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AUTHENTICITY. DOES IT MATTER?
This is a Blog I wrote for the London Screenwriting Festival.
After over 30 years in the police service I recently found myself watching The Capture on BBC. Whilst I enjoyed the show overall, I visibly cringed every time I heard the lead police character DI Rachel Carey (Holliday Grainger) introduce herself as Detective Carey with no mention of her rank. She was not alone and other Detective characters did the same throughout the series. This does not happen as officers always use their rank. There was also mention of them requiring a warrant to conduct surveillance which is not needed, DI Carey interviewing a suspect alone in his cell, a big no no, and even the fact that the DI was conducting a suspect interview in an official interview room would not happen. But overall this was clearly a fictitious story and as such these minor mistakes are forgiven or not even noticed by the general public who are not aware of real police procedures. So, the question is does authenticity matter? Or perhaps more importantly how many mistakes will the public allow you to get away with before they dismiss your production as implausible? I would say it depends on the mistake as even one if it twists the truth too far could end up with you losing credibility and in turn your audience.
(The Capture BBC)
FACT OR FICTION
It is fair to say that true life shows such as Manhunt based on the murders of Levi Bellfield (written by Ed Whitmore and starring Martin Clunes), A Confession based on the murders of Christopher Halliwell (written by Jeff Pope and starring Martin Freeman) and White House Farm based on the murder of his family by Jeremy Bamber (written by Colin Caffell and starring Mark Addy) require detailed research and authenticity throughout. These shows you feel owe a duty to the real people who were part of these tragic events to tell the story in the most accurate way possible. There is always going to be an element of dramatic licence but overall the production must look and feel faithful to the real-life story being portrayed.
(A Confession ITV)
On the other hand, clearly fictitious shows like Luther (written by Neil Cross and starring Idris Elba), Line of Duty (written by Jed Mercurio and starring Vicky McClure), and The Bodyguard (again written by Jed Mercurio and starring Richard Madden) have more freedom to be liberal with the truth. The viewers know these are not a true reflection of the police or I hope they do. Do people really believe there are senior police officers like DCI Luther running around killing people, hiding the evidence and having dodgy relationships with killers? Maybe they do think there are police officers out there with a “the ends justify the means” attitude but I can assure you it would be impossible for anyone to behave like Luther and last 5 minutes in the police service in this day and age.
(Luther BBC)
Life on Mars creator Tony Jordan tells a great story of how they came up with the idea for the show which I won’t spoil now but if you get the opportunity please have a listen to Tony he is very entertaining. What I will give away is that Tony wanted to write a new The Sweeney but knew he could not do it as times have changed and people simply would not believe that police would act that way in this modern time. Tony and Matthew Graham had to adapt and mix the eras which led to them inventing a show that is now world renown. It worked because the viewers believed that policing was like that in the 1970’s and the contrast between then and now made them feel nostalgic for a time when the police got the bad guy without the red tape and political correctness that is perceived as hampering them doing their job nowadays. Was policing like that in the 1970’s? It is hard to say as viewers either are too young or due to time cannot really recall what it was like 50 years ago. This fact is helpful to the show makers as whilst yes, they have to get the basics right such as rank structure, equipment, words spoken, clothing, music and vehicles of the time, they do not have to worry about the detail being right from that age as you would with a production set today where your viewing public can compare it against what they know and see in their own lives.
Where does that leave the writer? It obviously helps if you have influence. I was at the LSF a few years ago when the Broadchurch series created and writer Chris Chibnall gave a session on his career including explaining how he managed to get Broadchurch made. He stated himself that it was a big plus that he could phone David Tennant and Olivia Colman and ask them to be part of the project to assist with getting it off the ground. That is all very well if you have friends in high places but most us I suspect do not have anyone like that in our contact list. So, what can we the ordinary screenwriter looking for their first break do to improve our odds? Well we need to know our project inside out as we will have to prove to any director/agent/producer that we have done the work, including research, to make them want to invest in our masterpiece, well we will say it is, and more importantly us.
I recall during my police training, many years ago, the instructor telling me that you had to know the law before you could fully use the law. What he meant was that on the street your knowledge of the law is a tool box and if you know every tool in the box then you have lots of options when dealing with a situation. If you don’t know the law then you only may have only one or two tools that you can choose from and these might not be sufficient for you to do the job efficiently. An example of this would be attending the scene of a street fight when two people are fighting after leaving a public house due to alcohol and short tempers. You know that an assault has occurred but due to your lack of knowledge do not know and thus consider that this case as it does not involve a serious injury would be better dealt with by dealing with both parties for affray or drunk & disorderly or even breach of the peace. If you know the law you have these options. Hopefully you see my point the old saying is knowledge is power and the same can be said of your writing. If you know the real options then it can open up your project in new directions and show any investor that you know your stuff and their decision to invest in you is a risk, and it will be for them, worth taking.
Lyndon Smith
(ConsultingCops)
