I have a sci fi epic that has been written as a movie. Everyone who reads the script says its a TV series. Is it hard to convert to TV and how do you break down a movie script into episodes?
Screenwriting : Movie to TV by Jason Rogers
Other topics in Screenwriting:
Check out Trending Discussions
Register / Log In
4 people like this
Jason:
It's not that difficult. However, you need to rewrite your feature as a pilot and then craft a show bible with about an 8 to 12 episodes with a brief synopsis of each episode. Also characters descriptions, a brief show synopsis about the world where your characters live and possibly show and character arc. Lots of examples on the web for show bibles and formatting pilots. For example, I've used the 1 hour, 5-act format with a brief teaser. This would be for a cable show. network shows have longer seasons.
3 people like this
Hi Jason, great question but there is a lot to consider. TV mapping is a big job. Have you identified what kind of series your feature idea inspires? Is it a limited story that tells of one major event, or is it open in that the story could continue following a cast of characters for many seasons? Is it a procedural like a cop show? Or can you see the idea working in all of these?
Its would be more like Game of Thrones as a 60 min serial. There is a huge story arc and a lot of story to tell. Phillip E. Hardy, Prolifique Thank for the direction . TV is new to me so any advise helps. It is defiantly a Netflix or cable show albeit Sci-Fi which always has the gloom and gloom of a large budget, I know that is always a concern. To many shows canceled from being to expensive.
2 people like this
Jason: Glad to help.
Nice Jason. TV, including network, (This Is Us being a prime example), is pushing towards the "HBO" serialized model. Audiences in larger numbers are demanding it and getting pissed off when shows don't deliver or deliver a 'network style' soap opera version of a hyped show (take a look at Amazon's Man In The High Castle as an example of a show that missed its story mark and died nowhere near its potential). The key to writing serialized drama for today's market is you have to know where your heading... that means you have to write with the endgame in mind. I do this anyway... I never write a pilot or a pitch package without knowing how the series ends, it seems completely counter productive to me to try and write a pilot that sets up a series, season and episode without knowing what endgame I'm writing to.
So one way of doing that is to reverse engineer storylines back from your endgame. What you are looking for is an amazing series arc to get you from your genesis idea to your endgame... and then you are looking to that arc for natural places where stakes are raised and the primary theme is intensified. These places might become mid season points or season endings... (Breaking Bad did a fantastic job of finding these notes to advance the series for several seasons beyond its pitch and still stay on theme) or you may find that your series idea is limited to one season of drama. Once you've figured out how many seasons you have nail the arcs for those seasons then you can start breaking down into smaller bits; episodes, runners, bridge arcs that connect seasons, etc.
The contemporary pitch package looks for a little more these days; series premise, primary themes and relationships, technical story specs, comparables, backstory mythology, characters, season 1 - 3 synopsis and a pilot synopsis. Keep your episode breakdowns and any other materials in your back pocket for now.
Structure is imperative here. Each storyline or arc has to have its own structure whether it lasts the entire series or one episode... the good news is the process to find each one is relatively the same.
To do all this well is not an easy task... it is hours and hours of hard work. But all you have to do is start.:)
Check out a book called Writing the TV Drama Series by Pamela Douglas... it might have some good takeaways for you. Good luck amigo.