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Posts tagged as “Lost”

Writing Themes and Values in TV (PT36)

Writing Themes and Values in TV (PT36)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 30:19 — 28.0MB)

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Alex and Nick discuss the importance of themes and values in television writing, and how you can use them to your advantage in your own TV scripts.

Why are themes and values important in television writing? What are some examples of both? How do you work them in scripts? How do you avoid preachiness in the writing?

The Paper Team shares their motifs…

SHOWNOTES

Content

1 – What are themes and values? (01:20)
2 – How to write themes and values in TV (14:12)
3 – Avoiding preachiness in your writing (23:10)
Takeaways and Resources (27:28)

Links

Survivor: Blood vs. Water
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
“Far Beyond the Stars” (6×13 – Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
Sons of Anarchy
Everybody Loves Raymond
Desperate Housewives
“Earshot” (3×18 – Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
Danny Strong
Buffy Studies
“Beer Bad” (4×05 – Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
Scorpius (Farscape)
The Outer Limits (1963 TV series)
The Outer Limits (1995 TV series)
“Chaos is a ladder” speech from Game of Thrones (Video)
“BoJack Horseman Christmas Special: Sabrina’s Christmas Wish”

Resources

“Philosophy of…” Books
“The Philosophy of The Simpsons” – William Irwin, Mark T. Conard, Aeon J. Skoble
Star Trek episodes with social themes

Special thanks to Jason J. Cohn 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 Pilot 101 (PT30)

TV Pilot 101 (PT30)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 57:45 — 53.1MB)

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NEW: Get the episode cheat sheet on our Patreon!

Alex and Nick go over everything you need to know to get started on writing your new pilot script, as well as some dos and don’ts for each step of the process.

How do you juggle writing a compelling hour of television versus only writing the first hour of a television show? Who is your target audience? What concepts and story archetypes exist in pilots? Why is this pilot story yours to write? What are some particularities of writing a TV pilot script?

The Paper Team sets up their premise…

SHOWNOTES

Content

1 – What makes a TV pilot, a TV pilot or “what it’s about and who it’s for” (0:56)
2 – The particularities of writing a pilot script (25:36)
Takeaways and Resources (54:31)

Links

“Disappointed – Hercules” (Video)
17th Precinct
“Sunset” (3×06 – Breaking Bad)
“Bringing the TV Writers’ Room Process Home” (PT06)
“Act Breaks” (PT15)
“Exposition in TV Writing” (PT24)

Resources

“TV Pilot Checklist” – Secret of Story
“TV Script Standards” – The Black List
“Write to TV” – Martie Cook

Special thanks to Jason J. Cohn 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]

Exposition in TV Writing (PT24)

Exposition in TV Writing (PT24)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 33:28 — 30.9MB)

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Alex and Nick take a look at exposition in television writing, from dialogue to prose, action, and meta information.

What should be revealed to the audience? How can you give exposition in an organic and entertaining way? What differentiates good exposition from bad exposition?

The Paper Team shows and tells…

SHOWNOTES

Content

1 – What is exposition and what information should you reveal (00:29)
2 – How to do exposition in TV: bad versus good exposition, dialogue, prose, and meta (06:52)
Takeaways and Resources (30:29)

Links

Mr. Exposition (TVTropes)
“Why Fall TV is Choking on Its Own Voice-Over” – IndieWire
“And Maggie Makes Three” (6×13 – The Simpsons)
“Lizard” (1×01 – Man Seeking Woman)
“Pilot” (1×01 – Breaking Bad)
“Top Banana” (1×02 – Arrested Development)
Fringe’s location chyrons
“Through the Looking Glass” (3×22-23 – Lost)
Lost’s flash-fowards
“Premiere” (1×01 – Farscape)

Resources

“Dialogue Secrets” – William Martell
“Escape From (Dull) Exposition” (Video)

Special thanks to Jason J. Cohn 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]