Charlie Productions : Development

Development is primarily about writing and rewriting the script until it is finally finding the form it was always meant to take. It's a fun place to be, as long as you can afford the time it will inevitably take.

Development Hell is usually the thing people think about when it comes to the scriptwriting process - interfering development execs, producers thinking money, not story, actors toying with it until it's written to their requirements at which point they no longer want to do it, script editors trying to make a project fit a three act structure, directors coming in and trying to put their unique stamp on the material whether it really wants it or not... This can all happen of course, but in reality most of the frustrations of working with other people on a not-totally formed idea comes from the fact that everyone wants to help, but no-one knows what the core of the story is - and if the writer is unable to really nail what the hell the story's about in ideally, a single word*, then welcome to the pain of seeing your creation thrown around like it was water at a baby's bathtime.

Most stories take years to finally find their core reason for existing, but once realised the writing process becomes a joy - there's finally a reason for everything in there, and the stuff that has no reason, well, has no reason, and it's nothing to do with three act structure or heroes' 22-step journeys or threshold gatekeepers. It's as simple as everything in the film being about a single concept that carries some sort of an emotional resonance. Unless of course you're Stanley Kubrick or one of his many disciples, in which case you'll keep on battering that emotion out until it's concept only.

We rather enjoy working with development people. It can be very therapeutic as well as creatively exciting, and we've always taken every opportunity we can to get our script into the hands of other people who can help us push the story on, be it 'Featurelab', the much-missed scheme run by Screeneast, actors reading our scripts in closed readings at the ICA Lab or public ones like Rocliffe, fellow writers and directors discussing each other's projects in the ICA Scriptorium, or our High Priestesses - the Script Editors...

*See Mr Bender, we've finally learnt that one ;-)

Charlie Productions believe passionately in doing things and always trying to stop in time for tea.

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