Kellie Bright and Danny Dyer
“Don’t be beige! Be bold!”
After 3 days of inspirational, informative and intensive workshops at Elstree Studios, these were the parting words Dominic Treadwell-Collins (Executive Producer and all-around EastEnders guru) left imprinted on our keen, impressionable, brains before sending us off to write a trial script. An actual, proper, 3 drafts of a 30 minute EastEnders episode. Do a good job of that and you’ll be rewarded with an actual, proper, commission to put words in Danny Dyer’s ‘North and South’.
An abundance of further ‘do’s and dont’s’ - or, more accurately, hours of invaluable insight into the start to finish process of making EastEnders - followed over the next few days which included sessions with Rob Gittins (legendary ‘Enders writer with over 250 eps and counting), Kris Green (Senior Script Editor), Anne Edyvean (Head of BBC Writersroom, ex-Producer of EastEnders), Alex Lamb (Story Producer), Ray McBride (Senior Researcher - and, I suspect, secret comic genius), Jane Watson (Programme Scheduler) and the lovely Nicole Fitzpatrick (Script Producer) who held our hands all the way through the 3 days (along with Ros, Rachelle and Kiren).
Maria Friedman and Danny Dyer
Perhaps the biggest, and most obvious, ‘do’ is to WATCH EastEnders. If you KNOW the show, LOVE the show, and are PASSIONATE about writing for it then ‘you’re already half way there’ we were optimistically assured (at this point, my inner 10-year-old still practising Grant Mitchell impressions was absolutely buzzing).
My writing experience to date has mainly been working in theatre. However, I’ve spent the last couple of years (very slowly) writing TV spec scripts and short films with an ever-growing paranoia that I will never work again as the whole writing world had forgotten I exist! So when my agent forwarded me the opportunity to apply for this year's shadow scheme (November 2015), I applied with very little confidence I would get to the point where I’d be rabbiting on in this blog. Fortunately, looking back, I realise that my 20 or so years watching EastEnders as a fan has been unbeknown training in secret. To get onto this year's scheme (in addition to a spec script) we had to pitch a 3-month storyline for an existing character, interview face-to-face to discuss all things EastEnders and, finally, write a 2-3 page scene from a previous episode. So, if you already know your Beale’s from your Hubbard’s, then you’re already on to a winner.
Richard Blackwood
As with all continuing drama shows EastEnders is storylined months in advance however, unlike the BBC’s other shows (Casualty, Holby and Doctors), there is no original ‘guest story/story of the day’ for new writers to come up with (although regular writers are invited to monthly and quarterly story meetings to pitch ideas). Instead, writers are given a story (commissioning) document which, in 3 pages of prose, details your A, B, C, D and (sometimes) E storylines for your episode. However, I learned that this isn’t as prescriptive as you might think. Rather, you are advised to treat this document as a ‘blueprint only’ meaning there is still room for you to have your own ‘vision’ of how to tell your stories for that episode.
So, for example, if your A story is Ian Beale plucking up the courage to propose to yet another wife and you have a great idea of how he could go about doing that (spelling out ‘Marry Me’ with left over chips from Beale’s Plaice anyone?), then pitch it. But if your ‘vision’ is that Ian decides marriage isn’t the answer anymore. Instead, he decides to leave Walford to fulfil a secret burning desire to change the world through the medium of interpretive dance, then you probably need to rein it in a bit… The main point is to be mindful you are still hitting the necessary story beats so that previous and future episodes still make sense and marry up with yours.
June Brown
For me, this ‘mindfulness’ is important because what you realise very quickly is that EastEnders is MEGA. An absolute meticulous machine in fact and the writers (albeit very important - I know what an egotistical bunch we are) are just one cog in this machine. The show produces 4 episodes per week (classed as 1 block) and they have only 9 days to film 1 block. Regularly they need to film several blocks at once and not always (if ever?) in chronological order too. Imagine shedding tears at someone’s funeral today and tomorrow you’re having a pint with the same dead person in The Vic (do my NUT in!). But hang on… it gets worse. The actor had a fall last night and broke their leg. So they died with two perfectly good legs - skipping around and everything - but now, a week before their death, they’re suddenly wearing a cast and can’t walk without crutches! “We’ll just have to film them sat down at all times — shoot from the waist up”. Looks like you’ll have to scrap that table dancing scene in The Albert then… but needs must!
But, as we quickly learned, that’s the nature of the beast. Every cog needs to work together to keep the machine running. No excuses. No delays. The show must go on whether you like it or not. Because, ultimately, the show isn’t about you. Or any one person in any particular department. EastEnders is about the audience and what struck me the most was the passion and enthusiasm of everybody working there - whether it be Script Editors, Researchers, Schedulers, whoever - to make EastEnders the best possible show it can be for its audience.
Therefore, I think that’s the most important thing to keep in mind. The most recent episodes (Jan 2016) are averaging around 8 million viewers and that deserves a lot of respect and appreciation. So for every unforeseen problem - whether it be unusable actors or unusable sets/locations - there’s no point sitting around sulking about it. Think of ‘limitations’ as ‘new opportunities’. Embrace the framework you’re working within and be open and adaptable to finding creative and practical solutions which are still going to live up to and surpass the audiences expectations. Because their loyalty deserves it.
I hope most/some of that has been useful and apologies if I’ve waffled on a bit. If I had more time, I’d have written a shorter version (as they say). As I type this, I’m currently 5 days (and less than 5 pages) into my first draft and still in a bit of a daze as to how I got here. It’s a Friday night, I still haven’t bathed, and I’ve been wearing the same black Ghostbusters t-shirt (that glows in the dark) for the past two days. If that’s not bold Dominic, I’m not sure what is?
And on that note. I’ll see myself out…
Read James Payne's blog Writing the live episode for EastEnders' 30th anniversary.
Also Tara Gladden's The 'Doctors' Shadow Scheme for writers.