Rocliffe Notes E-Book

Farah Abushwesha

• Herausgeber: Creative Essentials
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 614

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

Rocliffe Notes is a compendium for screenwriters and filmmakers which brings together tips and opinions from over 140 film and TV industry professionals, and provides a step-by-step, common-sense guide on how writers and writer-directors can best present themselves to the industry. Including insider insights from award-winning industry players, it details their habits, writing processes, daily passions and preoccupations, whilst also looking at the nuts and bolts of the industry, aiming to motivate writers on their own creative journey, maximise networking opportunities and encourage a professional approach to writing. An essential armament in any writer's store, contributors include: Moira Buffini, Danny Huston, David Parfitt, Jack Thorne, Sarah Gavron, John Madden, John Yorke, Nik Powell, Peter Kosminsky, Christine Langan and Asif Kapadia.

Leseprobe

Rocliffe Notes is a compendium for screenwriters and filmmakers which brings together tips and opinions from over 140 film and TV industry professionals, and provides a step-by-step, common-sense guide on how writers and writer-directors can best present themselves to the industry. Including insider insights from award-winning industry players, it details their habits, writing processes, daily passions and preoccupations, whilst also looking at the nuts and bolts of the industry, aiming to motivate writers on their own creative journey, maximise networking opportunities and encourage a professional approach to writing. An essential armament in any writer’s store, contributors include: Moira Buffini, Danny Huston, David Parfitt, Jack Thorne, Sarah Gavron, John Madden, John Yorke, Nik Powell, Peter Kosminsky, Christine Langan and Asif Kapadia.

Farah Abushwesha is a writer, producer and founder of the BAFTA Rocliffe New Writing Forum. Rocliffe, in partnership with BAFTA, has showcased the work of emerging screenwriting talent at Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival and the New York TV Festival. A champion of new writers and directors, Farah writes the popular blog Farah’s Rocliffe Notes, and regularly runs screenwriting courses and speaks on industry panels at events around the world.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

So many people helped with this book with suggestions and encouragement, particularly my wonderful friends who spurred me on. A special thanks for their never-ceasing support over many years to Louisa Hopkins, Antonio Mendez, my sister, Yasmin, my dad, and two amazing women – my mother, Orla Woods, and my grandmother, Aine Woods. Thanks to my diligent researchers and transcribers Hope Kemp, Stephen Casey, Jessica Ostley and Jessica Reid; to Susan Jacobson, Nicola Woods and Stephany Ungless who at various points read or proofread variations of this book; to those who gave great suggestions and leads for contributors: Clare Bateman-King, Mariayah Kaderbhai, Kam Kandola-Flynn, Camille Gatin, Andrea Cornwell, Kristen O’Brien, Kate Kinninmont, Wendy Mitchell and so many receptive agents; my agent, Susan Smith, my commissioning editor, Hannah Patterson, and my editor, Anne Hudson, for making a goal a reality. And lastly the very generous contributors!

CONTENTS

CONTRIBUTORS

WHY I LOVE WRITING

01

What Is the Job of a Writer?

What Is the Job of Director or Writer-Director?

What Does a Director Do?

What Do Producers Do?

Other Decision Makers and What They Do

Know Thyself Creatively

ROCLIFFE NOTES on… Working Out Your Creative DNA

A Writer Needs to Write

ROCLIFFE NOTES ON… Getting Started

02

What’s Your Writing Process?

Ideas Are in the Ether: Use Them or Lose Them

Where Do Your Ideas Come From?

ROCLIFFE NOTES on… Inspiration

Everyone Can Write, But Not Always a Good Screenplay

ROCLIFFE NOTES on… Writing a Good Screenplay

A Professional Approach to Writing

ROCLIFFE NOTES on… A Professional Approach

No One Way In

Tips for Breaking In Today from Emerging Writers

03

New Talent Is the Industry’s Lifeblood

What Do You Like to Find?

Where Do You Look for New Talent?

How Do Projects Get Developed and Commissioned?

Personal vs Professional Taste

Sending Out Samples of Your Work

Read My Script – That Is the Question

What Makes the First Read the Last?

ROCLIFFE NOTES on… How to Help Yourself and Script Housekeeping

Less Is More – Ideal Length

04

Comedy Writing

Key Things You Want to Find in a Film Script

Create a Web Series

ROCLIFFE NOTES on… Writing and Creating a Web Series

Writing for Theatre

TV Writing

ROCLIFFE NOTES from… Paula Milne

Adaptation

Radio

Documentaries and Unscripted – From Start to Finish

Co-Writing – How Does That Work?

Co-Writing – The Pros

Co-Writing – The Cons

Industry Misconceptions and Realities

05

Cover Notes

Filling In the Application Form

ROCLIFFE NOTES on…

What to Consider When Filling In Forms

A Short Biography – 100 Words

ROCLIFFE NOTES on… Writing a Short Biography

Spec Samples of Work

It's All About Character, Character, Character

Creating a Character

ROCLIFFE NOTES on… Creating Characters’ Backstory

The Treatment

ROCLIFFE NOTES on… Treatments

Writing TV Episode Guides or Storylines

ROCLIFFE NOTES on… Storylines and Episode Guides

Say It in One Line – The Elevator Pitch

ROCLIFFE NOTES on… The One-Line Synopsis

06

Finding a Producer

Perfect Pitching

Executives on Preparing for a Meeting With Them

Creatives on Preparing for a Meeting

ROCLIFFE NOTES on… Overcoming Nerves for a Meeting, Pitch or Presentation

ROCLIFFE NOTES on… Meetings

Finding the Right Collaborator

ROCLIFFE NOTES ON… Finding Collaborators

ROCLIFFE NOTES on… What to Look for in a Developer or Collaborator

Approaching a Production Company

ROCLIFFE NOTES on… Who to Send Your Script to

What Is the BBC Writersroom?

07

Development

What Are Notes?

The Purpose of Feedback and Notes

Who to Get Feedback from

Conflicting Feedback

Consider Rejection a Rite of Passage

Rejection Isn’t Just for Newbies

ROCLIFFE NOTES on… Why Your Script Might Be Turned Down

08

Procrastination

Research

Finishing What You Start

Rewriting and Self-Editing

Making a Living Out of This

Tenacity

Confidence and Self-Doubt

Know Your Audience and Stay Plugged In

09

Go Do It

The Value of Shorts

Challenges of Making a First Feature Film

The Process of Making Something

Having the Writer Play a Role on Set

So You Want to Make an Independent TV Pilot

10

Understanding Casting

Approaching Actors

Working With Actors

11

Getting an Agent

ROCLIFFE NOTES on… How to Approach Agents

Agents on What Agents Do

Talent on Agents

Agents and Producers

Getting Noticed by an Agent

What Is the Working Relationship Between Agent and Client?

What to Look for in an Agent

ROCLIFFE NOTES on… Meeting With a Prospective Agent

What Is an Agent Looking For?

Where to Go When You Haven’t Got an Agent, But You Do Have a Deal

How Not to Approach an Agent

12

Funding, Talent Platforms and Showcases

What BAFTA Offers New Talent

An Overview of Screen International’s Stars of Tomorrow

The Brit List

Women in Film & TV (UK)

Skillset

Screen Training Ireland

Catalyst

Understanding a Festival

Creating a Festival Strategy

Benefits of Attending Festivals

Cures for Post-Festival/Conference Blues

ROCLIFFE NOTES on… Killing Those Blues

On America

13

Networking

ROCLIFFE NOTES on… Networking

Writers and Directors on Networking

Setting Up a Table Read

ROCLIFFE NOTES on… Setting Up a Table Read

Filmmakers on Writers’ Groups

Notes on Different Writers’ Groups

Setting Up a Writers’ Group

ROCLIFFE NOTES on… Setting Up a Writers’ Group

Writing a Blog

Exercises to Energise Your Scripts and Kill Writer's Block

ROCLIFFE NOTES on… Writer’s Block

Creative Aids

What Can the Digital Age Do for Writers?

Understanding the Digital Content Landscape

ROCLIFFE NOTES on… Different Online Content Outlets

Having an Online Presence

14

Best Advice Our Contributors Were Given

Advice from the Contributors

Frequently Asked Questions

15

Leads and Lists

UK Agents Who Accept Unsolicited Submissions

UK Agents by Referral Only

US Agents Who Accept Unsolicited Submissions

US Agents by Referral Only

Lists of Theatres Open to Unsolicited Submissions

UK

Ireland

List of Showcases/Initiatives

List of Festivals, Conferences and Talent Campuses

List of Courses – UK and Ireland Only

List of Script Craft Gurus

Copyright

CONTRIBUTORS

This book would not exist without the generosity and patience of these amazing contributors:

ALAN FRIEL: Writer-Director (Commercial Director & Emerging Film-maker)

ALAN MCKENNA: Writer-Producer (Pressure, Slammer), Actor (Belle, Happy Valley, The ABCs of Death 2)

ALEX COOK: Senior Manager, Talent Development, British Academy of Film and Television Arts

ALEXANDRA ARLANGO: Development Producer, Cowboy Films & Curator of the Brit List (The Duchess, Cheerful Weather for the Wedding, Severance)

ALEXANDRA BOYD: Actress (Mr Holland’s Opus, Titanic, Coronation Street), Writer-Director (Boxer on the Wilderness, Widow’s Walk)

ALISON MILLAR: Producer-Director (The Disappeared, The Shame of the Catholic Church, The Father, the Son & the Housekeeper)

AMANDA BERRY OBE: BAFTA Chief Executive

AMIT KUMAR: Writer-Director (Monsoon Shootout, The Bypass)

ANDREA CORNWELL: Producer (Suite Française, Last Days on Mars, Micro Men)

ANDREA HUBERT: Writer

ANDREW NEWMAN: Producer & Chief Executive, Objective

ANGELINE BALL: Actor (Shameless, The General, The Commitments)

ANNA EMERSON: Writer & Performer (Mission Improbable [Series 1 & 2], Off Their Rockers [Series 2])

ANNE HOGBEN: Deputy General Secretary of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain

ANNE-MARIE DRAYCOTT: Writer

ARAB NASSER AND TARZAN NASSER: Writer-Directors – Nominated for a Short Film Palme D’Or (Cannes 2013)

ASIF KAPADIA: Writer-Director (Senna, Far North, The Warrior)

BEN STEPHENSON: Controller of Drama Commissioning, BBC (The Great Train Robbery, Top of the Lake, Happy Valley, The Honourable Woman)

BERTRAND FAIVRE: Producer (more than 30 films including Ratcatcher, The Warrior, Le Week-End, A Little Chaos)

BOB BALABAN: Producer (Gosford Park), Director (Bernard and Doris, Parents), Actor (Monuments Men, Moonrise Kingdom, Deconstructing Harry)

BRONA C TITLEY: Actor & Writer (Off Their Rockers, 50 Kisses, Narcopolis, How To Lose Friends and Alienate People)

CAMILLE GATIN: Producer (Shadow Dancer, Endeavour, Anthony)

CAT VILLIERS: Producer (The Narrow Frame of Midnight, The Proposition, No Man’s Land, Ivansxtc)

CATHERINE WILLIS: Casting Director

CHARITY TRIMM: Writer

CHARLES GANT: Film Journalist

CHARLES STEEL: Producer, Cowboy Films (The Last King of Scotland, Marley, Top Boy, Black Sea)

CHARLOTTE KNIGHT: Literary Agent

CHRIS SPARLING: Writer (Buried, Sea of Trees, ATM), Director, Screen-writer & Co-Producer (The Atticus Institute)

CHRIS SUSSMAN: Commissioning Editor, BBC Comedy (Bad Education, Cuckoo, Rev, Him & Her, People Just Do Nothing)

CHRISTIAN MANLEY: Writer

CHRISTIANA BROCKBANK: Writer

CHRISTINA PICKWORTH: Literary Agent

CHRISTINE LANGAN: Head of BBC Films & Producer (The Queen, Saving Mr Banks, We Need To Talk About Kevin)

CHRISTOPHER GRANIER-DEFERRE: Producer (Gone Too Far, Dirty Weekend)

CLAIRE WILSON: Writer (Partners in Crime, Agatha Christie adaptation, BBC1)

CLEONE CLARKE: Associate Producer, Trademark Films

CONOR BARRY: Producer (Pilgrimage, You’re Ugly Too, Love Eternal, Savage)

DAN HUBBARD: Casting Director

DANNY BROCKLEHURST: Writer (The Driver, Exile, Shameless, Clocking Off, Sorted)

DANNY HUSTON: Actor (American Horror Story, X Men, The Proposition, 21 Grams)

DAVID CHIKWE: Creative Director, Blacklisted Films & Writer (Missing, Eve)

DAVID FLYNN: Chief Creative Officer, Endemol UK; Executive Producer (The Million Pound Drop, Pointless, The Singer Takes It All, The Bank Job, Ejector Seat)

DAVID FREEDMAN: Writer-Director (Santa’s Apprentice 2, The Magic Snowflake [feature], Rubi Gets It Right [series]), Series Director (Groove High, King Arthur’s Disasters)

DAVID PARFITT: Producer (The Wipers Times, Parade’s End, My Week with Marilyn, Shakespeare in Love, The Madness of King George)

DAVID SIMPATICO: Writer (Zombie Hideaway [episodic video], Wish Fulfillment [short film], The Screams of Kitty Genovese [music drama], The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turing [opera], Disney's High School Musical [stage musical])

DESTINY EKARAGHA: Director (Gone Too Far!), Writer-Director (Tight Jeans, The Park)

DICTYNNA HOOD: Writer-Director (Wreckers, The Other Man, Journey Man)

EDWARD BAKER-DULY: Actor (NBC’s The Blacklist, USA Network’s Royal Pains, Downton

EMMA NORTON: Head of Development, Element Pictures (What

EOIN ROGERS: Writer

GABRIEL SILVER: Development & Executive Producer (Life on Mars, Spooks, Poirot, Strike Back, DCI Banks)

GARETH EDWARDS: Producer (That Mitchell and Webb Look, Spaced, Still Open All Hours, Dead Ringers, The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff)

GLENN MONTGOMERY: Writer (Mammal, The Other Side of Sleep)

GRAINNE HUMPHREYS: Festival Director, Jameson Dublin International Film Festival

GUY HIBBERT: Writer (One Child, Blood & Oil, Five Minutes of Heaven, Omagh)

HOPE DICKSON LEACH: Writer-Director (The Dawn Chorus, Morning Echo, Cavities)

IVANA MACKINNON: Producer & Script Editor (The Scouting Book for Boys, War Book, Slumdog Millionaire, The Descent)

JACK THORNE: Writer (The Scouting Book for Boys, War Book, This is England ‘86, ‘88 & ‘90, The Fades, Glue)

JAMES DORMER: Writer-Exec Producer (Spooks, Wallander, Strike Back, The Holding, Outcast)

JEAN KITSON: Literary Agent

JIM UHLS: Writer (Fight Club, Jumper, Semper Fi)

JOHN MADDEN: Director (Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Masters of Sex, The Debt, Shakespeare in Love, Mrs Brown)

JOHN YORKE: Managing Director, Company Pictures (Shameless, Life on Mars, Sex Traffic, The Street, Waterloo Road)

JON CROKER: Writer (Woman in Black: Angel of Death, Paddington, In Fear, Desert Dancer)

JONATHAN KINNERSLEY: Literary Agent

JOSH APPIGNANESI: Writer-Director (Song Of Songs, The Infidel)

JULIETTE TOWHIDI: Writer (Calendar Girls, Death Comes to Pemberley, Love Rosie, Testament of Youth)

JUSTIN TREFGARNE: Writer-Director (Narcopolis, Black Rabbit Summer, Desire, Leyman's Curse)

KAHLEEN CRAWFORD: Casting Director

KATE ASHFIELD: Actress-Writer (Secrets & Lies, Line of Duty, Nymphomaniac:Vol II, Byzantium, Shaun of the Dead)

KATE LEYS: Script Editor

KATE OGBORN: Producer, Fly Film (Hockney, The Spirit of ‘45, The Deep Blue Sea, The Unloved, Under the Skin)

KATE ROWLAND: Creative Director for New Writing at the BBC

KATIE GOODSON-THOMAS: Director of Production & Acquisition for Fox Searchlight-Ingenious & Producer (Shadow Dancer, A Single Shot, Millions)

KATIE WILLIAMS: Literary Agent

KAYLEIGH LLEWELLEYN: Writer (Stella, Here Be Dragons, The Cariad Show, Half a Cuppa Tea, Bampy)

KERRY APPLEYARD: Co-Executive Producer (Orphan Black), Producer (Hustle, M.I. High)

KEVIN CECIL: Writer-Producer (Veep, Gnomeo & Juliet, Black Books, Hyperdrive, The Great Outdoors)

KIRSTEN SHERIDAN: Writer-Director (Disco Pigs, In America, August Rush, Dollhouse)

LAURIE COOK: Producer (Hangar 10, Outpost 37, Pressure, Honour)

LAWRENCE COCHRAN: Former Development Editor for BBC Independent Drama

LEE ARONSOHN: Writer-Producer (Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory, Cybill, Murphy Brown)

LEVI DAVID ADDAI: Writer (Youngers, My Murder, Coming Up)

LIAM FOLEY: Writer & Former Development Executive at Working Title

LIZZIE BATES: Writer & Performer (Mission Improbable [Series 1 & 2], Off Their Rockers [Series 2])

LUCY CLARKE: Writer (News Quiz, Fabulous, Horrible Histories, Never Mind the Buzzcocks)

MALCOLM CAMPBELL: Writer (What Richard Did, Skins, Shameless)

MANJINDER VIRK: Actress (Britz, The Arbor, History’s Future), Writer-Director (Forgive, Out of Darkness)

MARC EVANS: Writer-Director (Patagonia, My Little Eye, Snowcake)

MARGOT GAVAN DUFFY: Producer (This Is Jinsy, Little Crackers, Spy, The Vicar of Dibley, How Do You Want Me?)

MARNIE DICKENS: Writer (Ripper Street, The Musketeers, Hollyoaks)

MASOUD AMRALLA AL ALI: Artistic Director of the Dubai International Film Festival & Director of the Festival in the Gulf

MATTHEW BARRY: Writer (EastEnders, Death in Paradise, Stella, Casualty, Here Be Dragons)

MATTHEW BATES: Literary Agent

MATTHEW DENCH: Literary Agent

MIA BAYS: Creative Producer (Lilting, Ill Manors, Shifty), Producer (Oscarwinning Six Shooter, BAFTA-nominated Scott Walker: 30 Century Man)

MICHAEL KUHN: Producer (Suite Française, The Duchess), Executive Producer (Being JohnMalkovich), Big Cheese (Four Weddings and a Funeral)

MIRANDA BOWEN: Writer-Director (Gozo, Women in Love, Cast Offs)

MOIRA BUFFINI: Writer (Byzantium, Jane Eyre, Tamara Drewe, Handbagged)

MUSTAPHA KSEIBATI: Writer-Director (Big Tingz, Skateboards and Spandex, Painkiller, Mohammed)

NIK POWELL: Producer (The Crying Game, Little Voice), Director of the National Film & Television School

NORMAN NORTH: Literary Agent

OL PARKER: Writer (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel), Writer-Director (Imagine Me and You, Now Is Good)

PAUL ANDREW WILLIAMS: Writer-Director (London to Brighton, The Cottage, Song for Marion)

PAULA MILNE: Writer (The Virgin Queen, Endgame, Small Island, White Heat, The Politician’s Husband)

PETER HARNESS: Writer (Doctor Who, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, Wallander)

PETER KOSMINSKY: Writer-Director (The Promise), Director (Wolf Hall, No Child of Mine, White Oleander)

PHIL ILSON: Festival Programmer, BFI – Shorts; Festival Director, London Short Film Festival

POLLY STOKES: Senior Development Editor, Film4 & Producer (For Those in Peril)

REBECCA DALY: Writer-Director (Mammal, The Other Side of Sleep)

REBECCA O’BRIEN: Producer (Jimmy’s Hall, The Spirit of ‘45, The Angel’s Share, Looking for Eric, The Wind That Shakes the Barley)

RICHARD COOKSON: Head of Development, Lovely Day & Script Editor (Doctor Who, Peaky Blinders, Ripper Street, The Fades)

RICHARD EYRE: Director (The Hollow Crown, Notes on a Scandal, Iris)

ROB BROWN: Writer-Director (Sixteen)

ROBIN GUTCH: Producer (’71, Kill List, Hunger)

RON SCALPELLO: Writer-Director (Offender, Pressure)

ROWAN ATHALE: Writer-Director (The Rise aka Wasteland)

SALLY EL HOSAINI: Writer-Director (My Brother The Devil, Babylon, Henna Night)

SAM WASHINGTON: Writer-Director, Commercials Director

SARAH GAVRON: Director (Brick Lane, Suffragette)

SASKIA SCHUSTER: Commissioning Editor (Little Crackers, The Kumars, Psychobitches)

SAUL DIBB: Writer-Director (Suite Française, The Duchess, Bullet Boy)

SEAN GASCOINE: Literary Agent

SERENA BOWMAN: Head of Development, Company Pictures (Wild at Heart)

SHANE ALLEN: Controller Comedy Commissioning, BBC (Not Going Out, Mrs Brown’s Boys, Miranda), Head of Comedy, Channel 4 (Black Mirror, Peep Show, The IT Crowd, Derek)

SIMON CHINN: Producer (Man on Wire, Searching for Sugar Man, The Green Prince, Project Nim)

SIMON HEATH: Producer & Creative Director, World Productions (Line of Duty, The Great Train Robbery, United, The Fear, Hancock & Joan)

STEPHEN FINGLETON: Writer-Director (The Survivalist)

STEWART THOMSON: Writer (Parliamo Glasgow)

SUSAN HOGG: Senior Executive Producer, BBC productions (The Fades, Five Daughters, The C Word, Lark Rise to Candleford, Waking the Dead)

SUSAN JACOBSON: Producer-Director (The Holding, Pulp: A Film About Life, Death & Supermarkets, One Hundredth of a Second)

SUSIE CONKLIN: Writer & Script Editor (The Musketeers, Cranford, State of Play, Pride & Prejudice)

TERENCE GRAY: Founder & Executive Director, New York Television Festival

TINA GHARAVI: Writer-Director-Producer, Bridge + Tunnel Productions (UK/FR) (Mother/Country, I Am Nasrine, The Good Iranian, From the Plantation to the Penitentiary)

TONY COOKE: Writer (The Armstrong & Miller Show, Danger Mouse, Dead Ringers, Once Upon a Crime, The Legend of Dick and Dom)

TONY GRISONI: Writer-Director (Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas, In This World, Brothers of the Head, The Red Riding Trilogy, Southcliffe)

TONY JORDAN: Writer & Managing Director, Red Planet Pictures (Hustle, Life on Mars)

WENDY MITCHELL: Editor of Screen International

WHY I LOVE WRITING

When I just write, I lose myself; any feeling of loneliness or isolation dissipates. Writing has always created a safe space for me to be vulnerable or vindicated. What I first choose to commit to paper, or not, becomes a self-centred act, with me deciding what stays and what goes! Writing for me also carries a certain level of guilt because I can and don’t enough. My love of writing and storytelling stems from a nightly childhood ritual of bedtime stories with my mother reading Wind in the Willows, Alice in Wonderland or an Irish folk tale, followed by my father telling me an Arabic myth or one of his short stories like the one about the ‘Walkie Talkie Hedgehog’, about a prophetic hedgehog who predicted an earthquake. My early school years were spent in Libya, at a bilingual school in Tripoli where the emphasis was on learning through the spoken word using storytelling, games and word competitions in both Arabic and English. Holidays in Ireland in the 1970s would be filled with poetry readings and book launches with my parents and their poet and artist friends.

In the autumn of 1979, my life changed overnight when I was abruptly sent to live in Ireland with my Irish grandparents following my father’s house arrest in Libya by the Gadaffi regime. As a bilingual, tanned, parentless seven-year-old, I was, by Irish standards, considered illiterate by my new educators as there was no place for Arabic in my new school. I lacked what they felt were the basic skills of writing in English. Missing my parents terribly, I longed to reach out and write to them but the best I could muster were the letters ‘M’ for mother, ‘D’ for Dada and ‘F’ for Farah. The school, concerned that my lack of literacy skills would slow down the class, wanted to put me back to infants. However, my grandmother, a teacher, convinced them that she would be able to bring my reading and writing to the level of my peers within two months.

Most children went out to play after school but my evenings were spent transcribing large passages of Enid Blyton into my jotter. If I made a mistake I had to start again. My grandmother made me break down words by syllables and showed me how to create the singular and plural of words. The house was wallpapered with posters containing words so that I never stopped learning. I was as determined as she was and my goal was to be able to eventually write a fully formed letter to my parents. I saw writing to them as a way of reaching out, but I couldn’t spell or write in English or Arabic. True to her word, however, within two months Granny had my reading and writing up to the required standard.

That first letter to my parents, painstakingly composed, went through three or four drafts until it was perfect, and I still recall the taste of the stamp when it was finally ready to send. Letters became our lifeline, keeping them close to me, and me them. A year would pass before I saw my mother again, when she returned to Ireland without my father, who was unable to get an exit visa from the Libyan authorities. She later told me that, during that year apart, she lived for the mail, and how hard she found it to even look at other people’s children. During the subsequent years, fears for my father’s safety left me terrified that any careless word might have an adverse effect on his security, so I would read his short stories again and again but never utter a word about the estrangement. We’d write stories – that’s how we kept the bond.

It was 30 years before it was safe for me to return to Libya, after the fall of Gadaffi. When the revolution ended in 2011, I returned to Libya after three decades away. I used my writing skills to write about the human side of Libya and what had happened to our family at the hands of the regime in those early years, and it felt truly liberating. The more I wrote, the more the heavy burden of the conspiracy of silence afflicting our family was lifted. Before, I had been afraid to say what had happened, and this had a ripple effect throughout my family – not just for me but for my mother, father and sister.

I have so much to thank my grandmother for, as well as admiration for her patience and tenacity; she gave me a great gift – a love and appreciation of writing and reading. To this day, I try not to send out the first draft of anything for fear of flaws. Those early days made writing my friend, my saviour and my companion, but I also understood its power as I saw what being a writer did to my father and my family structure. Freedom of expression is something to be valued.

The New Writing Forums began as a group of actors and writers getting together to read scripts above a pub in North London. Over time, I invited industry guests to give feedback and they came. Today the forums are run in partnership with BAFTA and are a recognised international platform for new writing. At their heart they remain an opportunity for novice writers to receive informal advice and feedback from industry experts happy to share their humble beginnings and chat over a pint. This remains an integral part of the event, although the ‘pub’ is now the BAFTA bar.

When I started trying to work in the film industry, I would constantly puzzle about how to break in. It seemed so hard. Was there a big secret? Was forging a career in this industry impossible? It was only by approaching people, as a new filmmaker, and asking them that I discovered I was looking at it in all the wrong ways – it wasn’t impossible; in fact, the possibilities were endless if you sought them out. My aim with this book is to demystify the process by tapping into the experiences of those in the know. I didn’t want to create a series of case studies, but a variety of perspectives on the same topic that differ and repeat. Ultimately it’s up to the reader to decide which perspectives resonate and which don’t. The intention is to make the reader feel like they’re part of the conversation, or at least eavesdropping on one.

People will help you because most have a passion for the work and want to support those trying to make their way. As Danny Brocklehurst says, ‘If someone asks, I don’t want to be the lad that pulled the ladder up behind them. Paul Abbott helped me, and you want to help and show encouragement to new talent and to nurture it.’

Since writing the book, several of the contributors have changed jobs. One tragic note is my interview with Simon Chinn, which reflects on Malik Bendjelloul’s approach to Searching for Sugar Man, and was conducted prior to Malik’s untimely death. This industry, whatever role you take, can be all-consuming; you need stamina and to know when to walk away from a project. Interviewing these wonderful writers, directors, producers and industry professionals has been an honour, their patience and generosity truly appreciated. I’ve aimed for diverse contributors, from Oscar and BAFTA winners to noted emerging talent. I chose to get a cross-section of people from the industry, from those who deal with a script early in its cycle, to contributions from actors, casting directors and decision makers. Some topics will feel more or less relevant to those who are solely writers, as opposed to writer-directors, but I have included as many of the topics as I could that I’ve been asked about, or heard being asked about, in the forums. The biggest thing that all the contributors share is that they love what they do, are all human (yes, it’s true), and that none of them ever stops worrying about the work or wanting to create it.

You only need one person to say yes to you, to believe in you to drive you forward. My grandmother was my champion in my early years, and that’s what each contributor to this book is: a champion, a mentor, and a supporter of new talent. We can all write or point a camera at things but, ultimately, it’s what we do with it that counts, as well as the fact that you don’t need permission to do it to begin with. This industry isn’t inaccessible, as this compendium illustrates – it’s just that there’s no single pathway in.

01

WHAT IS THE JOB OF A WRITER?

I grew up watching my father be utterly consumed by writing for days on end, without rest, until he would collapse, but he lived to write and create and still does. Being a writer means something different to each of us. So how do you define the job and what do writers feel about what they do?

MOIRA BUFFINI: I love it. I love it. I escape into my work. There are times when it goes wrong and it can be extremely difficult but if you choose who you work with carefully and pick the projects that you are in tune with (which, as you go on, you get more and more opportunity to do), then this is a wonderful job. It’s a privilege. You sit with your cup of tea in the morning and three hours pass before you know where you are. You completely immerse yourself in another world and in the experience of other people. That is writing.

LEE ARONSOHN: I hate writing. But writing has turned out to be the one thing I can do which people will pay me to do which doesn’t involve anal sex.

OL PARKER: It’s brilliant and I recommend it to absolutely everybody. It’s a special way to have a life, meet people. How I describe it to people is that I write films, most of which don’t happen. One of the weird things about the gig is that so much of what you do is failing upwards. I have friends who are 40 and they’ve made a living writing screenplays, yet have never had a produced credit or seen their name on the screen. It’s an extraordinary thing. I had a seven-year period where I was writing films for Tom Hanks, for Jonathan Demme (who made Silence of the Lambs), and it was a heavy, high-powered and exciting time. I was flying to Los Angeles and whatnot, but I had absolutely nothing to show for it. I had money, but nothing was actually being made. It was great fun and completely unsuccessful. It became increasingly embarrassing seeing family and friends and having them ask, ‘Anything?’ It’s a weird part of the job that rejection and failure are built into it.

JAMES DORMER: I make stuff up.

KEVIN CECIL: I am a scriptwriter, a script editor and a producer. As a writer, I work in a partnership with Andy Riley. What we do is quite varied. It might mean creating shows, collaborating with talent on a show for them or being part of a team as we are for Veep. We used to work on chat shows and sketch shows but these days almost all of what we do is narrative. Occasionally we still get to write sketches – it’s like a treat.

PETER HARNESS: I love it and it’s part of me. I have a compulsion and a need to do it. My relation to it changes every day and very often I feel like stopping doing it entirely and going and doing something else. Sometimes I feel it’s very easy and I’m on top of the world, though sometimes it feels like the hardest thing that I could ever dream of doing. I’ve got a mercurial relationship to it. I think storytelling and coming up with stories and providing things to entertain and move people is a very worthwhile thing. It’s probably worth all the stress and ups and downs.

KATE ASHFIELD: I would answer this question differently every day. I love it and hate it at the same time. Writing is so creative, just as acting is great when you have a great role. They can be the best jobs and the most fun. They are both also demeaning and humiliating and really hard ways to earn a living!

TINA GHARAVI: Being a writer (or creative person) is like being a monk in a monastery. One works in the shadows and entirely devotes one’s life to its pursuits. That’s okay, because it’s almost Byzantine, the film industry… so perhaps it’s all too appropriate. My role is to make sense of the chaos of the world around and give the audience a cathartic experience. To be a mirror of myself and the world. This is the primary reason for writing and creating. For me, much of this is about confronting mortality and the miracle of being alive… and that is something quasi-spiritual – though those words do make me shudder!

GUY HIBBERT: I tell stories.

JACK THORNE: It’s the greatest job in the world; I get to imagine things for a living. And the difference between my world and the world of a novelist, say, is that I get to imagine things with other people for a living.

JIM UHLS: Making up and telling stories via the behaviour of characters.

LEVI DAVID ADDAI: It’s a mad, crazy job. You spend so much time in your head thinking, talking to yourself, talking to your characters, creating their lives and journeys. It’s so taxing. And when it comes to production and there are still re-drafts or amendments to deliver, alongside watching castings or daily rushes, by the end of the day my brain is tired. It’s a muscle constantly being used and I can’t absorb anything else. I have always done it – telling stories and characters. Even as a child I did it with my toys. I still have that youthful fun with it, I reach for the blank page to go on an adventure.

PAULA MILNE: First of all, I love it. I discovered myself through my work. I discovered who I was and what I cared about; I became political through it to a certain extent and I love the process of it. Being a painter before helped because I already had a lot of self-discipline. I started writing after I had children. I’ve had five children and I’ve had people asking me ‘Do you feel guilty leaving your children to write?’ and I say no, I feel guilty leaving the scripts to go back to the children. I’ve absolutely no guilt about hiring people to look after my children. You can’t have your cake and then decide you feel bad about it. When I started writing, I’m not sure I regarded it as the golden age of TV but there was a sense that TV was the theatre of the people, and that was very exciting. It was saying things about the society we live in to people who didn’t necessarily have access to this in any other form in terms of literature or theatre, etc. So I regarded it as an art form really, having started out as a painter.

MALCOLM CAMPBELL: I’ve finally learned to accept it as a real job (sometimes I tell my family what I do and they still don’t understand; they say ‘So, is it a documentary?’). I suppose I tell stories with pictures and words. I don’t do any other kind of writing. It’s about telling stories with economy, a bit of flair and moving things along. I try to entertain but also find the truth in everyday life.

MARNIE DICKENS: Being a writer can be incredible. You get to imagine people, imagine what they say, and then hopefully watch ones that come to life. If you are working with people you like and trust then it’s the best job in the world.

JON CROKER: I love what I do for a living. I write an idea into a format that can be used by a director, cast and crew to make into a film.

TONY GRISONI: My job is to make films. That’s what I’m thinking of when I’m writing. I’m thinking about trying to get a film made that will excite or surprise me.

WHAT IS THE JOB OF DIRECTOR OR WRITER-DIRECTOR?

A (good) few years ago, I tried my hand at directing, but realised it wasn’t for me. Perhaps it was a lack of confidence; perhaps if I’d understood or researched more about what it was before I tried, I would have pursued it in a different way. My shorts had a great unifying effect upon my family, one of them having been based on my dad’s short story, A Blind Arab in a London Pub, which my mother had translated into English. It gave us back a sense of pride and family union we’d lost decades before. In my heart, however, I enjoy writing and producing more – making it happen. My favourite definition of what a director does is by Roland Joffe, director of The Killing Fields, who stated that ‘being a director is like playing on a multilayered, multidimensional chessboard, except that the chess pieces decide to move themselves.’

SARAH GAVRON: It’s not like a job. People do it because they are passionate about film.

STEPHEN FINGLETON: I am a professional fantasist aided and abetted by a merry band of conjurers, magicians, and sleight-of-hand experts. Together we seek to suspend the audience’s disbelief and take them to places they want to go to but daren’t in their everyday lives.

KIRSTEN SHERIDAN: I describe it as kind of a form of therapy. The more you challenge yourself and dig down deep into your own psyche, the more you realise you are just writing the same story over and over again on some personal level. If you want to then change that, you have to be very self-aware in order to know exactly why you’re writing things, what they’re about and what they mean to you. I do think art is incredibly important but sometimes I think of people in the world who are actually building things, helping people and making a career, not for monetary gain but for the betterment of society, and I wonder whether my energies would be better spent. In this industry, you can write something and it can just go into the ether and never be realised.

MANJINDER VIRK: Both writing and directing come from a need and deep desire to tell the story. I start with a personal attachment to the writing and the story I’m trying to tell and then move on from that stage into something more detached and researched.

HOPE DICKSON LEACH: At my film school graduation the writer Richard Ford said that being an artist isn’t like being a carpenter. No one needs what you make in the way that they need a chair. You, the artist, have to make your work necessary and work out what it is that you are making. I loved that. Generally it’s very lonely, very hard, and really only to be done by people who really can’t do anything else – i.e. they HAVE to do it. If you think you can do something else, then you’re better off doing that.

REBECCA DALY: The biggest elements of my job are communication and filtration. Communicating my ideas, my vision, to everybody I’m working with and obviously the audience. Then filtering ideas is also a big part, which happens at every stage: the writing, shooting, editing, the whole way through. It’s a constant filtration process of the ideas in my head, and those of the people I collaborate with, testing what works and what doesn’t, what fits the overall shape, etc. I love it. I feel privileged to be able to do it and to make a living out of it. I’m very lucky.

MIRANDA BOWEN: It’s a curious job and one that I attempt to justify continually. I feel that the world would probably survive without film and TV but it would definitely be a poorer place for it. Narrative storytelling is something that is endemic to every culture in the world and we learn about ourselves through reflected histories. Quality TV and film allow us to experience cultures, people and situations that we might not ordinarily come into contact with. At its best good TV and film can expand our minds and ignite empathy where none may have previously existed. At its worst it can do exactly the opposite.

ROB BROWN: I’m a bit dubious sometimes about calling what I do a job! I felt more legitimate calling myself a director once I made a feature, but I’ve lived with people who do sensible jobs and my friends have quite serious jobs outside the film industry as well, so it’s sometimes strange telling them what I’ve been doing on a day-to-day basis. If I compared the amount of time I spend writing emails and having Skype calls to the amount of time that I spend writing and directing it would probably depress me. I never would have guessed when starting out how uncreative this job and industry can be sometimes!

RON SCALPELLO: It’s a demanding career but it’s so rewarding. If you think you want to do it because it might be either cool or interesting, if you’re half-hearted about it, I don’t know if you’ll be successful. It’s one of those careers that will consume you totally, every day of the week. I can’t think of anything else I’d rather do and it’s so clearly part of who I am as a person, as a man. To live without making films or TV would be quite a realignment of my own identity.

SALLYEL HOSAINI: I’m in a really privileged position, where I’m managing to get people to give me money to make things up. That’s what I do. Although what I’ve discovered is that when you’re a writer-director you spend more time writing than directing. Especially when you’re generating your own material. It’s cyclical, but when you do the maths you realise that more hours go into writing than hours spent on set. But I don’t prefer one stage to the other. They are inextricably connected and two parts of one process. I love what I do and feel really blessed to be able to get up each morning and work at what I’m best at.

SAM WASHINGTON: It’s the best job in the world. But it isn’t easy. If it was, everyone would be doing it.

ROWAN ATHALE: I would describe writing and directing feature films as the greatest job in the world and I am exceptionally fortunate to be doing it. I know that sounds like a beauty-pageant answer, but I find it’s accurate. There are professions of far greater importance: medicine, teaching, policing. I don’t build houses for people to live in, and I don’t work in agriculture, so I don’t feed anybody either. Filmmaking doesn’t represent a fundamental, basic need of society. It represents an interest, a hobby or, in the case of the cinephile, a passion. Watching films was, and remains, a defining passion of my own life. And I get to make them for a living. So I don’t think, I know, I’m exceptionally fortunate.

JUSTIN TREFGARNE: Outside of family, this job is everything for me. I am very lucky to be in this position where you are asking me to talk about something I love, which also happens to be my career. I first started thinking about how to make films over 30 years ago and here I am with my first feature under my belt. That gives you some idea of how much of my life I have spent devoted to this in one way or another.

JOSH APPIGNANESI: Being a writer and director in theory is having a Stalinist command of every variable, followed by the Palme d’Or. That’s in theory. In practice the disadvantages are clearer to me: you’re not so straightforwardly a commercial gun-for-hire as a plain writer or plain director, you’re not a clear entity that can be brought on as one element amongst several in the ‘package’ when producers are putting together a commercial film. It’s basically twice as hard to get your own original material out there as both writer and director.

MUSTAPHA KSEIBATI: Steven Spielberg put it best when he said he dreams for a living. I also subscribe to the saying, ‘Choose a job you love, and you never have to work a day in your life.’ Although some would say I work constantly, I see my work as my life, so don’t view it like that.

DICTYNNA HOOD: It’s ‘total’. Very all-consuming, part of life, not separate from it.

WHAT DOES A DIRECTOR DO?

So how does a director formulate a vision for the project? What is the job of directing?

SARAH GAVRON: I am still learning. I have to connect with the material on an emotional level. Finding the right people to work with is essential. The old adage about the importance of casting is right… Understanding storytelling is vital… I learn most about storytelling in the edit.

KIRSTEN SHERIDAN: My directing process is quite specific. I work with actors and get to know them really, really well, probably too well for their liking. With every actor I’ve worked with, I want to work with them again. If an actor continues to work and grow, learning something about themselves and revealing it (which is an incredibly vulnerable and scary human place to be), then they’re infinitely fascinating. Actors have the worst job of everyone. Most of the time, their job relies on someone else telling them what they can and can’t do.

TINA GHARAVI: As a director, I am interested in finding the truth of that moment on set with the actors and the crew. Yes, the crew have to find it too. They are ‘writers’ as well. I don’t think writing ever stops… and ultimately it’s for the editor, the film’s final composer, to finish the score.

REBECCA DALY: I feel particularly personal about the work; I’ve often spent years writing it, I feel I know it very intimately, I feel very personally connected to it. I’ve never directed something I haven’t written. It’s not to say that my work is in any way autobiographical, but I feel very strongly about it. It does become necessary at times to step outside of it, though. To be creative, you have to go with your instincts and the flow of the project, yet every once in a while it’s useful to step away from that and try to put on an outside pair of eyes. Obviously I have other people to act in this way at every stage too: my editor, producers, DOP and my co-writer… strike a balance there between creativity and at least an attempt at objectivity.

STEPHEN FINGLETON: When directing, I place a big emphasis on preparation and establishing the key values of what we want to make, which allows people to tailor their work in a personal fashion that works into the whole. In post-production I work very closely with my editor, Mark Towns, who will come with a fresh eye to the material and a different sensibility, and we find something that appeals to both of us. We show it to audiences – much like at script stage – and the process reaches full circle.

MIRANDA BOWEN: Directing is finding the best possible visual language to bring the story to life. That means casting well and choosing your crew carefully as well as really trying to get under the skin of the script, working out the subtexts and how they might be visually or aurally iterated. Then, from there on in, every decision you make should somehow work towards emboldening the story and characters sufficiently to make something credible, visceral and vital.

SUSAN JACOBSON: Directing is the externalisation of the world and essentially rewriting it to work on the screen rather than on the page. Directing is such a vast entity. It’s wonderful and dynamic and fascinating. You’re coming always from the viewpoint of the story and what you are really trying to say with this story. It’s important to keep a strong vision in mind, but also to be flexible, as filmmaking is such a variable beast that you have to be able to adapt quickly and make things work.

WHAT DO PRODUCERS DO?

I’d be rich if I had a pound for every time I’m asked this, and it’s hard to quantify. When I try to explain to people, I see that familiar glazed look of disappointment when they realise I’m not the one telling the actors what to do. As a producer, I’m constantly learning new skills and adapting to be as good as I can. I’ve worked with many different kinds of producers and each one has taught me something new.

NIK POWELL: No one producer will describe their job in the same way. It’s one of those mysterious things. It’s like trying to define what an entrepreneur is. In the simplest of terms, we’re the boss. Pulling together everything that is needed to make the picture – money, cast, crew. That said, you do different things on each film. They are never the same but you hope for the same end result – a good film that sells well and fills cinemas.

CAT VILLIERS: A producer’s role is very challenging. A good producer has to hold the film together, the whole film, and the construction of that film. By the construction, I mean how we bring all of the elements together – how to develop, finance, make, and complete it, and then find the most appropriate platforms to get it seen. The producer, a good creative producer, has to have many varied skills. Most importantly, we have to find the best people – writers, crew, financiers, sales agents/distributors, festivals – who can support the vision of the film with the director and facilitate its journey through all the different stages, and all the different twists and turns along the way, from the very beginning with the script to the marketing and its ultimate distribution.

ALEXANDRA ARLANGO: As a development producer I source new ideas, books and scripts for potential film projects. Once we have identified one to take forward I suggest possible writing and directing talent to attach to the project, working with them to develop a script to a level that can attract finance and ultimately get green-lit to production.

KATE OGBORN: Often people have the Hollywood image of a person with a cigar, sitting behind a big desk with a chequebook. That’s not the experience of independent producers in the UK or Hollywood. The job can be so many different things – taking the initial idea and developing it until it reaches the audience, or helping filmmakers to shape their ideas. It’s a creative job that develops people, ideas and stories, hopefully developing audiences out of that. In many ways it’s a pragmatic job about putting the money and teams together, managing the resources, expectations and relationships. That’s what makes it so exciting, because you’re using so many different mental muscles all the time.

ANDREA CORNWELL: I’m a very hands-on, ‘in the trenches’ style producer. I work on a mixture of projects, some of which I originate and some of which I join at much later stages, but I’m very much one to sit with the director and creative team and see it through.

MICHAEL KUHN: In a sentence, it’s the person who makes things happen. There are line producers who make things happen too, but what distinguishes them from producers proper is that they don’t have the risk of coming to the table with an idea or commissioning a script which might fail; of putting together a package which may or may not get financed; of having to see it through without knowing whether it will work or not. All those elements are what a producer does.

BERTRAND FAIVRE: I’m a specific type of producer, in that I produce directors before producing films. Generally, I don’t read unsolicited scripts without a director attached. I am the right-hand man of talent and director. When you have a boxer in the ring, I’m like the trainer in the corner. I am someone they can always refer to and I help them between rounds.

CONOR BARRY: I come to producing from the point of view of being a punter, wanting to see things on screen. In a material fashion, a producer for me is somebody who allows talent to get out there so that other people can see their work. On a very practical level, a producer is someone who supports a director in trying to achieve the aims of the project, by achieving funding and support.

MARGOT GAVAN DUFFY: I work closely with writers throughout the process. Some shows come together more easily than others. Some writers are more naturally collaborative than others. Same applies to directors. In production I would expect to work closely with a director from casting and script development through to the final sound mix.

DAVID PARFITT: Producing has been the only job I’ve done on the production side. It’s weird – I have never known particularly whether I do it right. I would say to people that it’s a management role. We here at Trademark develop from scratch but also take on outside projects. I like to think I am somebody who can go from the very beginning to the very end of a project, from finding the idea to delivering the film. Inevitably, I do some things better than others, but with producing there’s always someone else I can bring in with specialised knowledge. So I see myself as a sort of manager who delegates. Delegation is absolutely key, as well as fast and decisive decision-making. What I’ve always done, through theatre, film and TV, is find people who know what they are about and surround myself with them.

GARETH EDWARDS: A producer is also a director in radio. Their job is to help realise the vision behind the programme as well as raising the money for it. The role of a producer changes from job to job. What is required might be somebody who feels confident about the job or someone who can invent the whole thing from the ground up. A lot of the job of producing is working out what kind of producing is required. In brief, you have overall creative and financial control of the project.

IVANA MACKINNON: I am a producer, but have come from a development background so am very hands-on in development.

MIA BAYS: I’m a creative producer. I feel strongly that creative producing is an under-recognised skillset. I work in both fiction and theatrical documentary, a balance I love. I’m also useful as a marketing and distribution strategist as I did that for a long time before producing and I also love that aspect of the job. I’ve also been writing for the last couple of years and just made a short film that I co-wrote and produced which stars Ben Whishaw, who is mind-bogglingly wonderful and great to write for. So I see that as a clear direction – writing and producing.

SIMON CHINN: There are lots of different facets to the job. No two producers are alike. What I want to be is creatively driven, the producer who has the first vision for a project, who sources the material, imagines what it could be, and then ensures everything that follows is in the service of that vision. That’s not always the case as I have sometimes jumped onto projects which are other people’s visions and helped them realise them. It’s always with a creative impetus. I’m not the sort of producer who’s interested per se in the process of financing a film. That can be a quite interesting intellectual challenge in many ways. It’s like reinventing the wheel every time you do it and like putting a very difficult puzzle together, where the pieces don’t ever quite fit. It’s about a process of problem-solving and negotiating. It’s a means to an end for me: the goal is always to fund a film in such a way that the ambition that I had for it in the first place is realised. Unfortunately that is always a function of having the money and resources as much as everything else. As a producer I’m trying to raise money, but I’m also thinking creatively the whole time. I’m thinking about who I can bring to the project, what talents I can bring together and what the weird alchemy is in terms of the team I form to make it work. I often think it’s a black art. That’s why producing is sometimes very difficult to define.

OTHER DECISION MAKERS AND WHAT THEY DO

I didn’t realise when I began that there were so many other roles and people behind the scenes – talent finders, talent developers, opportunity makers, gatekeepers and the decision makers. There’s nothing worse than being introduced to someone and having no idea what they do or what their job title means. Yet it is also really important to know who does what, especially when you are really thinking, ‘what do you do and how can you help me?’

SHANE ALLEN: A lot of commissioning is matchmaking. You’ll get a talent who will send a showreel or an agent who will send a talent your way. Half the time it’s your job to match them up with the right producer. Whether it’s a script or an on-screen performer, it’s trying to find the right home for them. I did that for Fonejacker and Kayvan Novak on Channel 4. That came in through something we used to do called Comedy Labs where entry-level people could send in any idea unsolicited and you would sift through them and find a producer partner for them. The other half of the job is obviously producers and indie companies bringing projects and scripts that they’ve worked up. You’re the filter to help decide what project will sit best on what channel. Does it work, is it different enough, that distinct idea? You’re sort of the gatekeeper. I started as a runner, and sent out tons of comedy ideas before I got the gig as a researcher, an AP and then producer. I worked on the BBC New Comedy awards, Brass Eye, Shooting Stars and eventually became a series producer. From those programmes I developed a relationship with Channel 4 and Andrew Newman and Caroline Leddy. Just from years of making programmes with them you develop a relationship with them. When Iain Morris left to set up his company and write The Inbetweeners, Channel 4 asked would I be interested in the job.

KERRY APPLEYARD: I oversee production and development, am the key contact for broadcasters and responsible for bringing new projects to the company. On Orphan Black I was co-executive producer, which meant looking after the production from the production company’s perspective. I worked very closely with the show-runners and writers on all aspects of the creative and with the broadcasters to deliver the show to a high standard and to budget.

RICHARD COOKSON: