Writer role in the commissioning process

Jakub Dzialas
In this assignment I am going to talk about writer role in a commissioning process. I will use
different commissioning bodies as examples for different stages of the process to help
explaining the work as a writer and what legal and ethical issues they can have to overcome
during that process.

There is 5 main steps for writer in the commissioning process that we can highlight. That
involves:
1. Development of a Portfolio of Scripts.
2. Submission Strategies.
3. Commissioning.
4. Greenlighting & Pay.
5. Legal and Ethical concerns.

The first stage that is ​developing a portfolio of scripts is the most important step for writer in
the commissioning process. That gives them the creative freedom to construct and create a
folder of scripts across different genres and running time from 30 mins through 60mins for the
TV programme and 90mins and more for a featured film. All of the scripts should also be
structured around possible ad breaks because films sooner or later would be broadcasted in TV
as well as distributed through cinemas and digital or physical releases.
It shows the potential broadcaster abilities of the writer and it proves that the writer has a broad
understanding of the subject and is able to comply with different types of requirements for the
script. A good example for it could be writing a script that is approximately 30mins running time
children programme and then have another script in the portfolio that is around 60 minutes long
horror for more mature audience. That shows that the writer is not limited with just particular
genre and running time. It is also important that before submitting any work, writer will pitch fully
the script and they may also consider different ways to maximise their chance to succeed. One
of the most important aspects is not sending first or even second draft of the script. As a writer
they have only one chance to get commissioned so it is important to rewrite and polish the
script. It could be done because of a few things that writer should arrange among finalising the
script. First of all, something that many people do in their everyday life, even without realising
that, is a peer review​. Writer should do the same thing with their script. With a draft of script
writer should ask their friends, family, colleagues for feedback that will bring forward some
constructive criticism. That could be a feedback of one sentence: “I like the way the character
XYZ is developing through the story being”, or it could be more reflective, longer response that
will the writer enough material to work on. In addition, they can also arrange a mock loud
reading of the script with a group of people who would be considered as actors during that
process. That would give the writer idea of how the script would sound like and what they could
change to make it sound more accurate and more appropriate. Finally, after introducing all of
 ​ cript report​. That would give them an idea
the feedback, writer could decide on paying for a s
how the script is seen from other person’s perspective and which areas need some
improvements to them within the script.

The disadvantage of that for the writer is to spend a lot of time on writing the scripts that may
not necessarily be produced at all. It may also involve spending some of the money in the
process of polishing the scripts, what is not ideal for the new writers that try to get into the
industry and are not yet earning from it. So to summarise, for beginning writers it may involve
spending more money that they would be able to earn at the beginning of their career what is
not necessarily something that anyone, who would like to live from writing, would like to begin
with.

That also gives the writer higher probability of being able to obtain a job within the industry. As
they would have different types of scripts, they would be able to use different ​submission
strategies that are second step in the whole process. Having wider variety of scripts writer is
able to submit their work to different companies aiming at getting their work produced. Using the
example above, the writer could submit their children programme to BBC for their CBeebies and
then send the horror script to the company Tiger Aspect Production that are specialised in
different area than CBeebies. Different companies follows different procedures of
commissioning process so the writer has to take it into account while submitting scripts to
different companies. For example, submitting a script for 60 minute time slot to BBC has to be
57-minute long while on the other hand, if we would like to submit a script for 60 minute drama
to ITV, it would have to be 52 minutes long.

That would force the writer to modify the script in the way it comply with the requirements of
each company. That may involve removing some parts of the story within the script to make it
shorter or adding some content to make the script long enough depending on which way the
script would have to be adjusted. That has an impact on the writer in the way that they could be
required to edit the script and story in the way they wouldn’t primarily intend. Most of the writers
could consider it as a drawback and limited creative control on the script itself.

Submitting work to BBC is split into two different categories. Script idea could be submitted
either as an independent company that has to use BBC Pitch system or as a member of public
via the Writers Room. Some of the companies like, Tiger Aspect Productions, don’t accept
unsolicited scripts. However, most of the large broadcasters accept them anyway but it requires
a wait to get a response.

Getting a response from the company leads to next step, in the whole process, that is
commissioning​. Commissioning meeting could be align with a job interview, that for writer is
kind of one anyway. This is a process that a ​broadcaster​, who decide on what gets to be
shown and what doesn’t like BBC or ITV, forms the body built out of commissioning editors​.
They are usually individuals employed to find new work as well as continuing existing projects.
In large companies they are often responsible for a particular part of the potential output.
Looking at Tiger Aspect Production we could outline different editors for different products. As
an example, writer could pitch an idea for a children's animation and it’s most likely to him being
commissioned by Mrs Claudia Lloyd who is an Series Producer for one of the children’s
animations within the company while writer of a thriller/crime story could be commissioned by Mr
John Rushton, producer, Mr Kieron Hawkes, Mr Luke Watson and Mr Anthony Byrne, directors,
that were involved in a production process of “Ripper Street” Series. All of them have different
responsibilities in the production process so they will pay attention to different aspect of the
script pitch based on their area of specialism. The main task for a ​producer is to organise and
coordinate rewriting of the script with introducing different alternatives. He could be involved in
commissioning process on writers for continuous projects that are already existing on market. In
his case it could be commissioning process on writers for fifth series of “Ripper Street”. On the
other hand, ​directors would be highly involved in the recrutation process of writers for those
existing projects. They will heavily collaborate with the writer in the creative process as well as
demanding rewrites of the script or particular scenes from the script. They will also have their
input in the planning stage and storyboarding based on the script. They will usually have a
massive impact on different camera shots and movements used within the production. As an
example for it could be any of the episode of BBC series “Doctor Who”. Let’s take a look at
season 1 episode 1. The director, Keith Boak, decided to use different shots at different stages
to convey the message. At 0:01:28 - 0:01:31 we can see a
pan shot on the shop window with plastic mannequins in
there. It could seem like a type of transition, without any
specific reason behind that, but in fact we could say that it
is kind of introducing
the main theme of the
episode since the
very beginning. As
we can see later on
once the plot unfold itself, the episode is about the attack
of “living plastic” that mainly comes from the mannequins
from the shop windows.
We can notice one of those scenes between 0:12:20 -
0:12:56 where the main characters fight with a plastic arm.
Although the writer, written a story for this episode and they invented the idea of plastic that tries
to kill people, it was up to creative decisions of the director how to convey this message across.
He didn’t have to do that pan at the beginning because by the end of the episode people
probably wouldn’t remember that anyway, however, unconsciously they were already exposed
to the hint on the main story and all of those little things has a massive impact on the audience
that writer doesn’t really have influence on them.

In addition, director role has a crucial impact on the writer’s creative control over the project,
what wouldn’t be something the writer would like to happen with their script. Writer usually have
the vision on how the story would be told but then it is director’s decision on camera angles and
types of shots and editing. On the other hand it could also work on the writer’s advantage. For
both new and established writers. For a new writer who is not that experienced yet, directors
could make very successful production based on not the best script, what would give the writer
relevant experience. In case of established writers, limited creative control at this stage could be
beneficial for them as they don’t have to be massively worried about it and can start working on
different project once the submitted one is already in the production process. Therefore, it can
affect the writer in both, positive and negative, ways. It really depends on their perception of the
situation and their attitude to it.

Agents could be also involved in the commissioning process. They are writers formal
representative for contract negotiation as well as legal and liaison purposes. The most popular
form of financial agreement between the writer and their agent is a fixed percentage from the
amount the writer would earn. E.g. We could look at screenwriter Jack Thorne, he wrote for TV
show Skins and his agent is Rachel Holroyd, so she would negotiate the pay and other
conditions of the contract for Jack Thorne. There is no public access to the contracts between J.
Thorne and R. Holroyd as well as between J. Thorne and E4 TV network but writer could make
a deal with an agent and agree on 10% for agent from the writer’s pay. It would be an incentive
for the agent in the process of negotiating. If the writer would get a deal with the company for
£10,000 per script then agent would earn £1,000 per each written script by the writer. But if the
writer would get a deal for £12,000 per script then agent would earn £1,200. So it is a really
good way for the agent stay motivated to determine the best condition for the writer as that
would also dictate the amount they would earn.

It also works on the writer disadvantage, as they have to share their profit with the agents.
Therefore, we could say that the writer doesn’t earn the full value of the script they wrote as part
of that value is taken by the agent.

Also there are different types of the pay for screenwriters​. The best one for beginning writers
is a ​guarantee​. This is basically payment that writer will get regardless the script being
produced or not. It usually is split between different stages of writing drafts. It can be also used
for the established writers that are mainly focused on writing for one particular company. That
gives them the impression of stability and safety in terms of financial situation. We could
assume that ​David Benioff and D. B. Weiss could be paid in guarantee as the main
screenwriters for “Game of Thrones” they’ve written most episodes in each season.

It seems like the best idea for the new writers. The good thing about it is fact that the writer has
earned some money from their writing and can move on and produce other scripts even if the
script wouldn’t be produced. The disadvantage of that would be not being credited with the
script of the product because there wouldn’t be a product at the end.

On the other hand, we could also highlight an ​option as a method of payment for screenwriters.
It is basically a production company paying money to the writer for possibility to produce the
product based on the script. This usually achieve really high value for a popular idea. It could be
either based on something that is popular in the internet or is based on a popular book. This
could be something like “Murder on the Orient Express”, the script was written by Michael
Green. We could suppose that he got paid based on the option technique as he wrote three
other mainstream movies during the same year.

This seems to be the least suitable payment method for the beginning writer. If it would end up
by not being produced then the writer wouldn’t be able to sell that script to different company.
Similarly to guarantee writer would spend a lot of time on writing the script but wouldn’t be
recognisable within the industry with any produced projects.

Within writing for TV and film, writer can also be paid a ​bonus​. It is usually paid only when the
script makes it to the production process or if there were more than one writer after the final
credits have been confirmed. To put it in other words, this wouldn’t be paid for script that came
through the commissioning process but didn’t make it to the production process.

The writer pay is also highly related to the ​greenlighting ​from the production company. If writer
will be successful during commissioning process, their project is likely to get a green light from
the company. Once that happens, it means that the project will get finance for its production
process.

It may seem like the success for writer and that their job is done after the production process. In
fact there is quite a few of legal and ethical aspects that have to be taken into account. The
main one is ​copyright concern. It’s making sure that the production company has all the
necessary permits for use of third party content. Most often we can hear about copyright
concerns in relation to the music used within the production. To exemplify, if BBC would use
one of the Sia’s song without gaining the appropriate permission beforehand, they could be
sued by her for illegal use of her property in form of the song.

Copyright is somehow linked with the ​plagiarism​. Plagiarism is using someone else’s work and
pretending it to be your own. To illustrate that I could make an example of an established writer
and a beginning writer. Let’s assume that the beginning writer has compose a perfect script that
wasn’t successful in the commissioning process, but then two years later an established writer
used this same script with the only difference by changing the name of person who wrote it and
the production has reached the worldwide success. In this case, the established writer
committed plagiarism pretending to own the script that was submitted two years earlier by the
beginning artist.

The writer also has to be aware of the ​libel that could occur within the production. That is a
process of presenting the false statement or information about the individual within the product.
This is quite interesting nowadays when many actors and directors are accused for sexual
harrasements. Spreading the information in the way that already assume that someone has
committed those, while in fact it is either not true or it is not yet confirmed is a libel because it
states false information about the individual what affects their career and personal life.
This could be also caused by ​bias that came to play once someone with authority and potential
proofs has been manipulative enough to affect someone else’s opinions or beliefs. Writer would
have to consider those in their script to avoid public disapprobation for presenting someone in
the bad light. For example, the story would involve a person with a specific made up name and
profession that does something illegal and then after releasing the product suddenly someone
appears who happened to be similarly named and do this same occupation in real life and
because of the product that person had some issues based on the movie. It would be up to
writer and production company for causing bias in the person appearance.

There could also appear a ​censorship concerns. It requires writer to be aware of the content
that is appropriate and acceptable for the public view. This is very popular issue within news
sector. It can lead to biased information conveyed to public by keeping some informations out of
public access. It is used by the governing parties to create their image in media. This same
situations would be presented slightly different for Conservative parties than for Labour.

Last concern that writer would have to consider is ​watershed​. This is the general guideline and
requirements for the products to be broadcasted before 9 PM. It aims at protecting young
viewers from inappropriate and unacceptable language for their age. That means that a writer
whose script uses a lot of swearing and vulgar phrases wouldn’t be suitable for younger
audience so that’s what they would have to consider in terms of watershed concerns.

All of the legal and ethical points could be considered as a disadvantage to be and writer. First
of all, it brings many rules that writer has to comply with to have a chance to be successful and
not controversial, neglecting any of those could result in the consequences for the writer
involving being sued by different bodies or personals by incorrect representation. In addition, it
may also extend the time of working on the script by making sure that the legal and ethical
features are obeyed in the correct manner. That causes the writer to spend more time on the
polished script, while they could potentially use that time to start working on another project if
they wouldn’t have to be worried about the legal and ethical concerns.

To consolidate the whole commissioning process, the writer role is really crucial throughout
each stage. There is a lot of aspects that writer would have to consider while writing a script to
make sure they are able to meet all of the requirements. Being a writer also involves some of
the drawbacks that writer would have to consider as worth or not to undertake the whole
process.