We made it through January... barely. Here I had hoped we might leave all the madness in 2020. Ha! Good one, Pitters.
In late January, I completed the first stage. This part includes Three TV Series Pilots and Three Series Bibles (Series Guides). The idea with Stage One is to have three TV Series Packages ready to pitch, and ready to be adjusted on the fly based on feedback. Each of those six documents has been poked, prodded, and rewritten several times over the last year.
Before the bibles were written, I got some practice creating four pitch decks. Four pitch decks? Chuck (my writing partner on a number of these projects) and I wrote a fourth pitch deck for another TV series, but I may leave that one out of this pitch package. That pitch deck was probably the tightest of the four, yet the script and series need a freshening up. That one had completely dropped off my radar for 2021; I may have to slot it into Stage Three.
A bible, or a series guide, is a 10+ page breakdown of the pilot, a literary map into the first season as well as a preview into the series at large. Where the bible is more like a book, the pitch deck is more like a comic book. There are approximately 3x more words in the bibles I wrote for each project than in the accompanying pitch decks. However, there are only a few more pages in the bibles because of the visual aids in the pitch decks.
In doing research, I really liked the series guide for Stranger Things, which was called Montauk at the time. It is very 80s-ish in style, as you would expect, and it is very clear in what it is and where it is going to take you. It is retro-cool in style and worth looking at even if you just like the series and have no interest in screenwriting.
So, I completed four pitch decks inspired by Stranger Things and other TV series pitch decks. Then I was advised that a bible is a more accepted way of previewing a TV series before you will get a request for the script. No worries. I'll translate it all into French if need be. Add a few more skills to the work belt in the process.
The series guides/ bibles are more cathartic than the pitch deck, which is partly about making it look cool for those who don't have as much time to read. With a bible, the reader learns more about the show and the writer gets to visualize and express the project in a different, more detailed way, which is always good.
During this brief R&R period I may recalibrate the plan, as I am one to do. However, I am also organizing to begin work on the two mini-series at the heart of Stage Two. These two series are based on two prior screen stories that I am redeveloping into two 5-6 episode mini-series. The great thing is much of the work is already done and I have been thinking of doing this for some time.
One of the projects was inspired by classic horror anthology tales from the 60s-80s. After writing that script, I wrote a new segment that was meant to be an origin story before writing it as a novella. Then I decided to rewrite the whole story into a novel series for good measure.
The mini-series format is a better expression of the story than the first movie screenplay, which was designed to be multiple horrific stories told around a central story. While movies like Creepshow and Trick 'r Treat are brilliant, they can also be equally brilliant TV series. Doing them as well-developed, stand-alone episodes that can be watched once-a-week until all the episodes are available or binged for five to six-hours in a one-night horror spectacular. Then you can read the origin story novella or the entire novel series. Your choice.
The second project is a pet project that I was reluctant to revisit for some time. I once envisioned doing this as a novel series after I completed the two-part feature screenplay series. I instead decided to write a stand-alone novella that is in the same universe as the movie series.
In 2013, after Monarch had been released, I attempted to balance the writing of literary works and screenplays. It was around this time that the cultural shift away from movies to tv had reached a tipping point. Netflix and chill became a more popular option than a trip to the movie theater. This second project is an epic sci-fi tale that is a reflection of how I perceived the world at the time and a glimpse into a possible future. This is a common theme in my writing. I like to ground even my most outlandish stories in a believable reality.
If writers are allowed to dream, then my dream is to simultaneously release a novel series and TV mini-series for the same story. Making progress towards realizing that dream is the main objective of Stage Two. One of the two projects actually already has a novel series and TV series written. The other has a novella and the tv series written.
These two projects are the most important part of my writing plan for the year. This has been a long time coming and I have put my heart and soul into these projects. I look forward to the day that I can present both of these projects to others.
Other than completing pitch decks and series guides for both projects, I also need to recalibrate the existing material into the best possible pilot episodes. That may mean cutting some segments from other episodes and using them in the pilots. It will also mean restructuring a novella into the pilot episode for the second series. The novella was written after the two-part movie series and was meant to stand alone, which is why it also makes for an ideal introduction into this particular fictional series.
I hate to say it but Stage Three is not as important as Stage One and Stage Two. In the third and final stage of my 2021 Writing Plan, I left open the possibility to write new material or rewrite other material. Sometimes I get asked to work on a new project and can't say no. Everyone needs a Stage Three in their own writing plans because you have to be ready for anything as a writer. This seems counterintuitive because writing is so often about structure and regiment, which is true but an afternoon of inspiration and allowing your creativity to flow can be far more important than a month's work at a keyboard.
Here I can either pick up the pitch deck on that fourth story I mentioned in Stage One, or I could go back to a story I wrote the treatment for a few years back, whether by writing the screenplay or reenvisioning it as a series and write the pilot episode. There is also a possible third season in an anthology series I started work on last year.
Lastly, and most importantly, is the novel series I have been dreaming about for a decade. When I put this project on the back burner, I always intended to write it at the backend of a ten-year writing plan, once I had matured enough to write it properly. That 10-year plan originally included more literary work, but I had a rethink on that about halfway in. Smartphones and the internet have changed the literary landscape as well as the film industry. I have even begun to wonder if I should forget about writing this project as a novel series and instead write another mini-series. That would give me a third completed mini-series as well as five TV series pilots.
People are reading less because of smartphones and more people are watching TV instead of going to the movies because of Covid-19. These are industry-changing trends. It has also meant that I have had to adapt. I started off writing feature screenplays and anthologies. I switched it up during the self-publishing boom and focused on writing novel series. Then smartphones and technology completely took over people's lives and they stopped reading or going to movies.
Even before the pandemic, there was a shift away from going to the movies and people getting their entertainment streamed to their phones or TVs instead. As a writer who wants nothing more than to write stories and hopefully entertain people in the process, the past twenty years have treated me like a yo-yo. While it would have been nice to focus just on feature screenplays, all the change over the years has provided me with a range of writing experience as I tried to do what was in my best interest as a writer.
I never would have written two novel series had my early screenplays sold like hotcakes. The experience of writing two novel series has massively helped me with creating multiple TV series. A mini-series or an 8-10 episode season for a TV series is very much like a novel, which is why so many books are made into mini-series and why short-stories and novellas make great material for anthology series. All of which I might not have learned about had smartphones and technology not come to dominate our lives. Thank you technology?
