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Posts tagged as “Lost”

Writing Your First TV Pilot – A #scriptchat Experience

Writing Your First TV Pilot – A #scriptchat Experience

Last Sunday I was invited to speak (or tweet) on the weekly #scriptchat with Nick (my Paper Team co-host).
If you’re not familiar with it, #scriptchat is a weekly Twitter discussion around the world of screenwriting.

The topic du jour: Writing your first TV pilot.

We covered a lot of things, including:
– The importance of outlining
– Where to begin with the pilot concept
– Why TV is a character’s medium
– Important TV pilots to study
– What makes a pilot stand out
– Getting feedback on your script

Clearly, a ton said (or written) in the span of 60 minutes.
Jamie Lee Scott moderated and immortalized the discussion on Wakelet. So for your enjoyment (and education), here is the full Twitter transcript:

Weaving Storylines: A/B/C Stories (PT53)

Weaving Storylines: A/B/C Stories (PT53)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 38:06 — 35.1MB)

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NEW: Get the episode cheat sheet on our Patreon!

Update: PT53 transcript now available

Alex and Nick discuss the importance of weaving A, B and C stories in TV writing, and interesting ways of doing it in TV scripts.

Why is it important to cut between storylines in TV? When should you start and end each storyline? Which storylines should you spend more time on in your TV script? When should you only do a single A story? What are some noteworthy and unique formats for A/B/C plotlines?

Plus, we talk about where to read TV scripts.

The Paper Team become master-weavers…

SHOWNOTES

Content

Paper Scraps (FKA Odds-and-ends): Finding TV scripts (00:55)
1 – Why does TV have A/B/C stories? (03:51)
2 – Nuts and bolts of using A/B/C stories (10:27)
3 – Interesting and non-traditional uses of weaving A/B/C stories in TV (18:22)
Takeaways and Resources (32:22)

Links

Writers Guild Foundation Library
TV Calling Script Library
Zen134237
Lee Thomson Script Library
Simply Scripts
Daily Script
IMSDb
“What are A, B, and C stories in screenwriting?” – TV Calling
Team America Montage (Video)
“Marge vs. the Monorail” (4×12 – The Simpsons)
“Ozymandias” (5×14 – Breaking Bad)
“That’s My Dog” (4×05 – Six Feet Under)
“Eleven Angry Men and One Dick” (3×07 – 3rd Rock from the Sun)
Boomtown
Graham Yost
24 (TV Series)
“Kim vs. the Cougar: The Oral History of 24’s Most Infamous Scene” – Vulture
“My Bad” (1×06 – Scrubs)
Awake (TV Series)
Kyle Killen
“How Lost revolutionized storytelling” – TV Calling
“Walkabout” (1×04 – Lost)
“The Constant” (4×05 – Lost)
Watchmen
Slaughterhouse-Five
This Is Us
Oz (TV Series)
Carnivàle
“Bowling” (2×20 – Malcom in the Middle)
Sliding Doors
“Remedial Chaos Theory” (3×04 – Community)
“Split” (3×01 – Coupling)
“A Rickle in Time” (2×01 – Rick & Morty)

Resources

“Elephant Bucks” – Sheldon Bull
“Cracking the Sitcom Code” – The Atlantic
“Television Writing from the Inside Out” – Larry Brody
Plot Threads (TV Tropes)
Plot Parallel (TV Tropes)
Two Lines, No Waiting (TV Tropes)
Four Lines, All Waiting (TV Tropes)

This episode brought to you by Tracking Board’s Launch Pad Writing Competitions

Use code PAPERTEAM to get $15 OFF when you enter a Launch Pad Competition

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]

TV Prose and Scene Description 101 (PT48)

TV Prose and Scene Description 101 (PT48)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 33:46 — 31.1MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | Email | RSS | More

Update: PT48 transcript now available

Alex and Nick discuss why scene descriptions in TV scripts are so important, what to focus on in your TV prose, and treading the line between writing a script as a technical document versus a reading experience.

What makes good or bad prose? What are some examples of compelling scene descriptions? Should prose be efficient or florid? How do you convey textual information? When should you “direct” in a TV script?

Plus, a quick review of Shonda Rhimes’ TV writing masterclass.

The Paper Team illustrates their thoughts…

SHOWNOTES

Content

Announcements (00:49)
Odds-and-ends: Shonda Rhimes’ TV writing masterclass (02:23)
1 – What is screenwriting prose and why is it important (07:50)
2 – Why scene descriptions need to be efficient (09:33)
3 – Script: technical document or reading experience? (17:53)
4 – Describing versus telling (22:51)
5 – The screenwriter’s voice (27:39)
Takeaways and Resources (30:15)

Links

Shonda Rhimes’ TV writing masterclass
Six Feet Under
Alien script by Walter Hill and David Giler
David Foster Wallace
Shane Black
American Gods (TV Series)
Courier Prime
“Two for the Road” (2×20 – Lost)
“Exposition in TV Writing” (PT24)
Sherlock (TV Series)
“Sherlock: How To Film Thought” (Video)
“A Brief Look at Texting and the Internet in Film” (Video)
Fringe chyrons

Resources

Hemingway Editor
Thesaurus.com
“The Synonym Finder” – J. I. Rodale

This episode brought to you by Tracking Board’s Launch Pad Writing Competitions

Use code PAPERTEAM to get $15 OFF when you enter a Launch Pad Competition

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]