What鈥檚 In A Name
Phew - what a busy couple of weeks! I鈥檝e missed a blog entry somewhere along the line. I鈥檝e been in the writer鈥檚 fug where I wander aimlessly from room to room wondering what it was I was looking for .. my daughter asks what鈥檚 for tea and I answer .. FBC鈥檚 U鈥檚 and E鈥檚 and 4 pints cross match please鈥
Writing a treatment sets up an incredible amount of tension in my head and I can鈥檛 unwind until I鈥檝e broken its back and got it on the table as it were. Then there鈥檚 the question of my episode music - not what music to put into the episode, but what play list to construct for when I鈥檓 writing the piece. I don鈥檛 write to music all the time - sometimes only silence will do, but mostly whilst editing or mulling over, I鈥檒l choose music for my ep. My first Holby episode was written to a play list of Johnny Cash mostly. I like a bit of JC, I鈥檓 no country fan - but the music was apt - the A story was about a drunk nurse who finds her way to AA. The title of the episode 鈥淒ust Off Your Wings鈥 was taken from the song To Live Is To Fly as sung by Johnny Cash as I tapped away at the laptop keys. My current Holby is being written to Talking Heads. My Casualty is finally being proofed to 50鈥檚 teen exploitation ditties (I was a teenage juvenile delinquent rock and roll horror type jive).
My Casualty is almost done. I have to come up with a title today. Usually this isn鈥檛 a huge problem and the title finds its way to the top of the page either from some dialogue or song. This time I鈥檓 struggling a bit, mostly because the titles I鈥檝e come up with so far are a little outrageous or simply far too long. I like long titles for things, but I guess the Radio Times listings people wouldn鈥檛 thank me. I wonder how many people watching these shows take any notice of the titles thought up by the writers. At the Academy we were encouraged to title our Eastenders episodes - which I did do, despite these titles not appearing on the credits. Giving it name helps focus your themes.
And talking of names - I got a brief email this morning from Casualty explaining that a new character they鈥檙e introducing will have to undergo a name change and from now on will be known as 鈥淵鈥 instead of 鈥淴鈥. A trifling thing I hear you say, use the 鈥榝ind / change鈥 option .. after all, what鈥檚 in a name? Well, I鈥檝e just spent 3 months writing a story for 鈥淴鈥 as spoken by 鈥淴鈥 and to suddenly call her 鈥淵鈥 just feels wrong wrong! Not only that, I鈥檝e included a fair bit of word play around this characters name .. now substituting 鈥淵鈥 just doesn鈥檛 quite work. My editor is on the case. She鈥檚 in a meeting as we speak. Bless her.
I do think a script editor鈥檚 ability to read through all my words and simply know which ones can go in the trash is nothing short of amazing. I mentioned in my last blog that my Casualty script was too long and that I鈥檇 administered some cuts, well not enough it seems. My editor told me gently yesterday that I was in fact still 10 minutes over.
That鈥檚 an awful lot of words! People give me that awestruck look when I say I鈥檓 writing a Holby episode, 鈥榃ow,鈥 they say, 鈥楾hat鈥檚 a whole 60 minutes, no ad breaks, that鈥檚 tough.鈥 Well - no not really, I could probably fill a whole 90 minutes and still have some scenes up my sleeve.
I鈥檓 not succinct.
I use lots of words when two will do. I enjoy words. It鈥檚 not just dialogue either - stage directions can end up mini novels in my hands. Academy Boss used to complain about the amount of paper his printer had to spit out to accommodate my homework efforts..
So, for my editor to have found 8 pages worth of cuts for my Casualty ep was music to my ears. I sat down with a little trepidation to see exactly which priceless lines of scintillating dialogue she was suggesting I cut. But she鈥檚 found all the little excess lines and beats that, although pleasant, don鈥檛 move the story along much. It wasn鈥檛 half as painful as I鈥檇 thought it might be. I鈥檝e cut a couple of scenes, lost a character, swapped some lines over and still the thing makes sense.
I鈥檓 going to see some filming of Casualty soon - they were location spotting this week. I鈥檒l need to buy some wellies I think, and a warm coat..
I鈥檝e a Holby treatment meeting this week - a little daunting. This is where I鈥檒l see if my ideas for this ep are holding together or if I鈥檒l have to ditch Talking Heads for Alabama 3, say.
Comments