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Posts tagged as “Outline”

From Outline to (First) Draft (PT28)

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]

Being a TV Script Coordinator ft. Franklin jin Rho (The Exorcist) (PT21)

Alex and Nick welcome Franklin jin Rho (FOX’s The Exorcist) to discuss the ins and outs of being a TV script coordinator.

He shares with us his advice, anecdotes, tips, and tricks to understanding and getting into this vital TV position, set halfway between the writers’ room and production.

How do you become a script coordinator (especially when you have no experience)? What do showrunners look for in candidates? What are the interactions like between writers and production? What can you do to get that first script and transition up? Are there any must-know shortcuts to Final Draft?

The Paper Team offers some script revisions…

SHOWNOTES

Content

Thoughts on TV script coordinating, getting a position, and making the best out of it (00:33)
Outro (46:17)

Links

Franklin jin Rho on Twitter
The Exorcist (FOX)
AFI’s Directing Program
Friday Night Lights (NBC)
Film Independent’s Project Involve
The Assets (ABC)
Cole Fowler on IMDb
Konami Code
IBM’s Watson
Scriptation

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]

Act Breaks (PT15)

Alex and Nick discuss the goal and narrative impact of TV act breaks, also known as the structural core of every television episode ever.

Why do shows have act breaks? What is the difference between an act break in comedy versus drama? What impact has the inflation of act breaks in shows had on TV stories?

The Paper Team smashes to black…

SHOWNOTES

Content

1 – Introduction to act breaks (00:30)
2 – Act breaks and TV narrative (12:29)
3 – Inflation of act breaks and impact on pacing (18:28)
4 – Writing without acts (31:00)
Takeaways & Resources (40:04)

Links

Format of Gunsmoke
Over-the-top Content (OTT)
Smash to Black – TV Tropes
Coup de théâtre
One Mississippi
NBC’s Seeso
Julie Plec on Act Breaks
Tom Fontana

Resources

“Basic TV Act Structure” – Excerpt from “Showrunners” by Tara Bennett
“Cracking the Sitcom Code” – The Atlantic

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]