Writing for Radio: Insight

September 8, 2009 — scriptwriting, writing

The fantastic Mr Fox (or “John” to his friends) is a theatre writer currently dipping a toe into the world of radio.  Luckily for us, he’s just the generous sort of chap who’d offer to share a few insights, gleaned from a recent meeting with a top-notch radio producer at the BBC.

So for what sort of ideas producers are looking for, how far to develop them before submitting them to the commissioner, and when to go about doing both, take a look at his excellent notes below.

Thanks John!

What producers and commissioners are looking for:

• Contemporary, event plays that get people talking, story-driven, stand-out drama and comedy drama.
• Nothing TOO grim for the Afternoon Play slot, although they can do issue-based “serious” stuff.
• Historical stuff tends to be difficult to get commissioned, and if it is, it tends to be proper historical, i.e. set more than 100 years ago.
• If it is going to be set in the past it has to have a very definite relevance to now.
• In fact, ALL ideas have to have a very definite relevance to now.
• The “hook” of the idea is VERY important – why will someone listen? What elevates the idea and makes it stand out?
• BBC7 are looking for 30 minute, one off, sci-fi dramas (but they’ve done a lot of spaceship plays, so something a bit “different” would be better).
• Having said that, if it’s good, they will produce it. It really is that simple.

Some general pointers:

• It’s best to send producers ideas in January and at the end of the summer as the two commissioning rounds are in March and September.
• More tends to get commissioned at the first round and the September round fills in the gaps.
• It’s REALLY worthwhile sending ideas to a producer before you work it all out in detail as they’ll know if an idea has already been done/is about to be done, which saves you a lot of time developing something that will never be commissioned.
• This is also the reason why the first part of the RAP commissioning system asks for so little detail – if the commissioner already has another similar idea on the go, there’s no point in doing loads of work on the pitch.
• Unlike TV and film, radio DOES regularly produce completely new writers and writers new to radio (but who may already have had TV or theatre productions).
• In comparison to TV and film, radio is a fairly quick and painless process, with relatively few re-writes requested and not too many heads giving their opinion.
• Each department/area (BBC NI, BBC Scotland, BBC North, etc) has a designated number of slots “guaranteed”.  In BBC NI, they tend to submit just above this number in the hope that most of what they are submitting will be accepted.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly:

• Chocolate buns make first meetings with producers roll along very nicely.

John Fox has staged productions at the Edinburgh Festival, The Gate and The Young Vic.  He currently has a handful of ideas in with a couple of different radio producers so best of luck to him with getting them through the next commissioning round.

If you’re in the mood for more radio goodness, there’s also a great set of articles on Writing for Radio by Martin Smith over at Twelve Point which are well worth a look:

Part One: Writing for Radio – the medium, the message and the method

Part Two: Writing for Radio – what producers really want

Part Three: Writing for Radio – what radio slots want, what works on radio and how to submit

If you’re interested in radio comedy in particular, do make sure you check out Jason Arnopp’s blog post on breaking into radio comedy and making it onto Radio 4′s Recorded For Training Purposes writing team.

Recording For Training Purposes has an open door policy and is currently accepting submissions.  You can read about what they’re looking for and how to submit ideas here on the Writersroom Opportunities Page.  Deadline is 2 October 2009.

That should keep you busy for a while.

I’m off to find myself a chocolate bun.