Script Development and Commissioning.

By Jenny Strand

Script Development.Screenwriting is a “collaborative process” according to the book Screenwriting by Ray Frenshams, he thinks if you’re unwilling to change anything in your script then you will have to produce and direct the film yourself. My idea of script development is the same as I think there will be certain things the director and producer can adapt to make a script better quality so it will be better on film.

Ray Frenshams says Script development has many stages; I have listed the stages below.

• The producer meets with the scriptwriter and discusses changing and adding parts.

• Once a script goes into pre-production it is then viewed by special effects people/ set designers.

• The script will then be added to if needed• The script can then change again whilst in post production if still

needed.

The First Step Of Development.Initially the first step in script development is to decide on your story.

The script writer needs to know what genre their production is going to be. Filmsite.org categorizes genres and says they all are used to make audience feel different things.

‘Comedies are light-hearted plots consistently and deliberately designed to amuse and provoke laughter (with one-liners, jokes, etc.) by exaggerating the situation, the language, action, relationships and characters’ (online)

I agree with this statement from the site as it gives us an idea of how to put a script together if we were to.

A video I looked at on YouTube called How to Write a Script – Story Structure was about script development. It featured script writers saying what they thought needed to be done in order to make a script worthwhile and able to be made into a film. One part of the YouTube video that I agreed with was the chart which was shown on screen as a man was explaining his thoughts on how many acts there should be in a script and how long they should be so that it would be able to be adapted into a film. The clip then went on to show what each of the acts should cover.

Another YouTube clip I looked at was called ‘David Goyer Screenwriting lesson’ the clip was of him being interviewed and talking about how he got into scriptwriting and how he found out what to do.

‘Nowadays with the internet and all these other tools, I don’t think it’s entirely necessary to go to film school, I mean there’s so many film makers that didn’t go to film school that are successful’ (online)

Here David Goyer is saying that although he went to film school to learn what he has, that doesn’t mean all scriptwriters have to go to film school in order for them to create a good script. I agree with this concept as I think the some sites on the internet can give you the vital information that script writers would need.

I then went on to look at another book called Writing the Short Film by Pat Cooper and Ken Dancyger. The part of the book I focused on referred to the main characters in the script and the plot of the script and also the script itself, how to structure it etc.

‘The script is essentially the elaboration of a treatment or step outline, including visual description and dialogue. The script should always be presented in master scene format (an example of master scene format is given later in the chapter’

(Cooper & Danceyger, page 107)

I think it’s important for the script to already have as much detail as possible so that when it gets to being looked at by potential producers/directors in the commissioning process they will already have a quite a clear picture in their head of what the script writers idea is.

However sometimes it is good to mix genres, the magazine Media Magazine thinks this.

Matt Freeman of Media Magazine says ‘A director such as Ridley Scott, for instance, thrives on film–making where old and new, high and low, are meshed into one. Alien (1979), for example, is a lowbrow horror flick elevated to a higher artistic realm by novelised science – fiction themes; Blade Runner (1982), is a generic cop movie merged with a high end film noir sensibility.’

This to me is saying that it’s good to mix say a low brow action film with a high end political film for example. So I agree with this quote and find it helpful.

Script Commissioning.Commissioning is for people that have written a script and commissioning is the process they go through to get it published/looked at by potential producers and directors. E-commissioning on the BBC website describes how you go about sending your script off to them for reading.

‘Each offer sent to the BBC Commissioning team is automatically and securely logged with a unique reference number for your records following your submission. E-Commissioning enables the BBC to handle the huge volume of proposals it receives faster and more effectively so producers submitting proposals to the BBC receive a quicker response.’ (online)

This is basically saying what happens when you have sent your script into the BBC to be viewed by them; they say that it will be logged onto their system and how this process gives you a quicker response as to whether your script means anything to them.

The BBC Writers Room has information on what scripts they don’t accept. The BBC Writers Room won’t accept scripts written for existing or previously produced shows/characters; samples or extracts from scripts – they want the whole thing; scripts from overseas or resubmissions of work previously rejected. This has been taken from the BBC Writers Room website.

The Writers Guild of Great Britain is an organization based in the UK that helps writers gets their work viewed by potential buyers. It also bargains with the price etc. There is also a fee you have to pay to have a membership with them. This information I have collected has been taken from the website.Personally I think this website is really good as it gives amateur script writers a real chance of getting their work read and viewed by important people.

If then your script is successful with the organization you’ve sent it into, then you will then get called in to see them to pitch your script. If you yourself don’t know what you’re doing when you’re talking to agents, they won’t take you as seriously.

A short video clip that I looked at on YouTube gives basic examples of how not to pitch an idea. For example, don’t rush through your ideas. Below is the opening clip from the video.

I think these are really good tips on how to present your script when speaking about is as it says don’t rush through what you’re saying, find an in between on telling the story straight but with the detail that is needed. Also I find the tips in this video are really basic and easy for pretty much anybody to understand and interpret.

A magazine I looked at called Media Magazine once your script has been commissioned, that process afterwards isn’t to see how high the ratings are, but to see whether it meets their standards when on screen.

‘For us, we’re not judging the success of a show necessarily by how high the rating is, we are judging a successful show by whether or not its level of quality and excellence meet our standard and serves a part of our 30 million subscriber base’

Summary.By doing two reports on Script Development and Script commissioning I have learnt;

• How to write a script - ideas generationSuch as deciding on characters and what genre relates most to characters chosen, etc. - story structureDeciding the plot - formattingHow to present a script to the best of your ability

• How to sell a script - Where to send your scriptWhat companies accept scripts from amateur scriptwriters - Pitching a scriptWhat the right things to say are when presenting a script and the wrong things.

By having to write a report on both script commissioning and script development, I have developed a new knowledge on how to set a script out and what the requirements are for a finished script if you want to send it if TV company to be looked at for commissioning either into a film or programme. Personally I didn’t think you had to do an awful lot before sending your script off, for example I didn’t think you had to make sure your script was at least 30 minutes long. I found out from the Writers Room that it has to be for them to actually consider it so they know you will be able to produce more than one script in case it is just a one off. They are actually quite strict requirements. I think this is because many big companies are bound to get many amateur script writers sending their scripts in everyday and they can’t possibly look at all of them to find out they don’t meet the suitable standards.

Script Development – Websites Reference Page.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/tv/pitching-ideas/e-commissioning.shtmlE-commissioning.Accessed 19/11/11

http://www.wga.org/ Accessed 19/11/11

http://www.filmsite.org/genres.htmlComediesAccessed 19/11/11

http://www.filmsite.org/genres.htmlGenres.Accessed 19/11/11

Script Development – Books Reference Page.

Screenwriting by Ray Frenshams Page 10Telling the audience how to get their scripts noticed by producers.Accessed 15/11/11 Writing the short film by Pat Cooper and Ken Dancyger3rd edition Page 105 and 107Accessed 22/11/11

Media MagazineThe culture issueStyle Over Substance – Or A New Creativity Matt FreemanPage 51Accessed 29/11/11

Script Development – Videos Reference Page

‘How to Write a Script – Story Structure’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0yqUmedyOMAccessed 20/11/11 ‘DAVID GOYER Screenwriting Lesson’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhSwb6XciS8&feature=relatedAccessed 22/11/11

Script Development – Magazine Reference Page

Media MagazinePage 51Matt FreemanStyle Over Substance – Or A New Creativity The culture issueAccessed 29/11/11

Script Commissioning – Website Reference Page

http://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/tv/pitching-ideas/e-commissioning.shtmlHow E-Commissioning Works.Accessed 23/11/11 http://www.writersguild.org.uk/The Writers Guild.Accessed 23/11/11

Script Commissioning – Videos Reference Page.

•How Not to Pitch•http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0l7lJLswBhk&feature=player_embedded#

!•Accessed 22/11/11

Script Commissioning – Website Reference Page

Media MagazinePage 32The Change IssueCarly SandyAccessed 29/11/11