Tuesday 17 February 2009

Sixty Minutes

After multiple distractions working on other things, I finally completed the retooled version of the 'Life Support' pilot last week. All the fantasy sequences are gone, as are most of the flashbacks and voice over. I have set myself strict rules about how the 'story within a story' aspect works, and it no longer seems overdone. The first ten pages are tighter and get to the point quicker. All in all, I hope I've learned a bit from crashing-and-burning out of Red Planet at the first round. Whether it's a saleable commodity or not, only time will tell - it's very bleak and not very high concept, not the best combo in times of recession, so says Conventional Wisdom (but I prefer his brother Norman).

Talking of RP, I assume the word will be out soon as to who's got the glittering prize; good luck to those still in with a chance! I'm glad I did it - definitely a worthwhile exercise, and now I have a hard-earned pilot script for an hour-long drama series. Everybody wins. Interestingly – alright, semi-interestingly – a 60-minute script is harder than anything else I've tried to write, much harder than 10, 30, 45, 90 or 120. I don't see why this would necessarily be, but I've heard it from other writers too (so it must be true!). Now I know why Holby City has a musical montage at the beginning and the end of every episode!

Since completion of the script, I have done another half draft tidying things up, and the script is at exactly 60 pages, which is probably a little too long for a broadcast slot, so I'll review with a mind to cut two or three minutes of dead wood. Then, it will be ready for a good duffing up's worth of peer feedback before I rewrite it again. Hooray! Onwards and upwards...

5 comments:

Piers said...

Chuck us a copy for duffing.

Piers said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Stuart Perry said...

Cheers, Piers: will do. Just proof reading and spell-checking then it's yours.

David Lemon said...

Hi Stuart

really wouldn't worry about the page length if I were you; the pilot of 'Life On Mars' is around the 60 page mark and Dexter a whopping 67 pages (then again, it does have stacks of VO and Americans on TV do tend to talk faster)
60 pages sounds fine for a TV hour - the 'page a minute thing's only a rule of thumb.

And bleak can always find a home on TV. 'Red Riding' looks fab but as far from a bundle of heartwarming laughs as possible.

Stuart Perry said...

Cheers David, I've done some pruning and it's now 56 pages. And now I'm worried it's too short.... I will never be happy!