwin, whois a novelist and TVproducer, wroteseven of the eightepisodes and the

show’s Executive Producer Damien Timmersays she was an absolute natural.

Managing Director of Mammoth Screen,Damian Timmer talks to us about how theseemingly impossible happened.

Did Daisy come to you with the scriptfor Victoria?

For years I had thought it was madness thatthere hadn’t been a TV drama about QueenVictoria, because she always appears in otherpeople’s dramas. You have over 60 years ofextraordinary drama and change with thisfascinating character at the centre of it.

I’ve known Daisy for decades, and have readand loved her novels. She came to me one dayand said she wanted to try her hand atscreenwriting and write a series about QueenVictoria. For me, this was a dream come truebecause for so long I had been trying to pairthat idea with a great writer. Initially, shedidn’t know if she could do it. She had neverwritten a script before and it was entirelypossible that she wouldn’t pull it off. We justdidn’t know. But literally within weeks themost wonderful first script landed on my deskand any worries vanished.

Did she ask you formuch advice?

She instinctively did it.She just is Sundaynight television. Sheknew exactly whereshe was going to start– with the King’smessenger arriving inthe first scene. Theease with which itcame was incredibleand very unusual.

We talked about what the shape of the firstepisode should be and it came togethereffortlessly. It was obvious that therelationship between Lord Melbourne andVictoria was one of the big spines of this seriesand the first episode, and that the story ofFlora Hastings had to be in that first episode.Daisy went away and wrote a fragment of it,which was brilliant, so we said: ‘just keepwriting.’

She didn’t need much help then?

No, we talked a lot about the tone of the show,but it was clear to Daisy and we were all inagreement from the very beginning.

DAMIAN TIMMER & DAISY GOODWINVictoria (ITV)

Daisy GoodwinDamian Timmer

Victoria / Mammoth Screen / ITV

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Interviews

Did all eight episodes go to plan?

The only thing that was unexpected is thatwhen we started, we thought we would cover alot of Victoria’s reign across the eight hours.But during the writing process, it quicklybecame clear that we wanted to slow it rightdown and get lost in the all the detail.

An eight­part series for a first timer ismassive.

It’s a huge undertaking for any writer, letalone for a first­time writer. She is an amazingscreenwriter and creative force on the show.

Did she write all eight?

All but one. Guy Andrews wrote one.

Why did you pick him?

We have worked with Guy a lot, he wrote oneof the first things we made at MammothScreen called Lost in Austen, which we lovedvery much. What he and Daisy share is thatrare ability to make very courtly charactershave wit and emotional truth and that sort oflight erudition.

Why is now a good time for this series?

I think that after the difficult year we’ve had inBritain, there is something rather wonderfulabout seeing a fresh start – a country with anew Queen who has an unblemishedreputation at the start of a new chapter. Weknow the Victorian age transformed ourcountry and there is a kind of vicarious thrillto be had by watching it unfold.

In terms of writers, who do you use?

They come from many different places. Weworked with Tom Stoppard a few years ago onParade’s End. We asked Tom if he would reada novel we liked and didn’t for a minute expectthat he would engage with it. But he loved itand brilliantly adapted the novels for us. Somewriters will come to us with an idea but that’snot how it usually happens. We spend a largeof time generating our own ideas, be that inbooks or news stories, or just things that we

think would make brilliant TV. We are alwayskeen to work with exciting new writing talent.

How long did Victoria take to write?

About 15 months.

Were there any problems or things youhad to work round?

It is always about trying to match the budgetto your ambition. We were lucky enough to beable to build a large chunk of BuckinghamPalace. The parts we didn’t build and theexterior of it are computer generatedmagnificently. We always wanted to have thebuilding of Nelson’s column, but the datesdon’t quite match up unfortunately.

Is now a good time for TV drama?

Yes! The last five years have beentransformative and it is all about drama now.

What’s your advice for emerging TVwriters?

To write and not talk about writing – Daisywrote. It’s like anything, if you don’t practicethe piano, you can’t play. You have to do thething you hanker after. Lots of people want towrite for TV, but they don’t write. Don’t waitfor someone to ask you, just keep writingscripts. I think you have to love the process ofwriting and that in itself should be enough. Ifover time you can get other people to beinterested in what you are doing, then that’sgreat! The goal has got to be enjoying writingfor its own sake.

Victoria / Mammoth Screen / ITV

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Daisy Goodwin reveals how she did it...

Tell us about your interest in QueenVictoria?

The Diaries of Queen Victoria were on myreading list when I was studying history atuniversity. For me, she was a boot faced oldbag in a bonnet, but on the 11th of November1839 the 19­year­old Victoria wrote: ‘Howhandsome dearest Albert looks in his whitecashmere breeches. With nothing onunderneath.’ These were not the words of asour­faced monarch, but the passionateoutpourings of a love struck girl, who justhappened to be Queen. I realised that Victoriawas a teenager with all the longings anddesires of adolescence who also became,through genealogical accident, the mostpowerful woman in the world.

Some decades later as I had yet anotherargument with my own teenage daughter, Ithought how different it would be if tomorrowshe was to wake up and find herself Queen. Itseemed to me the stuff of drama, and as mydaughter yelled at me that she wished she hadnever been born, the first few scenes started towrite themselves in my head.

How does somebody who has neverwritten a screenplay, pull off an eight­parter for ITV?

I am not entirely sure! I have worked intelevision as a producer and told stories all mylife. I am also used to working in a team.Funnily enough, I find writing screenplayseasier than writing a novel, because I finddialogue comes naturally to me.

Before you put pen to paper, had youever written a screenplay before?

Not really no. I did do a post­graduate degreeat film school in the 80s and wrote a shortscreenplay for that, but hadn’t done anythingsince.

I might have come to this earlier in my life, but

the fact that I am in my 50s means I have alifetime of experience to draw on. It is like adream come true. It has been very hard work,but fantastic.

When you went to Damien with thisidea, did you think you could do it? Ordid you think ‘S*** what have I done?’

A bit of both really. The fact that it was scarywas a good thing because it made meconcentrate and I knew I could write dialoguebecause I had done it for my novels. I knewthere was a lot I didn’t know. I also realised itwas such a good story and felt confident in thematerial. Also, the characters are very alive forme.

Did you read any screenplay books orprepare yourself in any way?

No, I didn’t. I should say that I had DamienTimmer and his wife Rebecca at MammothScreen who are both amazing script editorswith a really keen sense of story. They knowhow to structure stuff, so I was very lucky. Youhave to remember I have spent 30 years intelevision as a producer, makingdocumentaries and format, which is in its ownway a drama, because you set up a premise,apply it and see what happens and of course,the great joy of a drama is that you don’t haveto wait for people to say what you want themto, which is glorious.

There were weird things like I didn’t knowhow long it should be – I knew it was a minute

Interviews

Victoria / Mammoth Screen / ITV

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a page, but my scripts kept getting longer.

Did you sit down and outline everyepisode?

You are going to hate me, because I didn’t. Myvision for the series kept changing. I knew whothe characters were although if there is asecond series I will certainly plan it now Iknow what it entails. It is only when I sit downat the computer that I know what I am goingto do. For me, writing is alchemy. I know thesource material of Victoria so intimately, thatsometimes I don’t even know what is true andwhat I have made up. It is so much in myhead. I know the world, I am immersed in it. Ido the same thing with fiction, I get really intoit. I don’t go back and think ‘I must includethis’ I think ‘What are the things that are reallyinteresting to me now I have read everything?’What you remember is the stuff that is goingto be good. Now, I think I would do it a bitdifferently and be a bit more schematic.

I had the advantage of knowing what thechronology would have to be and I knew whoVictoria was. I find history exciting becausethey are real people. It is a world that actuallywe have a lot more in common with than wethink. People do Victorians at school and it isalways a bit grim, but it is a very modern story.She is a young girl trying to hold her own in aworld full of men and she won’t let anyonecontrol her, which is fantastic.

This story really seems to lend itself tothe structure of a screenplay.

The thing that is so weird is the story of LadyFlora Hastings (Victoria accused her of beingpregnant when in fact, she had a tumour). Youwould never put it into fiction because it is sopeculiar, but it is true. I love that because yourealise that this Victoria is not perfect. She hasher revenge there on Sir John Conroy andLady Flora. Julian Fellowes’ excellent filmYoung Victoria didn’t include that because itwas too difficult, but the great advantage of along form drama like this is that you can havelight and shade. She doesn’t have to be perfector a heroine in that sense, you can make her a

complex character, which is what I tried to do.

How did you cope with notes?

I wasn’t used to getting notes, but I got on withit – to be honest, I did get fed up with themsometimes, but they were usually right. I waswriting stuff that was too long and I had to cutback. I have learned an enormous amountabout what works. There aren’t many scenesthat justify going over two pages. I am quitewordy, so had to pare things down. You haveto think in pictures. I am not frightened ofscale and that has been both a blessing and acurse.

How many drafts did you do of eachepisode?

I probably did about three or four per episode.I certainly speeded up, but the end of it, I waswriting an episode in 10 days. I am fastanyway. The only reason I have been able todo it is that I do things quite quickly. When wehit production, it all got a bit crazy.

Would you do it again?

Yes. I have written a novel based on the seriesand now I am going to write some scripts forVictoria 2 in case it comes back.

Interviews

Victoria / Mammoth Screen / ITV

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When you hear the words 'It's just a polish,'you can normally relax just a little. It usuallymeans the end of your journey is near.

It means your script is in pretty good shape,and the producer/editor have perhaps acouple of pages of dialogue tweaks they'd liketo see you make.

That's good, and it shouldn't take you morethan a day really.

(Unless the changes they've asked foraccidentally uncover a deep difference ofopinion between you about a character, or astory point. But you should be OK.)

This is all because of the shape of the notesyou get.

Over the script development process, notesshould tend to get less and less general, moreand more specific.

There are three basic phases to the scriptdevelopment process, and getting the notes:

• Finding the story

• Telling the story

• Polishing

FINDING THE STORYFrom initial pitch to, perhaps, the seconddraft.

The writer pitches, the team talk it throughwith them, the writer thinks some more,writes again, they discuss, more writing,discussion, always trying to move on frompitch to outline to script.

This is the stage that things can really changeand bend and form and reform.

When I'm working as a script editor I mustalways be careful not to take too literally what

the writer presents in the very early stages tooliterally.

It's probably because I am a writer too, andbecause I know how hard it is to come up withanything at all, that my notes could sometimesbe overly contained entirely within theperimeters of the storyline or script that waspresented to me.

Sometimes I didn't push for radical change – Itook on trust what the writer had presented,and sometimes that doesn't serve the workwell.

When I am really on form as an editor, I ammuch stronger than that.

I can see what has been presented by thewriter, and I respond to that of course, but Ican also see wide, bold moves that couldextend the scope and the impact of the piecemassively.

That can even mean changing the angle on thestory, adding characters, taking awaycharacters. It can go so far as picking a singlebeat, or emotional dynamic, out of quite awell­worked out story and holding it up andsaying – 'this, THIS is what's interesting here.Forget the rest. Start from here... and howdoes the story work now?'

That can be incredibly daunting to a writer,but, if the producer/editor making this boldstatement has real dramatic instinct, then itcan be an incredibly helpful move to make.

TELLING THE STORYAround the drafts 3 to 4 mark.

Once you have all agreed that you have thestory, and you all actually believe this willmake a great episode, then things calm down abit, and there is a process where you are allworking on making that work as well as it can.

Career Strategy

IT'S JUST A POLISH, DON'T WORRYAKA: How can it possibly take seven drafts?

­ 12 ­

This is where you get notes that work with thestory as you have it, trying to find ways ofcompressing, expanding, building in dramaand generally removing the boring bits.

You can work on crossing story strands moreto show up dramatic ironies and weave thething together a bit more tightly.

You'll get notes on character motivation, andyou'll start to get notes on dialogue.

You'll get a lot of notes, and this can go on forquite a few drafts while everyone tries to helpyou turn this script into a fast moving,powerfully affecting piece of writing, but theywill all tend to be within the perimeters ofwhat you have.

Although, as a writer, you'll be down for a lotof work, there should be no truly massivesurprises at this stage.

POLISHINGDraft 4 or 5 onwards.

The home straight, where the process ofnipping and tucking and moving and refiningmay go on for another one or two drafts, orhalf drafts.

Calm should have descended, more or less, asthe team have decided your script is going tomake it, and they can turn their full attentionto another script in the system that isn't insuch a good position.

This is the point where you may hear someonepreface a set of notes with 'It's just a polish,really'.

You're nearly done, nearly at your gloriousprincipal photography payment.

Nearly at the stage where you can clear awayall the mounds of printouts, reference books,old chocolate wrappers, old coffee mugs fromyour desk.

Nearly at the wrap party.

All you really have to worry about are thesecurveballs.

CURVEBALLS

Things that can go wrong with this orderlyprocess of homing in on the shooting script:

• Whether through illness, personalreasons, being sacked, or walking out, acast member becomes unavailable

I've known this news come at literally anystage of the process. Obviously the earlier thebetter, while everything is up in the air andnothing is too firmly nailed down. If it's one ofthe leads, and it happens very late in theprocess you can expect writer, script editor,and possibly producer and even executiveproducer to say goodbye to any personal lifefor a while.

• Director sits down and sees problemsthat you all haven't (Case A)

You all agree they are right, and there is a bigpush to reformulate the script. This can meanquite an unpleasant meeting for you, thewriter, as you realise you've got so much morerethinking to do.

• Director sits down and sees problemsthat you all haven't (Case B)

You all agree they are wrong, or they are rightbut there simply isn't time to address whatthey want, and so the director mustcompromise, and so only small notes areallowed to reach the writer.

• Someone senior doesn't like the script

People at senior management level are usuallyway too busy to read every draft of everyscript. But you can bet your boots they willwant to read a late draft – and things can govery wrong at this stage if they don't like whatthey find. It's rare they will take a script all theway back to Stage 1, as it's normally way toolate for that, but they can certainly ask formajor changes and reformulations in a Stage 2style at a moment that can seem impossiblylate in the day.

Career Strategy

­ 13 ­

The payment structure for an episode of a longrunning drama will usually look somethinglike this.

Start by assuming your script fee is £16,000per screen hour.

That's perfectly reasonable, once you've gotyour chops as a writer.

THE TREATMENTYou might be paid 10% of that to write thetreatment for your episode.

In this case, that's £1,600, and it's usually paidin two halves.

You get £800 when they ask you to write atreatment, and the other £800 when youdeliver the first draft of the treatment.

There'll then usually be a period of working onsome more drafts of the treatment, which youwill do for no fee, as you know the big prize ison its way.

THE SCRIPTAt some point we hope they decide yourtreatment is good enough to make a goodepisode, and they commission you to write ascript.

Your payment at this point is often 25%, or£4,000 in this case.

You go away to write your first draft.

That takes you perhaps three or four weeks.When you deliver it they pay you another 50%of your entire fee.

So that's another £8,000.

At which point there is a bit of a lull.

You're now engrossed in writing draft afterdraft of your script, which can sometimesseem endless.

This is the point at which you can feel you areworking very hard and seeing very littlereward – and that may not just be a feeling: ifgoing from second draft to shooting scripttakes a long time, you may end up working formonths without seeing any more money. Thelongest time I can remember for a writer whogot stuck at this stage was about nine months.

Assuming all is well, and you finally arrive atthe finish post, and you deliver a shootingscript with which they are happy, and theyformally 'Accept' your script, then you get yourfinal %15, or £2,400.

PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHYYou sit back, exhausted, happy, while the teamready themselves to shoot the thing. You willalready, if you're smart, and lucky, haveanother commission to go to – and then onemore chunk of money arrives: The PrincipalPhotography Payment.

Not all contracts have them, but if yours doesyou'll love it.

This is more money that gets sent to you onthe first day that the production startsshooting in earnest.

Principal photography payments are usually100% of your script fee. They are paid in onechunk. They are very, very welcome.

Career Strategy

THE ECONOMICS OF WRITING

First day of Principal Photography — a Good Day!

­ 14 ­

So in this case that's another £16,000.

So overall you'll have been paid £32,000 fordoing a job you love and writing one hour ofTV. Nice work if you can get it.

REPEAT FEESIf you're very lucky, there will be repeat fees.

Your principal photography payment oftenbuys the network one or two repeats, so youmay never actually see this payment if yourepisode doesn’t get repeated enough – but if itdoes come, a year or two down the line, it'sterrific.

The big ones come when your episode isrepeated on one of the main terrestrialchannels (so, for example, BBC1, ITV1, and notthe digital catch up channels.) This can beanother 100%, so yet another £16,000 fromthe same script. Very nice.

There are other deals in place to pay writersfor repeats on digital channels, and these,frankly, are not nearly so lavish – yet on amuch loved show they can still tot up verynicely. What's more, they can go on rolling infor years and years, by direct payment to youragent, or hunted down and collected by thewonderful Authors' Licensing and CollectingSociety, who run massive bi­annualdistributions of the fees they have collectedfrom all around the world.

Many writers still receive occasional paymentsfor episodes of dramas they wrote ten orfifteen sixteen years ago. It may not be a lot,just a couple of hundred pounds per year. Butconsidering they wrote those episodes ten ortwenty years ago, there's not a lot to complainabout. This is true passive income!

AGENTS' FEESIt's not all roses though – your agents' fees dotake a bite out of these payments.

Most agents charge you 12.5%, and there is20% VAT on their fees on top of that.

(If you are VAT registered then you can claimthat VAT back in the end.)

WRITERS' GUILD PENSIONDo join the UK Writers' Guild. They are on theside of the angels and they have a greatpension scheme. Talk to them for the details,but if you have this up and running, then youwill be paid extra money, above and beyondyour script fee, which goes into a pensionfund.

Some production companies seem reluctant topay this. That is shameful. Never cave in onthis – and if you have an agent they shouldnever let you cave in on this. It's free money,and it's not insubstantial, and it was wonthrough hard negotiations many years ago, soplease take it.

SAVE FOR YOUR TAXESWhen you start writing regularly it's almostimpossible to predict cashflow.

You never quite know when the next paymentwill arrive (contracts take time to ratify,payment dates slip) or even IF it will arrive(writers and productions do part companyafter all) – so it's genuinely difficult for writersto stick to a budget.

The temptation is to throw up your hands,look at your rising bank balance, and letyourself slip into a state of mind where youthink the good times will keep rolling, you'llkeep earning at this rate, and the tax bill nextJanuary will always be covered by a newcommission.

For any freelancer that's careless. For ascreenwriter, on a career path that is famouslyrickety, that's a very dangerous state of mind.

If you're self­employed you usually have to paytax bills in January and June. And the Juneone is often the tough one, as it's a 'paymenton account', which means payment onpredicted income.

That is, payment up front, on money you

Career Strategy

­ 15 ­

Career Strategy

probably haven't even earned yet.

Though you may not have to pay tax untilmonths after you get paid, be assured that thetax bills will arrive, and the Tax Office will getvery stressed when you don't have the moneyin your account.

The first time you don't have the money, theymay perhaps give you a payment arrangementif you call them before the due date to let themknow – but they won't keep on doing that.

If you want to sleep easy at night, one thingthat usually works pretty well is to, everysingle time a chunk of money for your scripthits your bank account, move a nice bigfraction of it (say 30%) into a savings accountwhich you can't access very easily.

Letting that sit there tends to give you a decentbuffer from where you can look at your tax billwithout quite so much fear.

Finally, when things get tight around fourthdraft, and you've been working for months andyou haven't been paid for ages, you will betempted to plunder this account. Don't. And ifyou have any left over after you've paid yourtax bill, save it for the next one...

DISCLAIMER!

Tax planning is highly technical, andnone of us here at Open Door are taxexperts, and so this is not formal taxadvice, just an informalrecommendation born of years ofbeing freelancers in this roller­coaster industry.

Once you start earning youabsolutely need to find yourself anaccountant who knows the industryand talk to them for the details.

­ 16 ­

Writing these stories goes very deep, there'sno doubt about it.

To write well and honestly you have to openyour heart wide, and that makes you veryvulnerable. So when someone gives you notes,and those notes shred what you have done, itcan really hurt.

Last week a writer I know had a major writing'reversal', or 'defeat', or 'rejection', howeveryou want to name it.

Weirdly, even after all her years' experience,this one got to her. She said she lost allinterest in work, felt out of sorts, felt it hard toconcentrate on anything.

For a few days she just couldn't be bothered.Who cared about scripts anyway..? The worstbit? She didn't even notice she was feeling likethis.

I've had this in the past, after similar events,and early in my career one rejection cost menearly a year of unnoticed demotivation beforeit faded.

Luckily I spotted my friend's self­sabotageafter just a couple of days, before it properlytook hold – and even more luckily I wasreading a book by the legendary Napoleon Hillat the time.

If you've not heard of him, he's an Americanjournalist who, at the beginning of the

twentieth century, interviewed AndrewCarnegie, the Bill Gates of the day. Theyclearly got on very well, as Carnegie made himan offer: he would introduce Hill to all themillionaires he could find, if Hill wouldinterview them all and work out the basicprinciples of what had made them allmillionaires.

This launched Hill on a sixty year journey ofanalysing what makes some people'successful', while others never stop struggling.

He clearly learned something, as he helpedmany people make fortunes, and ended upadvising at least two Presidents of the USAalong the way.

His most famous book is Think And GrowRich, but he wrote that comparatively early on,and it's all about how you make yourselffinancially wealthy.

The book I was reading, and the one I prefer,is Grow Rich, With Peace of Mind.

This is the book he wrote at the end of his lifeand is a page 1 rewrite of Think And GrowRich, which adds 50 years' life experience intothe mix.

It's very spiritual (disconcertingly so in places)but the main difference is that Hill nowmeasures wealth in this book by quality of life,rather than the accumulation of money.

Career Strategy

KEEPING STRONG

Andrew Carnegie, the Bill Gates of the 1890s

Napoleon Hill

­ 17 ­

He's very big on mental strength is Napoleon,and so it didn't surprise me to find a relevantmental exercise for my friend. What didsurprise me was how effective it was for herafter she'd spent just fifteen minutes doing it.

By focusing on the person who had given herthe rejection as she did the exercise, sheremoved almost all the bad feelings there andthen.

Buoyed up by the whole thing she got back towork. By the end of the day she had managedto open a door with another company, but at afar more senior level than the original rejecter.

So I can certainly vouch for this exercise. Ihope it helps you too at some point.

Here's Napoleon:

Consider your mind to be laid out in thepattern of some medieval castles. At thecentre there is a tower, or “keep,” which isimpregnable as it can be made. Going

outward from the keep you would come to awall not so formidable; and again goingoutward you would come to another wallwhich serves as the first line of defence.

A person approaching the castle first wouldhave to pass the outer wall. This wall ofspiritual defence in your mind need not bevery high. Anyone who has a legitimateexcuse for entering your mind with his ideascan climb this wall. If he does not have alegitimate excuse, however, the walldiscourages him. When you set up such a

wall, others come to know it is there and yougive yourself a valuable protection.

A person who passes the first line of defencenow confronts the second line which you mayset up on certain occasions and not on others.When your mind sets up this wall, nobodymay climb it unless that person hassomething strongly in common with you, orsomething importantly beneficial to sharewith you at that moment.

The inmost castle of protection is the mostimportant of all. It is small, barely big enoughto surround you, but when your mindretreats within that keep it is removed fromevery outside influence. With me, only theCreator can penetrate my inmost spiritualcastle. Find yours and you find a source ofgreat strength. Here is where you can findyour inmost thoughts, undisturbed by outsideinfluences; and until you find this castle younever can know them. Here is where you cansearch all the values of a problem and find asolution which otherwise you might not see.Here, especially, is where your fully possessedmind reveals what can be done—and whenyou come out of your retreat you know that itwill be done and that you will do it.

At first you may find it necessary to retreatphysically from the world into a quiet roomor perhaps to some place distant from yourbusiness and from people who know you. Thisoften is a good idea even when you havepractice in finding the most inmost privacy ofyour mind, because there are many physicalcircumstances which break into thought.

When you have several times retreated toyour thick­walled keep, however, you willfind you can enter it for a few seconds even inthe midst of others who are talking all aroundyou. I have seen many successful men do this,and thus illustrate some of the power to whichthey owe their success. It is a great renewer ofthe spirit, a kind of recharge of ability andself­confidence and abiding faith.

[From 'Grow Rich With Peace of Mind' byNapoleon Hill (1967)]

Career Strategy

­ 18 ­

Career Strategy

People just don't read long. Five pagesabsolute tops. Two pages is best.

Two pages' worth is succinct, easy to read,easy to grasp and easy to convey to the nextperson. The script­reader may come acrossyour work at the end of a very long day. Helpthem as much as you can.

How do you get 90 or 120 pages of screenplaydown to two pages? One way is to keep tellingthe story, and then the story of the story.Pretend you are telling it to your friends. Andthen repeating it, and then repeating it.

Each time you retell the story you will figureout a little more about what's important andwhat it is saying and what needs to beincluded for it to make sense.

Tell your friend the plot and get them to tell itback to you or to another friend. Like thechildren's game Telephone or BrokenTelephone in the US or Chinese Whispers inthe UK, the story gets more and moresimplified as it is retold.

Writing a treatment is like writing a shortstory. A logline is the summary of that story.You are distilling it and redistilling it until it isthe concentrated version of the bigger work.Continue this process to take it down to thesingle sentence logline, the very essence of thefilm.

M O R E O N W R I T I N G P I T C H E S

­ 19 ­

Safe House Four new one­hour episodes ofthis ITV drama. It moves from The LakeDistrict to Wales. Stephen Moyer plays an ex­police officer with Zoe Tapper as his partnerSam. The duo’s world is turned upside downwhen they believe a criminal called ‘The Crow’,who once took wives away from theirhusbands as they watched, is active again.Produced by Eleventh Hour Films.

Marcella A second eight­part series of thisshow penned by Hans Rosenfeld and starringAnna Friel as the eponymous detective, hasbeen commissioned by ITV. Co­created byHans Rosenfeld and Nicola Larder andproduced by Buccaneer Media.

Line of Duty Thandie Newton will star as aguest lead in the fourth series of JedMercurio’s hit drama, which is to move to BBCOne. Made by World Productions.

Noughts and Crosses An adaptation ofMalorie Blackman’s young adult novel,adapted by Levi David Addai and MatthewGraham for BBC One. Produced by MammothScreen.

The Split A new drama from Abi Morganabout high­powered female divorce lawyers.Produced by Sister Pictures for the BBC.

Bodyguard New six­part thriller featuringthe Royalty and Specialist Protection Branchof London’s Metropolitan Police Service,

created and written by Jed Mercurio andproduced by World Productions.

Trust Me A new Scottish drama by DanSefton about a nurse who loses her job afteracting as a whistleblower and is forced to takedrastic action to provide for her daughter.Produced by Red Production Company forBBC One.

Broken New six­part prime­time dramaseries for BBC One by Jimmy McGovern,starring Sean Bean as Father MichaelKerrigan, a Catholic priest who struggles toreconcile his beliefs with what is going on incontemporary Britain. LA Productions.

McMafia A hard­hitting look at global crime,based on the book by Misha Glenny. StarringJames Norton as Alex Godman, the son ofRussian exiles who has spent his life trying toescape the shadow of a criminal past. Thewriting team led by Hossein Amini and JamesWatkins includes David Farr, Peter Harnessand Laurence Coriat. Cuba Pictures.

Fearless Six one hour episodes penned byHomeland writer Patrick Harbinson who says:‘Fearless is a legal thriller, but one that’swritten in the crash zone where law andpolitics collide.’ Helen McCrory plays solicitorEmma Blunt who realizes powerful forces areat play when she delves into the case of amurdered schoolgirl. Produced by MammothScreen for ITV.

Granchester James Norton and RobsonGreen return as the 1950s crime fighting duofor a brand new six­part series and Christmasspecial. Peter Davison also makes a guestappearance. Lead writer is Daisy Coulam andthe show is produced by Kudos for ITV.

The Luminaries A six­part drama seriesbased on the novel and adapted by its writerEleanor Catton. Set on the Wild West Coast ofNew Zealand’s South Island in the 1860s gold

G R E E N L I T

Greenlit

Marcella: Buccaneer Media / ITV

­ 20 ­

rush, it follows a young adventurer who hassailed from Britain to New Zealand to start anew life. Produced by Working Title Televisionfor BBC Two.

Good Karma Hospital A new six­partmedical drama starring Amanda Redman, NeilMorrissey and Phyllis Logan. Set in a coastaltown in South India, the series tells the storyof a British­Asian junior doctor who comes towork at a run down hospital. Produced byTiger Aspect Drama and written by DanSefton.

The Durrells Second series of this feelgooddrama about Gerald Durrell’s early years inCorfu. Stars Keeley Hawes as Louisa Durrell.Six one­hour episodes written by Simon Nyeand produced by Sid Gentle Films Ltd for ITV.

Timewasters a new ITV2 comedy writtenand created by Daniel Lawrence Taylor andmade by Big Talk Productions. The six­partertells the story of a struggling four­piece SouthLondon jazz band who travel back in time tothe 1920s.

White Gold A new six part comedy serieswritten and directed by Damon Beesley (TheInbetweeners) set in a double­glazingshowroom in Essex 1983. Produced by FudgePark Productions and airing on BBC Two.

Ordeal By Innocence/Death Comes AsThe End/The ABC Murders/Witness ForThe Prosecution Sarah Phelps is to adaptthese and three more Agatha Christie novel forBBC One. Made by Agatha ChristieProductions Ltd and Mammoth Screen.Filming is currently underway on Witness ForThe Prosecution and stars Toby Jones, Andrew

Riseborough and Kim Cattrall.

Jonathan Creek returns to BBC One with a90­minute special with Alan Davis and SarahAlexander. A veteran horror film directorsummons his stepdaughter to his home toexplain that happened to her family there. ABBC Studios production written by DavidRenwick.

Love, Lies And Records A new six­partseries for BBC One by Kay Mellor OBE. Set inLeeds, the drama follows Registrar KateDickinson as she juggles her personal life withthe daily dramas of births, marriages anddeaths. Produced by Rollem Productions.

Peter Pan Goes Wrong A special Christmasversion of the stage play for BBC One filmed infront of a live audience. Co­written by MischiefTheatre Company members Henry Lewis,Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields. A BBCStudios production.

Britannia New 10­part drama set in 43AD asthe Roman Army returns to crush Britannia,the world is run by warrior women and druids.Written by Jez Butterworth and TomButterworth. Produced by Neal StreetProductions and Vertigo Films for Amazon.

Innocent Four­part series about DavidCollier, a family man who goes to jail for sevenyears after being accused of murdering his wifeTara. He is acquitted on a technicality, but lifewill never be the same. With Lee Ingleby andHermione Norris. Written by Chris Lang andMatt Arlidge. Produced by TXTV.

Jonathan Creek: BBC

Timewasters: Big Talk Productions / ITV

Greenlit

­ 21 ­

Coming Soon

C O M I N G S O O N

Paranoid A new eight part conspiracy thrillerfor ITV which tells the story of a female GPwho is murdered in a rural children’splayground. The cast includes RobertGlenister, Michael Maloney and Lesley Sharp.Written by Bill Gallagher and made by RedProductions.

One Of Us A gripping four­part thriller forBBC One which tells the story of twochildhood sweethearts who are murderedwhen they get back from honeymoon. In thesearch for answers, skeletons are unearthedand old wounds reopened. Written by Harryand Jack Williams. BBC Studios and TwoBrothers Pictures.

Crazyhead A new series dubbed Misfitsmeets Buffy about a couple of demon huntersplayed by Cara Theobold and Susan Wokomafor E4. From Misfits creator Howard Overmanand made by Knickerbockerglory TV. To bereleased on Netflix after airing on E4.

Poldark A second 10­part series of theCornish saga with Adian Turner and EleanorTomlinson. Based on the novels by WinstonGraham and written for TV by DebbieHorsfield. Mammoth Screen Productions forBBC One.

Chewing Gum Second six­parter of thiscomedy series with Michaela Coel as TraceyGordon who was last seen walking into the

sunset with Connor as they left thePensbourne Estate. More surreal adventureson E4. Produced by Retort (part of FremantleUK) and written by Michaela Coel.

Scorpion Third series of this American showabout computer geeks who save the world on aweekly basis. Airing on ITV2 and produced byK/O Paper Productions, Black Jack Films,Perfect Storm, SB Projects and CBS TelevisionStudios.

Carters Get Rich A new Sky1 comedy abouta geek who makes his family rich when hedevelops a hot new app. With Dawson Creekstar James Van Der Beek. Created by ClaireDownes, Stuart Lane and Ian Jarvis and madeby Roughcut TV.

CSI: Cyber Season two of this CSI spin­offwith Patricia Arquette and James Van DerBeek following the Cyber Crime Division atQuantico, Virginia. Created by Anthony E.Zuiker, Carol Mendelsohn and Ann Donahue.Jerry Bruckheimer Television, ContentPartners LLC and CBS Television Studios.

How To Get Away With Murder Seasonthree of this American legal drama about agroup of law students and their professorplayed by Viola Davis, who become embroiledin a murder plot. Created by Peter Nowalk andproduced by ShondaLand, ABC Studios andNoWalk Entertainment. Universal Channel.

Secrets and Lies US version of theAustralian TV show created by Stephen M.Irwin about a man who discovers the body of ayoung boy and then becomes the primesuspect in his murder. With Juliette Lewis andRyan Philippe. Developed for US TV by BarbieKligman. ABC Studios, Avenue K Productions,Hoodlum Entertainment and KapitalEntertainment.

The Night Of New eight­part Sky Atlanticseries based on Peter Moffat’s CriminalJustice. The show tells the story of a murder

Poldark: BBC

­ 22 ­

case in New York City. Written by StevenZaillian and Richard Price. Exec produced byJane Tranter and Peter Moffat for BBC DramaProductions, BBC Worldwide Productions,Film Rites and HBO.

Quarry New eight­part drama based on thenovels of Max Allan Collins about soldiers inthe aftermath of the Vietnam War. Created byGraham Gordy and Michael D. Fuller.Produced by HBO Entertainment andAnonymous Content. Airing on Sky Atlantic.

Narcos Second series of this Neflix dramaabout Pablo Escobar. Created by ChrisBrancato, Carlo Bernard and Doug Miro.Produced by Gaumont InternationalTelevision.

Cold Feet Revival of the 90s series about agroup of friends who now face the hurdles thatmid­life brings. Written and executive­produced by creator Mike Bullen, andproduced by Big Talk for ITV.

The Strain Series three of this FX horrorfrom Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hoganabout a vampire virus in New York. Based onthe novels by Chuck Hogan. Produced byDouble Dare You, Carton Cuse Productionsand FXP.

Bitten Second series of this werewolf dramastarring Laura Vandervoort as the only femalewerewolf in existence. Created by DaeganFryklind and produced by HoodwinkEntertainment, No Equal Entertainment,Entertainment One Television and Bell Media.Syfy UK.

Lucifer Second series of this DC Comicsadaptation about the Prince of Hell (TomEllis) who moves to LA. Created by MikeDringenberg, Neil Gaiman, Tom Kapinos andSam Kieth. Produced by AggressiveMediocrity, DC Entertainment, JerryBruckheimer Television, Vertigo and WarnerBros. Television. Available on Amazon Prime.

Red Dwarf 11 The Dwarf gang is back onDave with a 12th series coming next year. WithCraig Charles, Chris Barrie, Robert Llewellynand Danny John­Jules. Co­creator DougNaylor is chief writer and the show isproduced by Baby Cow.

Luke Cage Marvel show with Mike Colter asthe man with super strength and skin. Createdby Cheo Hodari Coker and produced by ABCTelevision Studio, Marvel Entertainment,Marvel Studios and The Walt DisneyCompany. Netflix.

Hooten & The Lady New eight­part Sky1drama about explorer Hooten (MichaelLandes) who teams up with a historian(Ophelia Lovibond) and explores the globe insearch of hidden treasures. Red PlanetProductions with Tony Jordan as showrunnerand a writing team that includes co­creatorsSarah Phelps, Jeff Povey, Richard Zajdlic andJames Payne.

Our Ex Wife/We The Jury/The Coopersvs The Rest/Home From Home andMotherland are all new comedy sitcoms forthe New on Two strand which is part of theBBC Landmark Sitcom Season celebrating 60years of comedy at the channel. Our Ex Wife iswritten by Julie Thacker Scully, We The Jury

Quarry: HBO

Hooten & The Lady: Sky1 / Red Planet Pictures

Coming Soon

­ 23 ­

is written by James Acaster and made by BigTalk Productions, The Coopers vs The Rest iswritten by Andy Wolton and Motherland is byChris Fewtrell and Simon Crowther andproduced by BBC Studios.

National Treasure Four­part C4 dramawritten by Jack Thorne with Robbie Coltraneas Paul Finchley, a household name whose lifeis shattered by historic sexual offences. Alsostars Julie Walters and Andrea Riseborough.Produced in association with Screen Yorkshireand Lip Synch Productions.

The Fall Third and final series of this BBCTwo drama with Gillian Anderson as StellaGibson and Jamie Dornan as serial killer PaulSpector. Created and written by Allan Cubbitt.Produced by Fables and in association withArtists Studio.

Tutankhamun Four­part drama aboutHoward Carter’s discovery of Tutankhamun’stomb. Starring Sam Neill, Jonathan Aris andMax Irons. Written by Guy Burt and producedby ITV Studios.

Dark Angel Joanne Froggatt stars asVictorian serial killer Mary Ann Cotton in thistwo­part ITV drama. Written by GwynethHughes and produced by World Productions.

Cleverman Australian drama series airing onBBC Three about a species from ancientmythology living among humans. Written byMichael Miller, Jon Bell, Jane Allen and basedon an original concept by Ryan Griffen.Produced by Goalpost Pictures Australia andPukeko Pictures New Zealand.

The Fall: BBC / The Fall 3 Ltd.

Coming Soon

Cleverman: BBC / Goalpost Pictures / Pukeko Pictures

­ 24 ­

Diary

SEPT 9THBAFTA A Life in Pictures: Jeremy Irons, inpartnership with Audi Jeremy Irons discusseshis career at Princess Anne Theatre, BAFTA195 Piccadilly. www.bafta.org/whats­on

SEPT 12THBAFTA TV Preview: Red Dwarf + Q&A Apreview of the return of the sci­fi comedyfollowed by a Q&A with cast and crew. AtPrincess Anne Theatre, BAFTA, 195 Piccadilly.www.bafta.org/whats­on

SEPT 21STThe TV Market in Scotland: Audiences,commissioning and the future of the BBC. AWestminster Media Forum conference withspeakers Jane Muirhead (MD, Raise The RoofProductions), Bill Matthews (BBC Trust),David Fleetwood (The Scottish Government)and Ian Small (Head of Public Policy andCorporate Affairs, BBC Scotland).www.scotlandpolicyconferences.co.uk/forums

SEPT 24THHow To Write Short Plays That Win. Apractical workshop in the art of the short playwith A.C. Smith. Central London venue 2pm –5pm. Cost £41.www.londonplaywrightsblog.com/?p=6535

SEPT 26THThe Radio Festival A celebration of all thingsradio with a string of high profile speakers.The British Library, London. Tickets £120.www.radioacademy.org/articles/news/radio­festival­tickets­on­sale/

SEPT 27Full Stream Ahead: Commissioning,Producing and Distributing Content In An AgeOf On­Demand. A conference from the RTS inpartnership with NBCUniversal, Internationalat Kings Place, London. rts.org.uk/event/rts­london­conference­2016

D I A R Y

O P P O R T U N I T I E SOpportunities

Development producer, BBCWritersroom, Wales.

Supporting the Head of BBC Writersroom, theDevelopment Producer will seek new writingtalent, particularly in Wales. He or she willalso develop and mentor talent in the area.Closing date for applications September 18th.careerssearch.bbc.co.uk/jobs/job/Development­Producer­Writersroom­Wales/17576

Editorial Talent Pool – CoronationStreet and Emmerdale.

ITV are always looking to expand their talentpool for both short or long term contracts.They need Script Editors, Storyliners,Editorial Assistants, Script Assistants,Researchers and Research Assistants.itv.taleo.net/careersection/2/jobdetail.ftl

Script Slam At Pontardawe Arts Centre.

12 scripts will be performed in three heats inOctober and November. Closing date forsubmissions Sept 5th.

npttheatres.co.uk/pontardawe/script­slam/

Who Are We?

Little Pieces of Gold seek short plays forOctober production. Plays must address anaspect of the country’s exit from the EU.Deadline for submissions September 7th.www.littlepiecesofgold.co.uk/#!blank/xm4oz

Write To Play

An initiative for deaf and disabled writersfrom Graeae Theatre Company. Applicationsfor writers based in the midlands open on Sept5th. For more information, visitwww.graeae.org/get­involved/training­courses/w2p/

Writer sought to adapt thriller/horror intomini­series. Trailer for the 20 minute shortcan be viewed here:www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YyPiwb7lsU£100 fee. Apply at:www.networkisa.org/writing­gig.php?id=1560

­ 25 ­

E P I L O G U EEpilogue

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Bryan Arnold, of Westminster,London, says

I've been working on the story of the earlyBBC for a couple of years now. It's anamazing point in British culture and weknow so little about what happenedbehind the scenes. I've still got a way to go,but this desk and this room seem made forthe job!

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