Beat sheets, keyrings and cheese

In response to Dom Carver's polite request...

Beat sheets.

My phrase for what others may call a treatment, but as everyone I've met seems to have a different idea of what a treatment should look like, I call what I do a beat sheet, and define it if required.

First off, shows like Afterlife and Life on Mars don't have a way they want them done. The only show I've worked on that had a format for what I'm calling a beat sheet was the The Bill - they wanted a scene by scene step treatment - and I so loathed the idea of doing one that we came to a compromise format where I could see the story clearly and they still got a lot of the detail that made them feel secure.

The commissioning process works like this; you get a call. Would you like to write for this show? If no, you put the phone down, instantly regret your decision and have sleepless nights for a few weeks. If yes please thank you very much, you have a meeting, usually with the script editor in the first instance, sometimes the producer.

After the bad coffee and a nice chat involving weather, industry gossip and a mutual gripe about The State Of Television, they like you. They tell you the kind of thing they're after. You give a vague idea of a story world, maybe some characters, maybe even a plot hook or two. They like it (obviously).

Next step is to meet either the producer or the exec. prod. (you hope it's the exec., because they're the ones you really have to please). Bad coffee, weather, gossip, State of Television. They like you. They like it. They ask for something on a page or two. This I call an outline, and sometimes the other people in the meeting call it the same thing. It's a sketch of your story idea on 1-3 pages. More than 3 pages is too long - it's just an idea. Sometimes they don't like it, in which case you keep doing outlines till they do.

But they like it.

And then comes the question - "how shall we go from here?" In other words, the format of the next stage, contractually the treatment, is up to you. Every writer and every editor has a preferred way of working, and generally editors defer to the writer, because they understand we have a necessary process.

There are writers who write huge 20 page prose documents , or a detailed scene by scene step, but I don't like doing those. To me, a prose treatment is more of a selling document than a working tool, and by this stage you've done the selling. A prose treatment can disguise structural weakness through style, a sort of sleight of hand where the story can seem to make sense without actually doing so. The temptation is to put far too much character and location detail into it (describing the story rather than telling it), which for me steals some of the energy you need when you come to draft the thing. You need to make some discoveries as you write the script or risk watching it die of boredom on the page. *

So I do a beat sheet. The key structural element is the story beat - what is the key action(s) driving this sequence? Plus a sketch of the location and impact on the main characters. Here's a sample from an early beat sheet for Afterlife:

33. ALISON'S: Martin leaves message for Alison

Alison plays Martin's message - she's concerned about him.

34. CABLES: Martin cracking, tears house apart

Increasingly unbalanced Martin rips the house apart searching for the rot, fuelled by drink.

35. HOSPITAL: Robert's MRI scan

Robert goes under the scanner

36. CABLES: Ruth appalled by state of house and Martin.

His behaviour frightens Ruth. His despair makes him angry and incommunicative. He gets very anxious when Ruth takes the baby out his sight. Ruth increasingly alarmed. They row.

37. CABLES: Ruth experiences Simon - oh my god, it's real

Ruth hears crying on monitor, goes upstairs into the where she finds Martin brooding over the sleeping baby's cot - but not a tear on his face. She goes into nursery - and experiences Simon.

38. HOSPITAL: Consultant delivers Robert's death sentence

With an audience of junior doctors?

....and so on till you've reached the end. If it's for ITV, I'll indicate Part Breaks (very handy structuring tool - three ad breaks an hour - your story has four acts). A sequence could be a short single scene, or it could be a long set piece involving many scenes, but the key idea is that this is the necessary step to move the story to the next sequence.

I sometimes attach thumbnail sketches of the main characters to the first beat sheet, 1-3 paras indicating attitude and backstory if necessary, so that everyone shares my take on the all-important character motivations.

The huge advantage of working this way is that the structure is very clear, and any leaps in emotional or narrative logic can be easily identified (not necessarily by the writer; this is where you graciously accept the editor's brilliant ideas and make them your own. Ha.). It's easy to juggle sequences about, insert/delete them, and most importantly, you don't get wedded to a particular sequence just because you've got fabulous location in mind, or a line you just have to get in.

Another plus is that it gives people further up the chain less detail to niggle at - and believe me, if there's unnecessary detail, they will niggle. Some execs seem to prefer the comfort of a bulging document at this stage as if it was evidence of good work. Less is absolutely more. Don't dirty up your structure with superfluous words. I'm tempted to launch into an extended analogy about narrative scaffolding, mud, and the dangers of falling from great heights, but I can see it ending badly so won't.

Bad coffee, weather, gossip, State of Television. Do another one.

BadcoffeeweathergossipStateofTelevision. Do another one.

And then go to script.

Or BdcffewthrgossStteofTv. Do another one.

And then go to script.

Or Bcwgstv.... ad infinitum.



I should emphasise that this is not the way to do it, it's the way I do it - I've developed this way of doing things over several years without really analysing it. I feel comfortable doing it, and to do it any other way would make me sweat in an unpleasantly acrid fashion. Every writer finds their way of working. I hope you find yours. There are, after all, more ways to skin a rabbit than with keyrings and cheese.



*Stories have low attention spans, in my experience. And never, never give them chocolate before bedtime, or they'll play up and act the giddy goat.

**you've never used keyrings or cheese in your rabbit skinning room?