Luke Frost has worked on shows including Phoenix Rise, Biff & Chip, The Amelia Gething Complex and Class Dismissed. He explains the role of a Script Editor in Childrens and Family scripted TV, in both development and production.
I’m really lucky to be able to work across development and production, and the Script Editor role for each of these can be quite different.
If you’re in development you’re sourcing new projects and working with writers to come up with ideas for shows. So this involves reading lots of books, new ideas, sample scripts, meeting different writers and thinking about what the audience and commissioners are looking for. For me, meeting writers and chatting about new ideas is the best part of the job – anything is possible at this stage! You’ll also be developing ideas with writers and supporting them through the (sometimes long and arduous) development process.
A Script Editor isn’t there to write the script, it’s about being a fresh pair of eyes on things like character, story and structure, but mainly it’s asking questions to help the writer shape a project. And also, in the back of your mind, you’re thinking about what similar ideas are out there, how you can make an idea stand out and how you might pitch it to commissioners and production partners.
Phoenix Rise - watch now on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ iPlayer
The Script Editor job on a Kids & Family production can vary depending on the show, but it’s all about getting lots of scripts to be the best they can be within pretty tight deadlines. So, you’re giving notes and asking questions to help the writer develop their script, but as they could be writing one episode in a 10, 20 or even 52-episode show, you’re also thinking about continuity across the series, the production or financial implications of scripts, consistency of characters and tone, series arcs and links between episodes. On a production you might be doing research into certain activities or themes and looking for compliance issues (so in Kids & Family making sure we don’t glamourise or encourage dangerous behaviour that might be imitated at home is important). And as a show starts shooting, you’re the link between the writer and the wider crew - answering questions about the script, managing schedules to hit deadlines, involving the writer in any changes, making script amendments and generally trying to wrangle Final Draft into doing something it doesn’t want to do!
Biff and Chip - watch on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ iPlayer
How did you get into script editing for Kids & Family content?
When I was looking for jobs I’d never even heard of a Script Editor. I was working in my local hospital but knew I wanted to tell stories so initially I studied to be a journalist. It was only when I realised I wasn’t confident enough to talk to people and would therefore be a terrible journalist that I took a course in TV writing and learned how scripts and stories work. I applied for loads of jobs as an Assistant Producer thinking this was an entry-level assistant role (spoiler – it’s not) and eventually got a job at the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ recruiting and managing staff for CΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ. CΒι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ were developing a sketch show called Class Dismissed and some very kind people let me sit in the writers' room where I met some brilliant writers and producers, saw how a show was developed and even wrote some sketches myself. After that I started to read more scripts, meet more writers and it only took me another 5 years asking myself "can I do actually this?" before I got my first script editing job. So it takes as long as it takes.
The Amelia Gething Complex - watch on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ iPlayer
What skills do you need to be a Script Editor?
You do need to be able to understand and analyse scripts and stories and how they work. You can get that from courses, websites and books, but also from just reading loads of really good scripts (and some not so good ones). And just think about what you like, don’t like, what works well about a script and how you might communicate that to a writer. Those communication and people skills are really important. There is a lot of trust between a writer and a Script Editor, it can be personal and exposing for a writer to constantly be showing their work and getting feedback, so it is important to be honest but supportive. You could be writing anything from book reports to script notes to pitch documents so writing skills are also handy. And then it’s definitely the ability to juggle lots of things at once with a real attention to detail, even a tiny mistake in a script can cause massive headaches for the cast and crew!
Class Dismissed - Watch on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ iPlayer
Do you have any advice for people looking to get into script editing?
There isn’t a ‘right’ way into script editing. So whether you start out as a runner on a show, an assistant at a production company, script reading for a theatre, recruitment (like me) or any of the thousands of other jobs that exist in TV, all that experience can be really valuable as a way to learn about the industry and can often lead to opportunities that might help you move towards script editing.The team I work in all have different backgrounds and experiences and it just makes us better at looking at a wide range of ideas and perspectives I think.
My main advice would be to read loads of scripts – good ones, not-so-good ones, TV, radio, theatre, experienced writers and less experienced writers. You’ll start to get a sense of why some work and how you’d change others, but you’ll also build up your knowledge of the brilliant writers out there and who you might want to work with one day. The other thing is to try and understand the market. Before you approach any producers or companies, look at what they’re making, who their competition is and what else is out there. Kids & Family content and what our audience want is changing all the time, so when we meet people we want to know that they understand what we’ve made, what shows they think are missing and what our buyers might want from us.