The Journey of a script

In the film industry their are many job roles involved in the process of a script writing these can be, Commissioning Editors, producers, script editors, screenwriters, directors and agents just to name a few. the people who are the commissioning bodies are in most cases, Corporations, Independent production companies, indie directors and competitions.

A commissioning editor is involved with the majority of process being involved in every single stage with the product. Commissioning editors are there to respond to proposals and to find new authors and writers. The commissioning editors role is the link between getting a product published because they have the power to decided if a script should be made. They also deal with contracts and making sure that clients meet deadlines on time. Commissioning editors also tend to work closely with the marketing team and production as well.

Producers of a production very important because they involved in all parts of a production. the producer is usually the first main person involved with the product and will usually work with the product long after it has been released. The producer role mainly is to turn the concept that a writer creates into a product and pushes the goals that are needed to reaching the stage. They bring the production team together and mostly responsible on how the overall product turns out.They are involved in 4 main
stages for the production which is; pre-production, production, development,
Marketing and post production.
at first they are responsible for securing rights for the product and overseeing the development of the production after choosing and bringing together the production team (screenwriters, directors and cinematographers etc) producers are always closely working with the production and the cast, they are also responsible for fundraising, budget and approving locations.
Eg; Brad Pitt  producer of films such as; Kick ass, Wolrd War Z, 12 years a slave and Fury etc


the Director of a production their role is for them to put what is written onto screen, making a visual and audible representation for screenplay. Which means they have to be creative and be able visually create the structure of the story. Their jobs involved with the production are script editing, editing and shot selection, Directors can have a script commissioned or be hired early to develop a vision for the first draft of the script. other roles for a director is selecting the right crew and cast for the production and locations while also dealing with the technical aspects of the production as well, this is lighting, camera work, sound and SFX, They lead the crew and make the majority of the decisions which go on with the filming of the production. They are there to make sure the production is successful. Eg; Ryan Couglar (photo above) director of; Fruitvale station, Black Panther and Creed etc

Script editors are generally freelance workers, are hired to judge and an overview of a script to decided weather it is Good enough to be worthy for it to be green lit, after they do this they help the screenwriter to write the script to a better quality by finding problems in script that have occurred and can be fixed. This is to therefore make the final product of the screenplay the best it can possibly.
they must help the screenwriter with important ideas and opinions and detailed explanation, which in the long term helps the screenwriter overall with their product.this also helps the producers.This allows the script to reach the best possible quality and treatment it can receive.

A script editors main responsibility is to make sure the script writer can tell the story to the best of their ability. they do this by explaining to them of what is the 'route' is of their story. They also do other tasks such as; setting out delivery deadlines, negotiating contracts etc.
Eg; Jeremy Page is a script editor who has worked on productions such as; last king of Scotland, second sight and the take etc.

An agent's main role is to find work for their clients, they do this by securing deals which are suited to clients and by staying organised with contacts they have gathered. the main ambition of a agent is to get the clients the best deals they possibly can and support their career overall.Agents have to have a very good perspective of the industry having a knowledge of what is currently in production and what is currently in works to be produced, this is so they can be able to find more jobs for their clients. Agents are also employed to negotiate fees and supervise contracts to make sure the clients is getting the best treatment possible. an agent and commissioning editor will typically work together to discuss contracts and certain arrangements. a script writer employing an agent means they have a much wider chance of getting into the industry much easier. Eg; Ari Emanuel is a well known talent agent within the industry he is known for representing clients such as Robert De Niro, Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks.

Screen writers who are known more for being freelance rather than mainly based by one production company, are mainly responsible for the entire narrative, writing the script, researching and delivering the finished product.screen writers pitch their ideas and intentions to producers so their script can be commissioned and also attract agents this also all depends on how well they sell their product, If their script is commissioned they setting out a canvas for the producers, composers, director and the actors to work with, this allows these people to put the words onto screen. Screen writers need to be able to write a script in a way that visually and verbally gives the people working on the film a clear idea of what needs to be on screen. Eg; Aaron Sorkin is well known writer for working with mainstream directors such as David Fincher and Danny Boyle, he has worked on such films like; The social network, Steve Jobs, A few good men and Moneyball.

Corporations are film larger film companies that put out multiple films a year, there 6 main names know as 'the big six' these companies are; Columbia pictures which are owned by Sony and know for such films as Men in black, Spider-man, The karate kid etc, Warner Bros a California based film company which are known for such films like Fargo, The Harry Potter saga and Gremlins, Walt Disney Pictures who are probably now the biggest grossing and popular film company now, from buying the rights to companies such as Lucas Films and Marvel pictures as well as releasing their own original films, they are known for releasing films such as; Star Wars the force awakens, The Avengers, Frozen, Finding Nemo etc. Universal pictures who are owned by NBC Universal who are known for creating films such as; Psycho, E.T, Jurassic park, Get out etc.
20th Century Fox who are owned by news corporation are an LA based film company which are known for creating films such as;  The Die Hard franchise, planet of the apes, avatar and the Simpson. Paramount pictures, are the last of the big six  they are currently owned by Viacom inc. they are know for releasing films such as star trek, mission impossible and the school of rock.

Indie production companies are more beneficial to smaller writers within the industry, these types of of film companies generally make their own scripts but they occasionally receive funding from larger production companies so revenue can be created both ways. this relates to the big six in terms of 'co-productions' indie film companies usually don't have massive funds to create films with well known actors and large budgets, but if they are financed by larger companies this benefits them very
much. an example of an indie production company would be liberty films who are the production company of the writer and director and the son of David Bowie Duncan Jones which have produced films such as; Moon, World of Warcraft and source code.

Indie directors and producers are people who can create a script or fund a production off their own finance, if  someone has the right amount of money to produce their own screenplay then they can be an indie director, this allows the person who becomes the indie director to have complete control of what is produced and financing the screenplay. being an indie producers means you have much more wright to bare on your shoulders with a production because all decisions to do with the production are made by you which means finish the overall product is much more harder in the long term. many big directors now write, direct and produce their own films for example; Joel and Ethan Coen (Coen brothers, write and produce their own films such as; the Big lebowski, Fargo, True Grit etc.

Competitions are when screenwriters send their scripts in for a certain format of film and submit it to a competition, this is either to receive recognition from film makers and companies, for cash money prizes or the chance to have their script commissioned and produced, many competitions are held all over the UK and america for script writers such as 'Blue Cat' or the 'BBC writers room'

Organisations are made to help writers be able to be assisted into making it into the industry they do not usually offer funding or contracts they offer assistance into allowing future writers get noticed. websites such as 'the script factory and industrial strips do this.

The role of a writer 

• Writing and pre-production: writers will start planning writing a script in three ways these are; Preparation, their first draft and rewriting to create the second draft. when preparing to write a script the first thing writers tend to do is research, they look for ideas in many ways to find out how they can put a good plot and ideas onto paper, this by doing such things like researching news stories, taking a look back at past experiences, watching other forms of media to create ideas to put onto paper. the length of research can vary between writers but it's usually about a month a writer would take to research.and make a an outline of characters, setting and plot. when then first draft is written the overall look of the script is not as complicated as the final draft, this is because writers like to make it mostly dialogue so they can develop the sense of he character better so they know what type of character they will have for the second draft, writers usually will make a rough draft and after they finish the will move onto the second draft so they can change problems and add scene directions and various other components to the script to make it better. when making a screenplay writers may do two of three more drafts after the first to make sure they correctly make the best overall screenplay they can translate onto screen. it usually happens in a sequence, the first draft will be written for dialogue and character development then the second will involve more scene directions with minimal dialogue this allows the writer to go into greater detail and after it is finished, a writer usually merges the two together to make a better script, this is usually the last draft.
• Director and producer involvement:when a screenwriter finishes writing the last draft, the script has been fully commissioned and its ready to be produced, the screenwriters involvement is rare, the director and the producers mainly take over for all other aspects of the production when the script is finished, but this all depends on the situation once the screenplay is sold the screenwriter will only be able to have the rights they signed upon on the contract. The producers role is to find the screenplay, get the rights to it and make the changes required so they can start shooting as soon as possible. after the team is picked for the production, the producer then has all the power to make the decisions on what happens with the productions. the directors role is basically just to turn the pages into visuals and they are involved with the script editing most of the time because they need to be able to visualise what is written. basically the director is overseeing how the script is being edited while the producer organises cast and crew.

Selling a script

• Agents - getting represented by an agent allows you to be able to sell your script with much more ease, an agent will allow the script writer to have the best possible contract, an agent is very important in a script writers journey to success because they need someone who they can trust and rely on in the industry and they also need someone who will be able to boost their career to and sort out legal and ethical issues.
• Royalty payments - when a writer sells a script, after everything has been produced they receive a percentage of the payments received for the production, these are called royalty payments, these are split between producers, the director and writers. the income is varied.

Legal and Ethical issues 

Plagiarism - this is a law created from other media outlets and individuals stealing the work of other individual.

Copyright - copy write was created to stop plagiarism in the industry, this means when a writer creates a script they have to have it copywritted so they therefore do not have their work stolen, but if it is stolen then whoever has stole it has broken legal boundaries and can be sued by the writer who produced the script.

Bias - this means if i writer is writes something about a difficult topic or side heavy situation, they can show a bias towards one of the sides, this is not particularly a legal issue its a morale one but it can still lead to problems with getting a script produced.

Censorship - is when certain rules are part into place to protect the public from watching in morale content. censorship has guidelines that creators must follow to make sure their content is not banned for example the BBFC review content so to see if there is any use of sexual content, graphic imagery, violence etc. this is also where watershed links, the watershed is when adult material must be aired after 9 this is to stop younger audiences from watching adult material.
libel: this is when if you are releasing a product it may affect someone psychically or mentally, screenwriters usually base their characters off actual people so it prevents them from causing legal or ethical issues.