Week 5: Workshop

Today we did some good, thorough workshopping (and graphing, lots of graphing) of the pilot episode treatments and scripts. If you weren't here for that, don't forget that you need to make up workshops in order for your writing assignment to be complete (see Attendance section of syllabus). Use that Class Contact sheet and get your work read — you'll be glad you did!

Next week everyone will turn in scripts, which I'm very excited to read. Meanwhile, have courage! And I don't just mean the liquid kind.

See you (and your fantastic scripts) next week.

P.S. Check out the new class wiki!

Week 4: Treatment Workshop

Today we did a close reading of an episode of The Simpsons, "Lisa the Vegetarian". We looked at:

• How the hero and the situation are designed for maximum suffering
• How every character is positioned "against" the hero, so we get literally the whole world, from family to school to community to institutional power to spiritual and moral authority amassed against the struggling protagonist
• How the hero's dramatic need serves as the emotional energy that drives her action throughout the story
• How the hero's travails (obstacles) increase in intensity as the episode progresses (rising action)

Several of you mentioned that you are writing a series that isn't exactly a linear narrative. I suggested that everyone watch a few episodes of these Channel 101/102 shows:

• American Cookbook
• The Forgotten Classics
• Return to Supermans
• The John and Jess Variety Hour
• Welcome to Our House
  

I have a feeling there were more on the list — if anyone remembers, let me know and I'll put the links up! I'll bring in some more examples for us to watch and talk about next week.

Hey, did anyone notice Channel 102 is now Channel 101NY? Hmm...

The treatments I'm reading look great! Very original and creative stuff happening — be proud, be brave, and write like the wind.

HOMEWORK:

• If you're satisfied with your treatment and feel ready to script, go for it — start writing! Bring in a first draft next week.
• If you're still hashing out your story/structure/treatment, bravo and keep going — bring in the final draft next week.
• Watch a few episodes of the shows listed above.
• Download and print out the Script Format handout so we can go over it together in class.

Week 3: Treatment Time!

Today we watched Episodes #1 and #7 of Clark and Michael — and I strongly urge all of you to watch the rest of the episodes. There's a lot to notice about the development of the series arc as well as individual episode structure, and about avoiding the "running gag" danger.

I didn't collect your 5 ideas today, but don't throw them away — I want them next week! For now, they're mainly to help you weigh some options and think about which ideas are most likely to generate good story and character material.

Also consider what will be producible in Studio 2. This means a 3-camera shoot, some props and set dressing but nothing too expensive or difficult, a manageable cast size, etc. This is not to say that you can't write an animated or sci-fi series in this class, but for this assignment keep it in the realm of what can be made with department resources.

For those of you already starting to panic a little, stay calm. There are lots of things to think about, but no writer covers everything in one draft — different layers will develop at different rates and at different stages in the writing process. We've got lots of time to workshop and change things around, so if you feel yourself getting stuck or overwhelmed, just hang in there and get something on the page. Even if it gets radically changed later, at least you have something solid to go on in the meantime.

Feel free to check in with me any time.

HOMEWORK:

1. Write a short blurb (length up to you) describing the premise, characters, look/tone/feel, or whatever else I should know about, of your series.
2. Write a 2-page treatment for the pilot episode. Double space, 12-point font, 1-inch margins, don't go over 2 pages. Remember the treatment is to help the reader imagine what your episode looks and sounds like, as well as giving the basic storyline. Don't worry about getting lots of specific lines of dialogue and jokes and stuff in — that'll be in the script. Treatments are written in present tense (like film reviews are) and in the order that we see it on screen (so even if your story jumps around in time, you write the treatment to match the way you'll write the script, with scenes in the order they'll be seen by the audience).
3. Proofread and spell-check! I don't want to see any sentences without the correct end punctuation, or contractions without apostrophes, or plurals masquerading as possessives — or any other stuff covered in the Writing Mechanics handout (see link in sidebar).
4. I insist that you have some fun writing. I'll know if you don't.
   

Week 2: Generating Ideas for Short -Format Series

Seeing as you all took this class to do some writing, let's do some writing!

Last week I asked everyone to write up five ideas for short-format series (the kind of thing that might show on Channel 101 or 102) — and make them easy to read, please (12 point font, double space). We'll take some time in class on Tuesday to talk about premises and sustainable story/character arcs vs. running gags.

Also, please check out Channel 102's fresh crop of winners (hooray, Defenders of Stan made it up to Episode 12) and losers so we can talk about them on Tuesday.

Sorry about the lateness of this post; I'm a little discombobulated being out of town and without reliable internet access — it's like a crazy parallel universe where there's this thing called a "TV" in my room, but it won't let me check e-mail or do my blog. Somebody get me out of here!