When I found out that I had somehow managed to get a place on Drama Room, a new scheme run by BBC Writersroom, I found myself experiencing a variety of feelings. First was shock, followed by joy which soon settled on nervousness. After all, I don’t have an agent, have never written a short film or play and the script that got me an interview for this scheme was via a competition I entered well over a year ago. However, after getting over my initial nerves it soon turned to excitement that I was going to be around other writers and creative types again, in an opportunity to learn more about the industry I love.
After an initial meet with everyone else we were thrown straight into our first session. We were very fortunate to have John Yorke, a producer who’s worked across all areas of Drama, show us an in depth look at structure and storytelling across different scripted formats. Amongst the many things we learned in the session, these three things stuck out for me the most:
1. STRUCTURE IS KEY TO EVERYTHING, EVEN IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT.
I will put my hand up and say that initially, every time I hear about structure and three act rules my internal creative monster lets out a roar. I always fear the worst of this - for example ‘events A, B and C, must occur on pages 9, 33 and 57 exactly, no exceptions’ is a note I would dread to receive.
However, John showed us that while which page something happens is not as important, every story will follow a five act structure no matter genre of format. Even if you dislike the idea of intentionally writing that way, every writer has to know the correct steps to take to ensure they are producing the best possible version of that script, whether consciously or not. He asked us to apply these structures to our own writing, and I was surprised to realise that even some of my more ‘experimental’ ideas do follow the five act structure he presented to us.
2. THE MID-POINT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT TURNING POINT OF YOUR PROTAGONIST’S JOURNEY.
This part I found very interesting. We’re all familiar with terms like inciting incidents, and the turning points with the beginning, middle and end of your script. But I’ve never thought about right in the middle, the moment halfway through where the story changes forever for your character, and sets them on the path they can no longer turn back from. To explain this, John showed us two examples.
The first with the Ken Loach film ‘The Wind That Shakes The Barley’ where Cillian Murphy’s character is forced to prove himself to the IRA by shooting his friend who has betrayed them. The second part is in the TV show ‘Edge Of Darkness’ where after losing his daughter to an attempt on his life, the main character discovers that she was in fact the intended target all along. Both scenes are major shifts in the characters’ journeys, yet done in very different ways. While the first is a literal bang with the shot being fired, the second is a completely dialogue free moment where the protagonist stumbles upon the information while mourning in his daughter’s bedroom. By seeing how both these characters experience such dramatic changes through moments both big and subtle, it made me start to think more carefully about my own characters’ journeys, and where in the script these turning points happen.
3. THERE IS NO SECRET, MAGIC WAY TO SUCCESS.
This one I was very happy to discover. As someone trying to break through while also maintaining a regular 9-5 (or in my case 7-3) there’s always been this thought that if I just had the spare money available then I could get my career going faster. After all, screenwriting competitions can be very expensive and there are only a limited number of free ones out there to enter. We've all seen the ads, certain books or courses that offer you complete success if you do what they say, granted if you cough up a few hundred pounds for it first. That’s not to say they don’t have their positives, but for someone like me who’s got rent to pay, two judgemental cats to feed and a pretty bad CEX addiction, these courses have always been out of my price range, and I couldn’t help but feel like I was missing out on something. Yet learning more about them and what they entail, it’s become clear that there is no secret way to success. At the end of the day it does always come down to the quality of an individual script, a lot of determination and yes, a great deal of luck. Simple information but it does make me feel like I am on a bit more of a level playing field with other writers trying to break through than I did before.
All in all I feel this first session was an illuminating experience, and John was great at explaining story and structure in a way that made it feel fresh and exciting. Fact is he managed to keep our attention during an entire day of sessions, and first thing I did on the train home was straight away trying to incorporate everything I just learned into my writing. After a very enjoyable first session, I’m no longer nervous about feeling out of place, but am instead eagerly waiting to see what the next sessions will bring.
