Team Writing for Television
Creating the calling card season
Casting the Ideal Team Room
• One Showrunner
• Two Experienced Writers in the genre
• One Practitioner Writer (e.g Clinician/Writer for Medical Drama etc.)
• One Female/Male writer if the showrunner is Male/Female
• One LGBT writer if sexuality is featured to any great extent.
• One Younger/Older writer if the Showrunner is older/younger
• One New Writer
The Premise
• A mild mannered Science teacher goes to the dark side after
discovering he has a terminal illness.
• A Mafia boss under pressure tries to keep control in a changing world.
• A Hollywood Fixer struggles with his own dysfunctional family.
• A career politician rises to the top but loses his soul.
• Can a Scottish inner-city community survive the pressures of
Contemporary Urban life?
Creating Compelling Characters
McKee, R. (1999) Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the
Principles of Screenwriting, London: Methuen Publishing Ltd.
Short Character Arcs
The Series Arc (ABC Storylines)
Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4
Episode 5
Episode 6
Episode 7
A Story
B Story
C Story
Hook to
Next
Episode
Big Hook to
next Series!
The Series Arc (3 Act)
Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4
Episode 5
Episode 6
Episode 7
Beginning
Middle
End
Hook to
Next
Episode
Big Hook to
next Series!
The Series Arc (John Yorke 5 Act)
Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4
Episode 5
Episode 6
Episode 7
The Inciting
Incident
The Journey
The Crisis
The Climax
The
Resolution
Hook to
Next Episode
Big Hook to
next Series!
The Episode Grids (ABC with 5 Act)
Act 1 – The inciting Incident
Act 2 – The Journey
Act 3 – The Crisis
Act 4 – The Climax
Act 5 – The Resolution (and hook
)
A plot
B plot
A single self-contained story within
the series.
A long running Series long
Episodic plot.
C plot
A potentially humorous/light
hearted plot concerning supporting
characters
Expanded Character Arcs 26 Episodes May 1st
Episode Arcs
Individual Episode Beaten out May 14th
A plot
Episode
Beat
Sheet
May 16th
1
2
Jimmy gets news he’s been selected as a spaceman.
Jimmy hides this from Scarlett.
1
4
5
Jimmy tries to tell Scarlett that he is leaving for Space
but Madonna has an accident at School
6
After rescuing Madonna at School, Scarlett’s plan goes
wrong. Jimmy thinks that SHE is having an affair.
2
3
4
7
8
Jimmy decides to cancel the Space Journey to try to win
Scarlett back
At the annual Spring Festival, Jimmy falls out with
Scarlett and she chucks his clothes out
5
9
10
11
12
C plot
Angus gets a letter from
the bank telling him he is
overdrawn.
Caitlin finds an abandoned puppy
1
Scarlett discovers Jimmy has a secret but thinks he’s
having an affair
Scarlett resolves to fight for Jimmy’s love
3
B plot
Bob tells Angus he needs
the loan back that he gave
him
Angus goes to borrow
money from Caitlin but she
is skint.
Angus goes to Lenny and
borrows money at a high
interest.
She takes the puppy home and looks after
it. She discoveres that the puppy has been
stolen
2
Bob takes the money and
bets it on a horse
Scarlett is lonely without Jimmy
Scarlett confesses she loves him and doesn’t want to
lose him.
Jimmy hears that the space programme has been
cancelled and they can be together.
Jimmy and Scarlett eat a fish supper together and watch
the TV.
She gives the puppy back to the rightful
owner and is rewarded . She pays Lenny off
and he lets Angus go.
The horse loses. Lenny
asks for his money back
6
3
7
Angus goes on the run
from Lenny. Caitlon rescues
him.
Script Schedule
• 19th May Commissioning meeting.
• 29th May 1st Draft Scene X Scene Notes (All 55 scenes)
• 5th June 2nd Draft Scene X Scene Notes
• 22nd June 1st Draft Delivery (85 pages) Notes
• 6th July 2nd Draft Delivery Notes
• 13th July 3rd Draft Delivery Notes
• 28th July 4th Draft
• 30th July Directors Draft
• 7th August Shooting Script
• 17th August Shooting Starts.