I read a Variety article yesterday and discovered my terminology is passé. It seems the term “miniseries” is old-fashioned – said so right there in the article in so many words. And so my efforts to write a miniseries must be repurposed so that the product is “event television.” I like the term “limited series,” but there are restraints on applying that term to anything over five episodes.
Fortunately the repurposing took only a few minutes – that is to say, while the descriptor has changed, the storytelling remains the same.
The real challenge has been to figure out how best to get to the end of episode eight of “Andy.” For the first three episodes, “Andy,” “Send a Boy . . ,” and “Half-Truths,” I have written each episode in a linear fashion. That means as the interwoven storylines play out, I’ve written part of Andy’s story and then shifted to telling the next step in Seth’s story and so on.
I’ve cut my teeth on feature films and it has been a struggle to feel the flow of each character’s story writing in such a choppy manner. For episode four (working title either “Half-Lies,” or “The Sixth Day”) I mean to try a different approach.
For example, I have already excerpted every one of Billy’s scenes in the first three episodes and compiled them in a teleplay I have titled “Andy Composite – Billy.” When I print that out, and I do get different insights reading on paper than I do reading onscreen, I can read and follow Billy’s story without the interruptions. I mean to write the rest of Billy’s story in that composite document and then switch to “Andy Composite – Pamela” and do the same thing for her story. Ditto all the other main characters.
I will create the teleplay for the fourth episode by assembling the already-written scenes in a sequence that makes “The Sixth Day” a viable tale that stands on its own. I will post again to let you know if that turns out to be easier or harder.
I am looking forward to writing the fourth episode because there are some really good story elements that are set up and will pay off in the 50 to 60 pages I’m about to write. It’s always nice to cross a threshold and have a new world to explore.
Fortunately the repurposing took only a few minutes – that is to say, while the descriptor has changed, the storytelling remains the same.
The real challenge has been to figure out how best to get to the end of episode eight of “Andy.” For the first three episodes, “Andy,” “Send a Boy . . ,” and “Half-Truths,” I have written each episode in a linear fashion. That means as the interwoven storylines play out, I’ve written part of Andy’s story and then shifted to telling the next step in Seth’s story and so on.
I’ve cut my teeth on feature films and it has been a struggle to feel the flow of each character’s story writing in such a choppy manner. For episode four (working title either “Half-Lies,” or “The Sixth Day”) I mean to try a different approach.
For example, I have already excerpted every one of Billy’s scenes in the first three episodes and compiled them in a teleplay I have titled “Andy Composite – Billy.” When I print that out, and I do get different insights reading on paper than I do reading onscreen, I can read and follow Billy’s story without the interruptions. I mean to write the rest of Billy’s story in that composite document and then switch to “Andy Composite – Pamela” and do the same thing for her story. Ditto all the other main characters.
I will create the teleplay for the fourth episode by assembling the already-written scenes in a sequence that makes “The Sixth Day” a viable tale that stands on its own. I will post again to let you know if that turns out to be easier or harder.
I am looking forward to writing the fourth episode because there are some really good story elements that are set up and will pay off in the 50 to 60 pages I’m about to write. It’s always nice to cross a threshold and have a new world to explore.
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