media

1. Scriptwritingassignment
Hollie Joice
Section1:Obtaining work as a screenwriter –Commissioning
The commissioning editor is a senior employee on the production and they
work alongsidethe scriptwriters. The aim of the job of a commissioning editor
is to aim to build up a publishers list. They find books and media products that
need publishing. They’re responsiblefor choosing the idea for the program and
allocating all the funds. They select the script they approveof the mostand
give the programa budget. They will include their input all throughoutthe
projectand overall manage the authority and how things run.
Directors: Thedirector role is the role of the person who turns the scriptinto a
fully put together project. They take the scriptand transform it into their own
visualproduction, with characters and scenes depending on how they think it
should look. This is why directors are choosing for specific jobs, as they all have
their own style. They are responsiblefor interpreting the scriptand producing
the mostentertaining visualversion as possible.
Producer: The responsibilities of the producer is to overseeall the areas that
don’t fall under the director’s creative control. The producer keeps the
production organized and efficient. In the instanceit was a film, the producer
would be able to select the castand props and check that the production is
within the allocated budget assigned by the commission editor. They work with
the directors to ensurethey fulfil their job roles and any legal matters that may
come up they also deal with.
Script editors: Therole of this job is to supply a very critical input and overview
of the writing process. They need to have strong analytical skills as they need
to be able to read the scriptthoroughly and suggestwherethere could be
improvements. They play the part in trying to strengthen the script and makeit
as entertaining and developed as it can be.
Agents: Therole of the agents is to promoteand sell the scriptof a script
writer to producers and studios. They need to be able to negotiate contracts
that will be beneficial for their client. Agents usually have a built-up web of
contacts who are big in the industry; this ensures they expand on their
influence and their clients. Agents usually play a role in helping beginner script
writers find a way into the industry.

2. Script writer: Scriptwriters arethe ones who spend hours researching and
writing an entertaining and compelling narrative for the screenplay. This is
usually in line with their own ideas or a synopsis /brief that they havebeen
assigned. Somewriters work for one single company whereas others are
freelance and get work fromdifferentcompanies when they can, they can sell
to industries like TV, radio etc. It is also popular that writers formulatetheir
own script ideas, which they can then useagents to sell on to big companies.
Commissioning bodies
A commissioning body is a production or company that accepts scripts from
writers who may not belong to their own company.
Corporations:
Big corporations like Disney or Universalrun because of their established
relationships and popularity. They are a safebet becausewriters know that
people will watch a production coming from a big corporation like them. This is
why it is important that writers contact a well-connected agent or build a good
reputation for themselves so that they havea greater chance in the media
industry. Withoutnetworking or good connections, a writer has a much lower
chance of success in the industry than someone with good connections does.
Big companies like Disney are called ‘conglomerate’. This is due to the fact they
have complete controlof every production stage because they are such a big
company that they can afford to own companies for funding, marketing,
distribution etc. In the UK media industry, big companies such as BBC and ITV
hold competitions for script writers and will commission them. This gives the
chance for new writers to send their projects in and if the company approves
of the idea, they may take it on and make it into a production.
Independent productioncompanies:
Independentproduction companies strike deals with other companies for
things like broadcasting on a network that will producetheir material.
Different companies work with differentiating budgets and within specific
genres and styles of films. Smaller companies usually are at more of an
advantagewhen they decide to only focus on one single genre; this allows
them to build up a reputation within that genre instead of trying to expand to
fast.
Independent directors:

3. Independentdirectors are quite self-explanatory, they aren’t employed by a
film company or any tv station. They havethe same skills as regular directors
with the only difference being that they usually work for smaller lower budget
projects. They have less access to facilities and the financial cover for a full
crew, so this means the director has to take on a lot more responsibility.
Organisations:
Places like BBC and the BFI film academy are organisations thatcan help
kickstarta writer’s career. They accept new writers for commissions and are
vital to developing new upcoming writers’ skills.
Competitions:
The same organisations BBC and ITV hold competitions for new writers where
they must send in their creative work such as scriptwriting. They usually will
offer cash prizes which can also encourage morepeople to enter. Writers are
not always successfulwhen entering but it is a great way for them to get their
work exposed to real producers and film companies and maybe win some
money and a head startto their career.
Section2:working as a writer
The requirementsof the profession
When a writer is producing a script, they must follow certain formats and
procedures to make sureit is up to industry standard. For example, if they
were writing a film script, they’d have to use action lines to describethe visual
aspects of whatis going on as well as transitions, camera angles and shots.
They also must write it in a certain format if it is for a film, called the master
scene script. This regulates the font size; layout and how many words areon a
page. The reasoning behind this formatis so that a producer can tell whether a
scriptis going to be up to industry standard justby eyeballing it. One minute of
screen time usually equates to one page of master scene script, so if there is
only 60 pages this is a sign that can tell a producer the film is too short. They
must writeit in a certain way for radio scripts as well, they mustuse action
lines to describethe soundscapes and audibleactions. Without following the
regulations of what makes a good script, a writer will struggleto be
commissioned by producers.
Agent representation:
Itis important for writers to find the correctagent for them to work with, the
better the agent, the more commissions they receive to earn money. This is
because as explained previously, agents arethe people who can put you in

4. touch with possibleproducers and companies. The writer and the agent will
agree on a percentage that the agent will take from the earnings as payment.
Communication:
The writer needs to have good communication skills as they need to be able to
discuss the scriptidea thoroughly with scriptand commission editors. They
need to ensuretheir work meets the clients expectations and without good
communication they will not be able to discuss and talk through their options;
If they cannotdo this then it severely limits their ability to develop the
narrativeand the storyline.
Time management:
Time management is very important as a writer and if they don’thave good
time management it can lead to a lot of messy or unfinished scripts. A writer
who completes projects fastand efficiently every time will be trusted a lot
more by people in the industry. If a writer takes too long to complete a script
(for example, stretching the completion of the script out over a very long time)
it can lead to a loss in passion and ideas for the script; this usually results in the
scriptbeing a lower quality and less engaging. Poor time management can
effect a writers overallsuccess when it comes to sending scripts to agents and
producers as they may read it and find that it is of a lower standard, or because
it has taken too long to create they may get bored of waiting and hire someone
else. The directors and producers can’teven begin to plan and storyboard the
projectuntil the writer has finished his script. If deadlines can’t be met or must
be extended, this can put a strain on the relationship between the
commissioners and the writer and could affect how much work they receive in
future projects.
Royalty payments:
These payments are the earnings the writer will receive from the success of
the production. They will not all go to the writer; they will usually be split with
the producers and possibly theagent if the writer choseto hire an agent.
Collaboration:
As mentioned earlier, writers in the industry mustbe able to work alongside
other writers or producers within a project. They require good communication
and collaboration skills; if a writer doesn’thavethe ability to work in a team
alongside other people, they will usually be unsuccessful. Atsomepoint
everyoneneeds to work on the overview of the scriptand communicate clearly
about whether anything needs to be improved and the direct vision for the

5. project. The writer needs to be able to clearly cooperate with other members
of a production team.
Handing over control:
At some point in the production process, the writer needs to hand over their
scriptand take a step back. They need to be able to give creative control over
to the producers and directors, who will take their scriptand create the
production. Oncethe scripthas been handed over and sold to the producers,
they can do whatthey want with it within their interpretation. The role of the
writer is to research and develop the script, they havelittle to no say about
what happens in the filming process etc.
Section3:Legal and ethical considerations of the scriptwriting process
Copyrighting:
A writer cannot completely copyrightan idea, this is shown with all the similar
kinds of films in the industry that are the same genreand have the samekind
of storyline. However, they can copyrighttheir scriptso that no one else can
steal it and useit in their own production. Writers should always place their
name and copyrightsymbolon the front cover and top of every page in the
script. These are proof of ownership and is physicalevidence that they claim
the script. Itis very importantthat writers copyrightand claim their scripts as
their own so that no one can steal their work and sell it off as their own.
Plagiarism:
When creating scripts, writers havean ethical and legal obligation to make
surethey are not writing something that is too similar to an existing script. This
would be called plagiarism and can result in being sued or a big lawsuit.
Plagiarismranges fromword to word copying, a stolen idea or copying
something but changing the words. Dueto this, the writers need to be very
careful in case they havean idea that they didn’t already know existed, as
plagiarismis a legal offense. Writers and producers havebeen taken to court a
lot for plagiarism, even if they did not realise it was plagiarism there will still be
consequences. Thereforethey need to be incredibly carefulwhen writing a
scriptwith a new idea, and they need to do research and develop their idea if it
is too close to an existing one as they can make companies angry and strain
their relationship with people in the media industry.
Bias:
The writer has a responsibility to remain unbiased whilstwriting their scripts as
they need to take into consideration a large volume of people all over the

6. world will be consuming that production, and not being careful with their own
personalopinions can be unprofessional. Bias is an ethical issue, and the writer
holds the responsibility of representing groups of people in certain ways. For
example, if the writer is bias towards a certain minority of people and this
reflects badly to the audience in their work, it will be in the final production
which will be consumed by millions of impressionablepeople. Morally, the
writer needs to remain unbiased and create work from a professionaland
unopinionated point of view in certain cases.
Censorship:
When researching the target audience of the project, scriptwriters must
consider what is and what isn’tappropriate for a group. The writer needs to
consider things like age range, whether profanity would be appropriatefor the
audience. For example, if the writer was writing the dialogue for an action film,
they need to decide whether the useof profanity and content that may only be
suitable for 18+ is necessary and beneficial. If the content is deemed
inappropriatefor viewer consumption, the writer will have to go back and
make appropriatechanges which can cause a delay in production time and cost
money. Organisations like the BBFC have a ranking system to ensurethat the
media content like games and films are ranked appropriately based on the
content and the target audience. Scriptwriters need to be especially careful
about identifying their target audience and whatis suitable or unsuitable for
them.
Watersheds:
Watersheds is the time on television that TV programmes that may be
unsuitable for children are broadcasted. The watershed in the UK usually
begins at 9pm. After 9pm, advertisements for things like adult toys and
condoms are shown, also films and TV programmes thatmay contain sexual or
mature content, profanity etc; these would not be shown before 9pm as they
are deemed unsuitablefor children. A scriptwriter mustresearch beforehand
about the watershed as well, becauseif they create a script that is full of
mature content and swearing it is likely that it would not be allowed to play
until after 9pm. This may be an inconvenience to someproduction companies
so they may not accept the script.