Patrick Spence BBC N. Ireland Head of Drama on writing for TV

Practice of Writing – Patrick Spence BBC Drama 16/02/2007

TV writing is not an art. It is a craft, involving collaboration.

TV is seen by the young as irrelevant. Stations are wooing this audience. BBC3 targets young people only.

BBC 2 makes 3-4 single films and 1 series per annum. These are given to big name writers who have worked for BBC 1. The goal of BBC2 is to upset the Daily Mail and try to match Channel 4 ratings

BBC 1 drama is challenging, original, mainstream. The core TV drama audience is the over 50s. Success in TV Drama is measured by:

• Ratings. Success is defined mainly by ratings: over 5m viewers = success; over 7m viewers = phenomenon.
• AI ratings (12,000 boxes placed in homes which inform BBC what people watch and when they switch channels.)
• Reviews. Does the production make a noise in the media?
• Does it change the way the viewer thinks? Does it manipulate feelings?
  

Assorted, random information:

• A TV show is a brand, a piece of work that has an identity.
• Redemption is a major theme in TV drama.
• 8pm Sunday night is a soft sweet drama slot for family viewing.
• Soaps, Doctors and The Bill are where TV writers learn their trade, especially Doctors. Then writers may be rewarded by being let write a 6 episode drama. Soaps are filmed 4 weeks ahead of shooting and writers have to do many, many rewrites, often at last minute, to accommodate changing circumstances on set. Doctors is the most writer friendly show on TV. It was set up to encourage new writers. It takes about 8 drafts for each soap episode. The sting (4 pages) plus the rest. The first draft is 20% of work. Rewriting is 80%. A big name actor can demand rewrites.
  
• The single writer is back, doing mainly 6 episode dramas but occasionally 10 episodes. The writer should be at the heart of TV creation, at the highest level. Team writing with producer in charge leads to drama being produced, not written. West Wing, Sopranos, Desperate Housewives, are all written by single writer. TV writers are once again the source of the vision. TV drama is now being WRITTEN, not PRODUCED.
  
• TV is bigger than film, i.e. has more viewers.
• Darragh Carville, script writer, playwright and lecturer interposes to say: "The purpose of writing is to tell the truth in new ways."
• To which Patrick Spence adds, "The writer needs also to engage viewers."
• The upside of TV is that you are engaging with 5m viewers. The downside is that you HAVE to engage them. (Crime Suspect influenced millions of drinkers to go to AA)
• To place work with BBC, DON’T send them your first drama. Find an agent. Write 6-7 scripts if you want to be taken seriously. Approach an existing show and get a writing job on it.
• Single dramas are not wanted, except for Afternoon Play which is a reward for people who have done good work on TV.