FEATURE: 24 AUGUST 2003
2003 British Council / New Zealand Writers Foundation UK Scholarship
Kathryn Burnett was selected for our 2003 scholarship internship with independent UK production company BOX TV, renowned for making cutting-edge television.
It’s Mighty in Blighty
By Kathryn Burnett for WRITE UP Winter 2003 (The magazine of the NZWG)
BOX TV is an independent production company founded in 2000 by awardwinning producer Gub Neal, formerly Head of Drama at both Channel 4 and Granada Television. By its own admission, Box aims to produce television of the highest calibre, quality and vision – for markets throughout the world.
History of BOX TV
Following its inception, Neal established an environment in which some of Britain’s top creative talents could flourish. As a result BOX TV is considered one of the UK s most innovative and ambitious independent production companies. Over the last 2 years BOX TV has produced and managed over £30 million of film and drama projects (see production list below). To further improve the company s performance it recently underwent a radical restructure by creating a mini-studio system under which producers (currently three) run their own labels supported by a management infrastructure that co-ordinates the development and production of their projects. The company has been responsible for shows such as the critically acclaimed event piece Sunday, starring Christopher Eccleston and directed by Charles McDougall, winner of the Prix Italia for Best Drama; Swallow, a major three part series and a landmark drama-documentary for Channel 4 written by Tony Marchant, and; popular hit show Trust, a primetime BBC ONE series starring Robson Green, Sarah Parish and Ian McShane set in the cut-throat world of corporate law.
Development Process
I was primarily working with two of the company s Development Producers. This was an ideal position in which to begin the scholarship as it allowed me to learn a) how the BOX TV ideas factory worked and b) learn about British television industry from the perspective of a production company. But more importantly, as a writer, I benefited from this unique insight into the British development culture from the perspective of the developer. For the first time in my career I was in the position of appraiser rather than creator i.e. I was working with those to whom I would normally be sending my work. If I had learned nothing else during my time with BOX, this alone would have been an invaluable experience.
Development Producer (DP)
The role of the Development Producer (DP) is multi-faceted. It involves the generation of ideas, assessment of projects and writers, selling ideas to the company (and broadcaster), further developing projects with writers, speculatin on trends and monitoring industry developments. In short they have to know the industry backwards to know where their projects are best placed and ensure that their relationships with writers and agents are strong. It is worth noting that this role doesn t strictly speaking exist in the New Zealand industry. It is similar to the role of development executive but the DP is more pro-active in the scouting for ideas and developing relationships with writers with a view to the future. Unlike our development process here, the DP will usually continue working with the writer (or on the project) with other BOX personnel throughout the production, whereas in New Zealand this role tends to be absorbed by a team of other writers and an editor or table head in conjunction with the producer. This was one of the biggest differences between the British and NZ industries. It seemed to me that because the DP was attached to the project all the way through there were fewer opinions involved. But another significant difference is that the British television industry makes lots of short run or one off series whereas the NZ industry rarely does. It tends to focus on 13, 20 or 26 part series, which necessitates a bigger team.
The Development Producer’s Objective
The DP s objective is to get a BOX TV programme commissioned and produced, (usually with them attached as producer) and to this end they are continually looking for and assessing ideas. But the role also has a strong creative component. Both DPs generated projects of their own, often with an idea of which writer they would attach to it. To pitch this to the directors of the company, they would write a two-page pitch; a well-written document that captures the tone, flavour, concept and content of the show. I wrote a couple of those myself and found it to be a useful tool as it really forces you to think about what your show is.
When the DPs read a proposal or script they re interested in, they meet with the writer and focus on assisting the writer to develop the project further. Interestingly, no project is ever pitched to a network without a writer firmly attached. Apparently who is the writer? is the first question the broadcasters ask. Which is perhaps one of the reasons BOX takes such care to foster their creative talent. Discussions about producers or directors invariably come later. At a guess, I would say the DPs would be regularly working on 10 or more projects and still continuing to look for the next idea. So much of my work focused on looking for or creating new ideas alongside them.
Days at BOX TV
My days generally consisted of assisting the DPs by reading scripts and providing feedback on programme proposals. I ended up providing assessment on anything from sci-fi children s projects and comedy scripts to produced US sitcoms that could be remade for the UK market and novels. Nothing quite like being asked whether a comedy prop set in Tokyo would work with a British protagonist to get the mind working.
Development Meetings
I attended all development meetings, read the many writing samples sent to the DPs by agents on behalf of their clients. That s another marked difference between our industries – production companies in the UK don t read anything that doesn t come from an agent. The most enjoyable aspect of working with the DPs was meeting to develop and discuss both their and my own personal projects.
The British Industry
While the British industry isn t perfect and is considerably larger than ours, I believe the NZ industry can learn from the development culture I experienced at BOX. The best thing about working with the folk there is that I never heard the words can’t or it’s too intelligent . True, one of the major differences between the UK and NZ industries is the number of free to air channels which produce local television, and the high percentage of local programming screened in the UK which means they can afford to take more risks. But I particularly liked the fact that they tended to operate on the assumption that smart, original projects find an audience. There was actually more time spent discussing exactly what a show was rather than who would watch it. The focus on excellence and originality first and foremost is a welcome change from our preoccupation with ratings and audience as a starting point for creation. BOX was an ideal company to spend time with as it was very business focused but that didn’t seem to diminish their dedication to quality and originality.
The BOX Ethos
The BOX ethos was summed up by one of the DPs when I asked him what he personally looks for when he s assessing a drama or comedy project. He replied that he asks himself: is it currently on TV? Is it original? Have I ever seen it before? Is it bold and big enough to stand out in a competitive marketplace? Does it have contemporary resonance and would anyone want to watch it? The NZ industry would in my view benefit from adopting this attitude and resist the temptation to self-censor, and underestimate the intelligence of the viewer. We could also learn from the practical and longsighted practice of fostering talent. BOX recognizes that their industry is initially driven by creatives – the people who come up with and realise ideas.
What did I take away from BOX?
Since my return from London I have been asked the same question over and over again. What’s the biggest thing you took away from your time at BOX? The broad answer to that is inspiration but I thought I’d end this article by listing some specific lessons I learnt during my time away.
1. Every show has its own moral universe. This seems so obvious and yet it struck me that so many of our local shows are imbued with personal/network/funding body morality or a mythical NZ morality which often results in characters that aren’t particularly real or complex.
2. We shouldn t be afraid or dismissive of originality. The entertainment industry needs original ideas.
3. Don t self-censor or let anyone you re working with censor you especially at the formative stages. It’s the death of creativity.
4. If you want to write about tricky subject matter explore different ways you can get into the story. For example a writer had written a two part drama series about a male rape. It was a gruelling read so the developer at BOX suggested telling the same story from a woman’s perspective rather than the victim’s and putting it within the parameters of a mystery that needed to be solved.
5. Ditto if you feel your project is a bit derivative. Put some thought into redefining it by giving it a twist.
6. Know your market, and if your local market doesn t want your type of project, find a market that does.
7. Keep as many balls in the air as you can i.e. have more than one idea on the boil.
8. If you re reading someone’s work for whatever reason, respect them enough to give clear, well thought out notes that will help them improve their project and overcome flaws rather than criticize what they’ve done. Again it seems so obvious.
9. A relationship of trust between writer and developer is vital.
10. Know what your show is. What is it actually about? Like, really about at heart. What are you, the writer, actually saying about XYZ?
