Pre-Production Unit: Episode Amount + Time-slot

I've decided that I want Different Perspectives to be a series of six episodes running at around 25 minutes each. (6x25)

Programmes that inspired how and why I decided on this format include Spaced and Peep Show which are both two of the most popular shows on Channel 4, both featuring six episodes per series running at an average length of 25 mins. approx. These are two of my favourite shows and influenced me when developing my series.

I researched into shows in the comedy-drama genre to see what running times they had, and saw a recent example of this format. Ricky Gervais's series Derek, which Channel 4 describes as "a bittersweet comedy drama about a group of outsiders living on society's margins."
From this tag alone it comes across as quite similar to my idea which is also a comedy-drama about an outsider. (Elliott) Having watched Derek before I can see that it is quite bittersweet but a lot of thought has gone into how people care for these characters. This is something that has made me think about how important it is to write my characters in a way that makes people worry about what happens to them over the course of the series. Like Spaced and Peep Show, this also has six episodes per series.

Spaced ran for six episodes at an
average duration of 24-25 mins

Derek is a another example of a recently
successful Channel 4 comedy-drama that is approx.
25 minutes per episode.

I am happy to have resolved the time limit issue which admittedly is much better than my original idea of making a TV movie. I have now started writing a treatment describing the episodes which would have involved far too much story development to be ideal if I went with that previous format.

I'm glad that I've found a format that I am now happy with and in future will make sure I have a clearer understanding of the ideas behind the development my project. I feel that this will also lead to a greater level of quality now that I have the episode count down, and it allows me to tell my story without spreading it too thin or cutting out important parts central to the development of Elliott and Elena.

Right now I am working on my treatment which includes describing the characters, and a breakdown of the storyline in episodic format. I've decided to write this first, so that when it comes to writing the pilot episode script and designing and formatting the book, I know fully well the ideas I have previously set out.

Time-slot

The time-slot I want is around 8-8:30pm. This would suit the style of my show well, which is aimed at an audience of 18-36 year olds. It also means that young children would be less likely to be watching which is appropriate because of the older target group.