Hi, I’m OJ and I’m working on my first Webseries - a 12 part series about 2 unlikely men surviving together in the zombie apocalypse. I’m looking for any tips (for example: When should conflict arise, How should I space out the webisodes, preparing for the 2nd season etc.) Side note; all webisodes are going to be 5-10 min, and I’ve written 3/12 webisodes but have them planned out
Screenwriting : Tips For Writing a Webseries by OJ Dyer
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Hey OJ!
Sounds like it's going to be a fun project...
As you are going for a 12 episode arc and most audience members now are binge watching content it might be an idea to look at the feature film Save the Cat beat sheet and consider tackling a beat per episode. https://timstout.wordpress.com/story-structure/blake-snyders-beat-sheet/ Most TV episodes have a beginning, middle and end but as a webshow you can alter that and if you so choose re-edit into a feature when filmed.
Have a look at webseries festivals/Emmys etc and see what they look for when accepting entries. This could shape the end product too.
I recommend planning all content pre-filming(special features etc). Keep locations to a minimum as much as possible. Uploading all episodes, interviews, press junkets, special features at once in reverse order and then doing a social media shoutout for each episode weekly, then each special feature/interview and spinning off the episodes off in a playlist. I found that that drip fed content had huge audience falloff and this was the best method of getting views.
Best of luck with the project.
Update: I’m almost done with the first season now, any tips for tackling a second season?
Build on the existing premise, expand. New threat? New Hope? New Information? It really all depends on how you end season 1. What is resolved and what isn't? Is there a time jump (happens directly after or X amount of time after). Same Cast? Is Han frozen in Carbonite? Did the season 1 ending leave Luke with knowing his father is Vader? Now what?