Screenwriting For Beginners

Well, after two days working on an episode of a new BBC drama, I think I can safely say that I’ve popped my media cherry. Two days of workshops, one Russian movie premiere, one formal pitch, one networking session and one night sitting in a bar listening to bands later and I’m good to go, media-tart-wise. You know the thing about screenwriting? It’s all about clarity and structure. You can have the cunningest plot that was ever hatched outside Baldrick’s brain, but it won’t make good telly unless you can harness it, like a kid with an oversized kite, and bring it in under the rules that make TV drama work. Set-up. Inciting Incident. 5-act structure. Story arc. Pay-off. Yeah, yeah, I knew all about those, too, ages ago. I’m telling you, free spirits are one thing, but if you want to actually, you know - work - then you need to know the rules.

Curses.