The document discusses the commissioning process for scriptwriters and the roles involved. It provides details about: 1) The commissioning process includes an agent taking the script to companies to sell, the commissioning editor deciding if it fits their needs, and the producer giving final approval. 2) Independent production companies have lower budgets but more opportunities for new directors, while corporation companies have higher incomes from subsidiaries and broadcasting rights. 3) Job roles include commissioning editors who identify projects, producers who oversee the entire process and work with directors, and scriptwriters who create screenplays and ensure continuity. 4) Laws around watershed, censorship, and libel must be followed to protect viewers and individuals

1. Nikon Ahamed
Unit 4, 5, 25, 31

2. Commissioning
When commissioning a script for a company as a scriptwriter there is a process that has to
be followed. During the first stage an agent has to take the script who will then try and
negotiate with other companies to sell the product. The next step instead involves the
commissioning editor who decides whether or not the script fits their needs and if it does the
producer will give a final call to confirm the script.

3. Corporations - independent companies
Independent Production Companies - These are film companies that produce outside major
film corporations. Independent Production companies are good when it comes to creating
low budget films as sometimes larger companies won’t be interested in low budget films
because they feel that they may not produce as much profit. It may also be a good
opportunity for novice directors to make a good name for themselves by creating a popular
movie with limited resources. Examples of independent companies Maya vision Tiger
Aspect, Matchlight.
Corporation companies such as Adidas, Burger King, Google and Intel are well established
companies that most likely own other smaller companies called subsidiaries which means
that their financial income is higher than any independent company as they also have TV.A
broadcasting rights which Independent production companies do not own due to the fact that
they do not have much power and much financial income as much as corporations.

4. Corporations - independent companies
Likewise, in corporations, screenplay writers are more likely to have a higher wage than in
other companies as these corporations generally have more money. Working in a
corporation also helps the writer when writing a CV as stating that you have worked in a
corporation will mean that the person in highly skilled in his role and has had great
competence against other people in the same field.
Independent companies only work for themselves and aim to produce their products in a
mass production to higher up their name in the market. For a scriptwriter for example it may
be more suitable to find an Independent company as they are more likely to be
commissioned due to a lack of competition compared to corporations. However, considering
the fact that their revenue is not as high as corporation’ s income scriptwriters will not get as
much for their contribution to the final product.

5. Job roles involved
The job roles involved in the commissioning process for writing for the television industry
include editors, producers, scriptwriters and agents.
Commissioning for editors involves identifying books or media products to publish in order to
build up a publisher’s list, they also commission work by finding authors or respond to book
proposals. Their role is rather like that of a buyer as they also ensure to look over scripts
which are worth getting commissions as they are constantly coming in to them; they are also
responsible for meetings with producers of the company they work for where they discuss
what their plan is. There are also different types of commissioning editors as some of them
are more specific into different genres of film (such as drama and comedy). If the initial idea
is a success or might have a potential to succeed, the commissioning editor will work
alongside the scriptwriter to make a treatment to give the producer evidence of their planned
future success, therefore other key elements will be set such as length of product or number
of episodes if it’s a Tv serie.

6. Job roles involved
Examples of commissioning editors include the ones from Channel 4 who in 04 August 2016
were announced to be the new commissioning editors, these are: Joshua Buckingham,
Pegah Farahmand and Thom Gulseven who will be responsible for commissioning and
curating a range of themed collections including original and acquired short, mid and
long-form programmes, which invite viewers to explore different subjects from a variety of
angles.
Producers work closely with directors and other production staff on the shoot. In addition to
that they need to have directing skills themselves as they may also be the director and may
have to take care of all project operations. Producers also arrange funding for each project
and are responsible for keeping the production within the allocated budget.

7. Job roles involved
Producers are also the main players in the television, film and video industries and they will
oversee each project from conception to completion as they have overall control over every
aspect of a media production and may also be involved in the marketing and distribution
processes. Being a producer who controls the overall decisions also means that he is in
charge of bringing together and lead the production team, but there are many other
responsibilities such as selecting screenplay, securing rights, choosing screenplay writer,
editing team and deciding to use specific scripts where he needs to agree on an make a
contract with the script writer if he wants to use it. Beside responsibilities there are also skills
in which the producer needs to excel, firstly it is crucial to have a original open minded vision
as in order for the product to succeed it needs to be unique so that it can attract it’s target
audience, secondly they need to be able to work under pressure and motivate the team to
meet strict deadlines which means that communication skills are vital too.

8. Job roles involved
Producers examples: John Ellis is a british TV producer and
professor in media arts at Royal Holloway, University of London. In
1982 he joined Simon Hartog and Keith Griffiths to form “Large
Door”, the company that bid successfully to make Visions, a
magazine series on world cinema for Channel 4 when it opened in
1982. Visions ran for three series until 1985 as Griffiths left the
company in 1984, but Ellis and Hartog continued producing
documentaries separately and together until Hartog's death in 1992.
Steven Allan Spielberg (born December 18, 1946) is an American director, producer, and
screenwriter and is another well known producer as he is considered to be the one of the
founding pioneers of the New Hollywood era, as well as being viewed as one of the most
popular directors and producers in film history. Spielberg's films have spanned many themes
and genres in 40 years, from films such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind to Empire of
the Sun and Jurassic Park.

9. Job roles involved
Script writers in film and television partially work as part of the camera department to make
sure that the production follows the script set by them. They must ensure that when different
takes and scenes are finally edited the production does not contain distracting continuity
errors and flows with the drawings and planning they’ve made initially. They also observe
every shot closely and take precise and detailed notes to provide directors editors and
producers with an authoritative reference as they also expertise in camera shots and takes
as during the drawing camera techniques have to be used, but their main role is to produce
screenplays for the final product and they need to produce highly creative pieces of writing in
a limited amount of time. Sometimes the producer may hire other scriptwriters to improve
certain aspects of the screenplay and to make the production of the script faster as it can
take a long time to make it, though this means that the scriptwriters need to share their final
revenue based on who gave the initial idea/has put more work.

10. Job roles involved
James Francis Cameron born in 1954 in Kapuskasing, Ontario, Canada, the son of Shirley
is an example of a successful scriptwriter who after working in special effects found major
success in writing scripts for products such as “Aliens” (1986), “The abyss” (1989) and
“Titanic” (1997). He also possesses all skills necessary to become and work in any other
field in the media industry as he had experiences in other fields as well such as director,
producer and product designer which nowadays is well accepted from people who want to
join in the word of media and publishing.
There are no specific qualifications needed in order to become a
screenplay writer, but it is always useful to dispone qualifications gained
from courses which can higher up the knowledge and experience in this
field. Alongside this, there are some skills that companies always pretend
from scriptwriters and these include having excellent writing abilities in a
creative way, understanding of context and what to do based on what’ s
asked and willingness to accept criticism and rejection of work.

11. Job roles involved
Agents instead are people who act on behalf of another. It’s a person who manages
business, financial, of contractual matters for an actor, performer or writer who are part of the
crew/cast. A scriptwriter for example will normally have an agent who will negotiate the
products made by the scriptwriter to get as much money as possible, but at the end they
take a percentage of the profit for the work they do. Some skills agents need to have in order
to succeed in their work include having good social skills, good communication skills
especially to make good contacts with industries and companies and capable of maintaining
contacts with them.
An example of an agency company is Alan Brodie Representation which is a literary agency
whose clients are writers, writer/directors and composers working in theatre, film, television
and radio.

12. Job roles involved
There are many other agencies who act on behalf the crew of a production company and
these are for instance: Berlin Associates, Blake Friedmann, Casarotto Ramsay and many
others who may have some of the best known writers and directors of theatre as well as
newbie people who aspire to put their names into a more visible place.

13. The role of the writer
The screenwriter has several ways in which he can improve his work initially to
make a contact with producers and to get into projects. Firstly they should create a
script which outlines their general ideas and includes an original, compelling and
engaging story which may attract the producer/director’ s attention, Alongside this,
having done courses or having learnt scriptwriting on an institution also highly
increases the percentage of being accepted.
Individuals can start also by making personal projects or by sending their scripts
so that their name can start getting more recognisable in the market which may
give them the opportunity to work with actors and other people from crew and cast
closely. An example is Upton Sinclair who began his career as a freelancer at 14
years old, writing jokes and dime novels and 14 years later publishes “The jungle”
which is what made him famous.

14. Laws and Ethics
For companies, there are laws and ethics that they have to follow when taking scripts for
example through normal publishing terms. These are things such as Libel, censorship and
watershed and about the last one, in order for script to be used for programmes/content that
has to be published before the watershed, inappropriate content needs to be censored or
removed in some way.
Censorship is the suppression of things and content that are not appropriate for the younger
target audience and it is part of the law to follow censorship on any free to view channels in
the UK at least until the Watershed ends. Censorship simply is the suppression of any
objectionable, harmful, sensitive and politically contradictory content broadcasted as stated
by the government.

15. Laws and ethics
The watershed is about protecting children and younger people from potential harmful
content that may be broadcasted in diurnal times as even with the age ratings being put at
the beginning of a digital product to make the audience aware of what they are going to be
watching, children may still be able to see them if programmes are being shown in wrong
times. So based on Ofcom, there are strict rules about what can be displayed before 21:00
as the “watershed” is the period of time when children should be sleeping and therefore
content rated for an older audience can be broadcasted, but only until 5:30. Content rated for
an older audience may include many inappropriate scenes for children which can be about
sexual, violence, distressing imagery and swearing in any kind of shape or form and since
2003 Ofcom has been taking actions for broadcasters who scheduled unsuitable content
before or after the watershed and keeps on looking at programmes scheduling even
nowadays for a better environment for young people.

16. Laws and ethics
For premium or pay-per-view services and channels in UK the watershed rules still applies in
the same way as only from 21:00 until 5:30 programmes with unsuitable content for younger
people can be broadcasted, sometimes allowing premium programmes for an audience of
over 18 people to be broadcasted until 6:00 as the timings are more flexible. However, there
are some 12+ content that can be still shown before 21:00, such as The Simpsons, Malcolm
in the Middle, Doctor Who, Atlantis and Futurama which have been accepted and approved
by the rules of the watershed. On protected channels such as Sky Movies there is no
watershed rule as in order to view adult content before 21:00 a PIN will be required in order
to access to the content which only guardians or parents should know.

17. Laws and ethics
Sometimes,even 12+ programmes have some inappropriate scenes for the younger
audience, but they still can be broadcasted before the watershed meaning that for further
health and safety ethic decisions as children may be watching, the companies need to
change the content of their product, this means that these programmes which may contain
unsuitable content for people under 12 have to go through changes and editing where some
bits of scenes might be taken away to let the younger audience watch it, even censoring may
be included to hide inappropriate material.

18. Legal and ethical consideration - libel
The defamation act exists to protect individuals’ reputation from being damaged
and there are two types of defamation, one is libel which is done in the form of
writing and actual evidenced piece paper and the other one is slander which
instead is verbal. You can defame a person in a number of ways which may
include publishing online or on newspapers (or general papers) content that
lowers their reputation as well as through posting in social media, blogs and
forums. This applies to screenplay writers as when they make their products they
cannot produce content that affects someone’ s reputation which may also put the
writer in a negative position.
To avoid these problems, a writer may include in their scripts only content that
does not relate to others in an offensive way.