Service 01
Development and Writing
Original scripts and story development, shaped around real characters and the communities we come from.
- Deliverable
- Pitch, treatment, script
- Typical stage
- Pre-production
- Works for
- Scripted & factual
- Based
- Teesside
Overview
Every project we make starts here. Development is the cheapest place to solve a problem and the most expensive place to skip, so we spend real time on it — research, access, character, structure and tone — before a camera comes out of the case.
For scripted work that means treatments, outlines, drafts and table reads. For documentary it means research calls, recces, sample interviews and a clear sense of whose story we are actually telling and why an audience should care.
How we work
From a conversation to a workable script
We usually begin with a single conversation and a lot of questions. From there we build a one-page pitch, then a treatment, then drafts — each one tested against the practical realities of budget, location and access so the script that reaches the floor is one we can actually shoot.
We write with performers in mind. Dialogue is read out loud, scenes are cut when they stop earning their place, and the voices stay recognisably North East rather than flattened into something generic.
Documentary development
Access first, cameras second
With factual work the story lives or dies on access and trust. We spend time with contributors before filming so they understand what we are making and are comfortable with it, and so we understand where the real story sits rather than the one we assumed at the start.
That research becomes a shooting document: the arcs we are following, the moments we cannot miss, the archive we need to chase, and the contributors who carry the film.
What is included
On the sheet
- Idea and concept development
- One-page pitches and treatments
- Screenplay and script drafts
- Script editing and punch-up
- Factual research and access
- Recces and sample interviews
- Story structure and arc mapping
- Funding and commissioning documents
“The cheapest place to fix a film is on the page.”
Smoggie Bloom — Development and Writing
Also from us
Start a project
Need development and writing?
Send us a couple of lines about the project and we will come back with an honest view of what it takes, what it costs and how quickly we can be on it.
info@smoggiebloom.co.uk · 07380 895 053