- Cover
- Title
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Contents
- Introduction
- Part I Satisfying the Binge Viewer: New Genres, Formats and Trends
- 1 Blurring the Lines: Redefining Genre and Tone in the Dramedy
- How Did We Get Here?
- Dramedies and Life on the Cringe
- Female-Driven Dramedies
- You‘re the Worst: The Anti-Romantic Dramedy
- Baskets and Lives in Disarray
- Satire as the Weapon of Reason in Dear White People
- I Love Dick: Exploring the “Female Gaze”
- Master of the Observational: Master of None
- Better Things: Philosophical Vignettes
- Love and Death in Atlanta
- Bonus Content: Further analysis on dramedies, including the rise of the genre, Catastrophe and Casual
- 2 The Slow-Burn, Season-Long Procedural: From Murder One and Twin Peaks to The Night Of, Fargo, Search Party and More
- The Season-Long Mystery
- The Mystery Underlying the Crime: The Night Of
- The Good Fight : The Procedural Within a Procedural
- Search Party: Something From Nothing
- Fargo Is a State of Mind
- Truth and Consequences
- Bonus Content: American Crime, True Detective Season 1, Riverdale, Medici: Masters of Florence, Happy Valley, The Fall, Bloodline, The Expanse
- 3 Trust Me: The Long Con On-Demand—From The Riches to Sneaky Pete, Patriot, The Americans and More
- 4 Dystopias, Multiverses and Magic Realism
- The Constructive/Destructive Power of Ideas: The Handmaid’s Tale
- Our World with a Cautionary Twist
- Crafting the Supernatural/Dystopian Pilot
- Microcosmic Dystopias and the Monster Mash: American Gods
- Portals and Multiverses: Childlike Wonder in Stranger Things
- Surprise and Shifting POV: The OA
- Adjoining Realms in The Man in the High Castle
- Bonus Content: Atlanta, Man Seeking Woman, The Good Place, Game of Thrones, The Young Pope, plus “The Neurotic Superhero”
- 5 Story Tentacles: Making Surprising Choices That Yield More Story
- Inevitable Yet Unpredictable
- Keep Your Frenemies Close: Orange Is the New Black
- You Can’t Always Get What You Want … Mozart in the Jungle
- A Window Onto a New World: Switched at Birth
- Taboo Relationships in Comedies
- Points of View: The Affair
- Ensembles and Backstories
- When a Flaw Becomes an Asset: Girls
- The Macro/Micro Approach: The Young Pope
- Game of Thrones: The Ultimate Story Tentacle Show?
- The Unreliable Narrator
- Bonus Content: Breaking Bad, Scandal, Mad Men, Taxi, plus the Switched at Birth pilot teaser
- 6 Spotlight on a Rebel: Ryan Murphy Reinvents the Mini-Series by Embracing His Inner Outsider
- 1 Blurring the Lines: Redefining Genre and Tone in the Dramedy
- Part II Developing Iconic Characters: Relatability and Authenticity
- 7 Character Empathy vs. Sympathy: How and Why We Align With Characters’ Wants and Needs
- Touching the Void
- Nobody’s Perfect
- The Dance
- Reverting to Type
- Judgment, Morality and Perception
- The Insatiable Appetite of the Ego
- Insecure: Authentic as F**k
- Big Little Lies, Guilt and Shame
- Sympathy for the Robot: Westworld
- Hannah, Clay and the Razor’s Edge: 13 Reasons Why
- Alignment and Allegiance
- Bonus Content: Mr. Robot, Getting On, Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, The Young Pope, Better Things, Animal Kingdom, plus “Empathy and the Female Gaze”
- 8 Choosing Between Two Wrongs: Characters Trapped by Limitation
- Creating the Dilemma
- Homeland: The Lasting Effects of Devastating Decisions
- A “What If?” Exercise
- Dilemma and Perspectives
- Politics, Power and Internal Logic: Legion, The Handmaid’s Tale
- Jessica Jones: How Late is Too Late?
- Guilt, Maturity and Aspirations: This Is Us
- The Cleanse and Crossing the Line
- Bonus Content: Bates Motel, Breaking Bad, Queen Sugar, Orange Is the New Black
- 9 The Wild Card Character: Power Dynamics and Motivations
- The Wild Card With a Twist: Mr. Robot
- The Wild Card’s Wild Card: Mozart in the Jungle
- The Roommate Soulmate: Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
- The Pushy Roommate/Friend/Business Partner/Mentor: Silicon Valley
- Disrupting an Institution: The Young Pope
- The Role of Destabilizing Characters: Better Call Saul, The Crown and Goliath
- Bonus Content: Luther, Big Little Lies, Stranger Things, Bloodline, plus script excerpts from Mr. Robot, The Crown, Goliath
- 10 Writing Smart Dialogue in the Digital Era
- The Oblique
- Bonus Content: The Profound Power of Silence plus Better Call Saul excerpt
- Idiosyncratic Voices: Empire, Silicon Valley
- Get in Late, Get Out Early
- Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication
- Point of View and Subtext: The Last Man on Earth, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
- Shop Talk: Brooklyn Nine-Nine
- Naturalistic Dialogue: Profanity in The Wire
- Backstory: What They Don’t Say
- Actions—And Triangulation
- Overlapping Dialogue: Stranger Things
- Economy With Words
- E-Communication
- Listening to Our Characters
- Bonus Content: Bones, Orphan Black, The Americans, Scandal
- 7 Character Empathy vs. Sympathy: How and Why We Align With Characters’ Wants and Needs
- Part III Career Strategies in the Evolving TV Marketplace
- 11 To I.P. or Not to I.P.? That Is the Question: The Value of Intellectual Property in the Scripted TV Ecosystem
- 12 The Show Bible as an Essential Sales Tool
- That Was Then. This Is Now.
- The Need for Reassurance: From Closed-Ended, Stand-Alone Procedurals to Open-Ended, Slower-Burn Serials
- If There’s a Central Mystery, There Needs to Be a Series Bible
- Networks That Circumvent the Pilot Process (Tend to) Commission Series Bibles
- The Following Networks Still Make Pilots, But Do They Require Series Bibles?
- Half-Hour Sitcoms Rarely, If Ever, Require a Series Bible …
- Drafting the Series Mini-Bible
- Bonus Content: Examples/templates of one-hour drama and half-hour dramedy series mini-bibles, plus how to create a story area document
- 13 Trips, Traps, Tropes: Avoiding Rookie Mistakes
- Become Experts in the Genre
- “Great Pilot, But What’s the Series?”
- “It’s Too Wrapped Up”
- “What’s the Franchise?”
- “Who Are We Rooting For?”
- “There’s No Sense of Place or Time”
- “It’s Confusing”
- “The Premise Is Weak”
- “It Doesn’t Feel Authentic”
- “The Dialogue/Style/Tone Are Uninspired”
- “It’s Too Long”
- “The Plotting is Tepid”
- “The Stakes Are Not High Enough”
- “It’s Just Talking Heads”
- “It’s Too Superficial”
- “There Are Too Many Characters”
- “The Good Stuff Appears Too Late”
- Know the Industry—Yet Be Innovative
- The Temptation to Rush
- Bonus Content: “The War Against the Kitchen Sink Pilot,” a/k/a “The Premise Pilot Blues”
- Become Experts in the Genre
- 14 The Creative Entrepreneur: From Kickstarting a Web Series to Hitting the Big Time
- “Call My Agent”
- Getting an Agent
- Agents vs. Managers
- Advice From the (Staff Writer) Trenches
- Bonus Content: List of the Top Contests and Fellowships
- More Opportunities Than Ever—Yet It’s Never Been More Competitive
- Show Them Your Proof of Concept
- Think Locally, Act Globally
- What I Really Want To Do Is Direct (a Web Series)
- Bonus Content: Advice from Kit Williamson
- Work Begets Work
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- About the Editors
- Index
TV Writing on Demand
Creating Great Content in the Digital Era
Neil Landau
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