The New Doctor! A Doctor Who Alternate History Story

Part 2 - Putting the Pieces Together

"I think," Paul Bernard said carefully, "I think that I can get us a meeting with the right people at the BBC. I'm pretty sure that I can."

"That's half the battle right there," Ian Levine replied. "Just getting that meeting, that puts as ahead."

"You're a well established Director," David offered. "That counts for a lot."

Bernard rubbed his chin.

"That was a long time ago," he said doubtfully. "We need something more."

Burton looked at Levine. Paul was getting cold feet.

"David is a complete unknown," Benard said, "and your reputation does us more harm than good with the BBC. Millennium has no track record whatsoever. It's not enough. I can maybe get us through the door... but then, what have we got to offer? They're not just going to hand over the rights."

"We'll do a demo," Levine said.

"What?" Burton asked.

"A demo," Levine replied. "We do them all the time in the music business. Everyone says they can sing, but they need to prove it. So we do a little demo tape, proof of concept, proof of talent."

Bernard thought about it.

"Proof of concept was a well established principle in film and television production," he began "Proponents for a production often needed something tangible to sell the concept to backers or investors. Sometimes posters or promotional material would be sufficient - Roger Corman had sold entire pictures based on a poster. Storyboards would be commissioned, production sketches and artwork. Scenes would be shot, sometimes fake trailers, sometimes segments of the proposed script."

"So," Burton said, "we just do up a poster, like Corman. Maybe some storyboards and artwork, a script. I could do a scene on video."

Bernard grunted.

"A proof of concept is not a cheap thing. Even a basic package - script, storyboards, production drawings, a short trailer can be expensive and complicated to put together. I've been in the business for decades as a production designer and director in theatre. I could put something together..."

"No," he said. "It wouldn't be enough. Everyone else is doing the same things, and with more of an actual track record than we have. We're largely unknown. We need to sell our concept, we can do that. But we also need to demonstrate that we have the technical skill and the production capacity to do it. I'm not sure what we could put together..."

"Then let's do a whole episode," Burton said. "We'll give them a whole story. Proof of concept right there. Show them what we want to do, show them we can do it."

Bernard sighed.

"David," he said, "do you have any idea how difficult and expensive that would be. One of Ian's demo tapes, that's just a few hours in a studio, you're costs are maybe renting the studio, hiring a sound engineer. This is television, this is completely..."

"We could do it," Ian Levine said suddenly.

"There!" David Burton said, his voice rising with excitement.

"Ian!" Bernard replied. "It's insane. It's expensive. A basic proof of concept package is expensive. A trailer is expensive. A whole episode..."

"I can find the money. We can do it."

Bernard stared.

"You're serious?"

"If that's what it takes," Levine said. "I can find the money. I have loved this show my whole life. We're sitting here talking, and it seems to me that maybe there's a real chance to actually be at the heart of the storm, to be a producer- creator for the show, to make our own Doctor Who, to create our own Doctor. Gentlemen, I'm highly motivated. This is a dream for me. If it's a matter of money, I'll find it."