Collaborative Screenwriting: The Writers' Room

Catalog description

Always thought you had that perfect concept for a streaming TV show? Curious about what makes those shows tick, and to see if you have what it takes to collaborate on a show that works? Focused on the development of the half-hour streaming ‘prestige' TV series, The Writers’ Room is an Intermediate and Collaborative TV Screenwriting class that addresses the latest forms of shows that sell, on the platforms that dominate the market. Shows like The Mandalorian, Ted Lasso and The Bear are 'binge-worthy' because along with dynamic stand-alone episodes they present connected dramatic arcs stretching over seasons. Often these shows are developed with multiple writers, in a format known as the 'Writers’ Room.' Along with conceptualizing a show, the class is intended as a practicum in collaboration, modeling the Writers Room to prepare the future screenwriter for one of the central forms of commercial storytelling. In this class we will cover what it actually takes to break into TV writing and create a roadmap to developing not only a great TV episode but conceptualizing its entire first season. What will sell a great show? Great premises, fulsome outlines, dynamic pitches, engaging decks, etc. How do you 'break' an episode and build provocative story arcs? Students will emerge with a group-conceptualized deck for an original show as well as that show’s original pilot--all done in the form of a structured workshop environment, with the last half of the class modeling the writers room. Our main texts are current shows that fit within this context. Note: this is a rigorous, collaborative class that requires significant out-of-class meetups with your group colleagues, so please be aware of the time commitment.