Every year a graduate of Serial Eyes is selected for a three-month payed apprenticeship position at the UK branch of Frank Spotnitz’s company. Last year’s lucky winner was Eleonora Veninova, who told us about her experience in London, her take-aways and general observations on the British industry.
The biggest take-away from my apprenticeship at Big Light Productions was a deeper understanding of how the British TV industry works and how a typical development process works in an international company. [In my time at Big Light] I got the chance to see how TV series are developed from one-line ideas to full-fledged concepts, the dynamic between creative producers, writers and story editors, as well as the process of pitching concepts to broadcasters. Attending the development meetings in the company was quite interesting as these were often focused on ‘proofing’ ideas against existing series, current political and social happenings in the world as well as fitting them into the demands of broadcasters and streamers. [My other tasks] comprised tracing the development and re-writes of one of Big Light’s upcoming projects, starting from outlines to several versions of the pilot script and series overview. The precious take-away from [this task] is that giving notes and taking notes will always remain an esoteric process for all parties involved, both producers/broadcasters and writers.
Apprenticeship at Big Light Productions, Season 3
