tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4983374797927573312.post4775500566045384708..comments2010-10-11T15:42:44.580-07:00Comments on Inside Story: The Best of People. The Worst of People.Faustushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09804237732669061753noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4983374797927573312.post-25379185564879849882008-01-04T07:02:00.000-08:002008-01-04T07:02:00.000-08:00Overheard at a BBC Christmas party;Notes given to ...Overheard at a BBC Christmas party;<BR/><BR/>Notes given to writers on Holby City are no longer to be credited to the individual who came up with them. Writers are now told 'Holby would like you to change this. Holby think you have failed to do this'<BR/><BR/>Chaff hiding behind wheat?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4983374797927573312.post-32539659180868197532007-12-04T02:48:00.000-08:002007-12-04T02:48:00.000-08:00Look ... really ... uh ... I don't know why I both...Look ... really ... uh ... I don't know why I bother. You've obviously got a serious problem with other people expressing themselves. Hnn? Isn't that right? Do you have any idea that for me a single quotation mark left hanging with no reference to anything at all reminds me of the day, years ago, when my hamster died? And I was left hanging with no reference to anything at all? Have you any idea how that felt? Do you care? Do you care about hamsters? My hamster? Do you care about my pain? My suffering? The reason why ... okay, I'm getting a bit emotional here, the reason why I wanted to write in the first place was ... sniff ... to talk about my Hamster. Now you know. For years I have tried to introduce hamsters into my episodes and have always had some b&***&d script editor tell me that 'it's not really working for me'. That Phil Mitchell hamster scene would have been a classic. That whole giant hamster actually being in charge of Holby Hospital concept would have been the twist of the decade. <BR/><BR/>Okay, seriously, there are some loops out there trying to write, bless 'em. And maybe we can all get carried away by something sometimes and be a pain to a hard-working editor. Script editing is not an easy job for many reasons, writers sometimes being one of them. But let's just have a go at working together. I've learned a huge amount from editors, but it's always been through a trusting, mutually respectful exploration of the work, not the sort of ranting, rambling monologue on the phone that's so much a part of the culture now that never seriously puts the question: what do you think?Faustushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09804237732669061753noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4983374797927573312.post-45671573035541275622007-12-03T13:22:00.000-08:002007-12-03T13:22:00.000-08:00You have to remove both the quotation marks for it...You have to remove <B><I>both</B></I> the quotation marks for it to work.<BR/><BR/>There are no half measures. No compromises.Paul Campbellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10758955807661623583noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4983374797927573312.post-1462251428541848882007-12-03T04:54:00.000-08:002007-12-03T04:54:00.000-08:00How dare you suggest that I remove the quotation m...How dare you suggest that I remove the quotation marks from around the word 'blog'? I spent hours on those quotation marks. For years I've used quotation marks and everybody's been perfectly happy with them. What do you suggest I do? Just leave holes? Just spaces? Just a void begging for the inclusion of quotation marks? Let me tell you that I did a lecture on quotation marks at the MA Screenwriting course at the University of Norristhorpe and it went down extremely well. This whole anti-quotation mark thing is exactly what I've been talking about. Suddenly, quotation marks nobody has ever complained about, for which writers - including myself - have won awards are out of fashion. Huh? Is that what you're saying?<BR/><BR/>Oh, alright then.Faustushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09804237732669061753noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4983374797927573312.post-34920286186679598622007-12-02T03:54:00.000-08:002007-12-02T03:54:00.000-08:00It's funny - I know so many BBCers, well, generall...It's funny - I know so many BBCers, well, generally ex-BBCers to be honest. Online journalists, broadcast journalists, technologists, radio producers. They all report analogous experiences to those you write about. <BR/><BR/>It seems to me that the BBC is such an enormous behemoth, it's pretty much incapable of anything but dysfunctional relationships with its staff, who rarely have anything but dysfunctional relationships with each other. There's a reason that BBC TVC is so frequently referred to as the "pit of vipers". <BR/><BR/>My beloved used to work at the BBC, and once came home rolling with laughter having seen one of those ludicrous propaganda posters, the ones that said "Audience is at the heart of everything we do", where someone had crossed out "Audience" and written "Bosses' pay cheques". <BR/><BR/>I don't know that the BBC is capable of acting in a healthy manner at all. And I must admit, that makes me sad. I used to really admire the BBC, until I got closer to it and saw how appallingly it's mismanaged, and the way that bullying fools are rewarded with promotion. Shit rolls downhill, and there's more than enough of it at the highest echelons of the Beeb to go round. <BR/> <BR/>*sigh*<BR/><BR/>Sorry for ranting. <BR/><BR/>One favour to ask you though. Please remove the single quotes from around the word blog in your sidebar. It's a blog, not a 'blog', no more than what you do on it is 'write'.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com