Wednesday, March 7, 2018

Television Script Project: Day 2

Period 7:

Now the hard part. As an individual writer hired by the studio to write the season of this show for your producer (me), each writer will come up with an idea to pitch for the season. This pitch is what is called a story pitch. The story pitch is longer than the teaser pitch. This is what is typically included in a story pitch:
  • What is the working title for your episode? [This can change, of course]
  • Which characters will be featured in the episode?
  • Make sure you mention your episode's setting in your description!
  • What is the inciting incident or hook? (this is sometimes the teaser. A teaser or prologue usually is a compelling scene just before the titles of the show start--think of Star Trek or Twilight Zone as models...)
  • What is the main plot? Usually a television show has two plots (one main, the other a subplot). 
  • What conflicts, crisis, or problems arise in the first act? (the beginning)
  • At the end of an act, there is usually a reversal or turning point (crisis) that happens just before the commercial break. How does your act 1 end?
  • What is your second act about? How will your second act end? (the middle)
  • What is your third act about? How will the television episode end or resolve? (the end)
By the end of period 7 today, you should have completed your story pitch.

8th period:

Share your pitch with your group and your group will plan a season based on some of your pitched ideas. This is part of a writing assignment, so please turn in your written story pitch after you share it with your group today.

Head Writer: with the help of your team, plan a season for your show based on the ideas you heard. Work with your team to figure our where each episode should go (in what order) in the season. Writers usually use index cards to figure out which episode goes where in a season. We'll be using more index cards next class as we begin to write our episode. Give each episode a # and a working title. If the episode will feature a particular character, write that on the index card with the premise of the episode (a one-sentence summary of the episode).

Look here for more help if you get stuck or need some examples.

HOMEWORK: Please read the article "How to Land Your First TV Writing Job" by Michael Wheaton. On YOUR blog, please post a comment about what you learned from the article about TV writing. Is this something you might want to pursue as a career? Why or why not?

Read one (or more) of the sample television scripts: "Big Bang Theory", "Blackish", and/or "The Simpsons". Get familiar with the television script format. You'll need to use the format next class!

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