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Rewriting Your TV Script (PT90)

Alex and Nick discuss everything you need to know about rewriting your TV script. Whether you’re working on a spec or in a writers’ room, we look at reasons why you should rewrite and things to watch out for.

When should you rewrite? Why are notes a critical part of rewriting? What edits should you do on the page? What if your script still runs too long or too short?

Plus, we give feedback on four teasers in our inaugural Paper Tease session!

The Paper Team goes back to the page…

SHOWNOTES

Content

Paper Tease Session (00:45)
1 – When to rewrite (29:47)
2 – How to rewrite (35:59)
3 – FAQs about rewriting (50:00)
Takeaways and Next Week On (56:24)

Paper Tease Entries

“Chattahoochee” by Clint Williams
“Christian Cross” by James Creviston
“Conquer” by Katie Brown
“Mythos” by Will McGhee

Links

From Outline to (First) Draft (PT28)
Feedback and Notes: Building Your Reading Onion (PT08)
Bringing the TV Writers’ Room Process Home (PT06)
TV Dialogue 101 (PT51)

This episode brought to you by Roadmap Writers

Use code ROADMAP to get $15 OFF your first Roadmap Writers Program

Special thanks to Alex Switzky for helping us edit this episode.

If you enjoyed this episode (and others), please consider leaving us an iTunes review at paperteam.co/itunes! :)

You can find Paper Team on Twitter:
Alex@TVCalling
Nick@_njwatson
If you have any questions, comments or feedback, you can e-mail us: [email protected]

Paper Team
Paper Team
Alex Freedman & Nick Watson

Paper Team is a podcast about television writing and becoming a TV writer.

One Comment

  1. Briana

    Thanks for answering my question in such detail! I’ve done a couple of rewrites since I emailed you about this (currently on 4th draft) and finally feel “ready”. I think when writing the scenes out, a lot of it really is just the cut-and-paste rearrangement of things. I ended up deleting a couple of scenes that seemed unnecessary to the plot. When I would go back to my outline, I realized that some scenes were basically repeating story beats. I never realized that there would be such a back-and-forth between draft and outline, but I rely on an outline so much now when before, I would have never thought to write one. It sure makes a world of difference. One thing that I find really interesting in this podcast is the mention of joke fatigue. I finally got feedback from a friend who reassured me that the jokes were funny, the scenes humorous, and the pace just right. And I was prepared to hear that the script was not funny at all! I also got some great notes about parts of the script that weren’t working as well. I realize now how important feedback is and how it enables you to move forward with your script when you’re not quite sure where to take it. And it’s nice to hear that not every note needs to be addressed. Sometimes you have to go with your gut. Do you recommend websites/forums where I might be able to get feedback? You know, for those times when friends say they want to read your script and give notes but never actually get around to it?

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