MARCH WORKSHOP: Entertainment & Scriptwriting Writing & Mentoring Program: Industry: Entertainment; Genre: Scriptwriting ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ STAFF Erica Silberman, Director of Community; Amara Thomas, Kyndal Thomas, Lisbett Rodriguez - ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Community Outreach Coordinators; Kelsey LePage, Operations Coordinator ​ ​ CRAFT & INDUSTRY SPEAKERS AM: Alice O’Neill and Ama Quao; PM: Jacquelyn Reingold ​ ​ ​ WORKSHOP GOALS Learn how a tv writers room works and how tv writing is collaborative. Learn about writing in someone else’s voice and creating your own pilot. The workshop culminates in writing a pitch and doing a pitchfest. Portfolio Pieces: Post your tv pitch under genre tag: Entertainment and Story Tag: TV Pitch ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ SCHEDULE AM PM Announcements: Action! 10:15 2:15 10 minutes 10:25 2:25 Live Community Classifieds 10:25 2:25 ​ 10 minutes 10:35 2:35 Next Scene and Share 10:35 2:35 20 minutes 10:55 2:55 Craft Talk + Q&A 10:55 2:55 20 minutes 11:15 3:15 What are You Watching 11:15 3:15 10 minutes 11:25 3:25 TV Writing 101 11:25 3:25 25 minutes 11:50 3:50 Write Your Pilot! 11:50 3:50 20 minutes 12:10 4:10 Commercial Break! 12:10 4:10 15 minutes 12:25 4:25 Write Your Pitch! 12:25 4:25 15 minutes 12:40 4:40 To the Writers Room 12:40 4:40 25 minutes 1:05 5:05 Pitchfest! And It’s a Wrap! 1:05 5:05 25 minutes 1:30 5:30 ANNOUNCEMENTS AND LIVE COMMUNITY CLASSIFIEDS ​ Notes on Announcements and Live Community Classifieds: WRITERS ROOM: NEXT SCENE – GWN EDITION: The first job you may have as a tv writer is to write for an existing tv show in someone else’s voice. We’re going to play a scene from a tv show. What do you think the next scene could be? Next Scene for Grownish: ​ ​ CRAFT TALK AM: Alice O’Neill Alice O’Neill has written for Billions (Showtime) for three seasons. As a writer of feature films, she has worked for Sony, Miramax, STX and many others. Most recently, she adapted MJ Hegar’s memoir Shoot Like A Girl for Sony Tristar. Her first screenplay, Buttercup, appeared on the Blacklist. Her plays have appeared at various New York theaters. Her short play, What I Came For, was published by Smith & Kraus as well as Penguin/Pearson. AM: Ama Quao Ama Quao, née Yelen Ama Serwah Thandi Chiyedzo Chihombori Quao, is a first-generation African-American, screenwriter, improviser, and stand-up comic based in New York by way of Tennessee, Ghana and Zimbabwe. She currently works as a Writers’ Assistant for the upcoming JJ Abrams HBO drama, Contraband, and received her MFA in Screenwriting from Columbia University in May 2018. A 2012 graduate of Brown University, with a Honor’s BA in Playwriting and American Studies, she has interned at A24, worked as a Writers' PA for Billions on Showtime, and has lead screenwriting workshops at Rikers. A 2017 MADE IN NEW YORK Writers Room Fellowship Semi-Finalist, a 2018 finalist for The Black Indie Memphis Screenwriting Residency, as well as a 2018 Sundance Development Track Semi-finalist and recipient of the 2017 Jesse Thompkins III Emerging Storyteller Award, for which she received a one-year long fellowship with Working Title and Adam Brooks, her comedic writing seeks to expand the representation of women of color in film and TV. And no, you can't touch her hair. PM: Jacquelyn Reingold Jacquelyn Reingold writes for theatre and television, and teaches writing. For television, Jackie is currently a writer/Co-Executive Producer for CBS All Access’ The Good Fight, and is writing a pilot for ​ ​ ​ John Wells Productions. She has written for CBS’ BrainDead, Netflix’s Grace and Frankie, Emmy ​ ​ ​ ​ nominated Hope Davis and Gabriel Byrne in HBO’s In Treatment, NBC’s Smash, Law and Order CI, and ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ MTV’s Daria. Jackie’s plays have been seen in theaters throughout the U.S., and in London, Belgrade, ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Berlin, and Hong Kong, and have received various honors and awards. A collection of her short plays is ​ ​ published by Dramatists Play Service, titled Things Between Us, and many have been recorded for ​ ​ ​ podcast/radio by Playing On Air. Her other plays have been published in two Women Playwrights: The ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Best Plays, several Best American Short Plays, by Samuel French, and Smith & Kraus. She has a theater ​ ​ ​ B.A. from Oberlin College, and a playwriting M.F.A. from Ohio University. She has taught writing at New York University, Columbia University, Ohio University, and Fordham University. Notes on Craft Talk: TV WRITING 101 TV Writing Notes: ORIGINAL PILOT SEVEN QUESTIONS 1. Who is your MAIN CHARACTER? Describe him or her in one sentence. 2. What does your Main Character want? Give him/her a goal that he/she CANNOT easily achieve. Write it in one sentence. 3. Name at least one other character who is IN CONFLICT with your main character to achieve their goal? Who is it and how they are in CONFLICT (how is THEIR goal on OBSTACLE?) with your Main Character? Write it in one sentence. 4. What kind of show is it? Comedy? Drama? One hour? Half hour? For what kind of audience: type of person? Would it be on regular TV (with commercials, no foul language or nudity), or cable, or a streaming channel? Is it similar to any other show/s? Write it in one sentence. 5. What is “THE WORLD” of the show? Meaning: where does it take place? Be very specific. And say why that world is compelling/interesting. In one sentence. 6. Why are YOU the right person to write this? What is your personal connection to the idea? Why/how are you passionate about this? Write it in one sentence. 7. What makes this an idea for a TV series? How will the story KEEP GOING? What gives it a “STORY ENGINE”? Write it in one sentence. WRITE YOUR PILOT! COMMERCIAL BREAK! WRITE YOUR PITCH! Write in ONE sentence (okay, two if you have to, three if you must): a CONCISE, COMPELLING ​ ​ description of your show. (This is called a “LOGLINE.” ) Use the answers above, and anything else to to make it clear. And: make it sound AMAZING! TO THE WRITERS ROOM & PITCHFEST Notes: APPENDIX HOW-TO: WRITE A SPEC SCRIPT AT HOME Writing for television is about creativity, but it is also so much about structure. This exercise takes the creative work of storytelling and explores how to apply it to a precise framework, and the tools (characters, world) of an existing show. The aim of this exercise is to produce a tangible writing sample that you can use when applying to jobs or internships. ● To start, pick a 30-minute show that you enjoy watching and feel connected to ● Watch a typical episode of that show. (Not one where the structure is flipped on its head.) ● Then, break down the episode into: o Open o Act 1 o Act 2 o Act 3 ▪ Act Breaks are usually moments that turn or transform the episode’s plot: ▪ Note the minute-mark for when these Act Breaks happen. Usually in scripts one page = one minute, so if the Act Break between Act 1 and Act 2 happens at 11:30, you’ll want your spec’s Act Break to be around page 11 or so. o A story o B story o C story ▪ How do we know which is which? ● A Story – the focus of the episode. Gets the most screentime, and features at least one main character ● B Story – a separate storyline with at least one secondary character; could have branched off of the A story ● C Story – usually bboth secondary characters and fairly light. ▪ Pay attention to the screentime that each of these stories gets. ● Look at the characters o What question is the character trying to answer? o What motivates them? What are their most essential qualities? o How do the writers treat them? ▪ Some examples: On “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” characters are pushed to answer the question of “whodunit,” but also, “how can I be a better part of a team?” On “BoJack Horseman,” characters are routinely pushed to an existential brink, facing questions like, “Is it possible to be good?” ● Now, brainstorm A, B and C story ideas that put these characters in situations that challenge their essential qualities. ● As you watch other episodes of this series, compare the structure of each episode you watch to see if there’s a common structural framework on which the story is built. ● When you come up with an A, B and C story you feel excited about, try writing the spec! For a 30-minunte show, it should come out to somewhere between 22 and 28 pages. A FEW GUIDELINES FOR SPEC SUBMISSIONS ● Choose a show that is close in intended audience age, tone and length to the show you are applying for. (e.g., If a show is intended for pre-schoolers, a spec of a pre-school show will give the hiring manager a better idea of how you would handle that specific work. If a show is a half-hour comedy, they want to know how you fill a half hour with jokes and a concise plot. An hour-long drama will want to know how you stretch story arc/build tension over an hour's time.) ● Do not submit a spec episode of the show you're applying to work on. The person reading that sample likely spends every day immersed in their show, so slight deviations in tone are far more noticeable than they would be if the reviewer is also approaching the series from the outside.