WRITING FOR TELEVISION PART 1 - GETTING STARTED
By David Jimerson, with very helpful advice from Jane Espenson, writer for Battlestar Galactica and Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Let’s start with a couple of terms – shooting script and spec script.
A shooting script is a script written to be shot. This is almost always handled in-house on a television production.
A spec script is speculative. It is written by an aspiring writer attempting to show that he or she has the skill to write a script appropriate for that show. A spec script is almost never actually shot. Its sole purpose is to be a demonstration of skill.
Until you’re actually hired to write a shooting script, as an aspiring writer, you will be writing spec scripts. While they will ultimately take the form of a script written by a show’s staff writer, you will be writing them to be read, not produced. It’s your writing sample, your proof you know what you’re doing, so it’s up to you to get it right!
If you want to get into writing for television, the spec script is your key. Learning to write a spec script is learning to write a TV script. In this Part 1, we’re going to explore what’s involved. We’ll concentrate on writing a spec script for an existing show rather than an original pilot, because learning to write a show which already exists will illustrate well how established TV writers do their jobs. Once you’re able to write scripts for existing shows, you’ll be more able to apply what you’ve learned to an original work.
THE GOAL: WHAT YOU'RE TRYING TO DO
The goal of writing a TV script, what you’re tasked to do as the writer, is twofold. You need to write a compelling story with gripping character moments; that much is obvious. But less understood is that as a TV writer, you need to accomplish that within a very specific technical and creative format. It’s not enough to tell a great story; the exact way you structure your story and how you put it down on the page is what makes it a TV script.
Common Mistakes Made By Beginners
But because the goal, the task, of writing a TV script is often misunderstood by aspiring writers, first we should point out some of the most common mistakes made by beginners new to writing scripts, or to writing for TV, specifically.
Writing the program, and not a script. This is a tricky concept. What it means is that a beginning writer will often approach writing from the point of view of copying what’s seen on the screen, as if writing a script is the same as writing a transcript of a story. That’s not what writing a script is. A script is a very specific type of document, and a writer’s task is to create that document. You’re not writing a story; you’re writing a script. A story is part of the script, of course. But even though a story may be incredible, if the specific needs of the document type aren’t met, you haven’t done your job. This is a very important distinction, because many of the decisions you make as a writer will stem from the specific needs of the document form, and this includes the very way you tell your story.
You might think of it as the difference between painting a picture of a building that’s been built and drawing a blueprint for one. The painting may be great and may show you exactly what it looks like, but the blueprint tells you how to build it.
Getting the script format wrong. Naturally following the first point above, you as a writer have to think in terms of the script format. But there are many variations of script formats, and you have to be sure you’re using the correct one. Different types of shows have different script formats – one-hour dramas which use one camera and shoot every day have a different format from sitcoms which use multiple cameras and shoot only once per week. These formats are specific to the needs to the type of production, and you have to be sure you’re serving those needs. Also, shows in the same vein will have script formats and styles which vary from production to the production; you have to be sure that you’re getting it right for the specific program you’re writing.
Thinking you’re writing a script to be produced. You aren’t. That’s what writing staffs are paid to do. Your spec script will not be produced. You’re writing your script to be read. It’s a demonstration that you have the skills necessary to do the job of a staff writer. But that’s all it is for. Television productions handle nearly all of their production writing in-house and generally do not accept outside scripts for production. Until you’re actually on the staff, or handed a specific script assignment as a freelancer, your spec script will almost definitely not be produced.
As a spec writer, you’re not generally going to be submitting your script to productions; instead, you’re going to be submitting to readers. These readers may be many different types of people – at contests, at fellowships, at agencies, or even simply people within the business whom you’ll have opportunity or reason to have read your script – for feedback, for advice, for forwarding on to someone else.
Building stories around “cool” moments, plot moves, or lines. Your story should never be built from some single moment you really like. You want to write a story which cuts to the core of what the show is about, what makes the characters tick. Plot moves, cool moments, and great lines should all stem from that, not the other way around.
Creating guest characters around whom the story turns. The show is about its characters; they’re the ones whose stories are being told. They direct the action – they don’t react to the driving force of the guest. They are the reason the scripts are written, not the guest characters. You can demonstrate that you know, and can write, those characters far more ably by focusing on them and not on a guest.
So, now that we know what our basic goal is, and some of the important things we’re trying to avoid, let’s look at how to get the job done. First we’ll explore what exactly this document we call a “script” is, and then we’ll talk about the creative process behind writing a story which will serve the needs of the script and the show you’re writing for. Then, we’ll look at recommendations for aspiring writers to learn as much as they can about scriptwriting.
ANATOMY OF A TV SCRIPT
To further emphasize the point, as a TV writer, your job is to write scripts. But in order to do this, you have to know what a script is.
A script is a blueprint of an episode of a television series. It is written to tell a story in visual form, and it describes everything relevant to the story as it will appear on screen.
As a blueprint, it will be used by every part of the television production to create the finished episode the audience will watch. Because of this, it’s as much a technical document as it is a creative one, and the format which is used has been developed to fit the specific needs of the particular production for which it’s written, both technically and stylistically. Different departments of the production will expect to see specific elements in specific ways, and the showrunner, the creative director of the show, will expect it to serve the narrative needs and style established for the show.
While scripts of various shows will share common elements, a particular production’s scripts will have been developed in a way unique to that show. Different productions have different ways of handling description – some have more, some have less, some are more technical, some are more poetic. Different shows handle their characters differently. Some naturally highlight one or a few main characters; some are more ensemble-oriented and give ample time to more characters. Some are fast-paced, dialog-intensive; some are more visual and slower-moving. Some end each act and go to commercial with a quip from a character; some end each act on a mind-bending twist and a wordless reaction from the characters.
There are many possibilities, and there are as many styles as there are shows. But being tasked with writing a script for a particular show, the only way to know what a script for that show looks like is to read as many of them as you can. A study of many scripts from a show, particularly the ones which made it to the air, will tell you everything you need to know in order to write a script for that show – in terms of content, and in terms of form.
Don’t forget what you’re trying to do in a spec script – you’re trying to produce a document which looks and reads as closely as possible to an actual script of a show. Many beginning writers spend a great deal of time trying to “figure out” how to do that. The very best way possible is to study the work of the people who have already done just that – the people who write the show! It would be foolish not to study as much of their work as you possibly can. Your job is to craft a script which is part of a long series of scripts. See exactly how that was done. Don’t try to reverse engineer it just from watching the show, and from what you’ve learned separately about script formatting.
A spec script is your example, your demonstration that you’ve done your homework and know how to do the job of a staff writer for the show. If you’re submitting a spec script to a reader, if they’re familiar with the show, they’ll know how the writers of that show handle their scripts. They’ll know, for example, if the slugline for a character is the character’s first name or last name. They’ll know how the writers handle stage directions, and all the other little things which go into writing a script for that particular show. Get those right. Read how it’s done and do it that way.
Typical TV Script Structure
But you also have to know what you’re looking at when you’re studying a script. Sure, most of us know some of the basics – the location line telling us where we are, the block of description describing what’s happening in the scene and who’s doing it, the sluglines for character dialogue, the parentheticals, and the dialogue. Any script has all of that. When studying a script, you want to look for the things which make a TV script, and the scripts for a specific show, unique.
One of the most important things to understand about writing for commercial television is that it revolves around the commercial break. The scripts will be divided into sections – acts – each representing the portion of the program shown between commercial breaks. Each act will have an act break, for when the show goes to commercial. These are the points at which the acts culminate into a “gasp” moment, a mini-cliffhanger designed to get the audience to stay with the program through the commercial.
What happens at the act breaks is the backbone of the story, the pegs upon which the story hangs, the outposts along the road. When a story is plotted out, the first things plotted are those act breaks. Getting those exactly right is one of the most important things you’re doing.
This structure is common to most narrative commercial TV. An hour-long drama will usually start with a “teaser” – an attention-grabbing short sequence just before the opening credits, meant to hook the viewer into watching the show. Then, there will be a series of acts. Four acts was once more the norm, but six acts, allowing for more commercial breaks, is also common.
The first act will normally be the longest, and set up the story – the main conflict, the main problem the main characters have to overcome or find a solution for. By the end of the act, the audience knows the problem the characters must solve and the conditions they’ll work under. The second act will be a little shorter, but almost as long, and the following acts will be shorter still, each ending with some kind of twist or plot move which will leave the audience wanting more.
As an example, a 50-page one-hour drama script, in four acts, could break down like this:
Teaser, 2-3 pages A taste of the story, a grabber
Act One, 16-17 pages Establishes the particulars of the story
Act Two, 13-15 pages Gives us our first major twist
Act Three, 8-9 pages Gives us an unexpected turn
Act Four, 6-7 pages Gives us our rewarding ending
A six-act structure may be even more pronounced in its front-heavy format; it’s possible that the later acts could be as few as 5-6 pages.
This is the general structure which will govern how you construct your story and plot out its twists and turns. Your story must be of a type which lends itself to it. We can point to examples of an exceptional story which broke the rules, but that’s why it’s exceptional – it doesn’t often happen. As a spec writer, you’re attempting to show what you can do with the structure established by the show. You should concentrate on shining within that structure, not breaking it.
Other types of shows will follow generally the same rules. Any narrative commercial TV show follows a story, a plot line, and is broken into acts, so the same general structure most often applies, though it will be different according to the show. A half-hour sitcom may run 25 pages with two acts. A “light hour” program, an hour-long program which isn’t heavy drama might be 65 pages. But the act structure, with breaks plotted in, will usually be common among all.
Scripts for Non-Commercial Break Streaming
These days, there are many programs which are considered television which don’t exist in the realm of network commercial television and don’t have commercial breaks. So, the above formatting doesn’t necessarily apply. Also, many prestige-format streaming shows now follow a serial format, so each episode is automatically a chapter of a larger whole. You will want to consult actual scripts from that show to get a feel for how it handles things.
But the act structure is still a good one to keep in mind. Even if you’re not going to commercial breaks, it’s helpful to imagine that you might be and develop “soft cliffhangers” within the story structure. Ideally, every scene should create anticipation for the next one, and while it won’t be obvious, creating those kinds of hooks can help propel the story forward and keep the audience engaged.
Genre-Specific Formatting
Many aspiring writers are familiar with the typical film script format and its conventions for description, dialogue, parentheticals, etc. These conventions are generally applicable to dramatic TV scripts which are shot similarly to film, with a single camera and no studio audience. A one-hour drama is typically shot more film-style, with a single camera, every day of the week.
Other types of programs which use different shooting formats have developed their own styles. For example, half-hour sitcoms are often multi-camera shoots shot live in front of a studio audience, one night per week. Dialogue is double-spaced instead of single-spaced, usually to allow for more space to make notes during script run-throughs during the week, when you have only that one shot during the week to get the script right.
Scriptwriting software such as Final Draft has built-in provisions for different types of programs. When creating a new document, it will ask you what you’re writing, and it will take care of the formatting for you. Some software will have built-in templates not only for specific genres, but for specific shows.
Go to Part 2
By David Jimerson, with very helpful advice from Jane Espenson, writer for Battlestar Galactica and Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Let’s start with a couple of terms – shooting script and spec script.
A shooting script is a script written to be shot. This is almost always handled in-house on a television production.
A spec script is speculative. It is written by an aspiring writer attempting to show that he or she has the skill to write a script appropriate for that show. A spec script is almost never actually shot. Its sole purpose is to be a demonstration of skill.
Until you’re actually hired to write a shooting script, as an aspiring writer, you will be writing spec scripts. While they will ultimately take the form of a script written by a show’s staff writer, you will be writing them to be read, not produced. It’s your writing sample, your proof you know what you’re doing, so it’s up to you to get it right!
If you want to get into writing for television, the spec script is your key. Learning to write a spec script is learning to write a TV script. In this Part 1, we’re going to explore what’s involved. We’ll concentrate on writing a spec script for an existing show rather than an original pilot, because learning to write a show which already exists will illustrate well how established TV writers do their jobs. Once you’re able to write scripts for existing shows, you’ll be more able to apply what you’ve learned to an original work.
THE GOAL: WHAT YOU'RE TRYING TO DOThe goal of writing a TV script, what you’re tasked to do as the writer, is twofold. You need to write a compelling story with gripping character moments; that much is obvious. But less understood is that as a TV writer, you need to accomplish that within a very specific technical and creative format. It’s not enough to tell a great story; the exact way you structure your story and how you put it down on the page is what makes it a TV script.
Common Mistakes Made By Beginners
But because the goal, the task, of writing a TV script is often misunderstood by aspiring writers, first we should point out some of the most common mistakes made by beginners new to writing scripts, or to writing for TV, specifically.
Writing the program, and not a script. This is a tricky concept. What it means is that a beginning writer will often approach writing from the point of view of copying what’s seen on the screen, as if writing a script is the same as writing a transcript of a story. That’s not what writing a script is. A script is a very specific type of document, and a writer’s task is to create that document. You’re not writing a story; you’re writing a script. A story is part of the script, of course. But even though a story may be incredible, if the specific needs of the document type aren’t met, you haven’t done your job. This is a very important distinction, because many of the decisions you make as a writer will stem from the specific needs of the document form, and this includes the very way you tell your story.
You might think of it as the difference between painting a picture of a building that’s been built and drawing a blueprint for one. The painting may be great and may show you exactly what it looks like, but the blueprint tells you how to build it.
Getting the script format wrong. Naturally following the first point above, you as a writer have to think in terms of the script format. But there are many variations of script formats, and you have to be sure you’re using the correct one. Different types of shows have different script formats – one-hour dramas which use one camera and shoot every day have a different format from sitcoms which use multiple cameras and shoot only once per week. These formats are specific to the needs to the type of production, and you have to be sure you’re serving those needs. Also, shows in the same vein will have script formats and styles which vary from production to the production; you have to be sure that you’re getting it right for the specific program you’re writing.
Thinking you’re writing a script to be produced. You aren’t. That’s what writing staffs are paid to do. Your spec script will not be produced. You’re writing your script to be read. It’s a demonstration that you have the skills necessary to do the job of a staff writer. But that’s all it is for. Television productions handle nearly all of their production writing in-house and generally do not accept outside scripts for production. Until you’re actually on the staff, or handed a specific script assignment as a freelancer, your spec script will almost definitely not be produced.
As a spec writer, you’re not generally going to be submitting your script to productions; instead, you’re going to be submitting to readers. These readers may be many different types of people – at contests, at fellowships, at agencies, or even simply people within the business whom you’ll have opportunity or reason to have read your script – for feedback, for advice, for forwarding on to someone else.
Building stories around “cool” moments, plot moves, or lines. Your story should never be built from some single moment you really like. You want to write a story which cuts to the core of what the show is about, what makes the characters tick. Plot moves, cool moments, and great lines should all stem from that, not the other way around.
Creating guest characters around whom the story turns. The show is about its characters; they’re the ones whose stories are being told. They direct the action – they don’t react to the driving force of the guest. They are the reason the scripts are written, not the guest characters. You can demonstrate that you know, and can write, those characters far more ably by focusing on them and not on a guest.
So, now that we know what our basic goal is, and some of the important things we’re trying to avoid, let’s look at how to get the job done. First we’ll explore what exactly this document we call a “script” is, and then we’ll talk about the creative process behind writing a story which will serve the needs of the script and the show you’re writing for. Then, we’ll look at recommendations for aspiring writers to learn as much as they can about scriptwriting.
ANATOMY OF A TV SCRIPT
To further emphasize the point, as a TV writer, your job is to write scripts. But in order to do this, you have to know what a script is.
A script is a blueprint of an episode of a television series. It is written to tell a story in visual form, and it describes everything relevant to the story as it will appear on screen.
As a blueprint, it will be used by every part of the television production to create the finished episode the audience will watch. Because of this, it’s as much a technical document as it is a creative one, and the format which is used has been developed to fit the specific needs of the particular production for which it’s written, both technically and stylistically. Different departments of the production will expect to see specific elements in specific ways, and the showrunner, the creative director of the show, will expect it to serve the narrative needs and style established for the show.
While scripts of various shows will share common elements, a particular production’s scripts will have been developed in a way unique to that show. Different productions have different ways of handling description – some have more, some have less, some are more technical, some are more poetic. Different shows handle their characters differently. Some naturally highlight one or a few main characters; some are more ensemble-oriented and give ample time to more characters. Some are fast-paced, dialog-intensive; some are more visual and slower-moving. Some end each act and go to commercial with a quip from a character; some end each act on a mind-bending twist and a wordless reaction from the characters.
There are many possibilities, and there are as many styles as there are shows. But being tasked with writing a script for a particular show, the only way to know what a script for that show looks like is to read as many of them as you can. A study of many scripts from a show, particularly the ones which made it to the air, will tell you everything you need to know in order to write a script for that show – in terms of content, and in terms of form.
Don’t forget what you’re trying to do in a spec script – you’re trying to produce a document which looks and reads as closely as possible to an actual script of a show. Many beginning writers spend a great deal of time trying to “figure out” how to do that. The very best way possible is to study the work of the people who have already done just that – the people who write the show! It would be foolish not to study as much of their work as you possibly can. Your job is to craft a script which is part of a long series of scripts. See exactly how that was done. Don’t try to reverse engineer it just from watching the show, and from what you’ve learned separately about script formatting.
A spec script is your example, your demonstration that you’ve done your homework and know how to do the job of a staff writer for the show. If you’re submitting a spec script to a reader, if they’re familiar with the show, they’ll know how the writers of that show handle their scripts. They’ll know, for example, if the slugline for a character is the character’s first name or last name. They’ll know how the writers handle stage directions, and all the other little things which go into writing a script for that particular show. Get those right. Read how it’s done and do it that way.
Typical TV Script Structure
But you also have to know what you’re looking at when you’re studying a script. Sure, most of us know some of the basics – the location line telling us where we are, the block of description describing what’s happening in the scene and who’s doing it, the sluglines for character dialogue, the parentheticals, and the dialogue. Any script has all of that. When studying a script, you want to look for the things which make a TV script, and the scripts for a specific show, unique.
One of the most important things to understand about writing for commercial television is that it revolves around the commercial break. The scripts will be divided into sections – acts – each representing the portion of the program shown between commercial breaks. Each act will have an act break, for when the show goes to commercial. These are the points at which the acts culminate into a “gasp” moment, a mini-cliffhanger designed to get the audience to stay with the program through the commercial.
What happens at the act breaks is the backbone of the story, the pegs upon which the story hangs, the outposts along the road. When a story is plotted out, the first things plotted are those act breaks. Getting those exactly right is one of the most important things you’re doing.
This structure is common to most narrative commercial TV. An hour-long drama will usually start with a “teaser” – an attention-grabbing short sequence just before the opening credits, meant to hook the viewer into watching the show. Then, there will be a series of acts. Four acts was once more the norm, but six acts, allowing for more commercial breaks, is also common.
The first act will normally be the longest, and set up the story – the main conflict, the main problem the main characters have to overcome or find a solution for. By the end of the act, the audience knows the problem the characters must solve and the conditions they’ll work under. The second act will be a little shorter, but almost as long, and the following acts will be shorter still, each ending with some kind of twist or plot move which will leave the audience wanting more.
As an example, a 50-page one-hour drama script, in four acts, could break down like this:
Teaser, 2-3 pages A taste of the story, a grabber
Act One, 16-17 pages Establishes the particulars of the story
Act Two, 13-15 pages Gives us our first major twist
Act Three, 8-9 pages Gives us an unexpected turn
Act Four, 6-7 pages Gives us our rewarding ending
A six-act structure may be even more pronounced in its front-heavy format; it’s possible that the later acts could be as few as 5-6 pages.
This is the general structure which will govern how you construct your story and plot out its twists and turns. Your story must be of a type which lends itself to it. We can point to examples of an exceptional story which broke the rules, but that’s why it’s exceptional – it doesn’t often happen. As a spec writer, you’re attempting to show what you can do with the structure established by the show. You should concentrate on shining within that structure, not breaking it.
Other types of shows will follow generally the same rules. Any narrative commercial TV show follows a story, a plot line, and is broken into acts, so the same general structure most often applies, though it will be different according to the show. A half-hour sitcom may run 25 pages with two acts. A “light hour” program, an hour-long program which isn’t heavy drama might be 65 pages. But the act structure, with breaks plotted in, will usually be common among all.
Scripts for Non-Commercial Break Streaming
These days, there are many programs which are considered television which don’t exist in the realm of network commercial television and don’t have commercial breaks. So, the above formatting doesn’t necessarily apply. Also, many prestige-format streaming shows now follow a serial format, so each episode is automatically a chapter of a larger whole. You will want to consult actual scripts from that show to get a feel for how it handles things.
But the act structure is still a good one to keep in mind. Even if you’re not going to commercial breaks, it’s helpful to imagine that you might be and develop “soft cliffhangers” within the story structure. Ideally, every scene should create anticipation for the next one, and while it won’t be obvious, creating those kinds of hooks can help propel the story forward and keep the audience engaged.
Genre-Specific FormattingMany aspiring writers are familiar with the typical film script format and its conventions for description, dialogue, parentheticals, etc. These conventions are generally applicable to dramatic TV scripts which are shot similarly to film, with a single camera and no studio audience. A one-hour drama is typically shot more film-style, with a single camera, every day of the week.
Other types of programs which use different shooting formats have developed their own styles. For example, half-hour sitcoms are often multi-camera shoots shot live in front of a studio audience, one night per week. Dialogue is double-spaced instead of single-spaced, usually to allow for more space to make notes during script run-throughs during the week, when you have only that one shot during the week to get the script right.
Scriptwriting software such as Final Draft has built-in provisions for different types of programs. When creating a new document, it will ask you what you’re writing, and it will take care of the formatting for you. Some software will have built-in templates not only for specific genres, but for specific shows.
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