How TV Drama workswith Tim Holloway Bre 9.30-9.40 9.40-10.30 10.50-11.50 pr ducti n d n f Intr ducti ns Ide t Screen: vervie evel pment nd prep- 11.50-12.50 Pr ducti n nd P st 12.50-1.40 1.40-3pm Lunch Pr ctic l r sh p Focus of to ay rsta i g how U T l visio Drama g ts ma Explori g proc ss s from v lopm t to Post pro uctio Practical skills I tro uctio s M a You Who am I? T ach r of M ia Stu i s T ach r of E glish BAFTA TV jury m mb r x-Film Mak r x-Dir ctor a of TV Drama Pro uc r TV S ri s Pro uc r - Byk r Grov 2006 (BAFTA Nomi at 2007) H a of Ki s Drama v lopm E t rtai m t - 2005/6 t, Z ith CV Pro uc r - Casualty (BBC1) 2000-2002 Dir ctor - Th Bill, Casualty, Brooksi Practic , Da g rfi l 1997-2003 Film Dir ctor - Tilt Films films 1995-7 (s v ral awar s) Script R a r - Ha ma Films 1995 , P ak Film school - Polish Natio al Film School 1992/4 a NSFTV - 1991-2 Who ar you? What o you watch? Wh o you watch? How o you watch? Do you watch? Why o you watch? How much o you watch? Is maki g importa t to you? Do you mak a ythi g? Pair up a iscuss th qu stio s What about stu ts? What o our stu ts watch a cr at ? How o th y i t ract with th M ia? TV Drama is part of th OCR AS sp c ts? but is it r l va t to th stu KEY ROLES i th D v lopm t Proc ss s star pro uc r commissio r ir ctor x cutiv pro uc r writ r script ag t itor r s arch r Who works with who? fitti g all th pi c s tog th r wh r movi s ar oft s as th ir ctors m ium a l t¶s fac it who has h ar of a y of th writ rs outsi th i ustry - TV as a writ r¶s m ium TV rama is a writ r¶s m ium: Paul Abbott, Russ ll T Davi s, D is Pott r, Ala B tt, Abi Morga , Sally Wai right, Davi Chas all author s ri s a si gl ramas which ar partly or wholly sol a promot o th ir am . Writ r¶s hav th pow r to g t proj cts µgr lit¶. pro uc rs Th y com i various shap s a siz s, what o th y o? x cutiv v lopm s ri s piso ic li i p t t i -hous fr la c ag ICM, William Morris, CCA, Cassarotto Ramsay.... th ir rol is to promot a th ir cli ts prot ct ts th y also tak a ha i packagi g proj cts i clu i g s v ral of th ir cli ts th y ar a ba g of ho our or sham for th ir cli ts p i g o th ir ku os withi th i ustry GOOD AGENT MEANS BETTER WORK FOR BETTER MONEY AND MORE POWER OVER THE PRODUCT. dir ctors i TV th y arriv lat to th proj ct a d l av arly (i th US aft r 3 days i th dit!) th y hav littl or o i volv m t with th development of the script they are tasked with creating the vision of the writer and executive producer and not screwing it up Directors in TV are almost invisible as Mal Young ex-head of BBC TV drama series once said, µglorified camera pushers¶! In t e l r What r le will y ur tudent have t fulfil? What r le will y u have t fulfil? Why i it i p rtant t have these labyrinthine stru tures? e grasp f What forms of TV drama List all the programme formats you can think of for drama. eg. continuing drama series (soap) Drama formats What is TV drama? You might have had written down some or all of the following? Different forms: theatrical release, TV movie, single, serial, series, continuing series (soap), children¶s, hybrid (docudrama, factual drama, dramedy, online/interactive...?) And there are new forms being piloted each year. What enres List as many enres as you can think of in a minute. example: cops show Can you classify these shows? Life on Mars Coronation Street The Street Mad Men Torchwood Outnumbered Skins Shameless Sherlock Compare your answers did you agree? what words did you use? is classification easy or difficult? how would GCSE students do at this type of exercise? what about A level? Creating a New Show Useful words? Sci-fi crime medical comedy domestic interactive CG precinct working class rock fantasy epic dystopian period contemporary magical feel-good star-vehicle animal relationship romantic thriller horror political classical puppet time-travel police apocalyptic sporting mystery mythological scientific extra-terrestrial musical animation procedural hospital biographical school Creatin ne drama In pairs you have 3 minutes to create three ne drama series ideas. Rules: Use 2 to 5 ords from the sheet to describe each one. Think of a crackin title for the sho . First Pitch Choosin the riter You have a reat idea but now you need to find the ri ht writer to create your vision. Use the writer¶s sheet for some su estions. Who will you choose and why? Writers David Chase The Sopranos Steven Moffat Sherlock/Coupling/Dr Who Alan Bennett Talking Heads/History Boys Aaron Sorkin The West Wing/The Social Network Andy Hamilton Outnumbered/Drop the Dead Donkey Dennis Potter The Singing detective Paul Abbott State of Play/Shameless Alan Bleasdale Boys from the Blackstuff Andrew Davies Bleak House/Pride and Prejudice Jimmy McGovern Cracker/The Street A team of 16-21 year old kids picked from writing comp. Coronation Street writing team The unknown middleaged writer of a spec script you think is a work of genius. Peter Moffat A best selling female Criminal fantasy novellist whose Justice/Shakespeare re- books rival Dan Brown for told sales. David Simon The Wire Graham Lineham The IT Crowd/Father Ted/Black Books David Peace Russell T Davies Red Riding/The Damned Queer as Folk/Dr United Who/The Second Coming Joel Surnow 24 Joss Whedon Buffy/Angel/Toy Story A hot shot film school graduate with a Cannes winning short film Peter Morgan The Deal/Last King of Scotland Abi Morgan Sex Traffic/White Girl Your sister because she read you idea and really got it. Tim Kring Heroes Tony Jordan Life on Mars/Hustle/Eastenders Heidi Thomas Cranford/Soldier Soldier Shane Meadows This is England ¶86 Phil Redmond Grange Hill/Brookside writers research Choose your writer and figure out what they are going to bring to the show Here¶s the rub If you chose a really big name you¶ll get the show commissioned but you might get the chop Choose a minnow and you may not get the commission at all If you don¶t like the names listed find someone else.... You have 5 minutes Did you change anything from the original idea? Commissionin The process of ettin your idea commissioned is a tricky one. BBC, C4, ITV Independent Production Companies Slots Audience Channel profile and requirements Schedule relationshi s Commissioning is about matching relationshi s with roduct. You may have the roduct but not the relationshi s to make it happen. You may have the relationships but no product at that time. So who gets the commissions? Production Companies Tiger Aspect The Deep/Secret Dairy of a Call Girl/Robin Hood Talkback Thames The Bill/Capturing Mary Shine Merlin/Hex/Sugar Rush Shed Media Waterloo Road/Bad Girls/Footballer¶s Wives World Productions No Angels/Outlaws Kudos Spooks/Lip Service/Hustle BBC in house 75% of all BBC drama inc. Soaps/Dr Who/State of Play Wall to Wall New Tricks/Man on a Wire Company Pictures Skins/Wild at heart/Shameless Imagine Entertainment 24 Bad Robot Lost/Alias/Six Degree Hat Trick Bodies/God on Trial/Outnumbered Granada Media Corrie/Prime Suspect/Housewife 49 Or start your own... De elopment You ha e your idea, you ha e the writer and the production company. Now de elop the pitch. 24 words or less Plus a 250 word synopsis Move round the tables and read the other groups work. Plenar As ou read their pitches and s nopses tr to think what went well (www) and even better if (ebi) These two means of positive evaluation can reall make a difference to the student¶s development Write ou www and ebi and box it out to one side Do this for at least three pitches and Plenary Read the feedback How will you improve your pitch? UK Drama Quiz Which form of drama rates the highest audiences? Which form of drama has the highest oversees sales? Which drama format costs the most per hour? Which channel broadcasts the cheapest dramas? Who makes the most drama in the UK? What is state of the nation drama? Give an example. Why doesn¶t our µsoap¶ sell well abroad? Why was The Bill cancelled? Which are the most popular US drama imports? Answers Continuing drama series Period Drama adaptations/Murder mystery Period Drama BBC 4 BBC Drama One which explore fundamental issues in society: State of Play regional accents Poor ratings, didn¶t make successful transition to 9pm slot Fashion Drama follows fashionreflective and TV drama like all forms of representative media must address the issues, debates and fashions of its time. What are the current obsessions in our society? What debates trouble us? What fears do we have as a society? What innovations are we obsessed with? Sour es book/play adaptations original news (both print and web) internet stories films resear h Channels who takes what, when and how? Where Main players: BBC - up to 75 % commissioned in house (min 25% independent) ITV - all independent but used to have strong production arm C4 - all independent C5 - as C4 (now part of same grouping) Sky - mainly independent commisioning Casting Stage 2 - Ideal Choose oneCasting of your ideas. Now from your knowledge and experience as consumers of TV drama and movies - cast the main characters from the show. Tip. Say what other work the actors have done, you can look them up online if you need to. Pre-production what you need to have and what you don¶t... List make a check list for what you think might be necessary pre-production for a short film shoot. work in groups of three or four Think as a student...! What do you think your average GCSE student will do by way of pre-production for a Coursework assignment? So what iare the absolute MUST DOs? Tip working without sound working without sound free the students to focus on camera work and mise en scene giving them this freedom will lead to better shots, less naff a dialogue and overall better films. It also allows you to teach sound as post production. As you will discover sound acquisition can be problematic without excellent mics, mixer etc. Most domestic videos are NOT built for good sound acquisition. With this in mind, digital stills cameras with HD video mode are as good for production often as Camcorders. Older style DV camcorders with Manual focus are better still (Canon XM1/2 etc) Shooting Schedules Shooting schedules All film and TV shoots have them and they are a vital part of production Encourage all groups to produce one and stick to it. The information on it can be basic but will help avoid confusion: Dates and time of shoot, sunrise/sunset Locations, props, actors, costume, make-up, equipment needed Scenes to be shot, in which order with start and finish times Shots to be achieved each day. Whose involved Telephone numbers of EVERYONE, roles and responsibilities Storyboards v shotlist I believe in all three and encouraging v overhead plan Plans of sets are important for design Shot-lists and plans help lighting and design students to think in 2D and 3D space is important. Storyboards help, editors, design and camera All help production and director Task In groups of 3/4 Write a short scene - one page only - set in a school Plan your shoot - storyboard, shot list and overhead plans. To do this you have 15minutes to walk around the school site with cameras, take photos and discuss your idea, adapt your script. Then back in the classroom, make overhead plans, storyboard and shot-list. Then create a draft shooting schedule for your script.