Job description
Are you an experienced Storyliner? Passionate about Drama? Ready for the opportunity to progress your career? Then this is the role for you!
It's an exciting time to be part of our team with all of our award-winning Continuing Dramas that brings audiences together week after week. From EastEnders, Doctors and Casualty to River City and Pobol y Cwm, our programmes remain a constant source of gripping entertainment, featuring cliff-hanger storylines and much-loved characters with whom our viewers have grown up.
EastEnders is the multi award winning soap broadcast four times a week on BBC ONE. It currently ranks as one of the most watched TV dramas in the UK tackling many controversial and taboo issues previously unseen on television in the UK. Through great writing and attention to detail the show manages to successfully balance gritty realism with high drama and entertainment to keep its millions of dedicated viewers coming back for more, on-screen and on-line, every week.
The EastEnders Editorial Team are at the heart of the drama offscreen! They work extremely hard in a busy environment to help bring the scripts to life. You will have the opportunity to learn and develop within an experienced Drama Editorial Office.
Main ResponsibilitiesThe Storyliner reports to the Story Producer on a day to day basis and the aim of the role is to deliver high quality, high profile and cost-effective drama.
The Storyliner generates and writes the planning and commissioning document to strict deadlines, creating story ideas and storylines of the highest standard, consistent with EastEnders and under guidance from the Story Producer.
Other responsibilities include, but are not limited to –
- To confidently adjust and rework the story document to incorporate notes and changes, taking the document from first draft through to commissioning document
- To work with Story Team to seek out new ideas for possible story and character material
- To attend long term quarterly story conferences, monthly story meetings, planning and commissioning meetings and be involved highly effectively in discussions as required. To ensure that the programmes creative vision is implemented consistently in all material
- To deal with and solve story problems that may arise at the script stage
- To work closely with the Story Researcher, ensuring that all story material is factually accurate
- To be fully aware of the importance of diversity, how on-screen content reflects a diverse society, and to ensure diverse groups are portrayed accurately and appropriately, in line with BBC Editorial Guidelines
- Extensive drama Script Editing, Story Editing, Storylining or Writing experience, preferably on a long running drama
- An enthusiasm, demonstrable interest and understanding of the genre, especially EastEnders
- A thorough and demonstrable understanding of character, story and structure
- An ability to write clear, concise and unambiguous prose in keeping with the EastEnders in-house style
- Proven ability to persuade and influence and resolve differences in professional opinions. An ability to take several different opinions in a story meeting and reach a common ground
- An awareness of the financial impact of different storylines and an understanding of cast budgets
- Knowledge of Copyright law, Writers’ Guild agreements, contracts and the legal implications of the production process
- Knowledge of corporate conditions of service, equal opportunities and health & safety policies, Producer Guidelines and relevant trade union agreements
We don’t focus simply on what we do – we also care how we do it. Our values and the way we behave are important to us. Please make sure you’ve read about our values and behaviours in the document attached below.
Diversity matters at the BBC. We have a working environment where we value and respect every individual's unique contribution, enabling all of our employees to thrive and achieve their full potential.
We want to attract the broadest range of talented people to be part of the BBC – whether that’s to contribute to our programming or our wide range of non-production roles. The more diverse our workforce, the better able we are to respond to and reflect our audiences in all their diversity.
We are committed to equality of opportunity and welcome applications from individuals, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, socio-economic background, religion and/or belief. We will consider flexible working requests for all roles, unless operational requirements prevent otherwise.
To find out more about Diversity and Inclusion at the BBC, please click here
Package DescriptionContract: 6 Month FTC / Attachment (Maternity Cover)
Band: C
Location: Elstree
**Please note that this is a standard Studios Production contract and potentially can involve up to 55 hours per week **
We are really proud to share that we are a Level 2 Disability Confident Employer and so if you require any reasonable adjustments in order to apply please do contact us on [email protected] with ref: BBC/TP/224227/67217 in the subject.
We advertise all our roles on Evenbreak, the specialist job board for disabled candidates.
- Excellent career progression – the BBC offers great opportunities for employees to seek new challenges and work in different areas of the organisation.
- Unrivalled training and development opportunities – our in-house Academy hosts a wide range of internal and external courses and certification.