�� Writers Feed

What does being a TV Script Editor in Kids & Family entail?

2024-03-11T12:34:25+00:00

Luke Frost has worked on shows including Phoenix Rise, Biff & Chip, The Amelia Gething Complex and Class Dismissed. He explains the role of a Script Editor in Childrens and Family scripted TV, in both development and production.

I’m really lucky to be able to work across development and production, and the Script Editor role for each of these can be quite different.

If you’re in development you’re sourcing new projects and working with writers to come up with ideas for shows. So this involves reading lots of books, new ideas, sample scripts, meeting different writers and thinking about what the audience and commissioners are looking for. For me, meeting writers and chatting about new ideas is the best part of the job – anything is possible at this stage! You’ll also be developing ideas with writers and supporting them through the (sometimes long and arduous) development process.

A Script Editor isn’t there to write the script, it’s about being a fresh pair of eyes on things like character, story and structure, but mainly it’s asking questions to help the writer shape a project. And also, in the back of your mind, you’re thinking about what similar ideas are out there, how you can make an idea stand out and how you might pitch it to commissioners and production partners.

Phoenix Rise - watch now on �� iPlayer

The Script Editor job on a Kids & Family production can vary depending on the show, but it’s all about getting lots of scripts to be the best they can be within pretty tight deadlines. So, you’re giving notes and asking questions to help the writer develop their script, but as they could be writing one episode in a 10, 20 or even 52-episode show, you’re also thinking about continuity across the series, the production or financial implications of scripts, consistency of characters and tone, series arcs and links between episodes. On a production you might be doing research into certain activities or themes and looking for compliance issues (so in Kids & Family making sure we don’t glamourise or encourage dangerous behaviour that might be imitated at home is important). And as a show starts shooting, you’re the link between the writer and the wider crew - answering questions about the script, managing schedules to hit deadlines, involving the writer in any changes, making script amendments and generally trying to wrangle Final Draft into doing something it doesn’t want to do!

Biff and Chip - watch on �� iPlayer

How did you get into script editing for Kids & Family content?

When I was looking for jobs I’d never even heard of a Script Editor. I was working in my local hospital but knew I wanted to tell stories so initially I studied to be a journalist. It was only when I realised I wasn’t confident enough to talk to people and would therefore be a terrible journalist that I took a course in TV writing and learned how scripts and stories work. I applied for loads of jobs as an Assistant Producer thinking this was an entry-level assistant role (spoiler – it’s not) and eventually got a job at the �� recruiting and managing staff for C��. C�� were developing a sketch show called Class Dismissed and some very kind people let me sit in the writers' room where I met some brilliant writers and producers, saw how a show was developed and even wrote some sketches myself. After that I started to read more scripts, meet more writers and it only took me another 5 years asking myself "can I do actually this?" before I got my first script editing job. So it takes as long as it takes.

The Amelia Gething Complex - watch on �� iPlayer

What skills do you need to be a Script Editor?

You do need to be able to understand and analyse scripts and stories and how they work. You can get that from courses, websites and books, but also from just reading loads of really good scripts (and some not so good ones). And just think about what you like, don’t like, what works well about a script and how you might communicate that to a writer. Those communication and people skills are really important. There is a lot of trust between a writer and a Script Editor, it can be personal and exposing for a writer to constantly be showing their work and getting feedback, so it is important to be honest but supportive. You could be writing anything from book reports to script notes to pitch documents so writing skills are also handy. And then it’s definitely the ability to juggle lots of things at once with a real attention to detail, even a tiny mistake in a script can cause massive headaches for the cast and crew!

Class Dismissed - Watch on �� iPlayer

Do you have any advice for people looking to get into script editing?

There isn’t a ‘right’ way into script editing. So whether you start out as a runner on a show, an assistant at a production company, script reading for a theatre, recruitment (like me) or any of the thousands of other jobs that exist in TV, all that experience can be really valuable as a way to learn about the industry and can often lead to opportunities that might help you move towards script editing.The team I work in all have different backgrounds and experiences and it just makes us better at looking at a wide range of ideas and perspectives I think.

My main advice would be to read loads of scripts – good ones, not-so-good ones, TV, radio, theatre, experienced writers and less experienced writers. You’ll start to get a sense of why some work and how you’d change others, but you’ll also build up your knowledge of the brilliant writers out there and who you might want to work with one day. The other thing is to try and understand the market. Before you approach any producers or companies, look at what they’re making, who their competition is and what else is out there. Kids & Family content and what our audience want is changing all the time, so when we meet people we want to know that they understand what we’ve made, what shows they think are missing and what our buyers might want from us.

Explore our online Script Library

Summing up the C�� & CBeebies New Voices Experience

2022-04-01T12:42:56+00:00

Our year-long writer development opportunity New Voices drew to a close last week. New Voices was a partnership between �� Writersroom and �� Childrens to continue to widen the demographic of the writers working in the Children’s TV scripted sector.

We asked two of the writers, Mina Barber and Jeffrey Aidoo, to sum up the experience and what it has meant for them.

Mina Barber took part in the New Voices Scripted Development Mentorships. This year-long scheme offered six writers bespoke access and insight into the wide range of productions across �� Childrens, from pre-school original series and adaptations, to long-running well loved C�� returning series, comedies and teen mystery dramas. The writers have had the opportunity to immerse themselves in the full scripting process, from pitching early ideas, to development, to story conference, to then seeing how a script changes from first draft to transmission. All of the writers have had the opportunity to meet with commissioners, heads of production and the executive producers of all of the �� Children’s In-House series. Each writer has also worked closely on a one to one basis with a producer/mentor from the team who has helped to guide them in developing their original ideas for �� Children’s.

Mina Barber

Mina:

"I was so surprised to be accepted onto the �� New Voices Scheme. I didn’t believe I would even make it to the interview stage because the piece that I submitted for the scheme was a dark piece clearly geared towards adults, I was worried that the team would run a mile, I wouldn’t blame them. To be honest I wasn’t even sure that I could write for children but as the year went on, I was able to attend paid story conferences for different shows in different age groups, pitch ideas and work on an original idea with the support of mentors from the Scripted Drama Development team at �� Children’s.

What I realised is that writing for children wasn’t as different as I thought and that at the end of the day story is story, and the construction and work around story was exactly the same. For me this scheme really differs from others firstly because of the level of support that you get from the C�� team (they’re lovely!) and secondly because of the real-life opportunities that have been offered. I’m currently writing for my first TV show The Beaker Girls which includes the icon, Tracy Beaker, and it feels like such a milestone and I’m thankful for the springboard the scheme has given me. I would definitely recommend children’s television as a great place to start for new writers."

This external content is available at its source: https://twitter.com/MinaBarber3/status/1506343040188887043

Jeffrey Aidoo

Jeffrey:

"I applied to the New Voices scheme with the hope of two objectives. A greater insight when it comes to children's television and the delicious honey to every writer bee…. Credits!

I was mentored by two amazing �� development execs, which in itself is such a rare opportunity. Being able to pick up the phone, or jump on a zoom to have a chat was invaluable. I learnt so much about the TV development process. My mentors helped me to understand everything that goes into taking an idea, and turning it into a TV show.

I was given the opportunity to take part in a number of writers rooms and story conferences such as C��s Lagging and The Dumping Ground. Being part of writers' rooms, collaborating with other writers, and listening to different showrunners’ visions, really does help to build your writing muscles. I was lucky enough to have small round table (via zoom) sessions with a number of executives and creators, from great shows like Get Even and Princess Mirror-Belle.

The scheme wasn’t just about learning, it was also about giving new writers the opportunity to build their credits, and put all of their learning into practice. I attended a three day writers' room, then was given the opportunity to write two episodes of a fantastic new show called Phoenix Rise.

Having access to my mentors, I was able to regularly pitch ideas for new original TV shows. This led to one of my ideas being optioned. So I’m currently in development with the �� which has always been one of my all time goals as a writer.

At the end of the scheme, all the writers were invited to a finale event in Manchester. We had all been keeping in contact via zoom and messaging, but being able to meet in person was great. During the finale event, we got the chance to talk to more �� execs and commissioners who shared their vision and plans for the future.

New Voices is a real game changer, other industry schemes really do need to sit up and take notice. I don’t know many writing schemes where you are able to walk away with a wealth of industry knowledge (and contacts), several TV credits and a development deal.

It was a true, once in a lifetime experience, and a must apply for all up and coming writers in the future."

Find out more about the Childrens New Voices scheme

Jeffrey Aidoo blogs about how he got to write topical comedy

Mina Barber was part of our Drama Room development group in 2020/21, find out more

(�� Writersroom note: We are hoping to be able to run the New Voices scheme again in the future. The best way to get on our radar for this and other development schemes is to enter our Open Call and other opportunities, which are always listed on our website Opportunities page.)

New Voices - Success for Writers in �� Childrens

2021-11-19T15:04:53+00:00

It’s fair to say the last 18 months have been a difficult time, for obvious reasons. When the TV industry was having to deal with a great deal of uncertainty from March 2020 (with productions being ground to a halt, and everyone having to navigate the new world of Zoom - damn you mic button!), at the �� Writersroom our priority was very much continuing to support and develop writers and finding ways to offer them tangible opportunities (for example our InterConnected opportunity, which saw nearly 7000 entries).

But how else were we going to achieve this during a pandemic? By running one of our biggest and most successful diversity drives with �� Children’s of course!

�� Children’s & �� Writersroom have had a valuable and fruitful relationship over the past years. One of our joint ambitions has been to widen the demographic of the writers working in the Children’s TV scripted sector. We have had success in this ambition through initiatives such as The Dumping Ground Shadow Scheme; however we knew there was still work to do. We wanted to further expand the pool of writing talent whilst cementing current diverse talent into the children’s universe, by creating a fertile and sustainable route.

Having previously worked with �� Children’s Productions I knew that their creative and collaborative spirit paired with their genuine passion for developing new writers, would make our ambitions achievable - and if anyone could make it happen during a pandemic, it was them! So we approached �� Children’s with our proposal and with the support of Helen Bullough (Head of Children’s Productions) at the helm, and Sophy Jacobs (Head of Business), �� Children’s put their money where their mouth is and agreed to fund our ambitious programme. ScreenSkills also came on board and helped with additional funding of opportunities.

Next was the vital task of getting In-House productions and Indie Productions on board, to offer valuable insight, meaningful placements and pitching opportunities within C�� and CBeebies. Although we were in national lockdown it was very much business as usual – in fact, Children’s content had never been more important - shows still needed to be developed, scripts still needed writing, and Animation production hadn’t really been affected at all by these new ways of working.

With the support and enthusiasm from �� Children’s In-House and Indie teams, nine individual opportunities were offered up, from invitations to writers’ rooms to Animation placements, development mentorships to podcast commissions. There was a real range of opportunities in place, and everything was set to kick-off an exciting programme – which we named New Voices!

JoJo and Gran Gran on CBeebies

New Voices was designed to be an immersive development programme, a partnership between �� Writersroom and �� Children’s In-House Productions and Indie Productions that gave writers from underrepresented groups the training and tools to kick-start a long-term writing career within the Children’s sector. Writers were given unparalleled opportunities and access to C�� and CBeebies shows through the New Voices programme, which welcomed applicants from Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic backgrounds, writers with a disability and those who identified as being from a lower socio-economic background. Writers were approached who had previously been part of our Development Programmes such as Drama Room and Voices, as well as writers we knew had a genuine interest in Children’s. Over two hundred writers were invited to apply.

We launched New Voices in November 2020 with a two-day virtual festival, where around one hundred writers heard from industry experts on topics such as the development process and how to approach writing on existing shows, alongside practical craft sessions on writing comedy, animation and more.

Following the virtual festival, the writers were invited to apply for a number of meaningful placements, mentorships and pitching opportunities on much-loved C�� and CBeebies shows including JoJo and Gran Gran, as well as new content such as Tales from Malory Towers, a new drama podcast produced by King Bert for �� Sounds.

Thirty-seven script commissions have so far been achieved by New Voices writers as a result of the programme, with many more currently being considered.

Tales from Malory Towers

Here’s the full list of the opportunities and commissions achieved through New Voices so far. We have also asked some of the writers to tell us a bit more about their experience on the scheme, and what it has meant for them:

JoJo and Gran Gran Series 2: Ten writers were selected to attend a bespoke story conference for Series 2 of the much loved CBeebies series, JoJo & Gran Gran, where they met the creative team behind the show and spent time developing ideas to pitch for potential script commissions. A total of eleven scripts were commissioned for series 2 of JoJo & Gran Gran – thirty percent of the available commissions went to writers that came through New Voices. Five writers, Gemma Bedeau, Angela Clarke, Mariama Ives-Moiba, Athena Kugblenu and Kate Hinksman have been commissioned to write episodes and further episode commissions are being considered.

“The New Voices workshops completely demystified writing for children, everyone who spoke about working at �� Children’s was not only engaged, encouraging but genuinely loves their job - their enthusiasm is contagious. I ended the workshop absolutely certain that I would love working on a Children’s show. When I saw an opportunity to apply to attend a JoJo & Gran Gran story day (my favourite CBeebies show) with nine other amazing writers, and then submit pitches for two episodes I jumped at the chance. One of the pitches I submitted became my first TV commission. The JoJo and Gran Gran team supported me through the development of the pitch into a script I’m really proud of, which led to me being invited to their writers’ room for the second season and a second commission. I know why everyone in Children’s loves their job, writing for children is amazing.” Gemma Bedeau

Tales from Malory Towers podcast: Ten writers were selected and commissioned to write an episode for Tales From Malory Towers, the new ten part drama podcast for �� Sounds.

“It has been such a joy to be part of the New Voices scheme. I’ve learned so much, and met so many great contacts. I hadn’t considered writing for Children’s before, but I love it! It’s really taken my work to the next level, and I’m truly chuffed to end up writing both a Malory Towers Podcast Episode for �� Sounds, and an episode of JoJo & Gran Gran.” Angela Clarke

‘My DG’ Interactive Commission: Paris Ventour was commissioned to write on series 9a and 9b of The Dumping Ground’s Interactive series, My DG.

“Being part of the New Voices scheme has opened so many doors into Children's TV that I never would have otherwise received. I've been able to network and attend story conferences for both In-House and Independent shows in development. Many C�� shows have additional off-shoots like podcasts or online vlogs for fans to interact with and the New Voices scheme has provided me with the opportunity to pitch for those writing assignments. I was fortunate enough to get a commission from the C�� Digital team to write the latest series of My DG from this scheme.” Paris Ventour,

Other New Voices opportunities

Animation Writer-In-Residence placements: Three writers, Mariama Ives-Moiba, Jasmine Richards and Ravi Chand, were offered a three month Animation Development Traineeship where they worked with the Children’s In-house and Indie animation teams. The traineeships provide an insight into both the development and production of new animation shows, from developing treatments to script editing.

“The �� New Voices Programme has been an incredible and career changing experience. After being chosen for a three month placement in animation, I am now writing on three C�� shows. I started this programme with no TV commissions, and now I am on my fifth. It definitely got my foot through the door.” Mariama Ives-Moiba

“They say the best way to learn a language is through immersion and I think the same is true for learning the language of animation. I feel incredibly lucky that I've had the opportunity to look behind the wizard's curtain and see how acquisition decisions are made but also the incredible care and attention that goes into choosing and creating the content that goes up on C�� and CBeebies. The hands-on experience I've given will most certainly help me in my concept development and scriptwriting. I've discovered some great shows to watch with my young family along the way so it's felt like winning on all fronts.” Jasmine Richards

“The New Voices experience has been an incredible journey for me: from having the opportunity to pitch my animated series idea and receive constructive feedback, to gaining experience in a writers’ room and sparking ideas with other creatives to develop a pilot script. Following this, I landed a three-month animation traineeship, learning about development. So, after six weeks, what have I learned? An understanding of the economics (yup), how the industry works (yup), but, most importantly, I learned about how all the people at the �� are passionate about shaping children’s stories with hope, positivity, education and imagination – just like a previous generation had done for me. I’m only at the halfway mark, but if it’s anything like the first six weeks, then I’m in for another incredible ride.” Ravi Chand

Scripted Development Mentorships: ScreenSkills, the industry-led skills body for the UK’s screen industries, funded eight opportunities for New Voices writers. Opportunities included bespoke mentorships within the In-House Scripted Development team. The year-long mentorship scheme has offered six writers bespoke access and insight into our wide range of productions, from pre-school original series and adaptations, to long-running well loved C�� returning series, comedies and teen mystery dramas. The writers have had the opportunity to immerse themselves in the full scripting process, from pitching early ideas, to development, to story conference, to then seeing how a script changes from first draft to transmission. All of the writers have had the opportunity to meet with commissioners, heads of production and the executive producers of all of the �� Children’s In-House series. Each writer has also worked closely on a one to one basis with a producer/mentor from the team who has helped to guide them in developing their original ideas for �� Children’s.

Success stories so far:

Jeffrey Aidoo joined a writers conference for an exciting new school drama Phoenix Park this November and has now been commissioned to write an episode. Jeffrey also has an original new series idea in paid development with the �� Children’s Scripted Development team.
Mina Barber has been invited to the writer’s story conference for The Beaker Girls and will be writing a storyline for the show.
Julie Tsang attended the Molly and Mack Story Conference in September and subsequently submitted storylines for the new series. She is currently being considered for an episode of the show.
Angela Clarke was commissioned as series consultant for an adaptation project currently in development, and worked with the team to create a series bible for the show.
Omar Khan attended the Biff and Chip series 2 story conference earlier this month. He is now being considered for an episode of the show. He has also been invited to submit storylines for the new series of the Julia Donaldson adaptation Princess Mirror-Belle which are currently being considered.

C�� Animation Workshop: Ten writers attended a bespoke story conference for a brand new C�� animated series. The show is in early stages of development with the �� Children’s Independents & Acquisitions team, and the writers spent time developing ideas for the pilot episode.
CBeebies Animation Workshop: Ten writers were invited to attend a story conference for a brand new pre-school animated series to be announced. The writers had the chance to meet the creative team behind the show and spent time developing ideas to pitch for potential script commissions for the new series. The writers have submitted episode pitches which are currently being considered for commission.
CBeebies Presents Workshop: Ten new writers joined a writer’s workshop where they had the opportunity to work through ideas for the narrative, character and structure for CBeebies Presents 2022. All the writers who attended will be credited for their input.

MyDG

New Voices was part of the ��’s investment in the progression of diverse talent, both on and off-air, as outlined in the ��’s Creative Diversity Plan and supported by the Creative Diversity Unit, led by June Sarpong, the ��’s Director of Creative Diversity.

As Helen Bullough, Head of �� Children’s Productions says “This latest collaboration between �� Children's commissioning and production teams and �� Writersroom has been such an important and inspiring project for everyone involved, helping us all to ensure that the next generation of exciting and talented writers with whom we work continues to reflect the rich diversity of the UK”.

It’s been heartening to see just how much the writers have got out of the New Voices programme and we are thrilled to be helping to shape this new generation of brilliant writing talent for �� Children’s. Although the world was starting to feel small during 2020/21, the world and scope of Children’s was bigger than ever.

Notes on ScreenSkills:

ScreenSkills funded eight opportunities as part of the New Voices programmes. ScreenSkills is the industry-led skills body for the screen industries - film, television (including children's, unscripted and high-end), VFX, animation and games. ScreenSkills support continued growth and future innovation across the whole of the UK by investing in the skilled and inclusive workforce who are critical to the global success of the screen sector. ScreenSkills is supported by industry contributions to its Skills Funds as well as the BFI, awarding National Lottery funds as part of its Future Film Skills strategy, and Arts Council England to help people get into the industry and progress within it. 

The Comedy Room - Children's Day and an opportunity to pitch to Radio Drama North

2020-01-27T15:00:00+00:00

Helen Parkinson is part of our Comedy Room writer development group. She gives a rundown on the group's recent two-day workshop at Media City in Salford (also including the Drama Room writers) which covered writing for Children's plus an opportunity to pitch a short Radio Drama.

Hey, I’m Helen and I’m not sure why I’m in the Comedy Room. My background is seriously serious. I was a pensive ‘Method’ actress, an earnest (read minimal budget) theatre director and producer of material that was of no laughing matter. As a writer I tackle dark topics. I thought I’d written a very serious piece of TV until everyone who read it told me it was funny. It seems the �� thought so too. So, here I am with a bunch of stand-ups and comedy writers who are genuinely hilarious and I’m seriously hoping no one will notice that I’m not. So far, I think I’m getting away with it.

I’ve been asked to write about our third �� Writersroom session - a two-day sojourn to the ��'s base at Media City in Salford to discover all there is to know about writing for C�� and Cbeebies.

To be honest, I hadn't previously thought about writing for children. This may have something to do with the fact that I’ve raised four of them. When you’ve been through twenty years of child-rearing, you sort of don’t want to have anything to do with them for at least another two decades. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve nothing against kids' TV. Quite the reverse: Tellytubbies gave me the chance to clean my teeth, Spongebob let me soak up a few minutes of respite in the shed and Pingu kept me from putting my head in the oven. But writing for kids? Animation? Puppets? Not convinced. You see, I write deeply flawed, egotistical characters in dark situations, who go on harrowing emotional journeys and find redemption, only to have it taken away. Not the stuff of pre-school TV. But, as we sat on brightly coloured stools under the Tree Fu Tom backdrop in C��’s reception, I determined to keep an open mind. This is important at my age. Although, maybe I should close it – I’ve noticed things keep disappearing.

The writers waiting watched over by Tree Fu Tom

But before ‘Children’s Day,’ we had an afternoon workshop with Radio Drama North. Instantly, I felt at home (in front of the ironing board actually – radio drama has accompanied me though many a pile of school shirts). Now we were to be given not only top tips, but the opportunity for a commission to write a short audio drama script for �� Radio 3’s programme The Verb. The remit was to explore language-use, to realise something interesting about the way we talk to each other, with an emphasis on experimentation. Producer Sharon Sephton stressed the need for making the audience care about the characters and what happens to them. ‘Openings’ were important: we should aim for instant jeopardy and intrigue to hook the listener in. She suggested we ask ourselves a series of questions before beginning to write: whose story is this and what do you want to say with it? How do the characters change? Is there a resolution? A twist? What makes it unique and fresh? And what makes it good for radio? This last question was possibly the most thought provoking. Especially, as Sharon pointed out, radio drama can take us anywhere, any time and into any body, even a non-human one – no need for expensive prosthetics, just a few choice words would do the trick. I was seriously inspired: we had the blank canvas of the listener’s mind to play with. No holds barred. The universe was our oyster (or even an oyster). Unlimited no strings… Then I heard Sharon say: ‘Oh, and it all needs to be done in five minutes. So, have a think over the tea break, then give us your pitches.’

Watch Scriptwriting advice from Radio Drama North

Now after three months spent in the Comedy Room there are two things I’ve learned about writers. Firstly, they like their food, preferably sweet and starchy and served at frequent intervals and, secondly, they don’t like pitches. We had pitched ideas in a previous session, but that had been to the group and Comedy Room Executive Simon Nelson and Assistant Producer Amanda Farley, who didn’t really count, because we’d been out drinking with them at the �� Club (a definite perk) and realised they were just ordinary, fun people. But now we were going to have to pitch to SIGNIFICANT SERIOUS �� PEOPLE. It’s fair to say, even the mince pies and gluten free bars didn’t alleviate the onset of the ‘pitch sweats.’ As it turned out, the pitching wasn’t at all harrowing. We disseminated into groups, each with a producer/script editor and discussed ideas, some half formed, some fully fledged, all unique and full of potential. Then we were given individual feedback followed by another mince pie. All in all, pretty painless. Sighs of relief all round. But not for long…

Watch Advice on writing for Radio from the team at �� Radio Drama North

There’s another thing I’ve discovered about writers. They hate networking. Like really hate it: a frontal lobotomy is more appealing than talking to an ‘industry professional.’ So, when the catering trolley rolled in, heralding the start of the ‘Industry Drinks – Meet the Producers’ event, the writers huddled together around the table, swilling and grazing and pretending not to notice the VIPs arriving. Simon had tasked us with getting email addresses and he and Amanda, cattle prods in hand, herded us out into the room. Maybe it was the alcohol, or the fact that the VIPs were really nice, keen to talk and happy to hand out email addresses, that made it an (almost) enjoyable experience. Needless to say, there was a lot of email bartering in the bar afterwards.

The following ‘Children’s Day’ consisted of a packed schedule. In preparation, we all tucked into a substantial breakfast at the hotel.

First off was the Scripted Development team. Executive Producer, Anna Davies gave us the run down on how they develop content with writers. Very briefly, if they like your idea, a writer is commissioned (paid!) to produce the ‘Outline.’ Get past this stage and then they help you develop it into a ‘Scene by Scene’ and if it is sufficiently gripping and unputdownable, you get commissioned to write the script. This is sent to the commissioner who will make the final decision. Of course, in the Q&A, everyone wanted to know what the secret ingredient was, the top tip, the magical pathway to the holy grail of the commissioner’s endorsement. The answer, it seemed, was simple: character. Yes, they want exciting new concepts, fresh perspectives, and compelling stories that can appeal internationally, but, ultimately, it comes down to character. Be they covered in fur, unable to utter a word, (or a sponge), children want characters to care about. And producers want children to spend time with these characters for series after series, after series.

Next up was Emma Hill, Senior Content Producer for Children’s Interactive TV. Now, the only part of interactive TV I have any experience of is the red button on my remote. So, it was an eye-opener to discover that there is a whole world of digital opportunities for writers, including Web dramas and storytelling on social media platforms such as Instagram, offering children a chance to follow characters outside of the world of the series (in my day the closest we came to this was the TV annual); offering writers the opportunity to develop much-loved characters further.

Danger Mouse on C��

Coffee and biscuits and an episode of Danger Mouse took us into the realm of children’s animation. Animation lets children go to places that live action can’t. Things can happen to characters that don’t happen in the real world, without scary real-world consequences. This makes it fertile ground for the comedy writer (that’s me out then) as the action can be extreme. But, don’t be duped, the Animation Development team emphasised, it’s not the animation that makes for a successful TV series, it’s the characters. The animators, like actors, get inspiration from characters. The script is their blueprint. So, work hard to give characters flaws, inner lives and outer conflicts, moral conflicts. This is what makes kids come back for more.

After sandwiches and cake, Connal Orton, Executive Producer of the 4 o’clock Club, emphasised the need to roll up our sleeves, and get down and dirty with the development process. Don’t hate it, embrace it. This, he said, was the secret to creating a long running series (plus lots of dosh, acclaim and further opportunities). Needless to say, everyone had their pens ready when he announced the three golden rules to help us achieve this:

Rule 1: You can’t polish a turd. In order to avoid this, spend a lot of time in development. Embrace the process. Explore the ‘What if…’ as far as it will go. And further.

Rule 2: You have to kiss a lot of frogs. Check out a shed load of ideas. Be brave. Don’t worry about making mistakes. Be robust! Test and retest the idea until you find one that is indestructible. Dump it if it isn’t working.

Rule 3: The devil is in the detail. Make sure you have nailed down every detail before beginning to write a line of dialogue. Be a technician, a craftsperson. Aim at all times for excellence in this process. Produce watertight story maps across A, B and C strands and DO NOT integrate them until the final draft. And importantly, produce fully fleshed out characters with flaws and skills that will help them deal with what is thrown at them and ultimately provoke emotional change.

4 O'Clock Club on C��

By now I was beginning to realise that there was a recurring theme throughout all these sessions. No matter what the medium, radio, animation, puppetry, no matter what age group, from pre-school to teen, it was all about the characters. Now, I know this. I do. And I love writing characters. In fact, most people say it is my strength. But, for some reason, when it came to the task we had been set a couple days earlier, that of pitching an idea for a scripted show for a C�� slot, I hadn’t given the characters much thought.

I had been desperate to make the ‘idea’ exciting/appealing to a teen audience, spending hours plotting a Black Mirror meets Hunger Games scenario. I’d researched the ‘world’ I knew what was going to happen to my ‘bunch of kids,’ but now I realised I hadn’t fully developed any of the characters. Of course, I’m pretty sure I’d have tackled this at some point, but now, as I sat with Senior Development Producer Hannah Rodger and four other writers, I knew that this pitch wasn’t going to catch fire. It lacked what kids want most: great characters they want to spend time with. For me, this was a lesson well learned.

What I also learned is how attuned Development people are on picking up on an idea, instantly spotting what is interesting and different. Or not. We had five minutes to pitch and believe me this is enough. The pitches that made the most impact were the ones that gave the broad brushstrokes of setting and story, touched on themes, followed by a succinct description of a couple of main characters: needs, wants, obstacles, emotional journey, and then popped in the odd fine detail to spark an image/idea that was irresistible. Too much detail and like white noise, it started to lose impact, too little and it wasn’t engaging. I don’t think any of us got it ‘just right’ but, hey, for most of us, this was a first time and one which was an invaluable learning experience.

Tree Fu Tom on CBeebies

Fortunately, tea and scones followed (I do feel I ate my way through the ��) and then the opportunity to hear from three real (i.e. paid) writers Toby Hadoke, Sameera Steward and Lucia Haynes. This was the perfect antidote to the pitch sweats. Hearing their stories was encouraging, if only because it seemed most of them got where they were by a series of events that did not include giving the best pitch ever.

Just as we were flagging (or perhaps sinking into a food coma) the last act appeared, Vanessa Amberleigh, Executive Producer at CBeebies, roused us with a brilliantly, speedy delivery of what pre-schoolers like. Here are a few I jotted down: ‘Hellos’ and ‘Goodbyes’ are popular. Slapstick too, but only of the ‘best behaviour’ variety. Pre-schoolers have enormous egos (does this change?), so use emotional journeys that teach empathy (good luck: my Y.A.s still struggle with this). Pre-school is the ‘gang phase’ – what one says the others follow – so try to give them confidence in their own opinions. They like format, the anticipation is half the fun (I can relate to that). And they like humour, as well as songs and puppets. Remember these characters can shape a child’s outlook on life (I wonder if Worzel Gummidge removing his head and replacing it with another has impacted on my world view…). More importantly, they will imitate behaviour, so ask yourself, would you be happy to see a child doing what your characters are doing?

This last question resonated as I popped open my salad box on the train home. I’d thought I’d struggle to write for kids TV. But now I realised Danger Mouse wasn’t so very different from the vain, egotistical, hubristic people who appear in my scripts. (Let’s face it, even Peppa Pig can be a bit of a cow). The harrowing journeys I put my characters on, aren’t so very different – Danger Mouse regularly has the daunting task of saving the world – and the redemption/resolutions are short lived: he will always forget how much he needs Penfold and Baron Silas von Greenback will always have a plan…

So, as I sat back munching through my spinach, it occurred to me that, after all, there may be a space in all this fun for a seriously serious writer like me.

Find out more about the Comedy Room and Drama Room

CBeebies Residential

2018-11-26T11:57:53+00:00

Hi, I’m Joanne. I was in the �� Writersroom's Comedy Room 2015. Since then I’ve written for CBeebies’ Kit and Pup, C��’s Class Dismissed, and had the chance to pitch for a bunch of other children’s shows.

Last week, I attended the CBeebies Residential – an assembly of an elite team of 8 writers at a beautiful ancestral home in the English countryside.

The group at Riber Hall - Writers and CBeebies production and development staff

This was to be our base of operations and would serve as a safe haven from the judgments of the outside writing world. Within its ancient stone walls, we’d be mentored by a team of experienced execs and producers, taught to control our writing powers, and use them only for good.

There was Jean with her telepathic powers, Scott with his energy ray eyes, Beast with his intellect and sexy, sexy blue hair, and me with my adamantium –

Wait. Wrong residential.

So there weren’t any super-powered mutants at the CBeebies Residential, but we did get to hang out with some amazing people from �� Children’s who taught us about writing for different age groups, structuring stories for kids, and gave us the inside scoop on the process of getting a children’s idea commissioned and made. We also had the chance to pitch episode ideas for an exciting new CBeebies show in the works and had one-to-one sessions to discuss our ideas and get feedback.

I know. I’m jealous of myself for getting this opportunity!

Riber Hall

Right. Gorgeous setting aside, here’s what I learned about writing for CBeebies:

1) Jump right in.

Kids are like Fox Mulder. They want to believe. With their rich imaginations, kids buy into things quickly. This means you can dive right into your story and cut out a lot of set up.

2) Flog that dead horse.

Just do it specifically. Like every other genre, there are some common ideas that children’s producers will get from writers: surprise parties, hiccups, hide and seek, etc. It’s not that you can’t pitch stories about these subjects, but if you do, it should be a story that only works with the characters you’re pitching them for. How do you make that story specific to that show?

3) No pairs of pears.

In general, CBeebies audiences don’t laugh at puns or appreciate complex word play.

4) Slapstick.

CBeebies audiences are, however, a fan of slapstick. Maybe it’s the element of surprise, maybe it’s the exaggeration of a norm, or maybe it’s because children are cruel, blood thirsty creatures who thrive on the humiliation of others. Who knows? (TOTALLY THE LATTER) Who can say? (DEFINITELY OPTION 3) Maybe we’ll never know, (LET’S ALL EARN OUR PSYCHOLOGICAL TORTURE BADGE, SQUIRRELS) but aren’t they adorable?

5) No whole grapes.

Imitative behaviour is a biggie for kids TV. Children will imitate things they see, so be mindful. Any CBeebies producer will help you with this though, so don’t let it get in the way of a good idea. (Side note: Adults indulge in imitative behaviour too, but usually this just results in the regrettable purchase of a pink tulle dress and an unhealthy obsession with the MI5 agent tracking you down.)

6) Keep it simple.

This is surprisingly difficult. Basically, you just have to tell one story with no subplots. If you’re pitching a story about a dog closing a suitcase, you don’t have time to get into why he’s packing, how he got next-door’s poodle’s hair on him, or why he came in reeking of milk bones and gravy at 2AM. Just concentrate on whether he’ll close the suitcase.

7) Repetition.

The first rule of writing for CBeebies is that kids love repetition. The second rule of writing for CBeebies is that kids love… you get the idea.

8) Rejection

We were stunned to learn that the show we were pitching ideas for had been in the works for years before it was commissioned. In fact, it’d been rejected by the channel once already, but the producer loved the characters so much she just wouldn’t give up until she found an original way to use them. It took three years but it paid off! So, don’t give up on your idea even if it’s been rejected. Maybe it just needs a tiny change to get past that final hurdle. Follow your dreams!

Anyhow, there was so much more, but those were the main things I took away.

Well, those and the fear that �� Writersroom and CBeebies will see this blog and be like,
“What residential? Where? Why, that house has been empty for YEARS! Didn’t you hear about the TERRIBLE MURDERS?!”
And then my brain would play a quick flashback montage and I’d realise I’d just been sitting in a derelict room talking about writing for pre-schoolers for the past week with this painting …

Writer Success in �� Children's

2018-06-01T10:59:45+00:00

Sometimes writers can be so focused on getting their original TV drama / sitcom off the ground that they don’t consider exploring other avenues that can help on that journey to achieving the dream. It can take years to get to write for TV and can often feel unattainable. Even the most experienced writers can struggle to get their ideas through commissioning. But what’s important in the early stages of your career is focusing on building your experience and credits and finding opportunities to do just that. Here at �� Writersroom we encourage writers to think broadly about genres they may not have entertained or imagined working in. Much of the work we do with our Comedy and Drama Room writers is to draw their attention to entry points that may be more achievable in the earlier stages of their career. A great place writers should consider, is writing for Children's. Not just because C��/CBeebies are very amenable to working with new writers (for the right project of course), but because writing for Children’s is a lot of fun, very collaborative, and let’s not forget they are the most open, engaged and challenging audience on our planet!

�� Writersroom has a great relationship with the Children’s departments (C�� and CBeebies) and we meet regularly to discuss collaborations and opportunities for writers. With Children’s HQ based at MediaCity in Salford, I work really closely with them to try and get writers commissioned on new and existing shows as well as setting up schemes to develop original series ideas. When you visit the Childrens teams something that quickly becomes clear is how passionate they are about their content, relationship with their audience and willingness to work with new talent.

With series commissions stretching to thirty, or even a hundred, episodes that opens up some great opportunities for writers. Our fruitful relationship has led to over 30 writers getting their first TV sketch commissions from 2016 to date, across shows such as C��'s Class Dismissed to CBeebies Something Special, Swashbuckle and Gigglebiz (to name a few). If you can write sketch comedy the opportunities are rife!

Apart from sketch comedy we've had writers commissioned on shows such as Dumping Ground, through a shadow scheme initiative and have had writers taken into paid development via targeted residentials - aimed at generating new original series ideas to help accelerate the development process.

Rather than me listing all our successes with Children's we asked a few writers that have recently had commissions to talk about the process and their experiences:

Bryce Hart

Before being part of the Comedy Room, I’d never considered writing for children’s TV. I didn’t think I’d be able to write anything that would relate to kids and more importantly, that would make them laugh. Crucially, I also didn’t watch any of it. Being part of the Comedy Room and getting to spend a day at C��, listening to producers and writers talk about the process, allowed me to see something that should have been glaringly obvious. Funny is funny, no matter who you are writing for. I now watched everything. I entered an open call for Class Dismissed (my favourite C�� show) and my sketch was filmed and broadcast. From not having a clue about the genre in January, I had my first writer’s credit in it in November. Thanks to this, I was invited to Salford as part of a writers group, generating ideas for new characters and sketches for the upcoming series four. And last year I spent three days on a writer’s retreat with �� Writersroom Scotland, aimed at coming up with ideas for a new original drama series for the C�� Own It website, where my pitch was commissioned to treatment and is now in development.

Joanne Lau

When I entered the Comedy Room 2015/16 I had zero intention of writing for kids, but somehow our day with C��/CBeebies managed to touch my cold, dead heart. What struck me most was that everyone who spoke to us seemed to genuinely love their jobs.
Right? I was wary and suspicious too, so naturally I applied for the first thing that came along.

I was ridiculously excited to get a sketch on the air with Class Dismissed. To write my submission, I told myself I’d watch one or two of the sketches to get an idea of the show, and ended up bingeing every episode available on iPlayer and laughing my ass off. I was invited to their writers room the next year and fangirled embarrassingly hard.

After that experience, I submitted to all the children’s opportunities �� Writersroom sent my way. Obviously rejections aplenty, but the acceptances have made it all worth it!

I was recently part of a workshop for Gigglebiz, which was totally fun. I don’t write much slapstick normally so it got me thinking about comedy writing in a whole different way. It was a great stretch for my prudish stiff-backed brain. I’m also writing for Kit and Pup, an upcoming Cbeebies animated series that is ADORABLE. Yeah science, education, whatever – I just spend most of my time in the workshops trying not to “squee” out loud because Kit and Pup are that cute!

I still write grown-up scripts (first radio credit last month with Sketchtopia – Yay!!), but I’m a total children’s TV writing convert. Maybe it’s because I’m a jaded former stand-up, but I love that you’ve really got to find the funny because kids are smart, brutally honest, and don’t care if you’ve been in the Comedy Room or not. To me it’s almost like comedy writing in its purest form because you can’t rely on crude shock value or taboo subjects to make people laugh. I mean, Kit and Pup aren’t going to talk about a visit to the proctologist. They’re classy like that. Also, they can only say “meow” and “woof”… SQUEEEEEE!!

Marissa Lestrade

My journey with the �� Writersroom began when Anne Edyvean read a draft of my spec script. She was looking for writers who needed one last push to get their script across the finish line. What happened next changed the course of my writing career. She paired me with a fantastic script editor, and suddenly I had a fresh set of eyes on my writing. We spent the next few months discussing the characters and story, and of course I did a lot of redrafting. Finally it was finished and doors began to open. I sent it out to agents and signed up with 42 soon after. The script got me into meetings with producers, broadcasters and onto �� shadow schemes. I did a training script for C��’s ‘The Dumping Ground’ and won my first commission. This lead to a residential, where a group of writers were invited to develop story ideas and to meet C�� commissioners. I’ve just finished a 10-week writersroom for an action thriller on Fox, and am about to begin another with the ��. My journey so far has required lots of hard work but is ultimately very rewarding. It began with the �� Writersoom, and getting my spec script finally finished!

Seyi Odusanya

I submitted two episodes of my children’s animation spec script to the 2016 Comedy Room with zero expectations. I got through to the second sift stage, but I didn’t make the final pick of writers. To my shock and surprise I was still taken for development. I got hoisted up to Media City to piggyback with the 2015 Drama Room writers during a fantastic day at C��/CBeebies. Since then I’ve been part of a writer’s room developing an original CBeebies animation, which would lead to my first commission. Invited to workshop pitching sketch ideas for Gigglebiz, and most recently received my second commission for a live action drama in the works for �� Children’s Scotland. Looking back on it all I still can’t quite believe it’s happened. It’s absolutely amazing, oh and SO MUCH FUN! What’s been so great about it is how welcoming and supportive the �� Writersroom have been throughout all of it. It’s great to know that the people in the Writersroom are… actual people who like to have a laugh and talk about their favourite shows. They decided to take a chance with me and I’m ever so grateful to them for that.

Karen Reed

What’s been great about being part of the Comedy Room is, while you’re trying to achieve the impossible dream of writing a sitcom, you’re also given the opportunity to pitch your words and ideas to different departments – like children’s TV. And it’s just as fun. I’ve been lucky enough to write a sketch for Something Special, putting Mr Tumble’s ted in tiny red Doc Martens. I’ve been on an intense but fun Gigglebiz brainstorming day. I also remember sitting in one Comedy Room session where we were given great advice from the writers and producers of Danger Mouse. A year on, and I’ve just written an episode myself. Not a sitcom yet, but as a child growing up in the 80s, pretty much up there.

So hopefully we’ve convinced you to consider writing for Children’s. But how can I apply for the opportunities mentioned I hear you ask? Most of these opportunities as mentioned are targeted and only open to the writers that come through our schemes - particularly Script Room. Part of the 6 month development programme on Comedy and Drama Room offers writers tailored opportunities for commissions and chances to pitch. So as the saying goes you’ve got to be in it to win it!

A day with C�� & CBeebies

2017-12-01T12:10:35+00:00

I thought that I'd kick off this blog about the recent C�� and CBeebies day with a bit of background about my journey to �� Writersroom's Comedy Room in the hope of demonstrating that if you want a writing career, you have to be in it for the long term...

I have always wanted to write. As a teenager, the very first book I borrowed from the adult library was about writing a book (I was meta before that particular meaning was even invented!) When I was 16, I asked for a typewriter for my birthday (I still have it). I wrote poems and submitted them to various literary magazines. Why poems? Because they were short. I could easily knock off half a dozen before lunch. This was my introduction to the Rejection Slip. My interest in scriptwriting was sparked by “The Lloyds Bank National Screen-Writing Competition”. I started making notes and plans and writing bits of script but my spoof horror Freddie the Thirteenth remains unfinished to this day. A couple of years later, when I was at Uni in Scotland – and with my screenwriting ambitions on hold – I read a review of a newly released Scottish film called Restless Natives and learned that this was the script that had won the competition! The fact that an actual feature film had been made from a competition entry re-energised my screenwriting.

Kulvinder Gill

In my final year at Uni I got involved with writing a student sketch show and after graduating I started submitting sketches to production companies. I still recall the first sketch I ever sent off (it was to Spitting Image) a spoof horror film trailer for The Hammer House of Commons. Spitting Image passed – understandable, given that the title was the funniest bit of the sketch.

Around the same time I saw an ad in the Guardian for A Step Forward – a Comedy Writers’ Workshop sponsored by �� TV and Lenny Henry. Yes, even as far back as 1989, Lenny Henry had spotted the under-representation of Black and Asian writers in TV and Radio and was working to change that. I submitted my sample script of five “typewritten” pages and many months later I was accepted and attended the weekend workshop with speakers including Richard Curtis and John Lloyd.

The day after the workshop, I started a new job in data processing and every evening I wrote sketches and submitted them to the �� at the end of the week. This got me noticed and the following year I was hired as a commissioned writer on the first series of the sketch show The Real McCoy, which I did alongside my day job. I made a conscious decision to NOT give up the day job – and to continue writing in my spare time. And it was the right decision, because that first commission proved to be a false dawn. Real life got in the way – I had a demanding job plus a mortgage, so for the next 25 years, I worked in data processing (or data analytics as it became known in the trendier companies), whilst continuing to write when I could find the time.

You can’t carry on writing for a quarter of a century without having some sort of validation and I had my small successes which gave me hope. I wrote a half-hour children’s pilot which was under option at the �� but never got made. I wrote a one-hour romantic comedy which was commissioned by the �� but which also never got made. And then I wrote a two-page script which got made six times all over the world. I also found time to complete a two-year part-time MA in Television Scriptwriting at De Montfort University in Leicester – a course which sadly no longer exists – and the discipline imposed by having deadlines in those two years allowed me to build up a portfolio of seven scripts.

I continued to submit to the �� Writersroom and made it to the shortlist several times, including the last C�� competition in 2009 (the one where Debbie Moon pitched Wolfblood). Then in 2015, I decided to take a sabbatical from my number crunching career and concentrate on writing full-time – and so far, that has worked out. Last year I had a script longlisted in the Red Planet competition, this year I won my first ever writing competition – the IMDb Script to Screen Award – and got to make a film of my short script. Another script reached the semi-finals of the Academy Nicholl Fellowships and the same script was also shortlisted in Script Room 10 (2015) and I was invited in for an interview by the �� Writersroom for the first time – but alas I didn’t make it into the Drama Room. I also advanced to the interview stage of the Felix Dexter Bursary and was shortlisted for the Comedy Room and this time – interview-wise – it was third-time lucky. This was particularly gratifying as my submission had been a solo-authored sketch show – featuring revised, polished and better executed versions of sketches I had originally written 25 years earlier. You live and learn.

The �� Writersroom C�� & CBeebies day

The �� Writersroom Writing for Children's day

The Comedy Room started in September with a general introduction to both radio and television comedy with the second session in October dedicated to the TV Sitcom. The third session which took place earlier this month was the Children’s Day with C�� and CBeebies in Salford – and was a joint session with both the Comedy and Drama Room writers together because C�� and CBeebies output is so varied the session was applicable to both groups.

As preparation we were asked to watch a lot of the shows – and the enormous range of content did genuinely surprise me. Take, for example, C�� – on the drama side, they have the contemporary The Dumping Ground, the costume drama Hetty Feather, the spooky anthology series Creeped Out – and at the comedy end, there is 4 O’Clock Club, Danger Mouse and Class Dismissed, which this week won a Children’s BAFTA.

I was also surprised by how much genuine depth and “heft” some of the children’s shows had – and that engaged me as an adult viewer. For example, The Dumping Ground dealt with serious issues – such as racism, homelessness and immigration. Similarly, the Marti episode of anthology series Creeped Out was like an episode of “Black Mirror for Kids” with its allegory about an abusive relationship with the smartphone AI taking the place of a coercive, gaslighting partner.

The Marti episode of C�� show Creeped Out

We were also asked to prepare a short verbal pitch for a scripted show – drama, comedy or animation – that would resonate with children. I find pitching – or to be more specific, that pre-pitch period when you are waiting to pitch – to be quite stressful, so was thankful that this was scheduled early in the day. Fortunately, the process of pitching itself wasn’t that bad – it helped that this was quite informal and in small groups. The thing I noticed about verbal pitching, the longer and more detailed the initial pitch statement – the harder it was to follow the story. The best pitches seemed to be the simple ones – where the pitcher initiated an engaging, conversational Q&A with the pitchee.

C�� has two main departments of interest to writers – In-house and Independent productions – but both want the same thing: scripts with great characters, good dialogue and a compelling story told with a fresh perspective or twist and an individual voice. And that’s exactly what all the mainstream channels – �� and commercial – want. Writing for children is no different from writing for adults – apart from stricter editorial guidelines, with the risk of imitative behaviour being the main note of caution.

Watch former C�� Drama Development Producer Laura Conway with top tips

A key difference with the children’s channels is that they look for – and commission – longer runs. C�� look for scalability – story legs – they think several series ahead and can commission 13-episode series with story arcs that may run over 3 seasons. CBeebies commission even longer runs with series of 26 and 52 episodes.

C�� doesn’t have an in-house animation department, so will always partner up with an animation production company. But if a writer has a great C�� animation idea, then the preferred approach is to submit an 11-minute original animated script.

As well as C�� and CBeebies channels, there are also writing opportunities on the various digital platforms – the channel websites, social media and YouTube. Most of the TV shows have digital spin-offs – that are driven by the parent show – and they all need writers. CBeebies even has its own online radio channel and it too needs writers.

4 O'Clock Club

We also heard from Connal Orton, the executive producer of the long running 4 O’Clock Club. Connal spoke about the importance of the development process to the success of 4 O’Clock Club. He urged writers to embrace the process – it is not a barrier – and it doesn’t matter if it takes a long time – indeed all the wrong turns will ultimately contribute to producing a better show. Connal spoke about breaking down and mapping the story first – a total of 17-18 beats across three A, B and C strands – and then developing the characters. He encouraged a writer to be a technician and crafts person and to hold off from writing dialogue.

Connal also offered the observation that although scripts need to put children out front, the adult characters also need to be complex and rounded – and he feels that sometimes the adult characters are not written well. Interestingly, when reading spec scripts from prospective writers, Connal will only read original scripts for adults.

The development process for all the shows seems to follow the same pattern – with notes to be incorporated and documents revised at each stage.

Idea
Premise
Outline
Scene-by-scene
Script

Danger Mouse

With some of the shorter-length shows, for example, Danger Mouse, there are only three stages in the process, with the Idea and Premise combined and the Scene-by-Scene incorporated into a more detailed Outline.

With regards to comedy – the channels want compelling laugh-out-loud content – strong comedy that isn’t patronising. The advice was to write what you find funny rather than overthink and write what you think children will find funny. Alex Collier, a writer on Class Dismissed, says he writes to make the reader laugh. Alex also said that when writing for Danger Mouse, every line must reveal character, advance the plot or be a gag – at a minimum, it must do two of these things – ideally all three. Other advice for writers wanting to write for Class Dismissed included using catch-phrases a lot – the audience not only loves them but enjoys the wait for them. The producers look for physical comedy, gross comedy and embarrassing comedy – don’t worry about a sketch being “educational”.

If creating a new character for Class Dismissed keep in mind that the teacher has to be a real normal person but with larger than life quirks – and those personality traits have to have possibilities to turn into lots of sketches.

Next Ros Attille, the Head of Development at CBeebies gave a neat summary of her channel’s audience, Pre-schoolers:

Have the best imagination – but limited vocabulary
Love good stories but have limited experience.
Love facts but have short attention span
Love slapstick – but be wary of imitative behaviour

Ros also advised writers to write for the audience – not for their adults. So puns don’t work for younger audiences – or for global audiences. Ros also said that writers should put everything in – and not to worry about stepping on a director’s toes. There should never be a whole page of dialogue – there should always be plenty of action and description.

My Five Takeaways from the �� Writersroom Children’s Day

Watch C�� and CBeebies. If you want to write for C�� and CBeebies, you need to immerse yourself in their content.
Realise that C�� and CBeebies are more than just two channels – with the digital content on various platforms, plus CBeebies Radio, it is effectively a mini-network – and consequently there are more opportunities here – especially for a writer new to TV.
The longer episode runs at C�� and CBeebies means they are more likely to take a risk on a new writer.
If you are a writer with any digital experience, there are opportunities for writing content for the online platforms
The expansion of C�� broadcasting hours to 9pm means the channel is now looking for ideas for 6-16 year-olds, with a particular focus on finding content for 13-16 year-olds.

Find out more about our Comedy Room and Drama Room development groups

Find out the dates for our upcoming open submission Drama Script Room

Read scripts including Children's scripts in our library

Watch interviews including Children's TV writer Joseph Lidster, Nathan Cockerill, Elly Brewer, Ben Ward & Paul Rose, Wolfblood creator Debbie Moon, Josh Weinstein (Strange Hill High, The Simpsons etc)

Katie Morag

2017-01-23T14:41:31+00:00

Editor's Note: All this week following the launch of �� Writersroom in Scotland we're looking at programmes being produced in Scotland and which offer opportunities for writers across all genres. We begin with Children's programmes, as the Producer of the CBeebies show Katie Morag explains the writing process, and how they manage to tackle serious issues like grief for a pre-school audience.

Katie Morag (Cherry Campbell)

What an honour it was to have the opportunity to adapt Mairi Hedderwick’s wonderful books for the Katie Morag Series for CBeebies.

But what responsibility! Truthfully? It was petrifying.

Generations of readers had cherished each syllable and every tiny detail of her illustrations for over thirty years. We had to make the programmes authentic to the books - funny, touching, beautiful and wise, and make them resonate, for Mairi, for the �� and for Katie Morag fans everywhere.

Move On Up is based in Cromarty, North East of Inverness. From the outset we were determined to keep as much of the production in the Highlands as we could, beginning with the writing.

We gathered our team up here for the writing sessions: writers Sergio Casci, Stuart Hepburn and Martin McCardie, trainee writers, Jan Storie and Lou Wylie, script editor, Angela Galvin (now �� Writersroom's Development Producer for Scotland), two producers Margaret Matheson and me, and the director, Don Coutts. �� Execs Sara Harkins and Michael Towner came along when they could. And we invited Mairi too, because we wanted her to feel involved in the team right from the start.

At first she declined.

“Lindy I’ve handed Katie Morag over to you, she’s your responsibility now.”

(Right. No biggie!)

But in the end she agreed to come along “just for a short while to say hello”.

By the end of the sessions Mairi was just as much part of the team as any of us, firing in suggestions, laughing away any particularly outrageous flights of fantasy, and even writing a script of her own!

And I wouldn’t have liked it any other way.

The stories were her provenance - the books were based on her own experiences raising her family on Coll. Some of the characters are based on real people. We had a ginormous duty of care.

We had a great time. What could be more fun than sitting in a room full of bright, funny, creative people, scones a-plenty, reading Katie Morag stories to each other and then working out how we could adapt them?

Some of the existing stories would prove impossible for us to adapt; some of the scenarios were totally impractical, which is why it was really excellent to have the director and producers there, for their practical reigning-in of the blue-sky thinking!

We had long discussions about how to portray a totally free-range child, who had the run of the island and was often alone, in a way that would not inspire a legion of small viewers to emulate her. In the end I think we found a balance, compromising on some of the freedoms, but guarding others.

I had written a 'Bible', which included character breakdowns, Struay traditions and Island events, iconic sayings and random quirks, all taken from the books; plus some idea of the format. All the films were to be roughly 12 minutes long, plus titles and the end scene. The end scene was always to be in the bedroom, because Mairi’s books always tend to have a night time picture on the last page. We would then be able to have Katie Morag reflecting on the theme of the episode in voice-over. Voice-over was important, it would enable us to move the story along, and was helpful because of the little amount of filming time we would have with our child lead. (Regulations allow a child of that age to be on set for 3 hours per day maximum, and our schedule allowed only 2.5 shoot-days per episode on Series One).

Katie Morag would then end each episode by shining her torch out of the window and across the bay to say goodnight to Grannie Island and we’d then always cut to a wide shot (animated) of the bay at night, per the books, thereby giving some continuity and familiarity to each episode, something which is so important to little viewers.

Katie Morag (Cherry Campbell) Liam (Peter and Finlay MacMillan) and Grannie Island (Ann Louise Ross) outside the Post Office

In the end we brought eight of Mairi’s original tales to life in Series One. But we had a commission for 26 episodes, so we also had to write more Katie Morag stories for both of the series. Which was equally fun! We brainstormed potential themes, stories and issues. We made a timeline for events - again it was great to have Mairi there, in the books she could move time along and introduce people and things without explanation, but for a weekly TV show, we had to have a chronology.

Katie Morag’s mother has a baby in the Tiresome Ted book, so where in the series would we place that episode? Could any other stories emerge from the prospect of a new sibling? One book, Katie Morag and the Baking Day Secret, features a New Teacher. We discussed what might have happened to the old teacher, who is never mentioned in Mairi’s books. Perhaps she retires and her leaving could coincide with the baby’s impending arrival? Perhaps all this change might be too much for the wee girl to cope with? Katie Morag and the Old Teacher was duly written around that theme.

At the end of each of the writing sessions we allocated the stories to different writers. They took our basic Beat Sheets - a summary of the storyline, and they put the flesh on the bare bones to bring them alive. Once we had reached final drafts stage, Sergio Casci, our lead writer, wrote the voice-overs. It was important that Katie Morag’s voice had the same tone in every episode for the series to cohere.

The Presentation of the Sheep Contest Cup at the Struay Show

During the discussions we talked about doing an episode that explored the theme of death, even in a small way. Our series already portrayed all kinds of emotional, sometimes uncomfortable feelings, and we didn’t want to leave out grief. But we couldn’t have one of our human characters die; it would be far too traumatic for our young viewers. We felt we couldn’t even have a beloved animal die for the same reason. But we could perhaps allude to the inevitability of one dying, thereby creating a natural setting for the big questions that might emanate from any child. It’s difficult to find words of comfort - especially for those of us who have no religious faith. But the more we talk about death and dying the more healthily we can expect our children to cope with it when, in due course (but hopefully not for a very long time) they encounter it.

My own father died when I was barely 17. But it seems I must nevertheless have given my own children a vivid picture of him through telling his stories and using his nonsense phrases in my everyday parlance , trying to find him again for myself I guess. One day, my then 15 year-old daughter said that every time she read about Atticus Finch during To Kill a Mockingbird studies, she pictured my Dad because Finch had traits that reminded her of him. And it struck me as remarkable, that a man who had died 17 years before she was born could be so alive and vivid in her imagination.

Katie Morag and Grannie Island in Katie Morag and the Sick Sheep

So at our writing session we discussed this, and we assembled the bones of a gentle (and I hope reassuring) story which went on to be exquisitely realised by Sergio Casci, to be beautifully filmed by director Don Coutts and our crew, and to be movingly acted by Cherry Campbell (Katie Morag), Kenny Harvey (Mr. McColl) and Ann Louise Ross (Grannie Island): Katie Morag and the Sick Sheep.

None of us truly knows what will happen after we die, many of us feel inadequate when trying to be clear or reassuring to the children who cry in their sleep. But one thing is true - as long as there is someone still alive who talks about us, or tells our stories, or polishes a little white stone on a cairn for us, then a little part of us is left behind, living on.

Read the script for Katie Morag and the Sick Sheep in our script library

Find out more about Katie Morag on CBeebies

Watch episodes of Katie Morag on �� iPlayer

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What are little girls made of?

2015-07-03T13:31:09+00:00

Ext. Forest. Day.
Lily, 9, crashes through the undergrowth, the key to Utopian World of Endless Adventure held tightly in her hand. She reaches the portal and plunges the key into the lock. The door yawns open. She’s bathed in pulsating light. She steps forward. Johnny, 9, touches her shoulder.

JOHNNY
No, Lily. You wait here and look after the rucksacks. I’ll go and have all the fun….

If you’re a girl and a TV viewer the anti-climax of this scenario might be familiar. As a woman who is now writing for TV, I started to wonder how I could help Lily shoulder-butt Johnny out of the way so she’s the one who gets the glowy lights and adventures?

My experience is in writing continuing drama and I try to write guest characters as women whenever possible. But then it occurred to me that writing for children’s TV might be where it’s at when it comes to challenging gender stereotypes. So, armed with a yen to write for kids - and a pen of course - I jumped on my unicorn and headed to the Children’s Media Conference in Sheffield this week to find out.

Just some of the organisations at the Children's Media Conference in Sheffield

Carried on the wave of conference-FOMO, I headed for a session that asked ‘What are Little Girls Made Of?’. It opened with a clip from the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. ‘See Jane’ has a powerful message. It asks when half the world’s population is female, why are girls outnumbered on screen by a ratio of 3 to 1 on kid’s media and when she is there it’s often as “eye-candy”. The conclusion - ‘if she can see it, she can be it’ - was heartening: simply adding more girl characters is a straightforward way writers, male or female, can help girls break out of their pink prisons. Yea!

But then it was pointed out that with kids’ content, writers are often stymied by the perceived wisdom that boys can’t or shouldn’t empathise with girls or their experiences.

Darn. As my heart was sinking, VP children’s programming at PBS' Linda Simensky shared a revealing anecdote. In a focus group for Cartoon Network, 10 boys were asked if they watched The Powerpuff Girls. One put up his hand. Later they were asked the same question, but this time the boys had their heads down so they couldn’t see each other. Eight out of 10 put up their hands.

On the panel: Julie Kane-Ritsch, head of animation and family entertainment, the Gotham Group, Lindy Cameron, producer, Move on up, Jess Day, freelance web editor and campaigner, Let Toys be Toys, Niamh Sharkey, author, illustrator and exec producer, Linda Simensky, VP children's programming PBS Brittany Sommer Katzin, educational consultant.

CBeebie’s data was shown that also undermines the pink/blue divide. Shows like Peppa Pig, Henry Hugglemonster, Katie Morag and Kate & Mim-Mim appeal equally to boys and girls.

Let Toys Be Toys campaigner Jess Day flipped the debate by highlighting how it is important for boys to see a diverse group of girls on screen and learn that empathising with the experience of girls isn’t a threat to their masculinity. (Good tack. Show how gender balance benefits the boys. Make it about diversity, equality not nasty, gnarly feminism.)

The creator and producer of Henry Hugglemonster, Niamh Sharkey was optimistic that writers and producers can drive a change. She said if we’re all active about having more diverse characters on screen, the imbalance can be changed in a generation.

Resolved to come up with ideas that moved away from the ‘token spunky girl’ or ‘action hero boy’ mould, I headed home. Rosie the Riveter’s slogan ‘We can do it!’ was in my head. Because of course these new ideas have got to be that too. Riveting.

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Jane Marlow is a scriptwriter and freelance journalist

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