Screenwriter One

-
HEIDI THOMAS


Heidi Thomas was born in Liverpool in 1962, and she is best known for being the writer of the popular TV drama 'Call the Midwife', this is a show that I have always watched and find each series more and more captivating as they are created. Heidi Thomas has been nominated for four Baftas which reflects that she is a very talented screenwriter.

Her work

 My favourite show that Thomas has written is definitely 'Call the Midwife'. This is because I enjoy seeing society in the 1950's and 60's represented through strong female characters and a high quality production. Something that I find interesting is that the show is not just about babies and midwifes but what was going on in society in the time as well which ads some good context. For example there was an episode that featured the introduction of the contraceptive pill and how it created a new wave of feminism, then she linked it to how it affected each character which gave the show a lot more depth.  She also was the screenwriter for a show called 'Upstairs Downstairs' that was continued in 2010 from the original 1970's series. It is a drama set in the 1930's that compares the lives of an upper class family living in a townhouse to their staff living working downstairs, below them. This show also is not just about what the family get up to, it also reflects what was going on at the time such as the first episode referencing King George's death. Just like call the midwife she des not just show a story but also everything going on around it and this is something that I really enjoy. Also the fact that her shows tend to show differences in class adds an interesting depth.

How has her work developed?

In an interview Thomas states that when she first created 'Call the Midwife' it was described as 'lightweight and fluffy' because it was a female led show, however she waned to prove that it was more than hat and actually very hard hitting so she described how she 'carried on going'. Then over the last couple of years a 'broader group of people have started to understand how hard hitting the issues the show deals with'. After writing Call the Midwife for a few years she realised that the era of time was 'not just about babies being born but lives being lived' and that the 'lives of women and the working class were largely impacted by social change'. This is strongly portrayed in her work because as the series of 'Call the Midwife' moved on the more sensitive the topics are becoming covering issues from rape to body deformities. She also states how the more episodes of 'Call the Midwife' and 'Upstairs Downstairs' that she created the more she needed to 'stick her neck out' with screenwriting and she received letters from her viewers describing how her writing had 'shone a light on their experiences' and this inspired her to keep writing.




Why did she interest me?

 Heidi Thomas interested me mainly because she as the screenwriter of a show that I have watched for a very long time, therefore I wanted to do some more research into what she considers when screenwriting. As I have stated multiple times she looks at the world around her and then lets it influence her work so I took inspiration from this for my own work, just for small details such as May discussing her day at school; it gives the audience a wider view on the characters lives and what affects them. Also the fact that she writes about sensitive subjects interested me as my own screenplay covers a sensitive and challenging subject too so I could identify the similarities between them. I also took inspiration from the fact that her shows are mainly female led and my script only features female characters, she shows their strength and I also wanted to show this in the maturity of my main character May.
Bibliography:




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Project evaluation

-
Image
Introduction:  This unit, has by far been the most rewarding experience that I have ever undergone. When starting it 13 weeks ago I could have never imaged the creative journey that we were about to undergo, and the amount of skills that I would develop. Admittedly, there were a multitude of moments in which we faced challenges, yet finding solutions and overcoming these hurdles in order to gain knowledge on how to do something better next time, is all part of the production process.  Being a Producer:  Being a Producer has always been my ambition, hence I feel very proud of myself that we get commissioned and got to take on the role. Despite this, it was not at all how I expected it to be. I do feel that before this unit I was under the misconception that Producing was mainly focussed around being organised, yet there is so much more to it than this (Benioff, 2016). It is about being supportive to the team (Kellison, 2008:14), and making sure that everything is explained clearly. As w
Read more

Test shoots

-
Image
As Producers when undergoing test shots our main focus was with health and safety and how we can have a production space that looks great, but that also is practical and safe due to us having multiple people at all shoots. "A Producers job is to overcome obstacles" ( Brown et al , 2016:13) and that is exactly what we had to do with test shots; hence our solution was something rather creative.  We decided to create a miniature version of our set design, as this way we were able to be "good problem solvers" ( Brown et al , 2016:13) as that is essential when producing and by having a model set we were able to mark out any health and safety risks that could occur when shooting with the shots that had been planned. It was vital for us to plan out the health and safety dangers of the set as we have a duty of care ( Brown et al , 2016:64) and we need to make sure that we adhere to it, hence being able to see visually what the risks around the set may be, enabled us to then
Read more

Workshop films/output

-
Image
Being in a Television Studio:  For this unit one of the most important aspects to research was actually creating an As Live show and working in a Television Studio environment. It is vital to know what the purpose of each space is in the studio, as well as each role and what they consist of. I also wanted to understand how communication worked around the studio and between the gallery and the studio. Jonathan was really good at explaining clearly to us how the studio space worked, and the purpose of everything in there. He began by walking us around and talking through it all, this was incredibly useful as when being in a studio it is important to know how it all works as well as the studio terminology (Brown et al , 2016:39) I was surprised by the amount elements in the studio that served a specific purpose that I have seen multiple times but never known what they do. For example the is a red line on the floor surrounding the studio space called the 'fire line' thus if the fir
Read more