Advice Needed on Which Book to Buy on TV Writing

Kerrywriterno1

Hi guys,

I've a great idea for a new Irish TV drama series and I've the first few episodes plotted out. Now I have read some TV scripts on the 'net but I'm only used to writing scripts for films and not TV. I am thinking of purchasing a book about writing a TV series but there's so many out there that I don't know which one to choose. I have narrowed it down to three, though and would like your opinion. The three books are: "Crafty TV Writing" by Alex Epstein, "Writing the TV Drama Series" by Pamela Douglas and "Successful Television Writing" by Lee Goldberg. Have any of you read these and if so, which would you recommend? Or is there another book that you would suggest?

Thank you for reading this.

K'Writer

Fatboydim

Your best bet is not to read any of them - for a start they are all American and the TV industry this side of the Atlantic is very different from the US model.

Do not waste your time writing the scripts. Instead write a one page Synopsis of your series idea and around an 8 - 10 page treatment in case they are interested.

If you don't have an agent get one - few producers are going to read ideas from an unrepped writer - unless you have a track record. Which I'm assuming you don't as you wouldn't be looking to read a book.

If you must write a script then do so using Final Draft - It's now industry standard and their are many templates on it for TV series.

Questions you will need to answer on your series are:

What is unique about it?
Does it have legs?
What kind of budget are you aiming at?
Studio or location? [Multi-camera or single?] Most dramas are single.
Target audience?
Pre or post watershed?

Then most important - commercial TV or BBC - Never send a script to the BBC with Ad breaks in.

Hope that helps.

Kerrywriterno1

Wow, Fatboydim, that was a great response and very insightful. I appreciate you getting back to me. I take it you have experience in this field so? Anyway to answer a few of your questions (and without going into detail), the show will be before the watershed and will be set in Ireland. It has never been done before and is aimed at people in their late teens onwards. The show will basically be a cross between Supernatural and Heroes and the budget won't be that big save for maybe the last episode.

Can you tell me is there any book written geared towards writers on this side of the pond dealing with writing for TV? I've written a synopsis for a book but never for TV. Are there examples of this on the 'net and I presume that one has to have at least a few of the episodes written in case the producers request to see them.

Thanks again for getting back to me.

K'writer

Fatboydim

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/SCRIPT-DOCTOR/138062651688?ref=ts

The above is a link to Si Spencer's Facebook page. He's written a book called something like 100 tips for screenwriters. - Si has been a script editor and writer. His tips are pretty good.

As for writing the scripts - No. Don't do it. As long as you have a sample of your writing [Such as a Movie script / short] that will suffice. In fact I had a meeting with two producers last week who both agreed that it's a waste of time for writers to write scripts for TV as what will sell is the idea - no matter how good the writing may be - If they don't go for the idea they won't go for the script.

Also if you're going for a cross between Heroes and Supernatural that sounds like it needs effects. That bumps up costs as well as size of cast and indeed things like night shoots [Which are more expensive than day shoots] keep characters with one or two lines to a minimum. Cut if possible.

An hour of drama on RTE costs around €550,000 - That's quite a low budget. Compare that to an episode of Heroes that would probably cost around $8,000,000 per hour. Maybe considerably more. Much of that depends on what the stars get. Closer to home an Hour of Ultimate Force would be around £1,000,000 per hour [Explosions etc] and The Bill was more like £300 - 400k per hour.

So your series - say it's ten episodes would cost at the very cheapest *€5,000,000.

Now you have some idea of how good your idea has to be before someone invests.

Kerrywriterno1

Yeah, I'm aware of the costs and I apologise for giving the impression that there would be a lot of special effects like people flying and plasma bolts etc. The most there would be are glowing red eyes and maybe objects being moved by a spirit etc. Okay, so their may be the occasional fireball or object that would be glowing. Plus there would not be as many episodes (six at most), and the cast would be fairly low so the production would be much lower than you anticipated, coming somewhere under or around €2,000,000.

Thanks also for the link. I appreciate it. I'll check it out.

K'writer

Ahbegob

The above advice is very good. It's really the concept that sells.

However, there are several huge hurdles to reach before you get to this stage. To be frank, there are few short cuts into TV. I am sure the OP has an idea that could well make an excellent TV series but it's highly unlikely to get made unless the writer has a track record.

I want you to imagine the reality of the situation- there are a lot of producers chasing budgets for limited slots. They'll use every advantage they can- and that includes the pedigrees of the 'talent' and the writer. Everyone knows that there is a huge amount of money riding on a production and therefore using unknowns is a risk that some won't prepare to take.

However, every TV writer started somewhere and there are several routes into TV writing. There's the obvious radio drama options and stage plays. Both demonstrate skills in dialogue writing that can lead to being part of a team on a soap ala Fair City. There's the less obvious ahm novel approach- have a book published that's TV friendly and demand that you be part of the writing team during its adaptation. Writer's can join forces with aspiring producers who develop alongside one another. Writer's can turn producer and organise a team to develop their idea into one format such as Web drama (I'm thinking of Storyland here) which if successful can then leapfrog into a TV adaptation (I'm thinking Hardy Bucks).

Therefore, I would not fret too much about not getting your series made. Just yet. I'd focus on other opportunities- maybe adapt the series into a radio play or a stage play. I'd use any skills I had (other than writing) to volunteer to work on short film productions (as advertised here)- maybe you will find opportunities to work on the script team. Maybe you will be handing someone tea and you over hear a producer saying that he needs a sci fi series on the phone....such odd coincidences happen more regularly than you can imagine. Keeping yourself in the production loop is a definite must as you'll hear about jobs that'd you'd miss otherwise.

So don't fret about the series, work away on the idea but work on other options too.

Opinions


M



PS Oh I would not dismiss all books on writing. I need the royalties

pops

I found Robert McKee's Story very useful in terms of practical advise.