How To Get Your TV Script Made - Part Four: Post Production and Broadcast

This is the final part in a series of four blog posts for screenwriters who are interested in understanding some of the practicalities of their script making it to the screen.

Previous posts have covered:

Part One: From Your Idea to Commissioner

Part Two: The TV Drama Commissioning Slate

Part Three: From Commissioning Greenlight through Production

This final post will be a whistle stop tour through the post-production, delivery and release of your TV drama, outlining the different stages and the writer’s potential involvement in each of them.

Congratulations! Your TV Drama has made it further than over 99% of others. The shooting script has been wrangled into shape by you as the writer, working with a script editor (and probably dealing with a plethora of notes from multiple interested parties). A director has come on board; locations have been found; a crew and cast have been assembled; and (in perhaps the biggest achievement of all), a budget has been raised to enable it to be filmed. This budget may have come from one broadcaster, but more likely considering the size of TV drama budgets it will be a co-production with several companies contributing funds and taking rights for broadcast in different territories and/or streaming platforms across the world. 

The shoot itself may have taken several weeks or months and ranged across internal and external locations including studio space. The number of people involved could have reached the hundreds – with your script providing their vital reference document at the core of thousands of hours of work and millions of pounds of expenditure. (See Part Three: Greenlight through Production)

At the end of the shoot, potentially hundreds of hours of footage have been filmed, with the same sections of script recorded from multiple takes: from one character’s point of view or the return shot from another; as close-up or wide shots; and with variations in the actors’ delivery of lines or other subtle differences reflecting the director’s and actors’ interpretation of your script. These variations are known as ‘coverage’ (not to be confused with script coverage) and provide different options in the edit. Throughout, your script has remained a living document, evolving to fit changing circumstances. 

As explained in the previous posts in this series, your involvement as a writer during the production will have varied widely depending on the type of drama and your experience. Your status in the production will have been stipulated by your contract that was drawn up by the Commissioning department, following a greenlight for the show. A more established writer (or more specifically their Agent) will often ask for an Executive Producer credit which includes them in some of the myriad decisions that go into creating a TV show - raising finance, casting actors, selecting a director, selecting heads of departments (DOP, Production Design, Costume, Hair and Make-up etc), reviewing daily rushes (footage that has just been shot) and trouble-shooting in all its forms. A less experienced writer is unlikely to be granted that level of input or control, or to be directly involved during the shoot (other than maybe a visit to the set) but can still be called on to resolve script issues during production.

With the footage ‘in the can’, now the show enters Post-Production (although as Owen O’Sullivan explains below, the Editor’s work begins earlier in the process). 

An often-repeated mantra (attributed to Robert Bresson) is that “a film is written three times”, meaning in the Writing, the Shooting and finally the Editing – and this phase carries equal weight in how your story will ultimately be delivered to its audience. 

We spoke to Editor Owen O’Sullivan about his career, how he works with scripts, and his work on the recently released BBC drama Mint, written and directed by Charlotte Regan.

In practical terms there are several phases to the Edit and as the writer there are some jargon terms that you may hear bandied about. 

Offline Edit (Assembly)

Because of the massive file size associated with full resolution video – especially at 4k resolution – the initial phase of the edit (known as the Assembly Phase) is carried out by the editor with lower-resolution copies of the footage. The original footage is left unchanged by the edit in what is known as ‘non-destructive’ editing. This is done to enable speedy working by minimising delays caused by computer processing. During this phase all useable footage will be arranged according to the script into a first assembly. It may include multiple versions of the same scenes and can run as much as double the length of the final edit. It’s at this point that the vital work is done on ensuring that the story is working. Offline editors often move on to become directors themselves and if, as a writer, you ever get the chance to shadow an offline edit then you should jump at it, as it is an invaluable opportunity to find out how stories are put together for the screen. 

The emphasis at this point is on the coherence of the story, without concern for tidy transitions, music, special effects or mis-matched colouring from footage shot on different cameras. 

Once the offline editor has created this first assembly, the director (and producer as guardian of the story/script) will work with them to pull together a first rough cut by re-ordering footage and selecting preferred takes. Depending on your status as writer and the type of drama being created (and whether you have an Executive Producer involvement) you may also be consulted, but this is far from guaranteed. In the Continuing Drama (Soap) world for example, you won’t be involved at all at this time. As a newer television writer this can feel disempowering and is the stage where you may feel the most alienated from the story that you have created, but it’s important to remember that everyone is working to ensure that the edit remains the best representation of your script while balancing the audience’s need for a coherent, engaging and entertaining story that will keep them hooked. The producer in particular works as your advocate during the edit and should keep you updated as it proceeds or notify you of any substantial deviations from the script. 

Although multiple ever-evolving cuts will be put together in the editing suite, in general only two or three cuts of each episode will be sent by the producer to the broadcaster’s Commissioner/Executive Producer for notes. 

The notes that come back will be very similar to those that you will be familiar with from the script development stage. Does the story work? The pacing? Can shots be changed? (ie coverage requests – usually the answer is No!) Is the tone consistent? Do the characters behave in the way they were created? Who am I with as a viewer? Whose story is this? Can we ramp up the emotion? 

There will also be notes related to compliance – for example around the use of language or violence or imitative behaviour. 

These notes will be reflected in further edits before a final version of the picture edit is created which all parties agree is the best visual representation of the story and to which no further changes are required. This is known as the ‘Picture Lock’ and is an important milestone in the completion of your show. 

The initial offline edit may have also identified problems with the audio recording quality of the actors’ dialogue. Lines may have become obscured by other external sounds or have been accidentally mumbled or otherwise missed, rendering them inaudible. These lines are re-recorded as audio only by the actors as Additional Dialogue Recording (ADR). If the actor is going to be in vision when the lines are spoken then the audio must synchronise exactly with the visuals, however if the actor is out of vision, then this offers a final chance to tweak the dialogue – to clarify any story points which may have been missed.

Online Edit 

The edit then moves to an Online Edit as the edit decisions are applied to the full resolution copy of the footage. 

There are normally two rounds of Grade where the balancing and colour across the footage filmed by different cameras under different lighting conditions is given consistency and any visual styling that is specific to the drama is applied. Any VFX (visual effects) will also be added including Computer Generated Imagery (CGI), elements like smoke, rain, fire or explosions or text overlays like text messages that the audience see on screen. 

The edit also goes into approximately two rounds of Sound Mix – where the audio is finalised by balancing dialogue, sound effects and adding music (‘laying track’ is a term you may hear used). The incidental music score is often fundamental to conveying the mood of the drama as a whole or specific moments within it. It can be specially composed; ‘library’ music (generic mood-based music which already exists and is bought from an online library); or existing commercial tracks. It’s worth bearing in mind when writing your script that you may be thinking of a specific track to accompany a scene or for the characters to be hearing within the story world (‘diagetic’ music) but these tracks have to be cleared (the rights have to be paid for) which can be prohibitively expensive for very well-known music. In other words, you may not be able to include your favourite Beatles/Beyonce/Benson Boone track, even if it was the one that was playing in your head when you were writing your script or that you think would be the one that your character would be listening to. 

The Commissioning team will also review the show during the Grade and Mix process and feedback with further notes to be addressed. 

And then finally your TV Drama is finished!

Once the final edit is ready the programme must go through various compliance processes ahead of broadcast. These include Editorial Compliance where issues like use of strong, offensive or sexual language or content, violence, adult themes, imitative behaviour, drug use etc must be documented as these require continuity announcements, playback warnings and a parental guidance lock on streaming services. 

Other compliance checks include for sound quality/audibility of dialogue and for flashing or strobing images. 

Subtitles and Audio Description are also applied for accessibility.

So, your drama is finished – it could have cost several million pounds to make, and it’s now important to tell people about it! 

When your drama was greenlit the publicity team will have kicked into action – and likely included an announcement in a press release, possibly alongside other new productions that were also commissioned around the same time. 

Following that initial announcement there have probably been further press releases with casting announcements (around the time that filming began) and with ‘First Look’ images from the production – all to build anticipation for its release. 

The picture publicity team will have been brought in to manage the collection of publicity images during the shoot. They may also create a bespoke visual identity (or ‘Key Art’) for the show which can be rolled out across publicity and marketing. The still imagery including a main ‘brand image’ is extremely important for attracting viewers to your show – as a huge amount of the audience will come from streaming via BBC iPlayer (or other streaming services who have invested in its production). At this point your Logline also really comes into its own too – as these one or two sentences summarising your show will be used as a description on streaming services and in publicity and listings and may be the deciding factor in whether people choose to watch it. 

The Marketing team will work on promotion of your show through in-home (eg a trailer which is played between other programmes and released on YouTube etc.) If budgets and resources are available there may also be out-of-home promotion (eg posters, billboards, digital advertising space) although this is only for the most high-profile shows. 

Writer and Director Charlotte Regan's first original TV drama Mint was recently released on BBC iPlayer. Hear from her below.

The release date of your show will be determined by the broadcaster’s scheduling team and will also involve agreement from any other broadcasters or streamers who have invested in the production from other territories outside the UK. As the release approaches then publicity and marketing will ramp up and as the writer you may be asked to contribute to this with an interview for a media pack and possibly other press and media with newspapers, magazines, websites, blogs, reviews shows etc. Your show may also have a screening (‘red carpet’) event with a press ‘junket’ and/or live Q&A event. 

And finally, and increasingly vitally the social media presence of the show can be a key factor in its success with clips, behind the scenes footage and interviews with the stars, reviews from influencers and other content playing a huge part in building anticipation. These also extend the life of the show beyond its initial broadcast/launch on streaming services so that hopefully it will become a ‘word of mouth’ hit with viewing increasing over time and culminating in being nominated and winning awards!