The Creation of the Script 1

Programme Outline

The Liverpudlian screenwriter Jimmy McGovern — author of the award-winning television dramas Cracker and Hillsborough — leads a remarkable writers’ workshop to create a screenplay about the Liverpool docks dispute of 1995—98.

In this first half of a fly-on-the-wall documentary about the project, workshop participants whose lives were dramatically affected by the dispute are introduced to the essential principles of dramatic writing: a useful set of concepts with which students may approach their own reading, writing and performance of dramatic texts.

Zero VCR counter on first frame of the programme. Counter numbers may vary slightly on different machines.

00:00
Archive cinema newsreel of the Merseyside docks when the workforce was numbered in thousands. Today there are only 500. Contrasting modern television news footage of the 1995—98 docks dispute.

01:07
Introduction to the sacked dockers’ writers’ workshop, facilitated by Jimmy McGovern and Irvine Welsh.

01:35
McGovern identifies the first priority: finding a structure for their story.

03:00
Participants in the workshop discuss their personal motivation for wanting to script a drama.

04:00
McGovern defines what drama is.

04:28
Early workshops are devoted to recounting personal experiences of the dispute.

06:05
Putting pen to paper for the first time.

08:50
McGovern explains the concept of exposition.

10:35
Focus on characterisation, and the family at the centre of the story.

15:00
The challenge of creating the villain.

17:20
Four months into the project, McGovern encourages the group to construct realistic and effective dialogue, helping the participants to find confidence in their own writing.

23:20
Production team assembled.

24:40
Work begins on a major new scene that will be central to the drama.

27:55
McGovern offers a memorable criterion for a story that will make good drama.

28:45
End credits.