16.5 Feedback and Production
We decided that we would change one of the main detectives from male or female.
Original Idea: Aaron Marcus and Aidan Egan Tranter
Written by: Aaron Marcus
Working Title: The Chain
Genre: Crime, Drama
Location: Central London
Target Audience: 20-40 year olds
Running time: 50-55 mins
No. of episodes: 10
Synopsis: Two Scotland Yard based detectives solve a series of crimes which lead to a notorious villain. One of
them becomes so committed that he ignores his family and the bonds between his wife and kids start to
crumble. We also follow an underestimated junior detective as she tries to prove herself to the others. She
often does much of the work but all the credit is taken by people higher up.
Characters:
Original Idea: Aaron Marcus and Aidan Egan Tranter
Written by: Aaron Marcus
Working Title: The Chain
Genre: Crime, Drama
Location: Central London
Target Audience: 20-40 year olds
Running time: 50-55 mins
No. of episodes: 10
Synopsis: Two Scotland Yard based detectives solve a series of crimes which lead to a notorious villain. One of
them becomes so committed that he ignores his family and the bonds between his wife and kids start to
crumble. We also follow an underestimated junior detective as she tries to prove herself to the others. She
often does much of the work but all the credit is taken by people higher up.
Characters:
Steve Marshall - Detective
Married, mid-40s, 2 kids and a wife. Very up front guy, can easily get grumpy/mad. He becomes so devoted to
the case that he starts to become separated from his family, which builds tension between them, which also
drives him away. Also in an affair with.
Sandra Manford- Detective
Married, early 40s, 3 kids and a husband, very close to her family. Much more sensitive guy, often lets his gut
guide him through the investigation. Her and the first detective are good friends, they met at the police
academy. She understands Steve like nobody else.
Nadyia Young - Junior detective
Single, late 20s/early 30s, works for Steve and Sandra. Has great detective skills but often underestimated by
Steve and Sandra. She is trying to prove herself to them, does a lot of the work but Steve and Sandra take
most of the credit. In an affair with Steve.
Ronnie Ripper - Crime Villain
Notorious for being ruthless, holds a grudge. Very well kept but also likes to do his own dirty work on occasion.
Not much else is known about him. Nobody knows his real identity or age.
Each episode will also include various extra for background including police, detectives, members of the public,
victim/victims family and associates of Ronnie Ripper.
Episode Layout:
E.101: Steve and Sandra are assigned to a case, the apparent suicide of a known drug dealer/thug. However
they soon discover it was actually homicide. They find 'marks' left on the body that have been commonly
associated with Ronnie Ripper, the victim has their left index finger missing as well as their right first toe.
We learn that Steve and Nadyia are together.
E.102: We learn that the police have an informant who is close to Ronnie, and Ronnie tries to find out who it
is. They continue to investigate the homicide and we learn that Steve also has wife kids - his relationship with
Nadia is an affair. They find some fingerprints at the scene, but find out the owner of them was actually on
a night out with friends. They talk to an informant which leads them to discover a man has been planting
different fingerprints at the scene of the crime to lead detectives off his trail.
E.103: A woman is murdered in her flat in London. It is the informant. Once again, fingerprints were planted
at the scene and the same marks are found on her body. Sandra finds out about Steve's affair and tries to tell
him to stop. We flash back to the police academy where Steve and Sandra met and Sandra is trying to talk
Steve out of a previous affair.
E.104: Tension rise between Steve and his wife. He is spending so much time on the case/seeing Nadyia that
he is spending less time at home, and not seeing his wife and kids. This causes him to stay at work longer
because he doesn't want to see his wife. They discover a frequently used phone number in the informants
phone, which could be Ronnie Rippers, so they trace/monitors the call.
E.105: Surveillance of the phone number leads them to a laundry in London. A search of the premises reveals
an empty basement with burnt paper work. They manage to extract an address from an envelope. The first
name on the envelope is mostly burnt but "Ro" can clearly be seen above the address. Finger prints that were
found at previous crime scenes are also found here which lead the detectives to think this was Ronnie's old
base/hideout. Steve's wife starts to suspect he may be having an affair so starts to investigate where he's
been for the last few weeks.
E.106: They raid the house of the address found at the laundry but turns out to be completely wrong. The
guess that the address must have been planted in the basement. This puts them off because they then have
to go back a few steps in the process and deal with the media frenzy that are enjoying the fact the police
raided the wrong house. Steve's wife finds out he hasn't been playing poker every Thursday night like he says
he has.
E.107: After pouring over the cases for days and not finding any new information, they are just about to give
up. But a man calls in with some information. He owes Ronnie money and his wife has been taken hostage.
They use the phone number Ronnie called the man on to trace him to an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts
of the city. Steve's wife asks Sandra where Steve goes after work, Sandra tells her she thought Steve went home
to her. She starts to become more suspicious.
E.108: They give Ronnie the money for the man's wife so she is released. They then place surveillance on the
warehouse and anyone who goes in/out. Steve's wife decides to find out where he goes instead of to poker, so
hires a babysitter and follows him when he leaves work. Steve goes into a restaurant where he meets Nadia.
Steve's wife sees them kissing and realises he is having an affair.
E.109: Together with voice recordings from phone calls and witness descriptions they manage to identify
Ronnie Ripper and known associates. They move in for a raid but Ronnie leaves the warehouse and manages to
shake undercover recon operatives in traffic through the city. They then track down a known associate of
Ronnie's and bribe the whereabouts of Ronnie's new hideout out of the associate.
E.110: Following intelligence gained they finally track down Ronnie Ripper. They set up a raid but Ronnie sees
them again and takes off in a car at high speed. After a brief car chase across the city, he crashes and they
catch him. Steve's wife decides to leave after finding out about the affair with Nerdy.
Key Scene: E.110 - Scene 19
Location: Haring Warehouse District
Time of Day:Late Morning/early afternoon
Weather:minimal cloud cover/not bright sun
Sequence of events:
Two police vans and a police car pull up. Swat teams exit the vans and run to surround the building, Inaudible
radio chatter can be heard over the loading of rifles. Steve and Sandra stay in the car and co-ordinate the
attack via radio. In a moment of calm and silence, they are about to give the go-ahead to storm the building
but a car suddenly rushes out of the back of the building, Steve sees that it is Ronnie driving and starts the
police car, following in pursuit. They start to head into the centre of a small town, swerving in and out of
traffic. Ronnies driving is erratic and he starts to loose control of the car, hitting walls and scraping/bashing
other cars. Other drivers are swerving out the way, beeping their horns. He eventually crashes into a bollard
and cannot get out because the car door is jammed from the crash. Steve and Sandra pull up behind Ronnie
and run to the car, pistols drawn. The swat teams arrive, surround the car, shouting, rifles raised and arrest
Ronnie.
Dates and timescales
Planned released: Saturday November 6th. This is because TV viewing goes up during the autumn/winter as weather is not so good, so people spend more time inside watching television.
I have planned for the shooting to take place during February because this will have similar lighting conditions and weather to mid October/November when the show is planned to be released. This also gives us more than 5 months of time from the planned finish of production to the release date to advertise and take into account for any delays during production.
Dates and timescales
Scripting and Episodic structure will probably take one week to complete (starting 25th jan)
Casting and location scouting and assembling a crew/equipment will take the best part of a month and a half.
Which would take us to March 15th.
One week of rehearsals for the cast and for crew to prepare any necessary props or sets. Which takes us March
22nd. There will be 90 minutes of footage to film. Every 5 mins of footage will take a day. So 20 days (18+2 for
contingencies) to shoot the pilot episode. Which would take us to April 11th. Then a month for post production
tasks e.g. sound, vex, colour grading etc. Which would take us to May 11th. Release at the end of May.
the case that he starts to become separated from his family, which builds tension between them, which also
drives him away. Also in an affair with.
Sandra Manford- Detective
Married, early 40s, 3 kids and a husband, very close to her family. Much more sensitive guy, often lets his gut
guide him through the investigation. Her and the first detective are good friends, they met at the police
academy. She understands Steve like nobody else.
Nadyia Young - Junior detective
Single, late 20s/early 30s, works for Steve and Sandra. Has great detective skills but often underestimated by
Steve and Sandra. She is trying to prove herself to them, does a lot of the work but Steve and Sandra take
most of the credit. In an affair with Steve.
Ronnie Ripper - Crime Villain
Notorious for being ruthless, holds a grudge. Very well kept but also likes to do his own dirty work on occasion.
Not much else is known about him. Nobody knows his real identity or age.
Each episode will also include various extra for background including police, detectives, members of the public,
victim/victims family and associates of Ronnie Ripper.
Episode Layout:
E.101: Steve and Sandra are assigned to a case, the apparent suicide of a known drug dealer/thug. However
they soon discover it was actually homicide. They find 'marks' left on the body that have been commonly
associated with Ronnie Ripper, the victim has their left index finger missing as well as their right first toe.
We learn that Steve and Nadyia are together.
E.102: We learn that the police have an informant who is close to Ronnie, and Ronnie tries to find out who it
is. They continue to investigate the homicide and we learn that Steve also has wife kids - his relationship with
Nadia is an affair. They find some fingerprints at the scene, but find out the owner of them was actually on
a night out with friends. They talk to an informant which leads them to discover a man has been planting
different fingerprints at the scene of the crime to lead detectives off his trail.
E.103: A woman is murdered in her flat in London. It is the informant. Once again, fingerprints were planted
at the scene and the same marks are found on her body. Sandra finds out about Steve's affair and tries to tell
him to stop. We flash back to the police academy where Steve and Sandra met and Sandra is trying to talk
Steve out of a previous affair.
E.104: Tension rise between Steve and his wife. He is spending so much time on the case/seeing Nadyia that
he is spending less time at home, and not seeing his wife and kids. This causes him to stay at work longer
because he doesn't want to see his wife. They discover a frequently used phone number in the informants
phone, which could be Ronnie Rippers, so they trace/monitors the call.
E.105: Surveillance of the phone number leads them to a laundry in London. A search of the premises reveals
an empty basement with burnt paper work. They manage to extract an address from an envelope. The first
name on the envelope is mostly burnt but "Ro" can clearly be seen above the address. Finger prints that were
found at previous crime scenes are also found here which lead the detectives to think this was Ronnie's old
base/hideout. Steve's wife starts to suspect he may be having an affair so starts to investigate where he's
been for the last few weeks.
E.106: They raid the house of the address found at the laundry but turns out to be completely wrong. The
guess that the address must have been planted in the basement. This puts them off because they then have
to go back a few steps in the process and deal with the media frenzy that are enjoying the fact the police
raided the wrong house. Steve's wife finds out he hasn't been playing poker every Thursday night like he says
he has.
E.107: After pouring over the cases for days and not finding any new information, they are just about to give
up. But a man calls in with some information. He owes Ronnie money and his wife has been taken hostage.
They use the phone number Ronnie called the man on to trace him to an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts
of the city. Steve's wife asks Sandra where Steve goes after work, Sandra tells her she thought Steve went home
to her. She starts to become more suspicious.
E.108: They give Ronnie the money for the man's wife so she is released. They then place surveillance on the
warehouse and anyone who goes in/out. Steve's wife decides to find out where he goes instead of to poker, so
hires a babysitter and follows him when he leaves work. Steve goes into a restaurant where he meets Nadia.
Steve's wife sees them kissing and realises he is having an affair.
E.109: Together with voice recordings from phone calls and witness descriptions they manage to identify
Ronnie Ripper and known associates. They move in for a raid but Ronnie leaves the warehouse and manages to
shake undercover recon operatives in traffic through the city. They then track down a known associate of
Ronnie's and bribe the whereabouts of Ronnie's new hideout out of the associate.
E.110: Following intelligence gained they finally track down Ronnie Ripper. They set up a raid but Ronnie sees
them again and takes off in a car at high speed. After a brief car chase across the city, he crashes and they
catch him. Steve's wife decides to leave after finding out about the affair with Nerdy.
Key Scene: E.110 - Scene 19
Location: Haring Warehouse District
Time of Day:Late Morning/early afternoon
Weather:minimal cloud cover/not bright sun
Sequence of events:
Two police vans and a police car pull up. Swat teams exit the vans and run to surround the building, Inaudible
radio chatter can be heard over the loading of rifles. Steve and Sandra stay in the car and co-ordinate the
attack via radio. In a moment of calm and silence, they are about to give the go-ahead to storm the building
but a car suddenly rushes out of the back of the building, Steve sees that it is Ronnie driving and starts the
police car, following in pursuit. They start to head into the centre of a small town, swerving in and out of
traffic. Ronnies driving is erratic and he starts to loose control of the car, hitting walls and scraping/bashing
other cars. Other drivers are swerving out the way, beeping their horns. He eventually crashes into a bollard
and cannot get out because the car door is jammed from the crash. Steve and Sandra pull up behind Ronnie
and run to the car, pistols drawn. The swat teams arrive, surround the car, shouting, rifles raised and arrest
Ronnie.
Dates and timescales
Planned released: Saturday November 6th. This is because TV viewing goes up during the autumn/winter as weather is not so good, so people spend more time inside watching television.
I have planned for the shooting to take place during February because this will have similar lighting conditions and weather to mid October/November when the show is planned to be released. This also gives us more than 5 months of time from the planned finish of production to the release date to advertise and take into account for any delays during production.
Dates and timescales
Scripting and Episodic structure will probably take one week to complete (starting 25th jan)
Casting and location scouting and assembling a crew/equipment will take the best part of a month and a half.
Which would take us to March 15th.
One week of rehearsals for the cast and for crew to prepare any necessary props or sets. Which takes us March
22nd. There will be 90 minutes of footage to film. Every 5 mins of footage will take a day. So 20 days (18+2 for
contingencies) to shoot the pilot episode. Which would take us to April 11th. Then a month for post production
tasks e.g. sound, vex, colour grading etc. Which would take us to May 11th. Release at the end of May.
Contingency Plans
Cast quitting: we will have a understudies for the key main roles.
Crew being late: Earlier arrival time than their call time to take in account for
Noise: We have several scenes that will take place outside, therefore if there is too much noise that the quality of the sound
Crew being late: Earlier arrival time than their call time to take in account for
Noise: We have several scenes that will take place outside, therefore if there is too much noise that the quality of the sound
that the microphone picks up is poor, then we will re-record the lines after the series has been edited.
Bad weather: All outdoor scenes will be scheduled first so that if the weather is poor we will still have time to shoot them.
Children: We may feature children as extras in out series. There are several key rules regarding the working hours of children.
Bad weather: All outdoor scenes will be scheduled first so that if the weather is poor we will still have time to shoot them.
Children: We may feature children as extras in out series. There are several key rules regarding the working hours of children.
If we run over, we will have to schedule a later date to film those scenes.
Broken Equipment: One spare of all equipment shall be kept and then broken equipment will be returned to the hirer.
There is also two weeks before the planned released date for any run over.
Broken Equipment: One spare of all equipment shall be kept and then broken equipment will be returned to the hirer.
There is also two weeks before the planned released date for any run over.
Production plan pilot episode from aaron_marcus
Resources & Equipment
The total layout of cost and spending is shown below.
Resources & Equipment
The total layout of cost and spending is shown below.
Total costs from aaron_marcus
Key Roles
Key Roles
Producer
Producers have overall control on every aspect of a film's production. They bring together and approve the whole production team. Their key responsibility is to create an environment where the talents of the cast and crew can flourish. Producers are accountable for the success of the finished film. They steer the film from beginning to completion and beyond.
Production Manager
Production Managers are in charge of the 'below-the-line' budget. This covers costs relating to the crew and the practicalities of running a production.
Director
Directors are responsible for creatively translating the film's written script into actual images and sounds on the screen. They are ultimately responsible for a film's artistic and commercial success or failure.
Director of photography/cinematographer
Directors of Photography (DoPs) are key Heads of Department on film productions and theirs is one of the major creative roles. They provide a film with its unique visual identity, or look.
Editor
The Editor works closely with the Director, crafting the daily rushes into a coherent whole. To ensure that the story flows effortlessly from beginning to end, each shot is carefully chosen and edited into a series of scenes, which are in turn assembled to create the finished film.
Key Grips
Grips work closely with the Director, Director of Photography (DoP) and the Camera Operator to make sure the position or movement of cameras is achievable.
Gaffer
Gaffers are responsible for all the practical aspects of lighting sets and locations. They work closely with Lighting Directors in order to fulfil their creative vision for the production's lighting.
Location Manager
Location Managers identify, from scripts and discussions with Directors, Designers or other heads of department, the number, types and sequence of locations required for productions.
Camera Operator
Camera Operators carry out the Director of Photography’s (DoP) and Director’s instructions for shot composition and development. They are usually the first people to use the camera's eyepiece to assess how all the elements of performance, art direction, lighting, composition and camera movement come together to create the cinematic experience.
(All role descriptions obtained from creativeskillset.org)
Producers have overall control on every aspect of a film's production. They bring together and approve the whole production team. Their key responsibility is to create an environment where the talents of the cast and crew can flourish. Producers are accountable for the success of the finished film. They steer the film from beginning to completion and beyond.
Production Manager
Production Managers are in charge of the 'below-the-line' budget. This covers costs relating to the crew and the practicalities of running a production.
Director
Directors are responsible for creatively translating the film's written script into actual images and sounds on the screen. They are ultimately responsible for a film's artistic and commercial success or failure.
Director of photography/cinematographer
Directors of Photography (DoPs) are key Heads of Department on film productions and theirs is one of the major creative roles. They provide a film with its unique visual identity, or look.
Editor
The Editor works closely with the Director, crafting the daily rushes into a coherent whole. To ensure that the story flows effortlessly from beginning to end, each shot is carefully chosen and edited into a series of scenes, which are in turn assembled to create the finished film.
Key Grips
Grips work closely with the Director, Director of Photography (DoP) and the Camera Operator to make sure the position or movement of cameras is achievable.
Gaffer
Gaffers are responsible for all the practical aspects of lighting sets and locations. They work closely with Lighting Directors in order to fulfil their creative vision for the production's lighting.
Location Manager
Location Managers identify, from scripts and discussions with Directors, Designers or other heads of department, the number, types and sequence of locations required for productions.
Camera Operator
Camera Operators carry out the Director of Photography’s (DoP) and Director’s instructions for shot composition and development. They are usually the first people to use the camera's eyepiece to assess how all the elements of performance, art direction, lighting, composition and camera movement come together to create the cinematic experience.
(All role descriptions obtained from creativeskillset.org)
Legal and Ethical Issues
Inappropriate Content
The show will feature frequent uses of strong language, dark content, scenes which viewers may find distressing, sexual
references and brief scenes of nudity.
Because of this the show will be broadcast with a warning for younger views and the option for a parental lock to prevent
younger viewers having access to inappropriate content.
Health and Safety
Health and safety of cast and crew will paramount during this shoot. There will be long hours, so appropriate breaks will be
given to all members at the shoot as well a food and beverages provided as well. There will be several scenes where stunt
actors are used in dangerous situations, including car crashes. Only fully trained, professional stunt drivers will be used, with
various medial and safety teams on standby in case of an emergency/accident.
A series of guidelines have been set by BECTU:
All electrical equipment must be compatible with local mains electricity and risks of overload, fire or explosion must be
avoided. Emergency lighting must also be installed with its own separate power supply.
A full risk assessment of the site must be completed, identifying and risks, hazard materials or dangerous situations. This
should also include any work that is near or on water, to prevent risks of drowning or infection from contaminated water.
At least one fully qualified first aider should always be present on site.
There should be clear evacuation routes that are never obstructed.
There should also be dedicated fire marshals and easy access to all fire fighting/safety equipment.
All personal protection equipment, if necessary, should be provided to anyone at risk and full training should be given to all
cast and crew to lower the risk of incident or injury.
Contingency Plans
Cast quitting: we will have a understudies for the key main roles.
Crew being late: Earlier arrival time than their call time to take in account for
Noise: We have several scenes that will take place outside, therefore if there is too much noise that the quality of the sound
that the microphone picks up is poor, then we will re-record the lines after the series has been edited.
Bad weather: All outdoor scenes will be scheduled first so that if the weather is poor we will still have time to shoot them.
Children: We may feature children as extras in out series. There are several key rules regarding the working hours of children.
If we run over, we will have to schedule a later date to film those scenes.
Broken Equipment: One spare of all equipment shall be kept and then broken equipment will be returned to the hirer.
There is also two weeks before the planned released date for any run over.
Inappropriate Content
The show will feature frequent uses of strong language, dark content, scenes which viewers may find distressing, sexual
references and brief scenes of nudity.
Because of this the show will be broadcast with a warning for younger views and the option for a parental lock to prevent
younger viewers having access to inappropriate content.
Health and Safety
Health and safety of cast and crew will paramount during this shoot. There will be long hours, so appropriate breaks will be
given to all members at the shoot as well a food and beverages provided as well. There will be several scenes where stunt
actors are used in dangerous situations, including car crashes. Only fully trained, professional stunt drivers will be used, with
various medial and safety teams on standby in case of an emergency/accident.
A series of guidelines have been set by BECTU:
All electrical equipment must be compatible with local mains electricity and risks of overload, fire or explosion must be
avoided. Emergency lighting must also be installed with its own separate power supply.
A full risk assessment of the site must be completed, identifying and risks, hazard materials or dangerous situations. This
should also include any work that is near or on water, to prevent risks of drowning or infection from contaminated water.
At least one fully qualified first aider should always be present on site.
There should be clear evacuation routes that are never obstructed.
There should also be dedicated fire marshals and easy access to all fire fighting/safety equipment.
All personal protection equipment, if necessary, should be provided to anyone at risk and full training should be given to all
cast and crew to lower the risk of incident or injury.
Contingency Plans
Cast quitting: we will have a understudies for the key main roles.
Crew being late: Earlier arrival time than their call time to take in account for
Noise: We have several scenes that will take place outside, therefore if there is too much noise that the quality of the sound
that the microphone picks up is poor, then we will re-record the lines after the series has been edited.
Bad weather: All outdoor scenes will be scheduled first so that if the weather is poor we will still have time to shoot them.
Children: We may feature children as extras in out series. There are several key rules regarding the working hours of children.
If we run over, we will have to schedule a later date to film those scenes.
Broken Equipment: One spare of all equipment shall be kept and then broken equipment will be returned to the hirer.
There is also two weeks before the planned released date for any run over.