facebook_pixel Press "Enter" to skip to content

Looking to start your TV writing journey?

Posts tagged as “Outline”

Feedback and Notes: Building Your Reading Onion (PT08)

Alex and Nick discuss how you can build a “reading onion” to get constant feedback over the course of your TV writing, and how to deal with the notes you’ll be getting.
Who should you get comments from? What do the layers of the “onion” stand for? Which notes should you be ignoring and which ones should you address?
The Paper Team has a few macro thoughts on the issue…

SHOWNOTES

Content

1 – Who: Different people for different notes (00:37)
2 – When: The “reading onion” and its first layer (11:47)
3 – Outline: The second layer of the “onion” (15:15)
4 – Rough Draft: The third layer of the “onion” (18:29)
5 – Real Draft: the fourth layer of the “onion” (21:25)
6 – Macro v. Micro notes (23:09)
7 – What: Specific notes you should be getting and asking for (30:08)
8 – How: Reacting to notes and addressing them (39:51)
Takeaways and Resources (45:06)

Links

Writing Jane the Virgin

Resources

A Martian Wouldn’t Say That! – Compiled by Leonard Stern & Diane Robison
TV Network Notes (Twitter)

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]

Bringing the TV Writers’ Room Process Home (PT06)

NEW: Get the episode cheat sheet on our Patreon!

Alex and Nick dig into why it’s important to maintain a consistent TV writing routine, and how you can mimic the same process from TV writers’ rooms into your own home.

It’s all about working through each individual (but vital) step of television writing, including inception, pitching, outlining, drafting and rewriting.

SHOWNOTES

Content

1 – Why you need to have a TV writing routine (00:27)
2 – Breaking down the TV writers’ room process (04:12)
3 – Inception (05:12)
4 – Background Processing (20:29)
5 – Pitching (21:44)
6 – Outlining (26:07)
7 – Drafting (36:48)
8 – Feedback and Rewriting (44:48)
Takeaways and Resources (53:37)

Links

Revenge and The Count of Monte Cristo
Master Class with Evan Daugherty (Snow White and the Huntsman)
Patent Trolling
Wikipedia’s Random Feature
Anuario Luis Herrera Solís
Apple Notes
Google Keep
Moleskine Notebook
The Man Who Makes Sense of Lost (Gregg Nations)
Interview with Bryan Cogman
Scrivener
Index cards in Final Draft
The TV Writer’s Workbook – Ellen Sandler
Alien shooting script
John Swartzwelder

Resources

Creative Spark with Dustin Lance Black (Video)
Inside the Breaking Bad writers’ room (Article)
Vince Gilligan on breaking a story in a writer’s room (Video)

If you enjoyed this episode (and others), please leave us an iTunes review and/or rating 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]

5-Minute Screenwriting Checkup

The awesome comedy writer (and future BBF) Nick Watson posted the other month on Medium an insightful list of prevailing problems he’s found with scripts.

Here’s a little excerpt:

The most fundamental ‘formula’, or elements of story, are the same as a good logline:

A (protagonist) must do (action) in pursuit of (a goal) despite (obstacles), or else (stakes).

You cannot tell a satisfying story if it is missing any of these 5 elements.
Try it.

In my experience, the most common issues I see in scripts can be divided into two areas: Problems with story, and problems with craft.

Read the full article

Whether you’re outlining your story or rewriting your script, I’d definitely go over Nick Watson’s list.

It’s a dozen bullet points, and a very nice TL;DR on vital screenwriting items that need to be addressed.

Write on.