GABY’S FINEST – Career in film and TV script writing

By
Mike Brufal
-
1476
23258
-advertisement-
-advertisement-
-advertisement-
-advertisement-
-advertisement-
-advertisement-
-advertisement-
-advertisement-
-advertisement-
-advertisement-
-advertisement-
-advertisement-

Gaby Chiappe, 53, is a screen writer and the daughter of William and Mary Chiappe. She was born on the Rock, but the family moved to England when Gaby was three. They lived in Brighton; Gaby went to Cardinal Newman comprehensive school where her mother was a teacher. Mary taught her A-level English and so it became Mrs Chiappe at school and Mum at home. She went up to New Hall, Cambridge to read Archaeology but after a year, transferred to English Literature. She did as much acting as possible during her three years at university and when she came down, she felt the urge to continue. For the next decade, she had a succession of different jobs such as teaching English as a foreign language, selling vintage clothes in Kensington market, reviewing plays, reading scripts and doing bits of journalism in order to earn enough to survive whilst working in fringe theatre. She was part of a women’s theatre company called Trouble and Strife (cockney slang for wife), together they wrote two plays; Now and at the Hour of Death and Next to You I lie.

At the end of the decade, she decided although she was enjoying the bits and pieces that she was doing, it was not a career. Fate intervened. A move to Leeds with her husband Dominic Gray (an undergraduate at Cambridge at the same time as her) coincided with a lucky break – through a friend who was connected with the TV show Family Affairs, she was given the chance to write a ‘trial script’ for the programme. This, in essence, is the chance for the writer to write an episode of the show; if acceptable then a commission will follow. Pregnant with her first child at the time, she got the job and was writing her second commissioned script when she unexpectedly went into labour. Rhys was born (a little earlier than planned!) in 1997.

With her husband Dominic Gray at the Scottish BAFTAs last year

Having realised that script writing was the culmination of all that interested her during her decade after Cambridge, Gaby was anxious not to let the door shut on the opportunity she’d been given. Her own parents were living in Spain, but her parents-in-law came to the rescue. They arrived to stay and took the baby out for lengthy walks morning and afternoon enabling Gaby to write another three scripts for Family Affairs during the course of the year. After this, sufficient work was commissioned to keep her more than busy. Following Rhys, Bryn was born in 2000 (as shown by the two Christian names, their father is a Welshman).

For the first few years of her career, Gaby did not have an agent but then a friend recommended Christine Glover and she remains her agent to this day.

Once a writer has an agent, work comes from two directions; through the agent and their many contacts in the business – and through the script editors a writer has worked with. The industry is relatively small so script editors know many producers and other script editors thus the word gets round that so and so writes well, and also meets their deadlines. Script editors also move to other productions say from Casualty to Eastenders and a good relationship might result in a commission for an episode in the new series.

Gaby talked about the different kinds of input required by the different types of programme she has worked on.

For a soap such as Eastenders, the writer is given the story line as episodes are plotted months in advance. It is then their job to structure the outline and make it a good and satisfying story.

In a long running serial such as Casualty, there is a different balance. Stories involving the “regulars” (characters who are seen every week) will be planned months ahead by the story lining department. But the script writer has to originate and write the story lines for characters who only appear in one episode (“guest characters”). Gaby very much enjoyed her time on Casualty and particularly enjoyed working with the medical advisors on the programme.

In other shows like Lark Rise to Candleford, the writer inherits the regular characters, will know them intimately and has to come up with a story for that episode which has to be approved by the producer.

These shows are all originated by someone else. The other option for originality is when the writer comes up with the idea and creates the show themselves. This happened with The Level which Gaby co-created and wrote with her friend, Alex Perrin. She readily admits that it takes considerable time to write for so many disparate shows.

Gaby started working on her first screenplay (an adaptation of Lissa Evans’ novel Their Finest Hour and a Half) when her eldest son, Rhys, started secondary school. The film was shot when he was in the sixth form, which gives you some idea how long film development can take. Gaby found there wasn’t too big a difference between writing scripts for television and film. TV is in essence a visual medium whilst in film, the script has to leave space for the director to weave their magic. The biggest difference is the way in which the story line moves and is structured – film is a larger canvas with a potentially bigger time span and different rhythms.

Their Finest

When a book is being adapted for film then the main objective is to keep its spirit. If each page is used then the film would last something like fifty hours. The essential story has to be told whilst leaving out a considerable amount. The writer has to decide what to retain and what to reject and it takes many drafts to achieve the objective. In the case of dialogue, the objective is to write as little as possible. There are few lines on a page of script whist a conversation in a novel might take several pages. The basic difference is that a novel provides access to the character’s thoughts and imagination whilst a film has to do this in a totally different way. The film shows whether the actor is distressed, happy or showing any other emotion. The writer has to find a way of getting access to the characters without having them say directly what they are thinking.

Rhys and Bryn

The writer usually does not know who the actors will be in a film. This might lead to some small changes in a script. The writer might have envisaged a small, thin actor but the producer might have signed a tall, fat star. The script has to be written to a certain point so that it is attractive for a director to want to direct it. The writer will then work with him and there will be changes which will alter the script to make it compatible to the director’s vision of the film. Another cause for change is when the scene is set outside and then on the day of shooting, it rains – in which case filming might have to move inside and the scene tweaked accordingly.

The experienced script writer knows that page of A4 script roughly equals a minute of screen time and it is easy to keep track of the page count. What’s harder is to make sure that the story spans the distance in a satisfying way so that everything is moving forward but nothing is rushed and the story can widen and deepen as it goes.

Writers in the main are reclusive and do not seek publicity. How many film goers stay behind to read the list of credits and for that matter how many know the names of the script writers of their favourite films and television programmes? How many realise that different writers write different episodes of the programme? In the same vein, how many viewers know the name of the director of photography?

When a show is in production, the timing works backwards from the start to shooting and there is little wriggle room. Gaby confesses to being a slow writer and so has to work all hours to stick to the strict deadlines.

Gaby concludes with these observations: “Broadly speaking, I’d say the deadlines in film are less punishing; mainly because it is in development for so long and by the time you’re shooting it, it’s written. In television, you’re often writing to production deadlines that are tight from the start. Hitting the deadlines has always been a challenge, but it was the one-offs that were really hard to handle as these would involve going down to London meaning an awful lot of planning, especially when the children were young. Most people know that I live in Leeds but nevertheless, they expect you to be available as most of the industry is in London. The assumption is that you’re local and available for urgent meetings. However, being a screen writer does in the main mean that you can do your work whenever you want.”

Rhys and Bryn as extras in ‘Their Finest’ film

This summary shows how much has been achieved during the past twenty years:

1997-2002 Family Affairs Talkback Thames 5, 45 episodes

2000-2003 Doctors BBC1, 7 episodes over series 1-5

2002-2004 Eastenders BBC1, 9 episodes

2002-2005 Holby City BBC1, 4 episodes including a Holby City/Casualty Christmas special.

2003-2005 Born and Bred BBC1, 4 episodes, series 3 and 4

2005-2007 Casualty BBC1, 4 episodes

2007-2009 Survivors BBC1, 2 episodes series 1-2

2007-2009 Lark Rise to Candleford BBC1, 6 episodes series 1-2-3

2011-2012 Vera ITVStudios/ITV, 1 episode series 2 & 1 episode series 3

2012-2013 The Paradise BBC1, 1 episode series 1 & 2 episodes series 2

2013-2015 Shetland BBC1, 2 episodes series 1 & 3 episodes series 3 – Winner TV Drama award – British Academy Scotland awards 2016

2016 The Level Hillybilly TV/ITV, Original 6-part series co-written with Alex Perrin.

Lissa Evans, Amanda Posey, Bill Nighy & Gaby Chiappe

Films

2016 Their Finest Adaptation of novel by Lissa Evans. This is directed by the  Lone Scherfig, the Danish director who also directed The Riot Club and An Education. Gaby did have a small part in the film and her two boys were extras in the tube station scene.

Gaby is presently adapting Dark Matter, a novel by Michelle Paver for Wildgaze/BBC films.

-advertisement-
-advertisement-
-advertisement-
-advertisement-
-advertisement-
-advertisement-
-advertisement-
-advertisement-
-advertisement-
-advertisement-
-advertisement-
-advertisement-

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

1476 COMMENTS

  2. Seattle exterminators

    […]we like to honor numerous other internet web pages around the net, even if they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Below are some webpages really worth checking out[…]

  11. 3D Date

    […]very handful of web-sites that come about to become detailed below, from our point of view are undoubtedly effectively really worth checking out[…]

  12. Virtual Reality Events

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a couple of unrelated information, nevertheless really really worth taking a appear, whoa did one particular understand about Mid East has got more problerms too […]

  19. buy magic mushroom

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine some unrelated data, nonetheless definitely worth taking a appear, whoa did 1 study about Mid East has got far more problerms also […]

  47. Essential Oils Center

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a number of unrelated data, nevertheless truly really worth taking a appear, whoa did 1 learn about Mid East has got much more problerms also […]

  58. Cavapoo Puppies for Sale

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine some unrelated information, nonetheless truly really worth taking a appear, whoa did 1 find out about Mid East has got a lot more problerms also […]

  64. Ragdoll kittens for sale

    […]we prefer to honor several other world-wide-web sites around the internet, even though they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Underneath are some webpages really worth checking out[…]

  72. maltese puppies for sale

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a number of unrelated data, nonetheless seriously really worth taking a appear, whoa did one particular discover about Mid East has got extra problerms also […]

  97. GSC Dank Vapes

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a couple of unrelated information, nonetheless seriously really worth taking a look, whoa did a single understand about Mid East has got additional problerms too […]

  100. Ps5 for sale

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine some unrelated information, nevertheless definitely worth taking a look, whoa did a single learn about Mid East has got far more problerms too […]

  104. IRISH FAKE ID

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a few unrelated data, nevertheless really really worth taking a look, whoa did one particular discover about Mid East has got far more problerms also […]

  105. Ketamine For sale

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a number of unrelated data, nonetheless truly worth taking a search, whoa did 1 master about Mid East has got additional problerms also […]

  127. SEO Expert

    […]please take a look at the web-sites we comply with, which includes this 1, because it represents our picks through the web[…]

  135. Best SEO Companies 2021

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a handful of unrelated data, nonetheless definitely really worth taking a appear, whoa did 1 understand about Mid East has got far more problerms at the same time […]

  136. SEO Marketing Experts

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a few unrelated information, nevertheless actually worth taking a appear, whoa did 1 find out about Mid East has got far more problerms also […]

  137. Best SEO Companies 2022

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a number of unrelated data, nonetheless truly worth taking a appear, whoa did a single understand about Mid East has got additional problerms as well […]

  138. Marqui Management SEO

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a handful of unrelated data, nevertheless genuinely worth taking a search, whoa did 1 learn about Mid East has got extra problerms as well […]

  141. B2B Saas SEO

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a handful of unrelated data, nonetheless genuinely worth taking a look, whoa did 1 learn about Mid East has got additional problerms at the same time […]

  146. Bible Verses

    […]although sites we backlink to beneath are considerably not related to ours, we feel they may be essentially really worth a go by way of, so have a look[…]

  147. Bible Verses

    […]although web-sites we backlink to below are considerably not connected to ours, we really feel they’re essentially worth a go via, so possess a look[…]

  150. Serenity Prayer

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a few unrelated information, nonetheless actually worth taking a look, whoa did 1 find out about Mid East has got far more problerms as well […]

  153. Psalm 119

    […]just beneath, are various entirely not connected sites to ours, nonetheless, they may be certainly really worth going over[…]

  162. kratom capsules for sale

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a number of unrelated data, nevertheless definitely worth taking a look, whoa did 1 understand about Mid East has got a lot more problerms as well […]

  164. 1P-LSD

    […]Every as soon as inside a even though we pick blogs that we study. Listed beneath would be the newest internet sites that we decide on […]

  165. Buy cocaine online

    […]although web sites we backlink to below are considerably not associated to ours, we feel they’re essentially worth a go by means of, so possess a look[…]

  166. DMT for sale

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a couple of unrelated information, nevertheless truly worth taking a appear, whoa did one particular discover about Mid East has got extra problerms as well […]

  168. kratom capsules

    […]although sites we backlink to below are considerably not connected to ours, we feel they’re basically worth a go by way of, so have a look[…]

  175. thc vape oil

    […]although internet websites we backlink to beneath are considerably not related to ours, we feel they may be basically worth a go by means of, so possess a look[…]

  177. Dank Vapes Cartridge

    […]we prefer to honor quite a few other internet internet sites around the internet, even if they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Below are some webpages really worth checking out[…]

  183. Fish Scale Cocaine

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a few unrelated information, nevertheless really really worth taking a appear, whoa did one particular find out about Mid East has got much more problerms also […]

  196. Fluorococaine

    […]we like to honor numerous other web internet sites around the web, even when they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Beneath are some webpages really worth checking out[…]

  205. Cheap t shirts

    […]although sites we backlink to below are considerably not connected to ours, we really feel they’re truly really worth a go by means of, so have a look[…]

  209. Sweatpants

    […]although web-sites we backlink to beneath are considerably not associated to ours, we really feel they’re basically really worth a go via, so possess a look[…]

  215. scrap car removal langley

    […]we like to honor quite a few other world wide web internet sites around the web, even when they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Below are some webpages really worth checking out[…]

  218. scrap car removal langley

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a few unrelated data, nonetheless really really worth taking a search, whoa did 1 master about Mid East has got more problerms also […]

  221. Widow Kush

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a few unrelated data, nevertheless genuinely worth taking a search, whoa did a single find out about Mid East has got extra problerms also […]

  223. Vancouver movers

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a number of unrelated information, nevertheless truly worth taking a look, whoa did 1 master about Mid East has got far more problerms also […]

  242. Best Pharmacy

    […]very handful of internet websites that happen to be in depth beneath, from our point of view are undoubtedly properly really worth checking out[…]

  243. Best Canadian Pharmacy

    […]we prefer to honor many other world wide web web sites on the net, even though they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Underneath are some webpages really worth checking out[…]

  248. Best Canadian Pharmacy

    […]we like to honor quite a few other world wide web sites around the internet, even though they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Under are some webpages worth checking out[…]

  258. Best Pharmacy

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine several unrelated information, nonetheless actually really worth taking a appear, whoa did 1 understand about Mid East has got more problerms too […]

  261. Canada Pharmacy

    […]we prefer to honor numerous other world-wide-web web-sites around the web, even when they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Beneath are some webpages worth checking out[…]

  264. canada pharmacy

    […]that will be the finish of this write-up. Here you’ll come across some internet sites that we believe you will appreciate, just click the hyperlinks over[…]

  269. canadian pharmacy

    […]we prefer to honor numerous other world-wide-web sites on the internet, even when they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Beneath are some webpages really worth checking out[…]

  287. women’s clothing online

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a couple of unrelated data, nonetheless definitely worth taking a look, whoa did one particular find out about Mid East has got much more problerms at the same time […]

  292. Beluga Caviar

    […]very few internet sites that transpire to be comprehensive beneath, from our point of view are undoubtedly very well really worth checking out[…]

  358. THC Cartridge

    […]that will be the finish of this write-up. Here you’ll uncover some sites that we assume you’ll appreciate, just click the links over[…]

  363. essaypro.co

    […]although internet websites we backlink to below are considerably not connected to ours, we feel they may be in fact really worth a go by means of, so possess a look[…]

  365. escorts

    […]please pay a visit to the web pages we comply with, like this one, because it represents our picks from the web[…]

  370. Psychic Surrey

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a few unrelated data, nonetheless actually worth taking a look, whoa did 1 find out about Mid East has got more problerms also […]

  374. psychic readings

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine some unrelated data, nevertheless seriously worth taking a search, whoa did one study about Mid East has got more problerms too […]

  378. Psychic Surrey BC

    […]we like to honor numerous other web sites on the net, even if they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Beneath are some webpages worth checking out[…]

  384. best psychic

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine several unrelated data, nevertheless definitely worth taking a look, whoa did a single learn about Mid East has got much more problerms also […]

  387. Psychic Toronto

    […]check beneath, are some entirely unrelated web sites to ours, on the other hand, they may be most trustworthy sources that we use[…]

  389. Australian Hijabi gamer

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a number of unrelated information, nevertheless really really worth taking a appear, whoa did a single study about Mid East has got much more problerms too […]

  391. black caviar

    […]that will be the end of this write-up. Here you will discover some websites that we consider you will value, just click the hyperlinks over[…]

  410. 4K Ambient Film

    […]that will be the finish of this write-up. Right here you’ll discover some web sites that we assume you will value, just click the hyperlinks over[…]

  442. How to beat the slots

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a couple of unrelated data, nonetheless really worth taking a appear, whoa did one particular learn about Mid East has got more problerms as well […]

  449. goldirainvestmentnetwork.com

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine several unrelated data, nevertheless actually really worth taking a search, whoa did 1 discover about Mid East has got additional problerms as well […]

  461. Nòt Live

    […]just beneath, are numerous completely not associated web pages to ours, nonetheless, they may be certainly really worth going over[…]

  484. ossst kopek

    […]very handful of internet sites that occur to be detailed beneath, from our point of view are undoubtedly very well really worth checking out[…]

  485. buy Concerta online

    […]we prefer to honor several other world-wide-web web-sites on the web, even when they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Under are some webpages really worth checking out[…]

  486. Alta 36

    […]please check out the internet sites we stick to, which includes this a single, because it represents our picks from the web[…]

  504. oxycodone for sale

    […]we like to honor numerous other online web-sites around the net, even if they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Under are some webpages worth checking out[…]

  508. Buy Tramadol Online

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine several unrelated data, nonetheless really really worth taking a search, whoa did one particular find out about Mid East has got extra problerms at the same time […]

  524. station fitness exterieur

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine several unrelated information, nonetheless seriously worth taking a appear, whoa did a single study about Mid East has got a lot more problerms as well […]

  532. cage street workout decathlon

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a few unrelated data, nonetheless genuinely really worth taking a look, whoa did one particular understand about Mid East has got far more problerms too […]

  539. parking mania

    […]Every the moment in a while we pick out blogs that we study. Listed below are the most up-to-date web-sites that we decide on […]

  544. Linen dress

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine several unrelated information, nonetheless genuinely worth taking a look, whoa did one discover about Mid East has got much more problerms also […]

  545. weed store near me

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine several unrelated data, nonetheless truly worth taking a search, whoa did one particular master about Mid East has got extra problerms at the same time […]

  576. PARROTS FOR SALE

    […]that may be the end of this write-up. Here you’ll uncover some web sites that we assume you will appreciate, just click the hyperlinks over[…]

  582. Www Healthnet Com Login

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine several unrelated data, nonetheless seriously worth taking a search, whoa did a single study about Mid East has got extra problerms at the same time […]

  586. Www Bcbsla Com Login

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a number of unrelated information, nevertheless definitely worth taking a look, whoa did one particular study about Mid East has got more problerms also […]

  602. FB tools

    […]that is the end of this report. Here you will find some internet sites that we consider you’ll value, just click the hyperlinks over[…]

  603. Facebook tools

    […]we like to honor lots of other net web pages around the internet, even when they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Underneath are some webpages worth checking out[…]

  647. plumbing surrey

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine some unrelated information, nonetheless truly worth taking a look, whoa did one understand about Mid East has got much more problerms as well […]

  665. surrey plumber

    […]that will be the end of this article. Right here you’ll locate some internet sites that we assume you will enjoy, just click the links over[…]

  671. Movers Kelowna

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a few unrelated information, nonetheless truly worth taking a appear, whoa did a single discover about Mid East has got more problerms as well […]

  675. Best Moving Company Kelowna

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine some unrelated data, nevertheless definitely really worth taking a look, whoa did one particular find out about Mid East has got much more problerms too […]

  689. buy ansomone

    […]check below, are some entirely unrelated internet websites to ours, having said that, they’re most trustworthy sources that we use[…]

  700. scrap car removal

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a few unrelated data, nonetheless actually worth taking a search, whoa did a single study about Mid East has got additional problerms at the same time […]

  701. Free scrap car removal

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a few unrelated data, nonetheless truly worth taking a search, whoa did 1 understand about Mid East has got more problerms at the same time […]

  702. cash for scrap cars

    […]we prefer to honor numerous other net internet sites on the net, even if they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Below are some webpages worth checking out[…]