Development and how to survive it.

Author:  Kate Leys, Script Editor

Writing a screenplay is an immensely difficult job.  It involves writing a narrative story as brilliantly and readably as any great novel although it is a piece of writing that will never be seen by its intended audience. Screenwriting includes creative, technical and craft skills and it is, unsurprisingly, extremely difficult to get right, which is where development comes in.

Development is about perspective and focus, and about hearing constructive suggestions from people who are closely involved in the script.  It is about making a script better and a story stronger.  It is not simply about establishing what doesn't work in a script; it is not about haggling or bickering over criticisms; and it is not about giving lists of instructions to writers. Development is the process of revising, rewriting and polishing a script, often through a combination of discussion and written notes, until it is the best it can be. 

The most important thing in development is that a screenplay must tell a great story: in the end that is what everyone in film is looking for.  If the writer can describe their story in a simple sentence and people react well to it, they're on the right track.  A story must have compelling characters and a beginning, a middle and an end.  The writer needs to be able to work out what the real drama is in their story and where the conflict is coming from.  Can they identify whose story it is?  What they want?  And why they can't get it?  This is the real heart of their story.

Development involves a series of people.  As well as a screenwriter it may also include any combination of producer, script editor, development executive, financier, agent, director and/or actors.  Essentially anyone who has a stake in the story or whose approval the writer needs is involved in the development process; sometimes they will work collaboratively and sometimes they will work more remotely, through a chain of communication.

Case studies:

Developing My Summer of Love

Chris Clarke - Development Executive

Pippa Best – Script Editor

Sometimes development begins when a producer or a director has an idea and commissions a writer to turn it into an outline and then a screenplay.  Sometimes it begins when a writer goes to a producer with an outline or a treatment seeking a commission to write it.  And sometimes it begins when a producer finds a script with some potential and decides to invest in it.

Development takes a long time.  It is not usually possible to write a good script in a few weeks.  It is hard to be precise about how long it should take but working out a really strong story idea will take weeks rather than days, and writing a first draft screenplay will take two or three months. Scripts will often go through many, many drafts before they are ready.  Momentum is very important in filmmaking and there will always come a point when the script development must stop because the other elements of a film are in place and it is time to move towards production, but there is a difference between momentum and rushing.  A second draft script written in 3 or 4 weeks will not usually be production–ready.

It is very difficult to raise finance for development, not least because it can be a long process with uncertain results.  Producers have rent to pay just like writers, so sometimes it is necessary to find creative ways to finance the development process.  On the other hand, development is the investment that a producer must make in order to end up with a successful film.  A strong script will almost certainly earn more money in the long run and the more a producer invests at the start, the more rights (and future income) they will control in their film later on. 

Despite what the screenwriting books tell you, development is not often a linear process.  The theory suggests that writers should start with a single sentence that summarises their idea, develop it into a prose outline, then expand this into a step–outline that loosely describes the action in each scene.  Finally, the theory goes, all you have to do is fill in the dialogue and there it is, a completed screenplay.  It is a very good theory but in practice it is rarely what happens.  Writers tend to explore their ideas by writing them, just as they express their ideas by writing them.  This means that writers will often jump into the process early and end up with a long outline or a rough first draft that doesn't entirely add up or do what they thought it would.  This is a good point to stop and think about what the story they are writing really is, and probably to have a shot at writing it as a short outline so that they have a working document to think about and revise. This is the start of the development process.

Advice from the best: Billy Wilder's top 11 tips for screenwriters:

1. The audience is fickle.
2. Grab 'em by the throat and never let 'em go.
3. Develop a clean line of action for your leading character.
4. Know where you're going.
5. The more subtle and elegant you are in hiding your plot points, the better you are as a writer.
6. If you have a problem with the third act, the real problem is in the first act.
7. A tip from Ernst Lubitsch: let the audience add up two plus two. They'll love you forever.
8. In doing voice–overs, be careful not to describe what the audience already sees. Add to what they are seeing.
9. The event that occurs at the end of the second act curtain triggers the end of the movie.
10. The third act must build, build, build in tempo and action until the last event, and then
11. That's it. Don't hang around.

DEVELOPMENT FAQs

How do I get feedback on my script or story, and it is useful?

Good development feedback is invaluable.  Screenwriting is a solitary process and getting informed opinions from outside the writer's own head can help them to see their story more clearly.  There are a variety of ways a writer can get feedback if they do not have an agent or a producer to work with: they can talk to other writers, to other film personnel if they know any (directors and film editors will be especially helpful), or they can hire in development expertise. They can pay for a report from an industry script reader, or they can ask a script editor to give you written feedback and/or development notes, or to have a meeting with them to discuss the project in detail.  See for example The Script Factory for a professional feedback service.

What is a treatment and do I need to write one?

There are several definitions of the word ‘treatment' but usually it means a short, prose version of the story.  A treatment will usually include the whole story, including the ending, and may also include some notes about why the writer wants to write this idea and what they think it is about.  A treatment, sometimes also called an outline, is a good document for a writer to use to focus on and think about on their story, and can also be a good way to present their idea to possible financiers.  However, if a full screenplay exists producers and financiers would normally rather see that.

Do I need an agent?

An agent can give a writer development advice, can send an idea or script out to potential producers and can negotiate a contract on the writer's behalf.  Some production companies would rather only see unsolicited scripts via an agent.  An agent can be enormously helpful but it is not essential that a writer has one when they are starting out: they can send their own work out to producers.  See the Writer's & Artist's Yearbook for a full listing of agencies with addresses and information on whether or not they will consider work.

Where can I send my script or treatment?

When a writer is confident that their screenplay is ready for the marketplace they can send it to people who might want to invest in developing it and/or to finance it as a production.  Bear in mind that if they read it and do not like it they will not usually read subsequent drafts.  Public film funding is run by the UK Film Council and by a network of Regional Screen Agencies: for information about both see UK Film Council. For a list of commercial producers, production companies and contact details see The Screenwriters' Handbook, the Writers' and Artists' Yearbook, the PACT members directory or the New Producer's Alliance.

What do people mean when they talk about development?  A development vocabulary:

1  DEVELOPMENT DOCUMENTS

There is no standard glossary of terms in the British film industry so when a writer discusses drafts, revisions, treatments, outlines and other development documents it is best to always define terms, or ask whoever they are talking to to define theirs.  Here are some notes on some of them, using terms broadly common in the film industry.

Script

Usually 90–110 pages, usually 120–160 scenes.  Pages and scenes should be numbered.  Title, writer and producer or agent contact details should be on the front page, along with a date and probably a draft number.

Draft/revision

The words used to describe the different kinds of rewrite a writer might agree the script needs. If you are a producer, get legal advice on the difference when a writer is agreeing a contract and be very clear about the difference when you are talking to your writer.  Generally, a new draft is a rewrite with substantial, significant story changes and a revision is a rewrite with small, less significant story changes.

Treatment

There are two kinds of treatment, one that does a marketing job and is about selling the film, and one that does a development job and is about working on the story. 

A marketing treatment is one that a producer takes to pitch meetings, film festivals and markets, or networking opportunities where they might meet potential financiers.  Its job is to sell the project.  It will probably have a title page (with contact details on) and will include brief notes on any talent attached to the project and the producer.  It will probably include a paragraph that describes the film.  It might compare the project with existing, similar films.  It might include approximate budget parameters.  It should include a full synopsis.  It might also include notes on the central characters – not as a substitute for describing the characters in the synopsis, but as a casting guide.

A development treatment is a document that describes the story in prose form and might run anything up to 15 pages.  This document is sometimes also called an outline.  This kind of treatment is a document that sets out the story in the way a writer wants to tell it, perhaps including some sense of what it is the writer wants to say and why they want to tell this story. Treatments like this can be written at any stage in the development process but it is a good idea to revise them as the script is revised. Their job is to tell the story simply and briefly so that all parties can easily see what the story is, and the writer can easily revise and tinker with it.  

Synopsis

This describes the plot of the story in its entirety.  A synopsis will include the ending and will never finish with a question (how will our plucky hero extract himself from this terrible disaster?) or a dot, dot, dot...  A synopsis should not be long and ideally not more than one side of A4.  A synopsis is not the same thing as a treatment or an outline: it usually describes a story that already exists in screenplay form.

Script report

A script report is paid–for feedback on a script written by somebody who reads a lot of scripts.  A script report is quite formally set out with subheadings and will include a synopsis, comments on various aspects of the script and the project, and a conclusion or a verdict.  Script reports can run anything from 1 to 5 pages.  Most film financiers rely on script reports (also called coverage) to assess the scripts they receive.  Producers, directors and even screenwriters will also sometimes commission script reports from readers or from script editors as a way of getting feedback on a screenplay. 

Script notes & development notes

These are also sometimes called writer's notes because they are written for the writer.  Script notes will generally focus on the script, and will take the form of detailed feedback on a script, usually including page–by–page or scene–by–scene notes where they are needed.  Good script notes will highlight what is and is not working in a script.  Script notes will often follow a meeting.  Development notes will tend to start with the script you have and offer more detailed suggestions for areas that need attention.  Good development notes will analyse what is and is not working in a script and will examine why.  Development notes will aim to move the script on to its next draft, or next stage.

Logline

A single sentence that describes the story.  Literally, a sentence that a production company or financier might put into their database to ‘log' receipt of your script.

Tagline

The clever phrase that might sell the story.  Do not underestimate how hard it can be to write these well.  Geniuses in marketing departments are paid a fortune for their tagline skills.  A really good tagline makes you notice the film, not the tagline; conversely some of the most well known taglines in the world were written for some of the least memorable films. 

2  STORY STRUCTURE

These are some of the terms people use when they are talking about a story or a script.

Controlling idea

The idea, or the thought, that the writer wants to express.  The controlling idea is also the thing that controls the story: it gives the writer some parameters about what they write. 

Inciting incident

The single event that kicks a story off.  The ‘inciting incident' lifts the lid: it upsets the balance of life in the world of the story, or of the central character.  Effectively it is the question that the story must answer.  The inciting incident can happen any time in the first act, or the first third of the film.

Three act structure

The way that a classic film story is put together in three blocks of storytelling (think beginning, middle, end) each with its own climax.

Back story

Relevant, formative things that happened to a character before the story begins.  A character's history becomes ‘back story' when it will be significant to the story.

Climax

The other end of the controlling idea.  The climax of a film expresses the controlling idea of a story.  The climax is also the other end of the inciting incident: because the inciting incident happened, the climax has to happen. 

Genre

Not a formula or a set of rules, but a way of describing the shape of classic stories.  Genre often, though not always, describes the journey of the central character through a story.  Genre is a way of establishing integrity in a story, and a way of working out what the audience's expectations will be.

3  OTHER INFORMATION

For detailed information about copyright, tax, contracts, agents, festivals and production companies see elsewhere on the Hints and Tips pages on this site, or look at either THE WRITERS' AND ARTISTS' YEARBOOK or the new SCREENWRITER'S HANDBOOK published in August 2007. 

For screenwriting courses see Skillset's Accredited Screenwriting Courses

For detailed information about how to format your script see the Script Factory website FAQs on Script Factory FAQ

For information about what UK audiences are really watching go to Film Council Statistics and see the ‘online statistical yearbook' .

Related Job Profiles: Screenwriter Script Editor Script Reader Development Executive