Q&A with Jo Smith – Screenwriting Lecturer, which is part of the Bachelor of Performing and Screen Arts within Creative Industries. Jo is also the story and script consultant for web series Baby Mama’s Club which won NZ On Air’s ‘Best Web Series’ award at the NZ Television Awards late last year.
What does being a story and script editor involve?
A story editor, script editor, or script consultant are very different, but equally crucial roles for the development of any screen project. Each job is focused towards assisting the writer to develop and refine the story structure, character arcs and the dialogue before production. This can extend into assisting the writer to rewrite, if it’s decided that’s required. These roles are recognized and credited, but the is job to ensure the work is at its very best quality – not to walk the red carpet. It’s constructive, intensive problem-solving, and very much behind the scenes, which suits me.
Were you involved in the conception of the series?
Baby Mama’s is entirely Hanelle Harris’s concept (a 2011 Unitec graduate). I joined her later, once she had funding to develop the series. The Baby Mama’s Club idea was initially rejected for production, but Hanelle was resolute. She believed there was an audience for her idea, and she knew what they wanted to see, so she self-funded a pilot episode for around $2,500, launched it on YouTube, along with a Facebook post that went viral. The pilot episode attracted half a million views in the first few weeks and Hanelle hasn’t looked back.
Baby Mama’s Club core cast
Views are the currency of a web series. If you’re looking to make one, find an idea that will grab people’s attention immediately, and use social media as your marketing platform to attract more online followers.
How did you get involved?
Actually, it was Unitec that brought us together. Hanelle and I were invited by the writing lecturer at the time to teach the web series development for the Screen Arts programme. We hadn’t met before but, as we worked with the student writers, we clicked through a shared sense of humour, work ethic and creative drive. Hanelle was looking for a writer to assist her to develop the series – she’d just been given full funding for six episodes, but wasn’t a very experienced writer at the time. Her producer arranged meetings with some very good NZ screen writers but Hanelle was concerned they couldn’t relate to the voice of the show. This is a comedy series about a group of young, PI and Māori mums who are appetitive, empowered, sexualized on their own terms, and take no prisoners. I was rapt to be asked
How closely do you work with the writer Hanelle Harris?
Just on Baby Mama’s Club, and always on a very contained and intensive schedule. We contact each other to bat around other ideas too.
Are you also involved in Series 2?
Yes, as script consultant, which is another writing role again. Since the first series, Hanelle has been working as a writer and story liner for Ahikāroa (Maori TV). Because of this experience, she required less intensive support for the development of the second series.
What do you think has been the key appeal of Baby Mama’s Club? Is it the storyline in particular which resonates with its audience?
I think it’s absolutely the characters and the mystery about Johnny – where the hell is he and what’s he up to? The female ensemble cast get a lot of attention online. Hanelle and Rosanne Liang (look her up) were at the forefront of the change to put diverse stories on screen in Aotearoa. There’s an audience in NZ, hungry for content. Complex, funny, powerful, young Polynesian mothers had never really had a voice on a TV or web series format before. Hanelle’s kaupapa for BMC1 was to have a fully female and ethnically diverse cast and crew. I endorsed Hanelle’s vision 100%.
Is it commonplace to have more than one story and script consultant on a movie or series? How common is it to change out this role from one series to the next?
When I work as a script assessor or consultant, it’s usually working one-on-one with the writer, with regular meetings with the producer. The process is to retain and strengthen the voice of the show or film, so it’s better not to have too many cooks in the kitchen.
How long have you been in your role as Screen Arts writing lecturer at Unitec?
Since January 2018. I covered the role for my predecessor twice before that for a few semesters. I applied for the job when she left and was delighted to get it. I love the work and supporting emerging writers, artists and film makers to develop their voice and their ideas. The writer Thomas Mann said that “a writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.”
I relate to this absolutely, and I think this is because we come to it seriously. I come to my teaching seriously also, but, conversely, I have also gained a reputation with my students for pushing the joy in the work as well as the struggle. The ability to laugh at yourself is essential in teaching and writing.
What did you do before you joined Unitec?
My first work was in theatre, and then I worked on Shortland Street for over five years as a storyliner and dialogue writer. After that, I was a contractor, working as Literary Manager at Auckland Theatre Company, a writing mentor for Script to Screen – and I worked many short term writing and storylining jobs for various theatre companies and screen production companies. I have mentored and taught writing for many years, and the shift into lecturing full time felt like a natural progression for me.
Did you train as a writer, and if so, where?
Not formally, no. I trained to write by doing it, but it’s been a complicated, on-off relationship throughout my career. I started in theatre and co-founded two companies that developed original work by collaborating with writers to script the work, or devising to develop the script. From this, I was invited into the ‘writers’ table’ for Shortland Street. Through that, I got a true taste of writing full time. It’s competitive to get the work, and it’s a sink-or-swim situation, as there’s no time to nurse writers along. Woody Allen used to write for Saturday Night Live and says he’s never had writers’ block, because he learnt to write fast, and do the best job, to a very tight deadline. This is what fast turnaround writing does for you and I am bemused by people who think ideas are finite.
Are you writing for any other screen productions or plays at the moment?
At the moment, I’m writing a full-length script for my thesis. Other than that, I’m trying to keep things contained so I can balance my teaching commitments.
What’s been the key highlight of your career to date?
That’s too hard! I love working with people who are curious and hungry to learn – and I’m really happy to say that I find that pretty consistently in the students who take up the writing course.
Whose script/storyline writing do you most admire, and why?
This shifts for me depending on what shows or films are out at any given time, and what’s being watched – and let’s face it, that changes constantly now. I get a kick out of discovering new writers, or longtime favourites with a new idea. At the moment, Ahi Karunaharan and Victor Roger. Internationally, Jill Solloway and Donald Glover inspire me – they are both show runners and opinion-ators
Which writer (living or deceased) would you most like to meet?
Just one? Well, since you’re offering to arrange it: A meeting with the dead – Ursula LeGuin because she got me reading as a kid. Susan Sontag, Germaine Greer, and Fernando Pessoa and Franz Kafka. And a meeting with the living – Donald Glover because he could also be Childish Gambino, so I’m getting a two for one deal.
Do you have a favourite TV series or film?
Yes. More importantly, do you?