Content Tabs
Despite a challenging marketplace for TV drama, Continuing Drama remains a staple of the terrestrial broadcasters schedules. Now the streamers are starting to make Continuing Dramas. There is a regular turnover of writers and these shows are constantly looking for new writers.
This course is designed with that need in mind. It requires a high level of creative discipline, the ability to work fast, deal with notes and master the voices of characters who’ve often been in the shows for a long time.
It will offer writers, the experience of writing an episode of the BBC’s Casualty, led by the highly experienced, award winning writer of the real episode, who will share the experience of writing that episode, the thinking behind his creative decisions and the discipline of squeezing a creative quart into what is sometimes a production pint pot.
Students will write a shadow script from the same serial as the real broadcast script, which won the Rose D’Or for Best Continuing Drama, and as they proceed through the drafts they will get to see the original drafts, and the notes, to gain a deeper understanding of how Continuing Drama scripts develop and the difficult decisions that sometimes must be made when a writer’s vision meets the realities of production on limited budgets and tight, fixed schedules.
A draft student schedule is here
Working from a serial document.
Research
Picking up ongoing storylines and character arcs.
Pitching story ideas to shows.
Writing a scene by scene.
Adapting to scheduling notes.
Adapting to the specific needs of each show.
The drafting process.
Writing for ongoing characters.
Episodic structure.
Dialogue.
Receiving notes!
Primarily for serious aspiring screenwriters and professional screenwriters who are committed to writing Continuing Dramas and want a pressure free taste of the professional discipline and learn how such shows get written.
Please note, those on the course will need to have the time to commit to writing multiple drafts of their scripts.
Complete our application form