Irony of Character

At last year's Red Planet Prize workshop, Tony Jordan mentioned something about how to generate an idea for a successful TV series.*

He said the protagonist should, ideally (and I'm paraphrasing here), have something in his characterisation that directly contrasts with the situation he finds himself in. Or, an 'irony of character', in other words.

Tony didn't dwell on this too much, and almost mentioned it in passing, but it stuck in my craw and I've been giving it a lot of thought since then (especially as we go through this year's entries for the Red Planet Prize).

What I think The Guv was getting at was this:

The idea and central character should generate an amusing or intriguing irony (‘irony of character’), which then also suggests the kind of thing we’d expect to see very week (re: format of the show).

Let’s run this ‘irony of character’ notion through a couple of successful shows from The Guv's stable.

Life on Mars: a pedantic cop from the 21st century finds himself in the political incorrectness of 1970s cops, and desperately wants to find a way back to his own time.

This presents a format where John Simm’s character tries to get back to his own time while cracking 1970s police cases with Gene Hunt and his team. That’s what we see every week. The irony comes from his 21st century politically correct approach as opposed to Gene Hunt’s raucous non-PC habits.

BBC’s Death in Paradise (born out of the Red Planet Prize) has the perfect ‘irony of character’ (a stuffy English cop is sent to the relaxed Caribbean to solve murders), which makes it an easy pitch. Plus, the series has got potential to run and run.

Want to play the game? Think of your favourite show, or a hot new series, and see if it has an irony of character.

Homeland? A US marine returns home a hero after 8 years of captivity in Iraq but a driven CIA officer suspects he might now be a terrorist. There's a definite strong irony there which drives the series (is he? isn't he?) but for those who may argue that Claire Danes's character is the lead, then her character is a talented but highly unstable (psychologically on the edge) officer who's desperate to make up for previous mistakes. She's not just a straightforward CIA elite who can do no wrong.

Breaking Bad? A modest high school chemistry teacher gets diagnosed with cancer so he starts making crystal meth to ensure his family have enough money after he dies. A delicious irony there, a neat hook, and THE BEST DRAMA OF THE 21ST CENTURY SO FAR, even better than Mad Men. Yeah, I seddit. Though I love you, too, Draper, natch.

Of course, not all shows have an 'irony of character' at its heart, but it's certainly a useful thing to consider when you're developing, or have written, a pilot script.


* Another tip I picked up from John Yorke was to have a central gang for a show.

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Want me to read your script? Check my consultancy page.

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Click on image for larger version in new window.

How's the US Economy Doing?

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2-14-12 JEG Webcast Roman Empire - FINAL


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 Embedded article at bottom of post.

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Info for All Taxpayers:
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PHEW-WEE! We had around 1,800 entries this year. Amazing! I genuinely think this has been the highest standard yet. So many well-written scripts, and a lot of talent out there. Of course, that just made it harder for us to choose the scripts that went through to the second round! It was agonising, I don't mind telling you.

We had a very long list of 'maybes' that had to be whittled down to a manageable number for the 2nd round (around 10-15% of the total entries). When it came to the crunch, I think it was a combination of a strong or original idea matched with sharp and/or compelling writing that saw you through, not to mention a few that you just fancied taking a punt on in terms of raw talent!

As ever, making decisions like this can be very subjective, and no doubt very frustrating for those who didn't make it. Fret not! A rejection here is not a personal judgement on you or your talent; just a hardline decision on the scripts and ideas that we wanted to read more about. It was so, so, so hard. If I could have ushered 50 more scripts through, I would have.

I've seen some reaction on Twitter and blogs to being rejected. Most are remaining positive, which is the best way, but some are taking it very hard. Regardless of the opportunity that the competition provides, you should feel motivated to finish your script (if you haven't already), and to keep writing.

To succeed in this business, and to even get a breakthrough, takes a lot of hard grind and a bit of luck. It's not going to happen overnight (not usually anyway), so don't let a competition refusal, or any presumed 'industry opinion', sway you in your efforts. If you want to write, keep writing. Keep trying, keep sending stuff out, and see what happens.

I read recently about screenwriting that 'rejection is the norm, success is the aberration', but we should try to embrace and celebrate that, to inspire and push us, rather than let the rejection drag us down. Some rejections may take more time to recover from than others but ultimately you got to get back on that horse, and write on out to the sunset.

Red Planet 2nd rounders now have most of February to polish and finish their scripts, and then we really tear our hair out as we try to choose a final shortlist. I'LL KEEP YOU POSTED ON EVERYTHING as and when it happens. For now, back to writing.

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