Breaking In - Tips from the big wigs
Here at The Screenwriting Chronicles, we'll be looking at how new and emerging voices can find their feet, and we'll be spotlighting a few contentious issues in the writers' world along the way. To begin, we'll kick off with a look at one of the ways new writers can elbow their way in, because breaking in to this industry can be a tough old business.
A little over a month ago, I attended the Aesthetica Short Film Festival in York. One of the events being held at York St John University was a Masterclass titled 'BBC Writersroom Presents: An Insight Into Screenwriting,' and naturally I had to go.
The Masterclass was held by Anne Edyvean, the Head of BBC Writersroom, and sat somewhere between giving us all writing advice, and advertising BBC Writersroom. I hadn't heard of BBC Writersroom before, so it was all of some use to me at least.
So, what do they do then? Well, twice a year the BBC Script Room takes unsolicited script submissions: Drama scripts at the end of the year and Comedy in the spring, thousands of them. They get passed on to a team of readers, where they undergo numerous stages of reading - an industry standard 10-page read, then 20-30 pages, then the full script. Anyone who makes it to that stage gets a full script report back, and 10-20 writers are then chosen as the winners, who will get 6 months of development with BBC Writersroom, including masterclasses, monthly meetings, and help with finding agents. Essentially, BBC Writersroom sets out to find new voices and help them develop their own calling card.
But this Masterclass wasn't just a promo for BBC Writersroom, Anne Edyvean also addressed the gathered writers (and it's only when you're in a lecture theatre filled with other aspiring writers that you realise just how many of them are out there for you to compete against - yikes!) to give some golden nuggets of advice. And I've very helpfully summarised them for you here:
A little over a month ago, I attended the Aesthetica Short Film Festival in York. One of the events being held at York St John University was a Masterclass titled 'BBC Writersroom Presents: An Insight Into Screenwriting,' and naturally I had to go.
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| Aesthetica Short Film Festival at the National Centre for Early Music |
The Masterclass was held by Anne Edyvean, the Head of BBC Writersroom, and sat somewhere between giving us all writing advice, and advertising BBC Writersroom. I hadn't heard of BBC Writersroom before, so it was all of some use to me at least.
So, what do they do then? Well, twice a year the BBC Script Room takes unsolicited script submissions: Drama scripts at the end of the year and Comedy in the spring, thousands of them. They get passed on to a team of readers, where they undergo numerous stages of reading - an industry standard 10-page read, then 20-30 pages, then the full script. Anyone who makes it to that stage gets a full script report back, and 10-20 writers are then chosen as the winners, who will get 6 months of development with BBC Writersroom, including masterclasses, monthly meetings, and help with finding agents. Essentially, BBC Writersroom sets out to find new voices and help them develop their own calling card.
But this Masterclass wasn't just a promo for BBC Writersroom, Anne Edyvean also addressed the gathered writers (and it's only when you're in a lecture theatre filled with other aspiring writers that you realise just how many of them are out there for you to compete against - yikes!) to give some golden nuggets of advice. And I've very helpfully summarised them for you here:
- Write instinctively and freely, and put your USP in your script - that's what makes it yours!
- Commissioners are looking for ideas, so have confidence in them.
- Never go into a meeting with just one idea, take in five.
- Don't ignore radio - it's the single biggest commissioner of new drama in the UK.
- What's your script really about? Your script should have a deeper meaning or message behind it.
- The key elements to a great script are having relatable characters - especially the protagonist - and having enough story material to see it through.
The biggest piece of advice though, that was stressed continually at the Masterclass, was to write with your own voice. BBC Writersroom is looking for things that the BBC doesn't currently have, and that means new voices. It means writing what you want to write, in a way that reflects you. And this advice is regurgitated again in the Writersroom blog, in a piece written by a previous winner: "You should not write the story you think they want, only the story you want to tell."
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| Anne Edyvean, Head of BBC Writersroom |
It all sounds pretty great, doesn't it? And BBC Writersroom sells itself extremely well. However, there are a couple of writers that I've spoken to who say that the scheme isn't all it's cracked up to be. Both writers, neither of whom wish to be quoted here, were among the winning writers of the year they entered. Interestingly, in both cases their experience was one of attending a few masterclasses and meetings, developing that calling card spec script, and then rather being left out in the cold. It seems that once the scheme has run its course, there's not a lot more help available from BBC Writersroom after, and neither of my writers felt as though anything really came from their win.
That said, there are a number of success stories that have come from BBC Writersroom, which you can see more of here. And they have a whole host of resources online, including interviews with writers, screenwriting tips, and a whole section dedicated to script formatting.
So, if you do submit a successful script to BBC Writersroom then great, fantastic, use all of the resources now at your disposal; if your script isn't a winner, then no sweat, you can still access all the other resources they have available online. And while BBC is a big big name in this industry, it isn't the only avenue open for emerging writers wanting to break in.
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