Anna Henry's TV Pilot Writing Lab : Welcome! by Anna Marton Henry

Aloha, Anna, Thank you for a wonderful opening class. Looking forward to the next installment.

Hi Anna, thank you for a great class. Will the powerpoint presentation be available to us? It would be easier to find a certain page rather than going through the whole recording to find it.

Natalie - No, Stage 32 does not make those files available (they are proprietary and easy to post / share). You should be able to fast forward through the recording though.

Molly - It is primarily for your own use. Obviously there is no "grade" in the class. If you want to share it with me, you certainly can, and you can also send me questions. I am not really going to give "notes" on it in terms of the level of writing (we're not working on a formal pitch), but I can say if something isn't clear or questions that arise. Of course, it may be clear to you and you may know more than you're writing down or sharing. Ultimately I want you to go through the exercise because I find it helps to really sit down and think through this before you start writing. I see lots of writers who get feedback that their characters aren't compelling enough, then tell me they never really thought about the character's goals or psychology or backstory. Or I ask them what will happen in the series because there isn't the launch for the season needed in the pilot, and they say they never thought beyond the pilot. If you don't do this work up front, it will inevitably show up in the quality of the script.

Thank you, Anna, for letting me know.

Really enjoyed the first class!

Anna, you are an amazing instructor. Your dedication and commitment to help your students are stellar. I love your class. Ricki

I find in all the courses and training I've taken over many years, every screenwriting instructor or mentor uses the term "beat" or beat outline differently. Can you post up an example of the formatting of a "beat outline" for us, and your definition of beat? If I have have heard multiple definitions from instructors, maybe others have too, so this way we are all on the same page with your definition and what we should be writing for the assignments. I know you said just a brief summary of each scene, but when the assignment sent out says "beat outline," it is good to clarify your definition of that! Thanks again for a great second class.

Ricki - I am not sure how other instructors would use this term differently. The exact level of detail is a little bit a matter of preference of the writer since it's really a tool to help them. You could even give more detail to a more complex scene and less detail on a more simple one. You're writing a summary of what happens in each scene, written in sentences not script format. Can you share what other definition you've seen?

Ricki - It's also sometimes called "beat sheet". My first one was too detailed, TMI. Now I'm going with about three sentences per scene. The beginning, the middle and the end which are beats. Same for the teaser if you have one.

I have heard a beat descibed as an interaction between 2 characters where the value of the interaction changes from positive to negative, to negative to positive in a conflictual bit of dialogue.

Yes certainly a beat is a part of a scene with conflict or sometimes an entire scene. Long scenes can have several different "beats." Don't overthink this! It's for you to be able to plot out your pilot. If I can understand what's happening and the structure of your pilot, that's what's important. If you go into too much detail, you might have done more work than needed, but no harm done. If you don't do enough, I will probably end up asking you to elaborate on what exactly happens - and the outline won't be quite as helpful to you. But there's no magic formula you have to obey.

Ricki - It doesn't have to be two characters though. A person eating oatmeal is not a beat, but if they start choking on it, then it becomes a beat.

Thanks to Anna and Michael for your replies.

I don't have a link for our 1-on-1 meeting. Please advise?