Want to know the difference between a Pitch and a Pitch Deck? Is a Series Outline the same as a Treatment? What is a showrunner? We’ve created a new resource to help clear things up.
Here at the BBC Writersroom, we’re always looking for ways in which we can support writers at any stage of their careers.
Participants in our groups will work towards a particular project as part of their development with us and this varies depending on the scheme. For example, writers in our Write Across programme identify an original idea for a drama series and develop a PITCH. Our Voices will work on a SERIES OUTLINE. The Drama Room participants: an original SPEC SCRIPT.
But what are these documents? What is a Drama? What does it all MEAN?
As our Head of New Writing for BBC Drama Commissioning, Jess Loveland explained in a recent blog post:
“It is our role to demystify and arm writers with the skills and knowledge they need to make strides in the screen industries”.
Demystifying, is a key part of our work across the board and, although the scriptwriting industry is an exciting and inspiring world, it can often be frustrating, full of confusing phrases and jargon.
So we’ve added a new resource to our website: a Scriptwriting Glossary. Here you’ll find a list of terms and phrases used both in the industry and in the creative process of scriptwriting itself.
This is by no means a definitive list. You may find in your writing journeys that one person or company may use other words in their everyday business or that one type of document may be called something different between organisations. It’s hard to pinpoint an industry standard!
This glossary is also not an exhaustive list and we plan to update it on a regular basis so keep your checking it for new additions. We also encourage you writers out there to get in touch with us via the inbox to ask for more to be added and defined.
Within the glossary, we have also included links to helpful blogs and other articles you can also find on our website such as our Scriptwriting Essentials and Script Library.
We hope that this new resource will not only DEMYSTIFY some of these terms and roles but also point you in the direction of further advice and tips to build up your scriptwriting toolkit and make your work stronger.
Take a look at our Scriptwriting Glossary
Here are some of our other resources to help develop your writing:
- Scriptwriting Essentials watch a series of eight videos covering the essentials of writing a successful script
- Be Inspired: Interviews Watch interviews and get top tips from established writers and other Industry professionals
- John Yorke's 10 Questions used by top TV writers all over the UK to unlock and refine their stories
- Medium and Format visit this page for useful templates for script formats
