Development producer
- You have to come up with ideas - loads each week.
- You write them up - sell them to the controller or commissioner - and often produce a taster tape to reinforce your message.
- Deal with rejection on a weekly basis and start the whole process again and again.
- A good development producer is never just pitching an idea.
- A good development producer also watches a lot of TV and knows the audience they are making TV for.
We looked at one of Zoe's ideas which were turned into the TV series: "Are our kids thought enough?" - Chinese School BBC 2. She talked about how she went on to present her idea for big companies and showed a pilot episode she made for the series."It's important even in factual programmes to have good storytelling and strong characters." - Zoe
Are our kids tough enough? Chinese School BBC 2
- Zoe and her team engaged some impressive partners, The Institute of Education, Open University and British Council.
- End result - it had IMPACT
- The media in China and UK ran with it.
- The series went viral in China.
- The Chinese President name checked them on a state visit to the UK. A Chinese production company are currently dramatising the production to film a making of China School such was the interest.
How do you have a good idea?
- Curiosity - Follow up on things that fascinate you
- Anniversaries - good starting points
- The 2011 film "Dreams of a life" by Director Carol Morley was inspired by an article she read about a dead woman in a local newspaper who lay undiscovered in her bedsit for 3 years before she was found.
- Sources: Contacts - pretty obvious - keep a book as you'll lose them when your laptop is nicked at the rap party or you flush your phone down the toilet.
- Other media - look in papers that the rest of the media don't read. Read the letters pages. Listen to talk radio.
- Get behind the headlines - scoop up all the key interviewees about a seminal moment. Norma Percy's films take a candid look at monumental events once the dust has settled - in some cases quite literally.
- Browse the best seller list - what are people reading for pleasure? Or what are they watching online?
Another idea of Zoe's which we looked at was about an American academic called Robert Neuwirth wrote a book called "The Stealth of Nations" - all about the informal economy. In her project called "Slum Survivors" where they sent some young trainees (plumber, chef etc) to three of the biggest slum in the world where they would live and work with the people living there.
Sort of a "fish out of water"-idea where the characters are put in an extreme situation and sort of realising that back home in the UK isn't as bad.
- Brainstorm with energetic people - say and think the unsayable - in CA brainstorms they pretend to be someone else when brainstorming.
- Location - Come up with an interesting location and generate an idea or film through that - A gym in a town beset with weight problems for example. A BBC 2 series used Victoria Bus Station as a focal point to look into the trials and tribulations of economic migrants. Or the award-winning "Secret History Of Our Streets" examined social change through a particular postcode.
- Investigate
- Go digital - Whether it's a Google advanced search, Twitter hashtag thread or a Facebook community, social media sites can help you to source original stories.
- But proceed with caution - you need to ensure that it's genuine and the people authentic.
- Amazing footage - user generated or intimate archive - the internet now has a huge range of 'tools' that can help you find content.
- A good title or a well-worn format.
- Get a life - Don't sit in front of a computer, go for a walk - leave town - someone came up with "Come Dine With Me" on the loo at a party...
Hemmingway and the tale of the six-word story
Key elements of a story
- The big question(s) - What is it in your story that is going to leave the audience in anticipation, what is it that they will want to find out and see resolved? Why are you telling me this now? The rule of 3.
- The Hook - Audiences need to want to commit their limited time.
- Strong central character(s) - Eyewitness or personal testimony. Whose story is it? Who is the character, or characters, that will lead and guide your story? What's driving them emotionally?
- Universal themes/relatable - Every great story has to either affect your mind, heart or wallet. Does your story make the audience happy or angry or play on our fears?
- A strong narrative and structure - a beginning, middle and end and sustain the duration - normally you need some conflict, a decision to be made, a turning point.
- "Tell them what you are going to tell them, then tell them, then tell them what you told them."
- Finally, the best stories are simply told with great characters, human emotion and beautiful pictures.
//All images from Google.com\\
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