Ask Ellen! Another Screenwriting Question Answered...

I'm back again, to answer another of your screenwriting questions! 

Speaking of which, do feel free to either post your questions in the comments here on my blog, or tweet them at me (@AudreyDeuxPink) - I'll do my best to answer them as thoroughly as I can. I'll keep doing this as long as the questions keep coming in, so ask away!

By the way, I also tweet all my short-form screenwriting tips through the Blake Friedmann Literary Agency Twitter account (@BFLAgency) - so that's worth a follow if you want snippets of advice from myself and my esteemed colleagues.

Today's question:

What's the best way to get a script sold/made? Agents or going straight to producers/companies?

Well, of course I'm going to say that going through an agent is the best way. Natch. But that's not just because I work for an agency - it's based on my experiences in production companies too.

Most production companies have a strict policy; that they don't accept unsolicited submissions. This means that they will only consider writers or projects that are pitched to them by trusted agents, with whom they will have frequent meetings to discuss their clients. If an individual writer ignores this policy and sends their scripts in, they won't be considered, or even looked at.

This isn't because production companies are staffed by mean-spirited river-dwelling trolls who despise and fear the bright light of new talent - it's because it saves them a LOT of time and protects them (and the writers) from a legal standpoint.

Consider it this way - if a writer has managed to get themselves a respected agent, this is a stamp of that agent's approval. Already, this writer has proven themselves a decent writer in the opinion of at least one seasoned industry professional. Even production companies that clearly state on their websites that they do not accept unsolicited submissions receive literally hundreds of unsolicited submissions every month. This is simply too many scripts for them to reasonably give proper attention and consideration to. By requiring the writer to have an agent first, it helps the production companies to sort out the talented businesslike writers from the hobbyists. Sounds simplistic, but needs must when the alternative is trying to find a way to fit in reading thousands of scripts a year.

Another point is that a writer is far better served in potentially entering into a working relationship with a production company if they have an agent, who is experienced in handling and drafting contracts. If you want to be sure any agreement in which you are participating is in your best interests, it's best if someone has your back who has read and negotiated literally hundreds of these agreements before. Don't be fooled into signing away rights that you don't need to give away in order to get a project off the ground. If a production company has faith in your work, they'll want to deal fairly. An agent helps to weed out those who are less than scrupulous, and ensuring that everyone is properly represented in a contractual agreement prevents complications and legal snafus further down the line - it benefits both sides.

NOW I AM GOING TO SAY SOMETHING WHICH, ON THE SURFACE, SEEMS TO COMPLETELY CONTRADICT THE ABOVE. But it doesn't, honest.

Okay, here goes:

If you want, you can approach things in a more hands-on manner. There are options you can consider BEFORE getting an agent to get your work out there and in front of an audience, and maybe even some producers. You can even perhaps build a fan base for your work, which is the absolute top-of-the-tree golden fleece of fabulousness that all agents and production companies will be delighted by.

So, here's my favourite one.

Put on a play. Go on, I dare you. 

It's not as hard as it looks - if you live in London, there's the Camden Fringe Festival, which is set up specifically to nurture and welcome new writing and performing talent, giving them a platform to showcase their work relatively cheaply and easily. 

It's also cheap and easy (oo-er, sounds a bit rude) to get flyers and posters printed - this is my personal favourite low-price, fast turnaround printing company - and there are ALWAYS actors who are keen to get involved in London theatre. Advertise using a site such as CastingCallPro - though you MUST be upfront and honest if you can't afford to pay your actors, of course - some are happy to work for a share of any profits the show might take. Your main costs will be venue fees and the cost of hiring a decent tech person (this guy's good!) 

I've been producing plays for the Camden Fringe for the last few years (these ones, if you're interested), and it's been a lot of fun. If you don't live in London, find out if your local area has a similar thing (Brighton also has a Fringe Festival, and of course there's the Big One at Edinburgh). If not, are there any local drama groups you can approach to see if they're looking for material? If not, can you form one? Put up posters, advertise on gumtree.com, whatever you gotta do.

Sticking your neck out and making something happen for your work is more impressive than just writing it. It shows commitment, organization, drive - and has the hugely beneficial side-effect of allowing you to see if an audience actually enjoys and connects with your work. In comedy, you can test out gags to see which get big laughs and which fall flat. You never really know how a room full of people is going to react to your material until you've tried this out; crowds can be gloriously unpredictable. Seeing your work performed in front of a live audience can give you far more valuable lessons in writing craft than any academic course. Put simply, it shows you bluntly what works and what doesn't.

I've been to a few play performances here in London, and a few 'rehearsed readings' of scripts when an unsolicited submitter has contacted me to invite me. Of course, I can't feasibly go to all of them - but a performance does give you an 'event' to which you can try inviting agents. If your play manages to create enough of a 'buzz', you might even find production companies start to take an interest in you...

...BUT then they'll most likely insist that you get an agent before they'll be able to deal with you. Because you need an advocate who can skilfully negotiate the contract to avoid misunderstandings and complications further down the line.


So it does all tend to come back to the fact that it is best (for most people) to have an agent first. That way, the agent can worry about the nitty-gritty legal stuff, and you can save your time and energy for being brilliantly creative. And, because they're taking meetings and 'bigging you up' to the producers with the power to get you paid, you won't have your material automatically rejected for being 'unsolicited'. WIN.

PS - Getting a script sold and getting a script made are completely different matters.

A huge number of projects that are optioned and developed don't make it to the screen. In TV, it can be for reasons such as the broadcasters' commissioners not finding it quite to their taste, or the fact that they've already got a similar project on their slate. In film, it can be because the funding or co-production falls through, for example. 

There are many reasons why your script might make you some money and yet never get made - don't dwell on it. If you're getting paid to write, you're winning. Often, you can even get the rights to the project back later on, so can try it again in the future. Writing is the fun part - getting to see your work onscreen is kind of a huge, lovely bonus when it happens. So enjoy it when it does, but don't consider it the marker of success.



Right! One more done! The next one I'll answer, in a few days, will be:

Are writing competitions worthwhile? 
Looks like a short question, but I can already feel another long answer coming on... ;-)

Ask Aunt Ellen! Screenwriting Advice Column

This post has taken me a little longer than I had intended to put together - my apologies!
A while ago, I tweeted to ask for your screenwriting questions. Now that I work in the media department of a literary agency, and as I have a background in film production and development, I thought it would be fun to see what I could come up with in response to your queries.

You didn't disappoint me (thank you, Twitterers!), but because I'm rather slammed at the moment, I'm going to answer the questions one at a time over the next couple of weeks.

So here's the first one:


What comes first, the writer, the talent, the script, or the agent?

Personally, I don't think you can separate the writer from the talent. Unfortunately, without that spark of creative brilliance, one is an enthusiastic hobbyist rather than what I would define as a 'writer' - ie someone who can make writing into a solid career path rather than something one does for fun alone. 

That may be the agent in me talking - of course I don't mean that one must make all of one's income from writing in order to be deemed a 'writer'. It's more about PROMISE than achievement, to my mind. If I read a truly excellent script by someone who hasn't had their 'big break' yet, to me they are just as much a writer as a seasoned veteran of the industry.

So, you're a writer with talent, who has written a script. Great! Now write another one. And another one. And a few more. Now redraft the best ones a few times until they're honestly as good as they can be. Get feedback from other writers, from people you know who you can trust to be brutally honest. Writing is not the solitary vocation many take it for - if other people don't like your work, it doesn't really matter how much you like it - it won't get made, and thus you won't get paid - unless others like it too. 

You need several scripts in your 'arsenal', as an agent will want to feel that you're interested in a career, not just 'selling a script' as a one-off. The number of submissions I see that begin with 'I need your help to sell my script...' or 'I'm looking for an agent to represent my script...' - that's a red flag to agents. Since we're going to be building a professional relationship with YOU, not your script, we want to feel that you take your writing career seriously and want to do more in the future than just one project - we want to feel that you've got a career in mind rather than 15 minutes of fame.

So now you've got a few scripts you think are, as they say, 'da bomb'. You're ready to try sending them to agents, to see if they're interested in taking you on as a client.

And here's an important part. Probably THE MOST important part:

ONLY SEND IT TO AGENTS WHO ALREADY REPRESENT WRITERS LIKE YOU.

It makes sense, when you think about it - for example, if you write comedy, you'll want to have an agent who has lots of great contacts in the comedy production world. If you send it to an agent who mostly represents historical drama writers, they are far less likely to be interested in representing you, no matter how good your comedy script is. It's simply not their area of expertise, or enthusiasm. So do your homework, and submit to agencies that like your sort of work.

Another tip there - try to find out who the newest agent is at each agency. If your research suggests they seem to like your genre of work, submit to them as they're most likely to be taking on clients (much more so than the more established agents who already have lots of clients - there are only so many hours in a day and so there is a limit to the number of clients a single agent can realistically have on their books). 

The newbie agent gets the benefit of working alongside the heavy-hitters, and also has the clout of their agency's name behind them, so you get the best of both worlds - someone who'll have the time and enthusiasm to champion your work thoroughly, as well as some kudos to back it up.

So there's your answer - writer and talent come joint first, then script (and script, and script, etc) - then agent. 

If you try getting an agent with anything less than the best work you're capable of, you're selling yourself short and will either end up with a sub-par agent or a huge pile of rejections. So write your arse off first!

Thank you for your question! The next question I will answer (in a couple of days) is:

What's the best way to get a script sold/made? Agents or going straight to producers/companies?

About Fifty Billion Bits of News

Hello!

If you're reading this, my apologies for my lack of posting over the past year.

If you're not reading this, I'm not sorry at all because you clearly don't care. You swine.

I've had some lovely news - Blake Friedmann Literary Agency, with whom I've been working lately, are hiring me in their Media Department to assist the agents representing writers of Film, Television and Theatre. My intention is to soak up any and all info like a great big Northern sponge, until I'm able to progress to having my own clients one day. 

So I'll be launching myself enthusiastically into script notes, contract wording, rights investigating and much more. Heaven! 

Drop me a line if you have a proven script-writing track record, want representation and have written a top-notch, excellent, unique and fabulous script. I'm always happy to check scripts out, although it can take a while. Please read submissions guidelines here first.

I'm also doing some script reading for the London Screenwriters' Festival this year with Lucy V Hay, which is a fabulous learning-and-networking event. Check it out!

And one more bit of news; the eloquent and hilarious Steve Jordan and I are producing PILGRIM SHADOW, another Fringe comedy this year, on at the Tristan Bates 29th July-3rd August. Come and see! More info on that here.

Much love and pretentious air-kisses,

Ellen

My notes from the LFS 'Running the Show' TV Drama Series event

A little while ago, the London Film School ran a day-long event at which many respected UK television industry professionals led discussions on the future of British television writing methods, how different writing methods might affect commissioning and vice versa. I took some notes, and wrote them up to pass to one of the event's excellent organizers, Archie Tait. In case you're interested in what was said (and you should be, it was enlightening!) here are my notes:

Overview: The speakers focused mostly on lengthier series formats becoming more popular, and discussed the benefits of the US ‘showrunner’ writing system, using a writers’ room to produce story arcs and scripts. They also discussed what makes a show more likely to be commissioned, and what sells best globally, among other things.

The speakers and their credits:

Tony Garnett (Producer Cathy Come Home; Executive Producer Between the Lines, Ballykissangel, This Life)

Stephen Garrett (Executive Chairman Kudos Film & Television; Executive Producer Life on Mars, Ashes to Ashes, Spook, Hustle)

Adrian Hodges (Creator and Executive Producer, Survivors, Primeval)

Francis Hopkinson (Producer Henry VIII, Murder City; Executive Producer Wallander, Married Single Other, DCI Banks)

Tony Marchant (Writer Holding On, The Kid in the Corner, Mark of Cain; Creator & Executive Producer The Whistleblowers, Garrow’s Law)

Gub Neal (Producer Cracker, The Fall; Executive Producer Hillsborough, Combat Hospital)

Frank Spotnitz (Writer & Co-Executive Producer The X-Files, Millenium. Creator & Executive Producer Hunted)

Sally Wainwright (Creator & Executive Producer At Home With the Braithwaites, Unforgiven, Scott and Bailey)


  Showrunners – not common in the UK because there’s more of an ethos of nurturing the writer rather than the quality of the project being ‘King’. Showrunners are there to make sure the end product is the best it can be, even if this means stepping in and completely rewriting a writer’s work, or even firing them from the project if they’re not working out.

  Passion over profits – trying to make programming that is similar to what has been before is, of course, the enemy of creativity and originality. However, executives/financiers/commissioners often want to hear that a project is ‘like’ something pre-existing and successful, as it makes it seem like a safer bet. So it’s often worth packaging a pitch in recognizable terms, ie a ‘precinct drama’ (one set in some sort of institution, ie police station, hospital, courtroom), but then almost subversively including quirkier ‘twists’ on the genre (such as something like HOUSE) – ‘Trojan Horse’ drama, smuggling in originality while making a project seem like something familiar.

  Group writing – getting individual different writers to each write an episode of a series can be problematic if their ‘voice’ is too strong and distinctive – their episode might not fit in with the others and series may feel disjointed. The ‘lead writer’ may have to rewrite their episode to make it fit tonally, but this can be taken badly if the writer feels slighted. Ideally they’ll lay aside ego for the good of the show – which is essential in the ‘writers’ room’ style of series writing. If a writer is re-written, and the show is better as a result, they still get credited as the writer and everyone wins – the show looks great and reflects well on that original writer. A different proportion of ego/sensitivity and ‘the greater good’ is required for this method than is traditional in UK writing.

  Series vs Serial – In the UK, series tend to be 6/8/10 episodes, serials 2/3/4. More scope for character development in series – they used to be viewed as less ‘worthy’ than serials, as serials were often concerned with moralizing and ‘state of the nation’ subject matter. They were considered more ‘literary’ – however, really tough to sell overseas as global market is more used to the North American model of much longer series – 22 hour-long episodes, typically. Therefore, the UK TV industry is beginning to lean toward longer series, of 13 episodes for example, as they’re an easier global sell and can generate revenue much more reliably. Co-funding from overseas is becoming the norm, and so US funding tends to insist on longer series so the end product will fit in with their schedules for screening over there. With a longer series, such as BREAKING BAD, it’s possible to ‘go on an adventure’, riffing on the moral ambiguities of the protagonist’s unusual situation, rather than having him caught and neatly morally resolved after four hours. There’s sometimes a dichotomy though, as a broadcaster such as ITV may only want to order 6 episodes, but the producer will know that they’ll need at least 10 to raise money from overseas entities. Then the producer has to try to persuade the broadcaster to order more, or perhaps run two series of 6 back-to-back so it can be sold as a single series globally.

  HUNTED – A new co-pro between BBC and HBO – there are two different cuts for broadcast on each (ie HBO has a lot more nudity!) It was written using a writers’ room, unusually for the UK. Series creator and showrunner Frank Spotnitz brought along his team of writers and explained how the process worked – he wrote the pilot solo, then met with his writers and they discussed where the characters & plot might go over the course of the series. Then they each took an episode and wrote it, with Frank rewriting all of them to varying degrees. It was a very collaborative process though. They treated the episodes like mini movies, deciding for each a particular movie that would serve as a ‘model’ for the tone and pace of the episode. During production, the writers were on set a lot, and also invited to be involved in the edit – they were involved at every stage.

  Writers’ rooms do cost quite a lot – not only does the writer have to be paid a writing fee, but also for the time spent in the room hammering out the arc together. It can really pay off in terms of the quality of the end product – but may not be the right approach for all UK TV.

  Using a writers’ room is almost imperative for creating longer US-style series formats – a single writer or small team would not be able to keep up the quality for a run of 22 episodes. Using writers’ rooms could be the way forward for UK series to really compete with US fare.

  Things are generally commissioned if they have potential to be sold globally – although it can be appealing to have a certain ‘Britishness’ about the characters and setting – there is a high global demand for English-language drama. But it needs to fit the format which is proven to sell worldwide for scheduling reasons, ie more episodes.

  Soaps already have a sort of writers’ room – it’s essential for keeping continuity and for everyone to be aware of where each character has been and where they’re heading. Soap writing has always been rather collaborative by necessity – this is further evidence that collaboration is the way into longer-running shows.

  Tax credits are making it more viable to produce programming in the UK rather than outsourcing production overseas. This is good! Since changes in 2002, it hasn’t been so financially viable to do so, but things are changing for the better once again.

 Information collected from Video on Demand-style TV viewing prove that there is a higher appetite for drama than previously thought – that’s why broadcasters don’t completely fill their schedules with cheaper programming such as Come Dine With Me! More and more revenue is being generated digitally from drama viewed this way [NOTE – this is supported by an article in Broadcast, re All3Media’s digital content], so it makes sense to commission more. It is easier for viewers to follow a longer drama series, or catch up on one that’s already started when word-of-mouth increases interest, with VOD viewing.

Short Horror Films Wanted

I've started a little project, in which I aim to collate as much excellent amateur/aspiring filmmakers' work in the field of horror, in order to pitch it around and see if I can get a major distributor to create a platform to gain exposure for it.

Which brings me to my question:

Have you seen anything totally awesome on Youtube lately?

Or perhaps Vimeo, or elsewhere online...

As long as it's available to the public online, and is a short film (no strict rules about length as yet) I want to see it! Doesn't matter how low-budget, or whether it was filmed on an HD camera or a camera phone; I'll give it a shot.

Whether you made it, or just saw it and thought it was cool, please send a link my way. Either tweet it at me @audreydeuxpink, or leave it in the comments here.

Completed short films only please, no scripts I'm afraid.

Thanks!

Dolls' House of Doom

While I'm thinking of more things to write on the subject of Murder Rooms, here's an early short film of mine. I was about 11 or 12 when I made this, and a little bit 'Wednesday Addams'... please try to get past the giant metal teeth and seriously dodgy haircut...

Murder Rooms, part 1

Okay, so I slightly failed at posting again within a week. But it's been 8 days, which I have now dubbed a 'Beatles week' (1000 internets to you if you know why!)

My Dad mentioned that he was blogging about his contribution to the BBC Films-produced TV series, Murder Rooms. It was created by David Pirie, and my Dad wrote the episode entitled The Kingdom of Bones - see his blog post on the subject here.

The show was a beautifully-shot exploration of Conan Doyle's earlier years with his mentor, Dr Joseph Bell. Charles Edwards and Ian Richardson starred, and they brought an interesting and warm portrayal of the relationship that probably inspired the Holmes and Watson dynamic in Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes material. It had the benefit of lush BBC Films production values, despite being made for television broadcast.

So, you may be asking yourself while pouring another large bucket of gin, why the hell is Ellen wittering on about this too since her Dad's already done it? Well, I was lucky enough to bag a small acting role in the episode, and I thought I'd share a few memories of the experience...

I was a teenager. My character was Annie, a grubby little scamp who was the daughter of a travelling circus owner and showman played excellently by Warwick Davies. I remember that Warwick was lovely; to the extent that he didn't punch me in the face on the one highly embarrassing occasion that I forgot my ONE LINE during rehearsal. (The line was two words; 'Yes, Dad!' - I still vaguely want to punch myself in the face for forgetting it!)

'Annie' and her little sister also got to sing a weird little song about a 'brokenhearted milkman' for Conan Doyle, as payment for their father's haemorrhoid treatment. Yup, hers was a glamorous life indeed!

To accurately portray a grubby little urchin (NO IT DID NOT COME NATURALLY!) I was ordered to refrain from washing my hair for the duration of filming. This horrified me, as I go borderline-psychotic if I feel that my hair might be remotely unclean. But (rampant line-forgetting aside) I was determined to be a pro, so grinned and bore it. I had taken a brief hiatus from dyeing the hair a variety of violent shades of red, so it was actually an acceptable-for-Victoriana brownish colour at that time.

I was taken for a costume-fitting in an enormous, awesome warehouse somewhere near the offices of the Henson creature workshop in London, and subjected to a vicious but highly authentic Victorian corset. I spent the majority of my 'down-time' on set leaning like an awkward, greasy ironing board against various doorways, trying to find a way to get comfortable in this instrument of torture. As is the norm on location, it was constantly bloody freezing even indoors, so I was forced to ignore the fact that I didn't like to drink tea and guzzled several litres of the stuff to keep warm. This presented the additional problem of figuring out how to navigate the act of toiletting while dressed in a wire cage/corset, several million petticoats and some giant bloomers (they're very thorough, these professional costumiers). Suffice it to say, I pretty much had to throw everything over my head and hope for the best. Yaay showbiz!

Despite all of this, I had a bloody fantastic time. I shall do some more remembering and blog further on this subject very soon...