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Absolute Creators

On a hot weekend in London while Brazil samba’d its way to the World Cup, MEDIA XCHANGE organised a 2 day event bringing the liberating concept of SHOWRUNNING to a gathering of a hundred odd UK producers, writers and development executives.

An impressive line-up of speakers included Bob Breech, David E Kelley’s right hand man, giving fans like me a wonderful opportunity to get as close as dammit to the series guru himself. Bob Breech’s Executive Producer and Showrunner credits include ‘The Practice’, ‘Ally McBeal’, ‘Boston Public’, and ‘LA Law’.

An illuminating insight into the creation and production of the bold and ambitious ‘24’ from Producer Cyrus Yavneh (the integral clock device was an addition following a test screening where audiences didn’t really get the unique time nature of the show), and from Imagine TV’s Senior Vice President of Drama, Jennifer Robinson, the producing company.

Acclaimed director Jeannot Szwarc had influenced much of my early TV education with classics such as ‘Ironside’, ‘Columbo’ and ‘Kojak’. We also gained invaluable insights from two writers, Lukas Reiter, staff writer on ‘The Practice’, and Michael Duggan who began honing his creative skills on ‘Hill Street Blues’ and ‘St Elsewhere’ under the mentorship of that other TV guru Steve Bochco. Interestingly these two writers and Bob Breech are all ex-lawyers – bringing all that experience to the stories and shows they have created. The whole event was chaired by ex Vice President of NBC, Todd P Leavitt.

Creating the monster that is tv drama series – devours story – and gaining an insight into the American process challenged me to think `outside the box`. Both industries are borne from different cultural parents: US broadcasting is sponsorship based, and UK public service based. The way forward for UK is not a derivative one, but there are undoubtedly insights to be gleaned which challenge existing perceptions of how we develop series in UK, which banishes isolation and encourages communication within the creative team.

`Every great writer needs a great opponent`

Key fact about American Showrunners, the ‘Drama Cops’ is they are all WRITERS. Key attribute of a good Showrunner is knowing the right questions to ask, with an understanding of the emotion of the story, and an overall sense of the structure of the 22 eps – if we set up a murder in Ep 3 – how does this impact on Ep 18?

US shows run to 22 hours versus runs of 8/10 in the UK – a fact which causes some envy with the American producers – as shorter more authored series give you a greater opportunity to develop character v. plot.

A typical US Staffing Model for Writing team consists of:

Executive Producer
Co-executive Producer
Supervising Producer
Producer
Executive Story Editor
Story Editor
Staff Writer

All of the above, which we see running up over shows like ‘Ally McBeal’, ‘Six Feet Under’, ‘24’, are writing credits. This structure is very flexible, allowing for mentoring within this system e.g. a staff writer can progress into Executive Producer/Showrunner for their own series.

‘If writers have good incentive – good ideas will run’

Writers have a huge incentive in this structure – both financially and creatively. But re-writing is the norm, and writers need to be open to constructive criticism. The writing line item in the US is the biggest budget element (large libraries of intellectual property pays for development). Writers are paid well, and there are few good writers around – so if you are one of the chosen few, life can be good if all consuming. The mystique of the creative process is an important informing ethos in the US.

Different shows demand different staffing structures. For example, there is the flexibility to spend entire budget on a high-end co-executive producer and reduce writing team from say 11 to 4. But one danger flagged up by one of the writers is to be cautious that the original passion and what excited you in the first place about your concept does not become dissipated and ends up a bland ‘TV’ story.

‘Passion. Maintain It’

One key difference in developing drama series in US is they tend not to create a detailed series bible (but extensively used in development US soaps). The thinking being if everything is mapped out too precisely you can lose creativity. This is something which I find really intriguing and look forward to the opportunity to observe the process in the US `writers room` - how to keep the creativity and consistency of character and storyline across 22 episodes or more. The `tone meeting` is also useful which ensures all are making the same show – e.g. in a show like ‘The Practice’ the sub-text of the characters` lives outside the law practice, are hugely important in understanding the nuances of their professional lives. So some back knowledge of who has had an affair with who is integral.

But whilst we might envy the rich cash development culture in US, CBS for example, receives 500 pitches, buys 100 scripts, makes 10 pilots, with 3 shows making it to air. The US producers expressed envy about the creative freedom of developing authored 10 part series which isn’t driven by economics to same extent – impressed by what comes out of UK – but `another planet`.

Wish Fulfilment

The Call to Adventure.

I will be heading out to LA later this month on the Media Exchange Showrunner Event to share the experience of Hollywood’s leading creatives through shadowing a US Showrunner through the writing and production of a complete episode of their show.

As broadcasters worldwide increasingly need to commission longer running series, there is the resulting need to develop the role of the writer/producer or showrunner in domestic productions. Keeping the vision of a show and giving it a clear and constant voice while covering both the writing and production elements, is an invaluable skill important in the streamlining of production processes here in UK.

Next bulletin – Returning with the Elixir – from Govan to LA.

Julie Fraser is a freelance Drama Development Producer currently working with Monogram Wark Clements on two Scottish set series, DEVLIN for C4 and BLOOD TIES for BBC Scotland.

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