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Posts tagged as “Breaking Bad”

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]

From Outline to (First) Draft (PT28)

From Outline to (First) Draft (PT28)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 32:12 — 29.7MB)

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Alex and Nick discuss how to turn an outline for a TV script (pilot or spec) into a fully-fledged draft.

Where should you begin? What if you’re stuck or don’t know where to start in a scene? What should you tweak and improve when looking back at your first draft? Should you use every option in Final Draft?

The Paper Team opens their screenwriting software…

SHOWNOTES

Content

1) Outline versus Draft (0:42)
2) Where to start? (2:23)
3) Scene Work (7:08)
4) Writing and refining the draft (14:51)
5) FAQs (22:23)
Takeaways and Resources (28:50)

Links

“Scribble version, final version” (John August)
The Wolf of Wall Street
Heat’s diner scene (Video)
Waze

Resources

Hemingway Editor
WordCounter

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]