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Why You Should Take "I Married a Werewolf Mafia Boss" Seriously
For most of this week the pilot adaptation refused to work. I'd sit down, push at it, and walk away with nothing. The strange part is that I was also writing a book about my workflow at the same time. So I was carefully documenting the exact method I wasn't using. Once I went back to the full process, no shortcuts, the script finally came together.
Sometimes it's best to follow your own advice.
One question this week. Let's get to it.
If you have got a question why not send it right now? Send your question
And if that link doesn't work: Questions@theinsecurescreenwriter.com
QUESTION 1
Andrew from the UK: I see the new thing everyone is talking about is verticals. What is the difference between writing TV/films and verticals? Is that a good way to break in?
Now you've hit on a weak spot for me, in the sense that I don't really know. And what's more, I don't know anyone with the authority to answer it for me either.
As I understand it, it's all about hooks and cliffhangers, very soapy in that way. The structure is in the design: you need a cliffhanger every 80 to 90 seconds, so the pacing has to come at you at breakneck speed.
It's similar to what we see in TV, where the more act breaks you put in, the more the pace speeds up. You can see this in an example I've talked about before, Cheers and Friends. They are the same show in essence, but because Cheers had only two act breaks while Friends had three, the pacing on Friends is faster. Watch Cheers now (and please do, it's still great) and notice how slow it feels.
I wrote more about that here if you are interested: Should I still use Act Breaks when writing TV?
If I have advice for people starting out, I'd absolutely suggest looking at verticals. Now, some people may say, "but Hrafnkell, they all suck."
And that's the point.
It's a genre, so you have to deliver what the audience expects from it. That's something you've got to respect. But because it's so new, the bar for quality is lower.
If you do a TV drama, you're competing with The Sopranos, The Wire, Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
If you do verticals, you're competing with "I Married a Werewolf Mafia Boss."
There's infinite possibility here: taking a format that clearly has an audience and doing something interesting within its limits. So if verticals interest you, by all means explore and try innovating within the genre. Make something great in a platform and format audiences clearly want.
I wish I had more concrete advice, but I'd suggest checking out something I saw on my feed the other day. Sundance has a course on this called From Script to Screens: Writing Your Micro Series.
The application deadline is the 2nd of July. You can definitely learn something there.
And perhaps I should follow my own advice and sign up as well.
Good luck exploring the new frontier.
So that's it for this week, if you got a question - why not send one now?
Remember there are no stupid questions - it could be about story structure, dialogue, breaking in, or even overcoming writer's block.
Whatever's on your mind
And if that link doesn't work: Questions@theinsecurescreenwriter.com
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