If you want to sell your TV drama pitch here’s some questions you might as well know the answer to cause the buyer will wanna know you know—and if you don’t tell them, I promise you’ll almost definitely be asked. Who is it about and why do we care about them? (Read that second part again)

Since the boat is unstuck here’s some ways to become unstuck while writing. For me, most of it is planning • ask yourself a question you haven’t answered about the scene or storyline then answer it (helps w overwhelm) • solve the scene structure (beg,mid,end & pivots to each) •Ask how can this reveal character psychology or objective, stakes or progress story/plot? • Ask: what would REALLY happen? (Not what’s convenient for me to get to my next plot point) • Cut it and see if it has any consequences • Reduce the characters in the scene to vitals

A few weeks ago @edithdrod asked me how she might rewrite her scripts so the protagonist is more active as early as possible. A note she was getting. I think an answer to this is present a choice they need to make, show their choice and how it reveals their character I learned this thing about choices and revealing character from an episode of @writealongpod where Cargill breaks it down so simply it’s endlessly useful.

Basically there's two ways to be a star on a TV staff. Write outlines and scripts the showrunner barely has to rewrite. Pitch storylines, scenes, images, emotional payoffs, solve story issues etc, that keep landing in the show. When I was first working, I was quickly very good at the second. I would regularly pitch stories that landed in episodes, scenes, emotional moments, funny lines, etc. I was much stronger in the room than on the page. Somehow I could improv the show outloud better than I wrote.

One of my BFF lost her Valentine to a sudden tragedy a few weeks ago after letting herself believe in ❤️ again. I know many people are struggling now. If you’re someone who has something to spare, it would mean a lot to fund the Penn scholarship friends/fam hope to create. everloved.com/life-of/gregor…

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.

FWIW: Here's everything I've posted re: my thoughts on writing TV pilots. Now in one place.

https://twitter.com/MonicaBeletsky/status/1256137066821201920?s=20

https://twitter.com/MonicaBeletsky/status/1078737617045184512?s=20

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

There's a term in Hollywood called "bump." When a reader/producer/exec reads your script & they "bump" on something in your writing, you'll get a note to improve it till it doesn't bump them. Jordan Peele said (paraphrasing) he thinks of it as a game to get drafts down to 0 notes I've written a lot of drafts in the past three years & it's helped me get to zero notes faster by adjusting my mindset when drafting or revising to anticipate what my bosses will bump on as much as I can predict. When your reader gets your vision, notes will align with yours.

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.

#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?

When I've addressed every note I can think of that someone good at giving notes might give me and/or has given me.
My recent revision checklist looked roughly like:
clarify character
clarify story
raise stakes
revisit structure
deepen emotion
specify place & increase imagery

https://twitter.com/LetsGoNatalie/status/1198748371533602816

increase conflict
where can theme be deliberate
increase protagonist POV
research more detail
how can i dramatize an arc
more set ups and payoffs
cut what is actually the next episode
increase genre tropes and subversions
more sex, more violence if story driven

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.

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

I didn't go to film school. One thing that's hard for me as a writer, is every time I write, i feel like I'm still figuring out my process. So I watched myself during this last script and took notes on what I do. The big headline for me was realizing writing is, at a basic level, answering a series of questions you ask yourself. The first four are:
1. What is the story? This is about character and plot.
2. How will I tell the story? This is about genre, structure and point of view

These #s are pathetic. In prestige cable, I'm often the only woman & POC in the room & I'm biracial/black. I have to say something about the conclusion of this study - that the lack of black writers means more stereotypes. Listen, white writers can do that work, too. Lately I see