The Screen Idea Work Group: Emmerdale

Abstract

The initial reason for choosing to study the open-ended TV serial (soap) is its ‘industrial’ nature. The very size and complexity of production requires more overt — and therefore more observable — practices. As a genre, soap is also one of the most detailed, constraining types of screenwriting framework. Narrative interest must always be sustained, without end; and the usually large volume of production will require a large work group behind it. The genre is very familiar; as viewers, we all know the approximate conventions of soap. How, then, do the members of a soap Screen Idea Work Group define success? What are their beliefs and how do they collaborate (or compete) to achieve the right outcome? This is not an enquiry into social representation, but about what provokes and forms this particular screen fiction narrative; what is likely to ‘fit’ this production, and why? It is also about how writers — often portrayed as isolated individuals — work together in a clearly defined Screen Idea Work Group.

Everything needs a reason, nothing should be gratuitous, everything must sow seeds.

(John Whiston, Creative Director, Serial Dramas, ITV Studios)¹