How I Partnered with the Producers of The King's Speech & What I Learned Along The Way - Part 8
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I had my foot in the door with Bedlam Productions and all because I had started to listen and cooperate with the Quiet Voice within. Will, the head of development at Bedlam was/is a history buff and he loved the story.
He was trying to raise interest in the project among his executive. He finally wrote and asked if I could write a spec TV script for the first episode.
Wow, could I! Why Not?!
“Of course!” I told him, “I’d love to!”
THIS, I thought, was the lucky ticket I’d been waiting for. I would write them a spec script that they would love and it would win them over to making an offer and turning Magna Carta into a series! I couldn’t wait!
The series script dealt with events at the beginning of King John’s reign and were much earlier in the story than the play covered. I was excited about the new terrain so I took a month and bore down on a spec script.
I didn’t have much time…
I wanted to prove I could turn the material around in a hurry and at high quality. I also wanted to stick close to history. I pieced together a structure for the premier episode and started a kind of conversation with the Quiet Voice. I would try some combination of scenes and characters and wait to see how I felt. Was there any discomfort? Was the Quiet Voice content? Then I’d experiment with scenes by contemplating on all the possible solutions.
QV no limit
The key was taking my emotions out of it, they only got in the way! The emotions that counted were those of the characters, not mine. The Quiet Voice helped connect me to my characters. It’s suggestions often had more heart and generosity than I would have imagined and invariably the suggestions took me in a direction which was new and outside my usual choices.
(Image by Arek Socha from pixabay.com)
I completed the script within a month, record time for me, and I felt it was one of the best scripts I had ever written. The reaction from Will and the Bedlam execs was very positive, “Great work” they said. That spec script is the basis for Part 1 of Magna Carta, “Theft By Marriage”.
King John’s overarching goal throughout his reign was to reclaim his lands in France, (lands which amounted to most of the country) a huge inheritance he lost due to his marriage to Isabelle. They had five children together and stayed together until John’s death, sixteen years later.
Somehow the first script was not quite enough to get Bedlam to commit to an actual option or production deal. Time passed as Bedlam execs hummed and hawed finally the request came back from Will, “Can you write a second spec script?”
“A second one? Okay…” was my response, not quite as enthusiastically this time, but if that’s what it takes to get this project off the ground so be it…
I rationalized that this company, fresh off an Academy Award win had the industry clout to make it happen, if they really got behind it. So I went off and wrote a second spec script, another 60 pages, another month, I sent that along. It too was well received, “Very good”, Will told me but still no firm offer. Now what? I realized I had to pro-actively DO something other than write spec scripts.
The Quiet Voice encouraged me to experiment, but not with the script this time, but with the production. I’d already been in contact with Michael Taylor (producer of The Tudors) who was with Peace Arch Productions.
(pixabay.com)
He was listening at least. I thought his possible interest in a partnership with Bedlam would galvanize the project and give it some much needed momentum. Who wouldn’t want to partner with the Academy Award winning producers of such a wonderful film and I could actually deliver them – maybe. I asked Michael if he would like to talk with Will to discuss a potential Canada/UK Co-Production. I thought that might interest them both and I was right. A phone meeting was set up between Michael and Will and the result was a partnership and informal co-production agreement. Fantastic!
Meanwhile Michael had moved from Peace Arch to Multiple Media Entertainment. Detailed discussions ensued between Bedlam and Multiple Media on the specifics for pitching this deal to the Canadian and UK networks. Everyone I spoke to about it said this was the dream deal of a lifetime. One literary agent in the UK said, “You’ve won the lottery!” and it felt like I had.
The producers of the incredible Kings Speech and the producers of the incredible Tutors in partnership on the amazing story of the Magna Carta and all in time to launch the series to capitalize on the 800 year anniversary of the signing at Runnymede. Who could ask for more? There was only one small problem as it turned out, which Michael cautiously broke to me over the phone one day…
“Chris”, he said, “we need a writer”.
“What?!”
Part 9: “Glittering Prizes and Endless Compromises” is next, feel free to share!
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