Writers role in the Production Process of a Feature Film

The script writer  is responsible for producing a written form of the entire film making process. This starts with a spec produced  by a screenwriter, (this is self financed) and is for sale to a production company or with a producer commissioning (paying) a screenwriter to write the screenplay based on a concept. This could be a range of things such as existing media or a novel, story, play or poem .

Not all screenplays are published, just because they are well written and well structured doesn’t guarantee anything will ever be good finished but it is still vital in the production process. Some company’s such as the BBC have been slandered for “threatening the livelihoods of writers and independent drama producers.”. [1]  The claims say that the time scale between an idea being thought up and then actually commissioned could be up to 2 years! This process can be derogatory for writers and related companies that financially rely on this commission. The claims say that “the situation was being compounded by clauses in BBC contracts which prevent scripts being taken to other broadcasters”(quote [1] ), this is of course then detrimental as the BBC hold the contract from others and could leave you stuck for 2 years then just reject it anyway.

The screen writer is considered the centre of the script writing process although it is still team work from other aspects of the film industry such as: Writers Agents, Script readers, Producers, Development Executives, Script editors and lastly Directors.

[1] http://www.thestage.co.uk/news/newsstory.php/21492/gannon-accuses-bbcs-commissioning-process-of - Published Wednesday 6 August 2008 at 15:15 by Matthew Hemley

Joe faulkner