Word Count 92: Nick Harkaway & Steve Mosby get screen adaptations, unusual script call-out, free screenwriting course
Plus Fieldwork pilot draft complete, new Buffy, new Mitchell & Webb, how to write disabled characters and much more!
Hi there,
It’s been a busy fortnight in the book and TV worlds it seems, as well as in the writing dens of the Fieldwork HQ, so lets get cracking!
Suw’s News: Fieldwork pilot draft complete
Despite worrying that I hadn’t done enough background research and wasn’t yet ready to write, and despite the even more challenging problem of repeatedly failing to come up with any plot ideas, last week I sat down to write the 15 minute pilot script for Fieldwork, ready for the Sitcom Mission Gold feedback package deadline on Sunday.
In the end, the words came pretty easily and feedback from friends so far has been positive. There are, of course, changes and improvements to be made, but I’m surprisingly happy with what came out. I’ll have it done and submitted before the end of Friday, and will then turn my attention to writing a full 30 page script.
Opportunity: Unusual 10-page call out
If you’re a BCG Pro member, you can submit “the first ten pages of a radio or podcast sitcom or comedy drama script” to Unusual, the production company behind Stephen Mangan’s radio comedy, The Island. The deadline is at 23:59 on 30 June, so you have plenty of time to hone your sample.
Stop, look, listen: Nick Harkaway on Take Four Books
Author Nick Harkaway, son of literary legend John Le Carré, talks about continuing his father’s legacy with the George Smiley novel Karla’s Choice, and discusses three books that influenced its writing on BBC Radio’s Take Four Books.
In my opinion, what Nick has achieved with Karla’s Choice is quite astonishing. I read the George Smiley novels as prep, up to Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, which turned out to be perfect as Karla’s Choice is set before that but after The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. Nick’s other books have a very clear authorial voice which is absolutely nothing like his father’s, yet with Karla’s Choice he manages to bridge that divide, writing in a style that is close to, but not a pastiche of, his father’s whilst occasionally injecting his own unique personality.
In good news: The Price You Pay and The Whisper Man adaptions on the way
Weirdass revenge thriller, The Price You Pay by Nick Harkaway’s alter ego Aidan Truhen, is to be adapted for TV as Kill Jackie, staring Catherine Zeta-Jones.
And crime thriller The Whisper Man, by Steve Mosby writing as Alex North, is being adapted into a film staring Robert De Niro.
I’m so excited for both Nick and Steve, and can’t wait to see both of these, even if the books scared the crap out of me.
(As an aside, it struck me that perhaps my problem is that I don’t have a nom de plume beginning with 'A’. So I started thinking of some possibilities: Alfie Starling? Arthur Gastrell? Ali Morgans? I actually quite like Alfie Starling…)
Read this, two: New Buffy on the way?
A Buffy The Vampire Slayer reboot seems to be on the cards, with Sarah Michelle Gellar staring as a much older Buffy Summers. With an almost all-female team at the top, and thankfully no involvement from abuser Joss Whedon, I’m hopeful that new Buffy will destroy once and for all the idea that middle-aged women aren’t an important TV market.
If this happens, then it’s particularly excellent news for me, as it will validate the premise of Tag – a middle aged woman who finds herself picking up the mantel of defender of the world with only a sword and a not entirely trustworthy immortal for support.
Bring it on.
Bit more good news: New Mitchell & Web sketch show
David Mitchell and Robert Webb will be back on Channel 4 with a new sketch show, “supported by an ensemble cast of next generation writer/performers: Kiell Smith-Bynoe, Lara Ricote, Stevie Martin, and Krystal Evans, plus a dynamic team of established and upcoming comic writers.”
Awesome.
Course: Free screenwriting basics course
If you fancy doing a bit of screenwriting, but have never so much as cracked open a book on the subject, this self-paced online course is for you. Put together by Danish indie filmmaker Jan Sørup, it will walk you through the very basics of how to format, structure, and rewrite your script.
Read these: On the continued collapse of British TV
ITV has announced that they are cutting the number of Coronation Street and Emmerdale episodes that they will produce by 52 per year between them. The Writer’s Guild says:
ITV’s announcement today of cuts to episode numbers on Coronation Street and Emmerdale is a real cause for concern, coming in the wake of the axing of BBC Doctors last year and the cancellation of Holby before that.
The reduction from six to five episodes per week on Coronation Street and Emmerdale from 2026 means fewer opportunities for work for our members and a further blow to continuing drama.
The Guardian points out that whilst British broadcasters are slashing budgets and cutting jobs, “investment from primarily US based media firms surged by a quarter”.
This might not sound too bad — I mean, who doesn’t want to be part of a Hollywood blockbuster? — but it does mean that “UK broadcasters are being ‘priced out’ of the high-end TV production market”. That results in the Americanisation of British TV as prod-cos search for ways to make British culture saleable to American audiences.
Sex Education, whilst awesome, is a good example of this as it mixes in American cultural references, such as ‘letterman jackets’, into a British school setting in an attempt to make it feel familiar to American viewers.
TV writer Sophie Petzal wrote a great thread about this on Bluesky, talking about how it would be nigh-on impossible to make the 1984 nuclear apocalypse film Threads now, and the problems with the TV industry that that observation illustrates.
It cost in today’s money, £1.2m. You don’t know ANY of the actors. It’s both warm, regional, specific, and incredibly grizzly, shocking and universal. It made me think of Play for Today. Talking Heads.
The BBC is can’t afford to make shows now without co-pros, and the American money is gone.
ITV is broke.
C4 has 4 slots a year.
The mainstays of British drama have been kneecapped by the dried up tit of American money. And we seem paralysed to take action to bring down costs.
It’s worth reading the whole thread.
On a more positive note, John J Hoare suggests that a way to tackle these problems is for the BBC to create “a drama strand to replace Inside No. 9”, designed specifically to support new writers by giving them experience and contacts. Keeping the sets simple and reusing resources would be a way to make it economic.
Again, it’s worth reading the thread and ensuing conversation.
There are ways out of this crisis, but it will take some thoughtfulness and bravery from the BBC and Channel 4 which I fear does not currently exist.
Tip-top tip:How to write disabled characters
Writer James Irwin has some really great tips on how to write good disabled characters, which tropes and stereotypes to avoid, and how to make sure that your characters are their own people, not just props for able-bodied characters.
Tip one is the most important: Include characters with disabilities in the first place.
Obligatory cat picture
Our garden appears to have become one of the most popular places to hang out for neighbourhood cats. For some reason, we seem to have two of every sort: Fluffbomb The Greater and Fluffbomb The Lesser are both long-haired cream and fawn seal points. The Ginger Ninja is all-ginger, The Whinger Ninja is white and ginger. We have two tabbies: Young Tabby and Mr Beef Cheeks, who is an intact tom complete with “tomcat jowls”. And finally, two black cats: Basement Cat 1 and Basement Cat 2.
I must emphasise that our garden is not ark-shaped in any way.
Poor Copurrnicus doesn’t quite know what to do with himself, especially as Fluffbomb The Greater has taken to coming down into the garden to see him. They are curious about each other, if wary, but thankfully there’s no sign of aggro. She does have quite a lot of chutzpah, though, so I’m slightly dreading the better weather when we would usually leave the back door open in lieu of a cat flap. I can imagine looking up to discover her standing in my office doorway, demanding treats.
Fluffbomb The Greater decided to spend a couple in hours up our apple tree last week, possibly hoping that a dozy robin might fly into her mouth by mistake.
Right, that’s it for this week!
Ttfn,
Suw