Help me write some TV specs

[Stout]

I appreciate the offer, Stout, but I know of Chap's work and already had him in mind as someone I'd like to work with.

And we both see eye-to-eye on Lost, so you'll just have to find some Lost-hating partner of your own.

LOL Sorry to give the wrong impression. I was joking about offering to help. I know I've got nothing as far as TV writing. Someday maybe, but I really need to work on what I know first.

 

[Gaddabout]

Great insight into TV writing in this thread

The process is always more complicated than the end product suggests. I can't claim any real authority other than what I've been taught in school and what's been confirmed by people I've met who've been successful at what they do. If anyone is interested in writing for film, television, or the stage, here's the magic formula that is almost universally mandatory (if you need an example, simply watch the first Star Wars film):

ACT I: Unfold the reality of your universe. If it's, for example, set in a New York cafe in the year 2120, show me that reality in great detail. Things are odd to us but the people in that universe are every bit as comfortable with it as we are with our reality. Enter the hero. He's unaware what's about to happen, but destiny is knocking at the door. Something is taken from him, something awful happens, someone he loves dies -- something happens that forces him to do something he would not otherwise do, namely throw himself into harm's way. This sends him on an unexpected journey to right a wrong, free the oppressed, deliver justice. Quite often all three!


ACT II: The hero struggles with their new burden, the fate of the universe is on their shoulders. The hero whines, complains, fights their obligation. Maybe they even run away and try to ignore it (Job complex). At some point they find resolve and inspiration to take on the challenge and suddenly the hero stumbles into a victory, often a Pyrrhic one.



ACT III: The victory is soon lost in despair as evil seems to have triumphed. At the last minute fate, the gods, institutional power -- something big -- intervenes allow the hero one last shot at glory. And the hero runs with it because the hero has been transformed by the situation. Good wins, evil loses for now, the hero enjoys the spoils.


Etch that in your brain. Then go read every great myth ever told -- Greek, Chinese, Native American, the Bible (!!!), everything -- and roll out those myths into modern stories. I can guarantee you will be hailed as a genius if you master modernized myths in the three-act format.


I'm still working on this, but I'm trusting the road map.

 

[Stout]

The process is always more complicated than the end product suggests. I can't claim any real authority other than what I've been taught in school and what's been confirmed by people I've met who've been successful at what they do. If anyone is interested in writing for film, television, or the stage, here's the magic formula that is almost universally mandatory (if you need an example, simply watch the first Star Wars film):

ACT I: Unfold the reality of your universe. If it's, for example, set in a New York cafe in the year 2120, show me that reality in great detail. Things are odd to us but the people in that universe are every bit as comfortable with it as we are with our reality. Enter the hero. He's unaware what's about to happen, but destiny is knocking at the door. Something is taken from him, something awful happens, someone he loves dies -- something happens that forces him to do something he would not otherwise do, namely throw himself into harm's way. This sends him on an unexpected journey to right a wrong, free the oppressed, deliver justice. Quite often all three!


ACT II: The hero struggles with their new burden, the fate of the universe is on their shoulders. The hero whines, complains, fights their obligation. Maybe they even run away and try to ignore it (Job complex). At some point they find resolve and inspiration to take on the challenge and suddenly the hero stumbles into a victory, often a Pyrrhic one.



ACT III: The victory is soon lost in despair as evil seems to have triumphed. At the last minute fate, the gods, institutional power -- something big -- intervenes allow the hero one last shot at glory. And the hero runs with it because the hero has been transformed by the situation. Good wins, evil loses for now, the hero enjoys the spoils.


Etch that in your brain. Then go read every great myth ever told -- Greek, Chinese, Native American, the Bible (!!!), everything -- and roll out those myths into modern stories. I can guarantee you will be hailed as a genius if you master modernized myths in the three-act format.


I'm still working on this, but I'm trusting the road map.

Excellent writeup, Gad. Ever check out the book the Hero with a Thousand Faces? Very pertinent to what you just described.