Proposal (2nd Half)

My client: BBC Three

How I found them: I found BBC three commissioning after researching different
places that would commission a short form episodic drama.

Outline of what they want to produce:

 We will commission one-offs that compliment seasons or long form programmes

 We will commission pilots with a view to a longer run
 We will commission strands exclusively for social media
 We will commission compelling series of multi-platform shorts that can be
stripped or serialised across platforms with clever scheduling and activation
strategies around them
 We are open to discussing form and volume and looking for the most innovative
ideas with fresh and distinctive execution

Deadline

BBC have an ongoing program of commissioning. Therefore, the deadline I am

working to is the UAL deadline for my project May 25th.

Guidelines

BBC guidelines require producers to take special care when dealing with sensitive
issues such as self-harm, suicide, and violence:

Care must be taken to avoid describing or showing suicide or self-harming methods in

explicit detail, unless there is a clear editorial justification.

It states in BBC guidelines that producers must make sure the use of alcohol is not
condoned or glamorised:

Must generally be avoided and must not be condoned, encouraged or glamorised in any
programmes broadcast pre-watershed or on radio when children are particularly likely to be
 in our audience, or in online content likely to appeal to a significant proportion of children,
unless there is editorial justification.

The BBC Guidelines also state that any use of bad language should be editorially justified:

The use of strong language must be editorially justified and appropriately signposted to
ensure it meets audience expectations, wherever it appears.

Strong language is most likely to cause offence when it is used gratuitously and without
editorial purpose.

Producers are also required to abide with OFCOM regulations, these are generally the same
as the BBC guidelines however I will take steps to make sure I abide by them in all aspects
of my production:

OFCOM - Generally Accepted Standards

2.1 Generally accepted standards must be applied to the contents of television and radio
services and BBC ODPS so as to provide adequate protection for members of the public
from the inclusion in such services of harmful and/or offensive material.

The generation of my Idea

I decided I would go with a hard-hitting episodic drama as I think that I am

quite good at this considering everything I have made through all my
previous units. While I was deciding what I wanted to produce I thought
that it would be best to consider what facilities I have available to use first;
for example, I have a good amount of settings to use that will be very
effective in a modern-day drama and costumes that tend to be normal
clothes the most extravagant of them being suits and casual dresses. Due
to components like these that are crucial when it comes to the mise-en-
scene of my drama I chose to develop an idea around these. I also
considered the actors that I had to use and considered how I could develop
a story around this, two characters a teenage female and an older middle-
aged man were most available to me so I decided these would be the ages
of my characters. From everything I knew I could use I decided to go with a
 family story about how two characters coped with the loss of a close
loved one set in the modern day.

Short description of story

A man’s life spirals out of control after the suicide of his wife and the
ensuing disconnection from his daughter.

Why my product should be made

I believe that my product should be made because it addresses issues that

are typically underrepresented, themes such as mental health and the
family fallout that can often ensue. I think that this is something that is very
important and would be effective in attracting the 30-40 age group
because they tend to want to see issues that are typically
underrepresented, I think that this will also be effective in attracting
teenagers because I will have a teenage character and my past research
has indicated that teenagers like to see someone of their own age
represented in a drama.

I believe that this will also help me to develop my various skills needed to
progress through the media industry, such as developing an effective story,
and considering things like narrative when it comes to trying to appeal to
certain target audiences.

I would like to also develop my understanding on the intricate differences

between similar types of short form media such as short movies, and my
specialism TV dramas. This will help me to better understand how to
differentiate them and format my production so that it follows the different
codes and conventions of TV dramas. Understand these differences will
 also help me with the different forms of short form media in the future if I
wish to produce more short form productions.

I think I can accurately and respectively portray these issues without

exploiting them, to do that I would like to realistically portray the characters
dealing with their estrangement and trying to repair their relationship after
the death of a close family member.

Detailed Idea

A father only referred to as Dad throughout the episode is getting ready for
work, at the beginning you see him turn over the pictures showing the
same woman. He walks out of the door and heads to work in his car.

The scene cuts to the other character, a teenaged girl named Rachael, she
has eyeliner streaming down her face, she is asleep. She wakes up after
she hears the door close, you see a black dress discarded on her floor. She
walks downstairs to see all the pictures of her mother in the living room
turned over, she lifts them up. She gets some dusters and polish to clean
the pictures. As she carries out her normal routine cleaning the house while
her dad is away you hear a narration about what has happened and how
she feels about the situation she and her father are in.

The scene cuts to Anthony, her father, at work. He is seen writing a ticket
to be placed on a car, after he’s done and walking away the owner of the
car takes the ticket off the car and aggressively confronts him, sticking the
ticket on Anthony’s forehead and walking away.
 He is then seen in the office reluctantly placing the ticket down and
continuing with his other responsibilities.

The scene cuts to night time and Anthony is heading home in his car, when
Anthony gets home Rachael is sat at the table, eating a bowl of cereal.
Rachael confronts him about constantly turning over the pictures of her
mother, they have an argument and Rachael heads off to bed and falls
asleep.

Rachael wakes up and feels pain in her chest, she walks downstairs
searching for her Dad, her vision is blurred, and she is feeling very
lightheaded. She shouts for her Dad, but it seems no one else is in the
house, she notices hat there is blood coming from her chest when she
pulls back her dressing gown to find her white shirt stained red. She calls
him one last time and collapses onto the floor in the kitchen.

Rachael wakes up to find it was a dream and has slept till the morning, her
dream made her realise how important her Dad is to her and feels guilty for
arguing with him the previous night, she tries to call him, but he doesn’t
answer.

Anthony is then seen at work, he sees that his daughter is calling him but
decides to ignore it, he hears his daughter saying “I hate you” constantly in
his head, which se had said to him during their argument the previous night
and is having constant flashbacks of finding his wife. He leaves his office
and walks to the top of the building and looks down onto the city like he
has done many times before, he climbs up and sits on the side of the
building but then receives a voice mail from his daughter he listens to it.

My story idea may change and there are certain parts that I haven’t yet
decided on. Through my research and planning I will develop my story
more.