LO2: Task 4 - Professional Etiquette

LO2: Task 4 - Professional Etiquette

Professional Etiquette as a screen/script-writer:

Professional etiquette is your ability to remain cordial and meet the requirements that others expect of you within your job role. This would include meeting deadlines and being able to communicate appropriately based on your role. The effect of professional etiquette is that production and interactions with other team members can run as smoothly as possible. 

As a screen/script-writer the pre-production and production team are dependent on your work as it's your role to create the narrative the project, the characters to be played by the cast, their personalities, the events in the story, its structure and the content/genre that will be shown. Ultimately your work determines the actions of the rest of your team for the project such as casting directors that will find suitable actors to play your characters, storyboard artists who you'll need to explain your vision to, the director and producer who you'll need to justify it to as well as how it relates to the brief you've been given. This also relating to regulation with the content that you write being fitting for the target audience therefore, its essential your script is as understandable and fitting to what you've been asked as possible so that everyone else involved can work off the script as smoothly as possible. 

You would need to maintain a professional relationship with those above you in production such as the director and producer, taking their feedback professionally and adapting it as they're the ones who your work is most vital to and is made for/needs to be appealed to. Due to this, professional etiquette is essential as you meet deadlines and communicate professionally with your fellow production members. 

Hierarchy Diagram

Position in Hierarchy and effect on other job roles:

The writer is positioned above the line in the hierarchy therefore, has an influential position that affects the rest of the team involved in the production. This is including a script supervisor who acts as the editor for the script produced by the writer; talking through it with the writer so that it relates to their brief as suitably as possible and will be understandable to the rest of the team so everyone understands what their role is in creating/planning the production. This is also inclusive of fine-tuning the content to be as effective and engaging as possible. Another role which is close to the writer is the director (beneath the producer) who the writer needs to communicate their ideas within the script to so that the director can relay that information to the rest of the crew. Examples including setting for set designers and costume for costume designers; these being part of the art department (storyboard artists too with the events of the narrative which the director can relay information like shot types to). This could also affect the casting director who needs to base their casting around the characters you have created. A role this affects too is the assistant director who your communication with the director will impact; their understanding of what you've communicated to the director also affecting everyone under their supervision like the art department, effects artists and cast.  

Failing to accommodate the other team members through either not completing your script by the deadline, poorly communicating your ideas or failing to meet the brief would prove problematic for almost everyone involved due to the writer's position in the hierarchy table, above the line meaning a high responsibility due to the importance of the script in a media production.

These include: 

• The director (who can't communicate to the cast or director of photography regarding effective shot types that signify certain events or character types in the product).

• The casting director (who doesn't understand what characters they need and therefore, what cast is suitable).

• The locations manager (who doesn't know what settings will be fitting).

• The assistant director (who doesn't know what they need to communicate to the art department, cast, effects artists, sound artists or stuntmen).