Local journalists and writers attend two-day workshop on art of writing for television

Fifteen local journalists and writers were introduced to the art of writing for television at a two-day workshop last weekend.

The workshop, sponsored by the United States Embassy in Bridgetown took place from September 1 to 2 and was facilitated by Bryce Schramm, an experienced television writer from the United States.

Schramm, one of the writers of the hit TV series “Dynasty”, said he was able to facilitate the workshop because of the screen writers strike which has been taking place in the US for the last four months.

He said that writers now have more free time and facilitating the workshop was one of his ways of utilising the extra time on he now has.

During the workshop, which was attended by 15 local journalists and writers, Schramm shared the steps that need to be taken when formulating an idea for a TV series.

The scripts of popular series like ‘Bridgerton’ and ‘Stranger Things’ were shared with participants to give them an understanding of what a series looks like on paper compared to what is shown on television.

Participants were taken through the steps to develop a pilot for a TV series and how an episode can be developed using the ‘Three Act Structure’ which is used by many Hollywood films.

The writers also looked at the pilot of the film ‘Stranger Things’ to apply what was taught about what goes into the structure of a pilot by ‘Breaking Story Backwards’.

On day two of the workshop, the local writers were placed in two teams and asked to come up with their own ideas for a movie or series.

Attendees were also taught the importance of knowing their world, franchise type, character development and format, as these elements are crucial when coming up with an idea for TV.

Additionally, knowledge was shared about the different types of stories that are talking place within an episode.

Among the journalists attending the workshop which took place at the Conference Room of the Beachcombers Hotel was Eldonte Samuel, multimedia reporter from SEARCHLIGHT.