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Monica Beletsky

@MonicaBeletsky

21 Oct

Here's how I do a TV series pitch document (format):
TITLE
THE SERIES (what the show is, tone, why it's cool/relevant)
LEADS (character descrips w actor reading it in mind)
CREATOR'S NOTE (why I can write it)
PILOT SUMMARY
PILOT OUTLINE
SUMMARIES OF NEXT EPS (stories, arcs)

Sometimes to sell a pilot, I've just done a pre-format pitch -- basically everything but the last 3 things. Then added those 3 items for the format. This was short, like 2-5 pp, other times, longer. The format, more like 20pp or more.

PS: For future episodes, I find it useful for execs if you summarize the summary first. Like a good description you might see when you select a streaming episode (the basic storylines) then go into the details. For the series, it helps to bring up structure.

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Monica Beletsky

@MonicaBeletsky

24 Jun

When I write a scene ill lay out everything that needs to happen. When I REVISE: I find ways to reveal character, more obstacles & conflict, remove what’s not interesting enough or necessary, dig deeper into an emotional set up or pay off then hone a landing or end/point of it

Writing down a bunch of stuff that happens is not a scene. for the scene to be elevated everything has to be there not just because it could happen because it has to and because it’s furthering character story conflict emotion a set up or a pay off

I’ll also add visuals as if the sound were off but you could understand it and I’ll rewrite it psychologically —how can I enhance how it’s being told cinematically through the character’s point of view. Oh sometimes stuff can be cut that’s interesting but not necessary (research)

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Monica Beletsky

@MonicaBeletsky

13 Mar

TV writers: were you staffed once or a few times or been writing assistants for awhile and feel stuck? I’m gonna try to help bc this is a common DM I get. Not big picture advice but as far as scripts and things you might be able to control. I’ll do a Q&A on this topic only after.

Okay so maybe you have a manager but you’re not getting meetings, or you fired your manager bc they weren’t doing much. Maybe your sample got some traction but nothing solid happened. Maybe you’ve been out of work for a moment. Maybe you can’t seem to get promoted.

What can you control? Your work. Your self. Who you know (who likes you). How your work and your self are perceived to match what and who people need on staff.

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Monica Beletsky

@MonicaBeletsky

17 Dec 19

#Rewriting again, so here's some thoughts from today. After two drafts of an ambitious story, I had a lot of character and world building, but the A/B stories were muddy & meandering. My clarity ?s:
What is the premise of the series? Or, can I explain the idea of the series?

What is the pilot story? Or, what happens in the 1st episode?
This is different than:
What is the set-up of the pilot? Or, what starts the hero on their journey and why are they the perfect character to follow in this story?

What happens week to week? Or, how can I show through the pilot what can be expected to repeat, grow or become added trouble in the next episodes?
Who is the hero? What is the arc we might expect them to travel in the pilot? In the season? In the series?

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Monica Beletsky

@MonicaBeletsky

20 Apr 19

I’ve recently written two features and a feature pitch. What I’ve learned about ACT TWO: Act two starts after the protagonist achieves their stated goal. For example, in BLACK SWAN, Portman gets the part. At the top of Act Two, it’s the protagonist’s entry into a new normal. It’s

Often ACT TWO begins in a new location, it’s an arrival, the beginning of a new adventure, the start of a quest. A courageous journey that the protagonist chose to be on.

ACT TWO ends after the protagonist’s darkest moment, an utter loss of hope, followed by a miracle of courage to keep going one more time.

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Monica Beletsky

@MonicaBeletsky

12 Feb 19

Mileva Maric was the only woman in the physics program w Einstein. She failed her exams a few weeks after discovering she was pregnant and then dropped out. They both were working on 2 papers each. A few years later he published 4 papers that became known as a miracle. No

physicist has had as strong a year in history. Their marriage suffered but she would not grant a divorce- until he promised Mileva the entire Nobel Prize if he were to win it. In 1922, he won for his work of the 1905 “miracle year.” In their love letters, Einstein refers to her

having the “better topic” and “our work” on relative motion. John Statchel, the Einstein expert who almost single handedly erased academic open mindedness to believing in a co-authorship history took down the theory by insisting Einstein gave Maric too much credit bc he was in

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