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Please don’t give up! A message to you, from me. 

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If interested, fill out Google Survey: https://goo.gl/forms/8HYb5JplxBf9D7QI3

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Here’s an example outline I wrote for my episode of the 2nd season of Idiot Sitter. The ep ended up being entirely re-written (so hopefully this is legal for me to post -- hi Comedy Central!!), but should still give you an idea of how an outline could look.

Your outline should always include each and every SCENE HEADING for your episode, but how much or how little you choose to include underneath those can vary by person. For example, this is a relatively short outline for an episode, as most of the third act took place in one location.

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Writing a Scene Part I: What Does Every Scene Have?

Every Scene Has An Arc

Every scene has an arc; every scene you write should end in a different place than it started. You can think of any scene as three basic parts: its beginning, its middle, and its end (this sounds very duh, Shelby, but bare with me). This includes both the plot arc and the emotional arc of a scene.

Imagine your scene like a subway ride. The beginning of your scene is you on the platform, the established and clear place that you are coming from. The end of your scene is the destination, or place you want to go. The middle of your scene is the ride, basically whatever has to happen to get you from the platform to the destination.

If the beginning of your scene fully lays the foundation for what’s to come (by establishing a clearly defined starting place for your character), and you have a clear picture of where you want the character to end (physically and emotionally), then the middle will often fall into place almost by itself. If you find yourself struggling to shoehorn in plot to the middle of your scene, you may want to reevaluate where you’ve chosen to begin and end it.

I know this sounds nebulous and/or dumb. But while the beginning, middle, and end to a larger story can seem so obvious, it’s just as important to find the beginning, middle, and end on the small scale too. Every scene is a microcosm; it needs to take us somewhere new, no matter how minuscule the distance. If you’re having a hard time and feel like your scene is becoming muddled or repetitive, just refer back to your roadmap to get us where we need to go. 

Every Scene Has a Point

Every scene has a point, in that every scene needs a reason for existing, both plotwise and emotionally. Of course, the degree to which each point is being made can vary – some scenes will be more about plot, some will be more about emotion – but they should always include both.

Everything that happens or is said in a scene needs to be there for a reason. Physical elements that are showcased on screen are expected to factor into the plot; everything someone does or says should reveal or reinforce something about their character. 

Audiences are smart, and they know they’re being told a story – so if you throw something up on screen that has absolutely no significance, it creates a kind of cognitive dissonance in your viewer that will take them out of the scene. (This can be its own kind of tool to wield, but even scenes that break the rules have an understanding of, and reason for breaking, said rules.)  

If you find yourself repeating beats over and over in your scene, or feel that it’s one-note, try to go back and remember WHY you are writing the scene you’re writing, then find the quickest, cleanest way to express it.

Example of a Scene (aka Let’s Put All This Shit Together)

Let’s look at a short scene, then run it by our scene checklist. We’re looking for a clearly defined: 

Starting place

Ending place 

Plot Arc 

Emotional arc 

Plot point 

Emotional point 

The start of the scene is Shelby, satisfied, working. The end of the scene is Shelby, sad and regretful, trying to fix something she’s broken. 

The plot arc of this scene is:

Shelby’s writing something

Shelby knocks papers off her desk

Shelby reaches down for the papers

Shelby notices a birthday card from someone wedged behind her desk

Shelby reads the card

Shelby tears the card and throws it in the trash

Shelby fishes out the scraps and tries to tape them back together

While the emotional arc of the same scene is:

Shelby feels GOOD doing her work

Shelby feels SHOCKED finding the card

Shelby feels ANGRY reading the card

Shelby feels REGRET after throwing the card away

The plot point of the scene would be that Shelby had someone very close to her who is no longer very close to her. The emotional point is that this past relationship makes Shelby feel upset, and – when Shelby is upset – she can be impulsive in ways she later regrets. From this short, ½ page scene, we now know more about both the relationship between Shelby and this character, as well as more about who Shelby is as a person.

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Beat Sheets Vs. Outlines

Beat Sheets vs Outlines

A beat sheet is essentially your pre-outline outline. Unlike your outline, which may have 1-5 sentences building out each beat, for now you just want to get down the basic plot movement of your script. Once you have your framework worked out, both plotwise and emotionally, it’ll be easy to go back and fill it in for your outline, then eventually write as your script. This is the ~breaking of your story~ so try to work out any major plot kinks at this stage that you can.

Example

Your beat sheet doesn’t have to get too specific yet. An example of a beat sheet for a first act could be:

-Intro Shelby

-Intro Shelby’s friend, Joseph.

-Joseph calls Shelby, saying he needs help with a favor

-Shelby goes to Joseph’s, where she sees a big rug that needs to be moved

-Shelby and Joseph go to the dump, where they drop off the rug

-Shelby goes home

-Shelby gets a call from the cops, asking if she knows where Joseph’s roommate is, who has been missing for 2 days now

Nothing has been filled in too much, for now we’re just given the major plot points. Now, this is what you’ll use for your outline. Whereas your beat sheet should be 1-3 pages, an outline can be anywhere from 3-10 depending on your style. I try to aim for somewhere between 4-6 depending on the episode.

To make your outline, take your beat sheet and plug in some specifics around each beat, including any stray dialogue lines or jokes you’d like to remember. The more ideas you jot down and organize now, the easier your script will be.

Example

Let’s take our first 2 beats and outline them now:

-Intro Shelby

Open on a messy bedroom. We hear an iPhone alarm RING, and a hand reach out to turn it off. The same hand then reaches out to grab a bottle of ORANGE SODA, from which SHELBY (24, all over the place but doesn’t like to be) swigs, covering her face with the bottle

-Intro Shelby’s friend, Joseph.

Another hand pulls down a cup, this time of coffee. JOSEPH (25, extremely put together on the outside, a mystery on the inside), sits at a clean, tidy IKEA kitchen table, listening to an NPR broadcast on his computer.

Here we’ve added to our simple beats, giving us a clearer picture of what will end up going in the script.

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Before You Begin: Character Questionnaire

Character Questionnaire

First Qs:

What is your show about?

What’s the tone of the show?

Where does it take place?

Who is/are your main character(s)?

Character Qs:

If you could describe your character(s) in 5 words, what would they be?

Where does your character live?

Who does your character hang out with?

What do they do for a living? What is your character’s secret dream job if they had?

What is their biggest fear? Their greatest regret? What embarrases them?

What does your character to for fun? When they’re sad? When they’re angry?

What’s the best thing about your character, in your opinion? What’s the worst?

What’s the best thing about your character, in your character’s opinion? What’s the worst?

If your character won the lottery, how would they react?

If your character got fired from a job, how would they take it?

What is your character like on a first date?

Where does your character start, emotionally? Where do they grow?

What was your character like as a child?

If not your main character, how does this character relate to your main character? If it’s your main character, where do they fit in with those around them?

What makes this character unique from all the others? Why does this character exist?

MAKE UP YOUR OWN Q’S TOO!!! This checklist is to help you get a sense of how you should be thinking about your characters: as real people, with real wants, needs, and fears. Even someone as ancillary as Krusty the Clown or Moe Sizlack has a defined inner and outer life and specific way of looking at the world. If you know how your character thinks and feels, you know how they’ll react in any situation.

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So What The F*ck is a “Pitch Deck” and How Do I Make One?

What is a Pitch Deck?

A pitch deck (or pitch doc, as I still usually accidentally call it) is the big packet of stuff you give to the person you’re pitching your show too. It’s exactly what it sounds like: a brief, comprehensive look at your idea to prove to prospective buyers that they should invest in it. (It’s also something for those people to be able to show THEIR bosses later on, once your in-person pitch is over.) The pitch deck is also for you; it’s a guide that will help to flesh out your idea entirely, and keep you on track when talking to people about it in the room.

The most basic shape of your pitch deck should look something like:

LOGLINE

SUMMARY

ABOUT ME

THE SHOW

THE TONE

THE WORLD

THE CHARACTERS

THE THEME/WRAP UP

THE PILOT*

THE SERIES*

These can obviously be switched around or modified based on your specific pilot, and the ones asterisked at the end are semi-optional, but the basic building blocks can be used for any project. There are also “One Pagers,” which someone might ask for before an entire deck, or you may want to start there for sake of ease. It’s essentially a truncated pitch deck -- pretty much just the logline and summary. We’ll go over one-pagers and the template for each part of a pitch deck, which is attached below the line.

LOGLINE

One to two sentences outlining the premise of your pilot. Think about the protagonist, conflict, and premise of the show. Your “elevator pitch.”

Examples:

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: A young woman abandons a choice job at a law firm and her life in New York in an attempt to find happiness in the unlikely locale of West Covina, California.

Rick And Morty: An animated series that follows the exploits of a super scientist and his not-so-bright grandson.

PRACTICE:

Write a logline for four of the six shows provided, or make up four of your own if you don’t watch any of these shows or movies.

30 Rock:

Friday Night Lights:

Scandal:

Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone:

The Simpsons:

Glee:

The Bachelor:

SUMMARY

A brief, ½-1 page summary of your show, main characters, and world. A step up from the logline, the summary should briefly expand on everything you set up in the logline, and everything you’ll go on to explain in the pitch. The bridge between your logline and more in depth parts of your pitch deck.

IE: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Summary:

To most looking in, Rebecca Bunch has a great life: a high powered job as an attorney in a prestigious New York law firm, great future prospects in her chosen profession, looks, brains, and money. But she has always suffered from anxiety and depression, for which she is on a plethora of pills. Those maladies are largely from being pushed by her overbearing Jewish mother, which also led to Rebecca's father abandoning the family when she was young.

When on the streets of New York Rebecca runs into Josh Chan, her boyfriend from summer camp ten years ago when they were sixteen, she remembers back to that time as the happiest time in her life, happiness which eludes her. When Josh mentions that he is imminently moving back to his hometown of West Covina, California, Rebecca decides to pursue happiness in moving to West Covina herself, telling people it's because she got a fabulous job there, where in reality it's to rekindle a relationship with Josh, which she believes is what will make her happy.

As Rebecca ekes out a life in West Covina with a wide array of new friends, colleagues, allies and enemies - within this collection being Josh and his friends - Rebecca may come to some realizations about her life and what she is trying to achieve. Does this all make her a crazy ex-girlfriend, or is it a little more nuanced than that?

(Thank you to “Huggo” on IMDB for this LOL)

So, if our logline was “A young woman abandons a choice job at a law firm and her life in New York in an attempt to find happiness in the unlikely locale of West Covina, California,” in our summary, we build out from each part. “A young woman,” becomes “Rachel Bloom” -- a hotshot lawyer with a serious depression problem. Her “finding happiness” we now know means following her ex-camp crush to West Covina, California. We’re given a brief intro to the supporting characters who will make up Rebecca’s world.

MOST IMPORTANTLY, and I’ll stress this over and over, everything you write about your show should connect back to your main character(s). If they are the sun of your show, then all the other parts must revolve around, and connect back, to them in some capacity. For instance, Rachel’s mother is introduced in the summary -- but only in how she affects Rachel. If you have a clear focal point for your show, it’ll be easier to build out the world around them.

PRACTICE:

Write a brief summary for one of the shows you’ve written a logline for.

TONE

Tone is what your show sounds, looks, and feels like. This should give the reader an idea of how you want your show to be.

Some words used to describe tone include: Surreal, single-cam, multi-cam, zany, serious, drama, comedy, ensemble, character-driven, situational, dark, light etc.etc.etc. The most important thing about tone is that you clarify it early on, and stick to it.

Ie.: The Mighty Boosh is a visually and situationally surreal comedy with realistic characters.

30 Rock is like an animated show come to life, with quick cutaways and exaggerated comedy balanced out by grounded protagonists.

An easy “tone” statement to help you -- and execs -- out is: It’s this meets this if you added/subtracted/multiplied it by this.

PRACTICE:

Identify the tone of 3 shows you watch, and write 1-2 sentences describing each. Try to brainstorm a word cloud of tonal adjectives for your own idea.

ABOUT ME

Remember how I said, “Write what you know?” This is your chance to prove why you should be the person to make this idea come to life. What in your personal history led you to this story, or what makes you the person uniquely qualified to tell it. Sort of like a college personal statement but you can say “dick” all you want (FINALLY)

PRACTICE:

Write 10 (or as many as you’d like) bullet points on what makes you uniquely fit to tell this story. Again, they don’t have to be extreme: “I’m a woman and this show looks at the dynamic between women” is enough for now.

THE WORLD

Set the scene for your pilot. List anything externally relevant to the pilot and our main characters. This means where and when your show takes place, and how your character(s) fit into it.

IE: Wunderkind, The World:

LOGLINE: A curmudgeonly college freshman happily drops out of school to accept her dream job writing for a tv show, before realizing she only got hired for “being young” in the first place. Now she must straddle both worlds, or risk winding up in neither.

#COLLEGELYFE:

Shelby understands why she’d stay in school to be a doctor or teacher, but doesn’t get why people say college is the best four years of your life. Cuz, in reality, College is like a mediocre pasta dish — but when it’s served between an appetizer that called you “fag” for 17 years and a dessert made of mortgages and your own mortality, it starts to taste pretty good to people.

College life is a nonstop carousel of nightmares that everyone else seems to be enjoying. It’s weird that somebody else makes your food, dehumanizing to get water from a fountain in the hallway, and fucking sociopathic to get drunk during the daytime. Shelby doesn’t feel disdain for all of it, so much as feels guilty and like a nuisance for not enjoying any of it. Same with Katy Perry and Gummi Bears. But ~yung lyfe~ proves inescapable — like when she’s out on script for a week and audits a class for fun, only to get way too into it, or when she’s chosen by Vanessa to “moderate” a conflict resolution session at Vanessa’s sorority (you know, because she’s empathetic but doesn’t take bullshit and also not pretty enough to be threatening to the other girls. Like a big sweatshirt of a human! You know you should throw it out, but you love it and sometimes you still need it!) The one draw from college is the improv team she’s on and the fact that housing has already been paid for the year.

#WORKLIFE:

Staffing to Shelby is like Jerusalem to the Jews: the promised Holy Land where everyone comes together to worship the one true god, Television.

But just because her coworkers are older, it doesn’t mean they’re not still people, and Shelby’s not still Shelby. Alternately viewed as too young, too mean, too smart, or too dumb — depending on who you ask — Shelby has to deal with not just being a 17 year old girl in a tv writers’ room, but a lame 17 year old girl in a tv writers’ room.

Wanting to feel valued and useful, she learns to carve out a niche for herself in the room as an “expert” on young, fun people... despite definitely not being one. Suddenly, the healthiest thing for her professionally is to embrace her youth — and all the embarrassing, horrifying, drug-fueled experiences that entails.

PRACTICE:

Write a one page summary detailing “The World” of your show.

CHARACTER BIOS

A brief description of your main and side characters.

WHEN WRITING A CHARACTER BIO, CONSIDER:

Who is this person? What are their motives? What is the best thing about them? What’s the worst thing about them? What do they love? What do they hate? How would they describe themselves? How would other people describe them? Where do they begin their story, emotionally? Where will they end it? If this is not your main character, how do their traits reflect on and connect to the main character? Are they a foil? A friend? What do they add to the world, and how do they interact with it?

Ie: JOSH, “THE FRENEMY”:

This fucking guy, you know? This whitebread, Harvard-educated, National-Lampoon-staffing, The Onion-reading motherfucker who’s just tan enough to think he’s not racist. Shelby’s antagonist-turned-frenemy at work, Josh can’t stand anything about Shelby (the feeling’s mutual, bruh). An early 30-something writer and the guy who somehow ends up doing most of the show runner’s physical work, he’s technically a very “accomplished” adult who disdains anybody or anything he doesn’t think is “on his level.” If he were into videogames, he’d never believe that a chick really knows what she’s talking about (but, like, he’d never be into videogames).

At least, this is the snap judgement Shelby makes after an antagonistic first couple days — as Vanessa points out to Shelby, wouldn’t she rather Josh “haze” her than ignore her, like the other writers? And does she REALLY dislike Josh, or just dislike the fact that Josh dislikes her? As hard as this new environment is on Shelby, can she imagine what it’s like for the 31 year old writer who has never had to deal with a teen girl in the room? Not in a sexist way, but in a “teacher floundering because he’s not sure how to handle a new student” way? He had a hand in hiring her, after all (Shelby reluctantly understands Vanessa’s points, but with BIG caveats.) And Josh isn’t necessarily wrong when he criticizes Shelby: she’s young; she’s inexperienced; she wore pants backwards to work twice in row — but who does he think he is to point that out?? The one thing Josh has going for him is that he’s honest. He’ll make life hard for Shelby, and won’t pretend to like her when he doesn’t, but he’s not gonna sabotage her career — why bother when she’ll probably manage to do that herself? A big brother/little sister dynamic will prevail, without either of them realizing they care about each other until it’s too late.

PRACTICE:

Write brief character bios for your main and side characters.

**TIP** If you’re struggling, try to answer “How would this character order coffee?” It sounds silly, but knowing, without a doubt, how each of your players would act in seemingly innocuous situations will lead to fully developed characters (and make your life way easier in scripting).

THEME/WRAP UP

The theme part of your pitch should be sprinkled throughout the deck, but here’s your chance to make it loud and clear to the reader. The “theme” of any story is like the lynchpin: remove it, and the wheels fly off completely. If you’re struggling to think of the theme for your show, there’s a good chance you’re not ready yet.

PRACTICE:

Write up a brief paragraph, trying to really crystallize WHY this is the story you WANT to tell. Make me want to hear you tell it!

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Day One: What Is A Pilot?

Day One:

What Is A Pilot?

A Pilot episode is the first episode of a TV series, setting up the main characters, the tone, the world, and the series premise and/or conflict.

Do I Have To Write A “Pilot” for my “Pilot”?

No! And yes, sort of. You can write an “episodic” sample -- basically, a random episode from your made up show. So, instead of 30 Rock, where the pilot introduces a new problem for Liz Lemon that will set the course for the entire series (Jack enters as her new boss, forcing her show to hire the notoriously difficult comedian Tracy Morgan, before becoming her mentor for the rest of the series), you could write a Broad City “pilot” -- which, while still introducing us to Ilana, Abbi, and the worlds’ they’ll frequent, starts “mid-life,” per se: There’s no harsh inciting incident to begin the entire show. We’re entering their lives in media res.

Uh, You Said We Could Write A Short Film, Is That Still Cool?

Yes! Almost everything that applies to outlining and writing a pilot or tv episode can be applied to your short film -- including the structure of the pitch deck (just tweaked slightly).

Ok, I’m Going To Write A Pilot, Where Do I Fucking Start?

There’s a couple ways to go about deciding what you want to write about. The easiest is to ask yourself: “What’s unique/interesting about me, or someone I know?” The old “write what you know” wisdom still holds here -- partially because a show based on you or something close to your life is an “easier sell,” but also because it’s just easier, in general, to have a well of experiences and ideas to draw on so your show doesn’t dry up five episodes in. Some Q’s to get you thinking: What’s the most interesting job I, or someone I know has ever had? What makes me/my family/my life unique? What questions in my own life do I find the most interesting to answer? What do I like to watch? What do I wish I could watch on TV?

Ok, I Have A Couple Ideas, But Now What?

Let’s talk about tone. What kind of writer are you? What kind of show do you want to write? Wacky? Serious? Surreal? Animated? Having a clear idea of the tone of your show will save your ass over and over again. This ISN’T TO SAY the tone can’t change as you find the show more and more, but having a clear idea of how you want to tell your story is immeasurably valuable.

Ok, I Think I Know What I Want To Write, And How To Write It, Anything Else?

Why are you writing this? Now you have the who, what, how, but what about why. Why do you want to tell this story? What value is it adding to the world? (This doesn’t have to be overly lofty, by the way -- one reason for Broad City could be argued as “Young women don’t see strong, funny female relationships on screen enough, if at all.”)

PRACTICE:

Brainstorm 5-10 bullet points on 1-3 things that interest you in your life, ie: Mother/Daughter dynamics; Growing into adulthood; Dealing with big life changes etc.

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Rough Syllabus 10/31

Table It 

Welcome!!!

Impress your friends by making your 2018 resolution to finish that script you’ve been putting off and let me, unemployed&Emmy-winning writer Shelby Fero (plus all of our lovely participants) help you do it! The secret is, we’re getting started on it in 2017.

SO WHAT IS THIS?

A fun, constructive way to improve your writing and finish a project before the first month of 2018 is over. “Table It” will be hosted at Shelby’s house in Frogtown every Saturday and Sunday from 945am-12pm (there’ll be coffee I promise!) Each week we’ll tackle the next step in the script writing process, so by the time the 8-week session is done you’ll have a working sample script and the foundation of a pitch deck for your show or short film, plus practice working in a collaborative writers’ room-like setting. Shelby (me! Hello!) will read and review everyone’s work before each meet-up to provide personalized help and notes for each member, before opening it up to the table for input.

IF YOU’RE INTERESTED, I ask that YOU ask yourself a few questions before deciding yes/no on participating this time around:

-- Can I commit to at least 5 out of the 8 weeks of classes? (barring catastrophe of course)

-- Can I put in the time and effort to do the weekly assignments? (you don’t have to complete them, but you at least have to show the work the same respect and effort as I and your teammates)

-- Can I be polite, respectful, and appreciative of my peers for putting in the time and energy to better me as a writer? (things can get tense in a writer���s room, and it’s on you to be the most mature, respectful version of yourself. Like dick jokes are great, sexist racist or homophobic jokes and comments are not)

-- Can I be polite and respectful of Shelby, despite the fact that she’s 24 years old and kind of an idiot, because she’s letting me into her home and also is surprisingly ok at writing television? (It’s true: I’m VERY surprisingly ok!)

If the answer is yes, or no, read on to get a feel for what this would entail, then hit me back with your answer! If this schedule doesn’t work this time around no worries -- if this goes well I’ll definitely be doing it again. And if it goes poorly, you dodged a bullet. Congrats!

This is a tentative syllabus -- will adjust as necessary based off of the pace of the room -- but this is the basic schedule we’re going to try to stick to.

WEEK 1, DAY 1 -- 11/11/2017

Intros&General Brainstorm

AT THE TABLE: We’ll talk briefly about basic story structure, tone, and what type of projects we’d like to work on, as well as the schedule for the next 4-6 weeks. Each person will have a chance to pitch their ideas to the table, and receive feedback and brainstorming help.  If you don’t have one yet, that’s fine! If you have one you definitely want to write, that’s great! If you’re deciding between a few, let’s help you pick the right one!

AT HOME: Pick your favorite idea for a TV pilot, episode, or short film (our final product will be 25-35 pages).

WEEK 1, DAY 2 -- 11/12/2017

Character Development&World Building

AT THE TABLE: We’ll go over the basics of character descriptions and world building, including formatting and presentation for a TV pitch. We’ll practice writing character descriptions at the table, and brainstorm on our specific projects.

AT HOME: Write as much as you can, free-style, about each of your characters; anything that pops into your head about who this person is or how they’d react to something. From that, write up a ½-1 page character description for your main character, as well as appropriately lengthed character descriptions for each of your supporting or side characters. **If You’re Having Trouble** try to answer the question “How would they order their coffee?” It sounds silly, but knowing without a doubt how each character would respond in seemingly innocuous situations will lead to fuller characters.

WEEK 2, DAY 1 -- 11/18/2017

Breaking Story

AT THE TABLE: We’ll discuss the benefits beat sheets and outlines, how to do it (hint: everyone has a different method and they’re all good), pacing, and what should or shouldn’t go into a pilot. We’ll begin to brainstorm the major plot beats for each of our projects.

AT HOME: Write up a 1-3 page beat sheet for your project, hitting only the major plot notes of your episode and major character arcs (ie: “Intro John” is enough at this point for John’s intro). This will be the skeleton of our episode.

WEEK 2, DAY 2 -- 11/19/2017

Outline Outline Outline

AT THE TABLE: We’ll look at some examples of episode outlines&review everyone’s beat sheets. We’ll begin to pitch on the specific beats, identifying any weak spots, and help bolster character arcs. We’ll review& pitch on everybody’s first acts and as much of their second acts as time allows.

AT HOME: Begin outlining baby!!! Bring in your completed Act 1 outline.

WEEK 3, DAY 1&2 (At Home -- Thanksgiving Weekend)

Outline Outline Outline, Cont.

AT THE TABLE: We’ll remotely swap act 2&3 outlines. Enjoy Thanksgiving!!

AT HOME: Finish that outline babyyyy!!!!!

WEEK 4, DAY 1 -- 12/2/2017

Scene Time

AT THE TABLE: We’ll go over what makes a compelling scene, as well as write mini practice scenes to read out loud for examples of tone/pacing.

AT HOME: Write the first 1-3 pages of your script (cold open).

WEEK 4, DAY 2 -- 12/3/2017

Scene Time Cont.

AT THE TABLE: We’ll read the beginnings of our scripts aloud for feedback, as well as take this time to finish any outline review or to ask and answer any questions we still have.

AT HOME: Start that script!!!! Try to write a page or two every day, so by the end of the week you have a completed act 1 (5-8 pages)

WEEK 5, DAY 1 -- 12/9/2017

Act One Table Read

AT THE TABLE: We’ll read everyone’s act 1’s aloud, and give feedback.

AT HOME: Make any edits and changes to Act 1

Week 5, DAY 2 -- 12/10/2017

AT THE TABLE: Finish reading Act 1’s aloud, review any edits/notes/questions as time allows.

AT HOME: Write one to two pages every day to complete Act 2 (7-12 pages)

Week 6, Day 1&2 -- 12/16/2017

Act 2 Table Read

AT THE TABLE: Read everyone’s act 2’s and give feedback.

AT HOME: Finish that beautiful script baby!! See you after the New Year!!!!

Week 7, DAY 1&2 -- 01/06/2018

Act 3 Table Read

AT THE TABLE: Read everyone’s act 3’s and give feedback.

AT HOME: Finish your scripts and make any changes to the final. Bring in your final beautiful script!!!

WEEK 8, DAY 1&2 -- 1/13/2018

Punch up!!

AT THE TABLE: We’ll read each script out loud, going over it as a group to give any last punch-up ideas or suggestions.

AT HOME: CONGRATS!!! SELL THAT SCRIPT MAMI U MADE IT THROUGH!!!!