Screenwriting : Limited Series? by Christine Capone

Hey, Christine Capone. I haven't turned a movie into a limited series, but Sam Sokolow taught a webinar on developing, pitching, and selling a limited series to a network or streamer (www.stage32.com/education/products/how-to-develop-pitch-and-sell-your-li...). He went over a lot of things that might help you write your limited series and sell it.

Thanks Maurice, I'll check out!

Anyone know what the minimum and maximum length would be for a limited series? I'm guessing a minimum of four hours and a max of 12.

You're welcome, Christine Capone.

Christine Capone I think the saying goes, "Why choose when you don't have to?" As a massive fan of British film I am all about the limited series. I think your story could work as one of those or a feature.

Yes, but I wrote two close-ended features because I knew they would be MOW pilots. I've always loved MOW pilots since MIAMI VICE and EARTH 2. I say go for it, Christine Capone!!!

Yes. My first feature is too complicated and requires more time to tell than justifiable in a standard format, but it doesn't have legs enough to be a television series, so I figured a mini-series was more appropriate.

As for re-titling your work, I advise you to think of it as you would any product and name it what it is, while keeping in mind that people often don't purchase items (in this case read/watch) because of the thing itself but rather why it is relevant to them. The common way this is expressed in advertising is that your customer doesn't buy a hammer they buy a driven nail.

Anyway, a good cheat is the use of a subtitle. As an example, my show is called LOTS BREWING, but I typically append the term The Television Series to it because it makes it clear it isn't a movie and it also (hopefully) gives it a bit of gravitas as though it were already a thing.

One thing you might take into account when planning your path to a sale, which I gleaned when researching how those who successfully go from hobbyist to pro, is that your first few films should have some similarities because that makes it easier for producers to judge your abilities. The idea is that if you are focused on a single genre you have a specialty, not unlike a doctor, and so though not everyone will consider you as a source for new material across all genres, those who are in the market for whatever you do are more likely to add you to their "consideration set." [A marketing term worth looking up, along with Unique Selling Proposition.]

As an example, if you write a good thriller once such that you haven proven you have that skill, if a financier reads it and is impressed, they will believe their risk is lessened if they read you again versus if they read a thriller by someone who has never written one before. But the flipside of that coin is that if when they ask you, "What else do you have?" you instead provide them a western. If you do, then you will have to impress them all over again, thereby not compounding your momentum but rather sacrificing it entirely.

Remember, the easiest time to sell a script is right after you've sold a script, so I'd strongly advise you to have a few at the ready before pressing as you will not get a second chance. If you are ill prepared to go on a run, you risk missing out on fully capitalizing on what may well be your only shot at it. This is why I took a long view and wrote three consecutive thrillers, refining them over the course of a number of years, before reaching out to anyone. (I've given up on the notion of selling my work for all the reasons associated with why even successful writers find the Hollywood machine unsatisfying, and so now intend to self-produce such that my success/failure is on me and not dependent upon someone else.)

And getting back to my earlier point, I grouped that trilogy under a shared umbrella subtitle, A Suburban Horror Story, to generate interest (what does that even mean?) and to make it clear I had multiple completed scripts at the ready that could be marketed as a franchise, despite the fact that each story is completely independent. Should you care to know, they each feature a circumstance where a normal person gets pulled into an extraordinary circumstance that real people are actually afraid of (unlike the boogie man and zombies) like being a victim of a home invasion, their child being abducted, or having a stranger pulling them into a situation where they are damned if they do, damned if they don't with no good outcome.

Good luck, and feel free to invite me to connect here and/or on LinkedIn should you have any questions you think I might be able to answer. /in/kennethmichaeldaniels

Hi Christine Capone - I have a grounded, post-apocalyptic sci-fi feature that a sci-fi author in the UK wanted to see more of and suggested I retool it as a limited series, so I took the first 12 pages, retooled it into a 41 page pilot and it placed in finals of BOLT this year.

I still have the stand-alone feature with pitch deck to pitch as well as a proof of concept for the limited series pilot (instead of episode outlines). It was a fun journey :-)

Christine Capone thinking of doing the same with one of mine. Curious as well!

Christine Capone You are transforming your work from one medium to another - that's the first thing to realize. Film and TV are totally different in many ways, especially in structure and what drives the story. I am not sure why you are considering changing the title (usually not needed), and if you mean that you are turning it into a mini-series (closed end, 2 - 6 episodes typically) or a limited series (soft close, future seasons possible, up to 10 or even 12 eps.). These are obviously different from each other as well. A feature focuses on plot, an arc of events which is a "quest" - a goal to reach (or not). There are clear, simple characters and world, and a concept-driven story. A TV series, whether ongoing or limited, focuses on characters and relationships, that have an arc over time. It has a complex world that gives opportunities for many storylines, which is important because every episode has multiple storylines (min. 3). There is a clear, simple concept, but complex characters and world - and the unresolvable conflicts between those drive the story. A mini-series dips into both: it focuses on characters and relationships that have an arc over time, but has one central plotline that is an arc of events like a feature. However, there are also other storylines in each episode, like any other show. There is a clear, simple concept and the world is generally reduced in scope, but complex characters and storylines. So the best advice I can give you is to freely let go of your feature and reconceive the idea for television. That transformation is the heavy lifting. The logline will obviously change as well, especially since TV loglines are often longer and more complex than feature ones, since they are encapsulating an entire series. Hope this helps!