TV Series Creative Pitching Deck & Management / Part 2

Question 1

How do you classify films?

Answer 1

• by the setting
• by the theme
• by the topic
• by the mood
• by the format
• by the target audience
• by the budget

Question 2

What is a setting?

Answer 2

It’s the environment where the story and action take place (War film, Western film, Space Opera film)

Question 3

What is a theme or topic?

Answer 3

The theme or topic refers to the issues or concepts that the film revolves around (science fiction, sports, crime)

Question 4

What is the mood of a film?

Answer 4

The mood is the emotional tone of the film (Comedy, horror, tearjerker)

Question 5

What is the 4 acts structure of a TV episode?

Answer 5

• Teaser (Set Up)
• Act 1 (Set up)
• Act 2 (Obstacles / Complications)
• Act 3 (Obstacles / Complications)
• Act 4 (Climax, resolution, Tag)

Question 6

What is a teaser in a TV series episode script’

Answer 6

The TEASER in a TV series episode script is typically one to three minutes in length and it is basically used to set up the “issue of the hour”. Meaning, that if you simply watch the Teaser you will know what the
episode will be about.

For example, a murder, a hostage situation, or even an ambulance involved in an accident with the series regulars on board - it all depends on the series.

The sole function of the Teaser is to
‘hook” the viewer into watching the episode.

Question 7

TV Series Episode: What is the POA?

Answer 7

Point of Attack: The event that sets everything in motion

Question 8

TV Series Episode: What is the Inciting Incident?

Answer 8

An event that gives the character a direction to go in with their problem.

Question 9

TV Series Episode: Plot point 1

Answer 9

An event that spins the action in a NEW direction.

Question 10

TV Series Episode: TP (Turning Point)

Answer 10

The logical conclusion of the first half and the beginning of the second half. Also the point where the protagonist makes a “Deeper Commitment” to his goal

Question 11

TV Series Episode: PP 2 (Plot Point 2)

Answer 11

The “All is Lost” Moment for the protagonist

Question 12

TV Series Episode:
C/R Climax ans Resolution OR Cliffhanger

Answer 12

The most exciting one-on-one moment (typically a monoamono
confrontation) between the protagonist and the antagonist.

Question 13

What is a film subplot?

Answer 13

Subplots are typically secondary storylines that are connected to the main plot through the protagonist.

They can be used to give us a glimpse of another side of the protagonist or to heighten the main plot’s conflict.

Question 14

What is a tv parallel storyline?

Answer 14

The parallel storyline serves a specific function in the hour episode:

A-Story
- The major storyline and will feature your star.
- has the most scenes and screen time
- you will want to start and end each act with you’re A-story
- A-story will have the most story progression and the central conflict of the hour

B-Story
- important and will have a significant number of scenes in each act.
- used to service
the other regular cast members and keep them active throughout the hour episode.
- Typically speaking, there will be two scenes in every act to progress the B-story.

C-Story
- has the least amount of screen time

The key point to keep in mind is that the parallel plots, unlike a subplots, are structured so that they develop
simultaneously with the main plot of you’re A-story and are in every act.

Question 15

What is a runner?

Answer 15

• Your runner will typically include a regular cast member and give the comic relief of the hour.
• There will be
  no more than three scenes in the hour to complete this storyline’s beginning, middle, and ending.

Question 16

What is a beat sheet?

Answer 16

• The beat sheet lays out the major plot or character moves for each act.
• At the end of each act you want to
  build to a “Cliff Hanger”

Question 17

What are the 6 key elements of a treatment?

Answer 17

1.Title.
Give your treatment a title, even if it’s just a working title.

2.Logline.
This is a short sentence summarizing the premise.

3.Plot summary.
How long you want your story summary to be depends on you as a writer—some writers give short one-page summaries, while others use 70 pages to tell their story.

4.Key characters. Provide a breakdown of key characters, including their arch or how their character
develops in the story.

5.Explore the acts
Once you’ve set up the world and its inhabitants, it’s time to delve into the story itself. Write out how the story begins: What do we open on? Who do we see? Tell the tale of your film as if it were a short-story, and include
the juicy moments to keep the reader engaged in the world you’ve created.

6. Genres, Themes and Tone:
   Additional information on the focus of the project, the writer’s points of view, the main genre of the film, the
   themes and the tone underlying the story.

Question 18

What is a treatment?

Answer 18

A treatment is a document that presents the story idea of your filmor
TV Series before writing the entire script. Treatments are often written
in present tense, in a narrative-like prose, and highlight the most important information about your film or TV Series, including title,
logline, story summary, and character descriptions.

Question 19

What is a Spec Script?

Answer 19

A treatment and a spec script are
sometimes confused because both
serve to help writers hash out screenplay ideas and potentially sell a film or TV show.

A treatment comes earlier on in the
development process and provides a
detailed summarization of the
characters and events that will unfold
throughout the film.

A treatment comes
before the first draft of a spec script is
written.

A spec script is the longer, complete
version of that story written in
screenplay format.

Question 20

What is the hero’s journey?

Answer 20

The Hero’s Journey, also referred to as the Monomyth, is an idea formulated by noted mythologist Joseph
Campbell.

The central concept of the Monomyth is that a universal pattern can be seen in stories and myths across history and cultures.

Campbell defined and explained that pattern in his book The Hero with a Thousand
Faces (1949).

Later, screenwriter Christopher Vogler refined and expanded the Hero’s Journey for the screenplay form in his
book, The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers (1993). Campbell’s insight was that important myths
from around the world, which have survived for thousands of years, all share a fundamental structure. This
fundamental structure contains a number of stages, and includes:

1. A call to adventure, which the hero has to accept or decline.
2. A road of trials, regarding which the hero succeeds or fails.
3. Achieving the goal or “boon,” (a thing that is helpful or beneficial) which often results in important self-
   knowledge.
4. A return to the ordinary world, again as to which the hero can succeed or fail.
5. Application of the boon, in which what the hero has gained, can be used to improve the world.

Question 21

What is a character’s backstory?

Answer 21

1. Back-story
   a. What constitutes back-story (everything that happens up until the moment we meet the character in the film)?
   Decide how and which parts of the back-story to use and explicit in the plot of the movie or the behavior of the
   character.

2.Essence
2. Who is the character on the inside?
3. Find a noun or an adjective that gives your character a distinct way of
4. behaving in the new world and that will help our actor to act, react and interact. So, how is your character?

3.Goal/Mission
a. Emphasize goals: which is the goal of your character?
b. character only has one purpose, and a writer should capture and hold the audience’s attention around that purpose.
c. Protagonist and antagonist should have a mission or a goal of equal even if opposite importance. Do they have the
same weight? If not, in which way do they differ?

4.Motivation
4. Why does a character behave the way he does?
5. Characters, unlike real people, must stay true to their nature and
6. motivations; otherwise we perceive them like unbelievable. Is your
7. character believable?
8. Which type of motivation pushes you characters: greed (money, success,
9. career), family love, romantic love, surviving, redemption, faith, or revenge (which always connects to another need)?
5.Character’s arc/Change
4. Who and how is the character at the beginning of the film?
5. What is the Defining moment, the event that has the most impact in the
6. way the character behaves? As a writer, you can choose to show that
7. moment in the movie or to keep it as a back-story element.
8. How does he/she change as a result of the events of the film? If the
9. character doesn’t change, what is changing in the film?
10. The character changes because he arrives at a new understanding of his
11. essence, he discovers a new way of being and the consequences of his behavior. How would you define his new essence? Grace to the new essence the character
gets also a new perspective of the world. How do you show the change of the world around the character and the way he relates to it?
6.Conflict/Obstacle
4. What is the character’s internal conflict?
5. What is the character’s conflict for the film?
6. Are the obstacles three-dimensional? They should present DANGER
7. (How much does the character need to risk to reach his goal?), DIFFICULTY (How hard is it for the character to reach his goal?), and DISTANCE (How far does
the character need to go in order to reach his goal?).

Question 22

What are the 4 main types of characters?

Answer 22

• Main Character
• Supporting Character
• Minor or tag character
• Functional character