What happens inside the TV Writers' Room?

TV writing uses an utterly different structural model from any one-hero one storyline screenwriting courses because it's designed to help you create not just one storyline with one protagonist, but how to create and interweave - at incredible speed - multiple storylines for multiple protagonists written within budget and within extreme storytelling restrictions (like limited sets and locations). It works on a complex theory of story beats that lets you precisely calculate things like screen running time, division of serial material - all months ahead of writing them.
From her extensive TV writing and teaching experience, Linda Aronson sometimes runs a semester length TV writing course on her teaching platform.
The course is entitled Real World TV Writing Skills Next Course starts 30 August 2021
onlinecourses.lindaaronson.com/
There's also a free creativity under pressure online course on that site - I'm sharing skills taught me a long while ago by an old writer. Enjoy

[@dranipani]

Thanks for sharing your experience with us.

[@dawnatkinson7704]

Fascinating stuff. I am a huge consumer and lover of film and tv and I has aspirations as a younger person to go into the industry but life threw me a few curveballs and i went into a different field. However its so interesting for me to see the process. Thank you xx

[@LindaAronson]

Thanks Dawn, great that you enjoyed it. Ever considered creating web TV?A whole new medium. People make short films and TV series ( 10 minutes per episode) on their phones.

[@AristotleFullThrottle]

Brilliant! Thank you for the insight.

[@LindaAronson]

My pleasure!

[@mnqobi0]

Love this platform Thank you

[@LindaAronson]

Thanks Geoffrey, I'll try to keep the videos coming. Hope your writing is going well.

[@stevennour]

Thanks for sharing

[@LindaAronson]

Glad you liked it!

[@LindaAronson]

Hi Tuna Cat, Yes you can use beat theory in feature film. Absolutely! It's a lifesaver. In fact, if you are writing flashbacks or nonlinear or multiple protagonist films you have to use beats. Traditionally, writers learnt in the Writers' room of TV series, unfortunately it's hard these days to get into Writers'Rooms. I sometimes run online courses on it and I talk about it in my website and my newsletter. www.lindaaronson.com What are beats? Beats are steps in a story. In a nutshell, A happens, then B happens, then C - you get the idea. TV involves multiple storylines and to maintain suspense you jump between stories on beats. For example say I have 3 storylines in my TV episode and the episode has eighteen beats in all. I might start the episode with the first few beats of story 1 then jump to the first beat of story 2 then the first beat of story 3 then back to story 2. .. and so on. It means you have to create all of the storylines first then interweave. Watch a couple of episodes of a show like East Enders and you'll see what I mean. It's difficult but a fabulous tool. And if course essential in TV.

[@bensondewalt8200]

What do you mean by creating a story with beats? Beat theory, where can I learn more about that? And could it apply to feature scripts?

[@LindaAronson]

Hi Tuna Cat, Ive written a reply to your question as a comment below the video . Hope it's useful. I'll notify people in my newsletter if I'm running a class on beats.