Writing for Television by Grace Yvonne

Author:Grace, Yvonne [Grace, Yvonne]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9781843443384
Publisher: Oldcastle Books
Published: 2014-05-15T14:00:00+00:00

The overall structure of the development process within a television company openly foraging for ideas to develop further will depend on what it is you actually bring to the table at the first meeting.

If you are bringing a one-page pitch, or a couple of pages representing the idea in embryo, then the chances are you will be asked to develop it further, usually into a full Treatment (these can run from four to ten pages, depending on the nature of the beast).

This is work that is considered essential in television developmental circles if a project is to be taken seriously. It does mean that you are writing a pretty detailed, somewhat difficult document, with no financial incentive or guarantee that it will be taken further. But that is the way of the speculative development world.

The process of developing your idea from a couple of pages to a full-blown treatment can take anything from a couple of months to a year and beyond. And, still, the script that is begging to be written may not be commissioned at the end of this because there are more hurdles to jump first.

Once you have written the treatment and have a dynamite document that presents and explores your idea in perfect, succinct, arresting form, there will be a lull in proceedings whilst your new-found ally, the development executive, pushes forward the fledgling idea that you have been discussing, presenting their producer/executive with your treatment at their developmental meeting.

There will be a series of development meetings in place within a company keen to grow new dramas for their slate, and these can be held as regularly or as sporadically as is deemed fit for the outfit in question.

Here, producers will read and assess the projects on offer. Notes will be given, opinions formed, and your project may be kept in a holding pattern, with no decision being made at the current time, or given the green light and an option taken out on your treatment.

Often, projects that have not had the full support of the production executive will fall by the wayside here, and even those that are currently under option may find this is where the end of the line comes for them. It is at these meetings that all projects with options coming up for renewal will be considered, and the decision made whether to renew (thereby giving the company longer to develop the project) or not.

Projects that do not have their options renewed are now free to be taken elsewhere by your agent. A good one will already have ideas as to where the next potential interested party lies.

If, on the other hand, the development executive (whose instincts have clearly been right from the start) offers you an option on the treatment, this will essentially mean that you are now seeing some money for your efforts, and that, from now on, you are under contract to the company to develop your idea in collaboration with the development executive as they essentially see fit.

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