The Novice Screenwriter: A Lesson in Episodic Writing

Last month, through Realistically Speaking, a newsletter I subscribe to, I learned about the Nickelodeon Writing Fellowship, a program for new or experienced writers to help Nick promote ethnic diversity in their television programming. And boy, I was so totally excited to find out about this! As with any fellowship, there was an application process, but this one included submitting a half hour television spec (a screenwriter's sample episode of an existing show).

The Problem: I had never written a television spec before so I didn't have one on hand; I only had three weeks before the deadline, and on top of all of that, I didn't have cable. Yeah, good luck. I was thinking, this would be a really good time to have friends for neighbors.

Because I work full time, and my daughter goes to ballet six days a week, the deadline for the fellowship looked nearly impossible. But not completely. The near-ness of impossibility became it's own challenge.

Excitedly, I went to the Nickelodeon website and scanned through the columns of shows - familiar with some and completely clueless to others. Not seeing a writing advantage of one show over another, I chose one I felt had an interesting title and read its summary. I picked "As Told By Ginger." It sounded interesting and relatable enough, about a junior high school girl who lives with her single mother and brother, and tells of how she navigates through the trials of school, silly boys, and mean girls.

With my show chosen, I quickly went to Netflix, ordered a few back episodes and researched my show, studying the characters intensely. Even my boyfriend was excited for me and willing to help by throwing story ideas my way. I used a few of his ideas to create my storyline and then incorporated a few more of my own. I then whipped out my handy dandy copy of J. Michael Straczynski's, The Complete Book of Scriptwriting to make sure I had television writing structure down. I've only studied feature films.

Halfway through the spec, I was so pumped! I was on a roll! I hopped online to do more research to find out what people were saying about the show. To my horror, I discovered that the show had been cancelled for about two years! Great! I had a little less than two weeks before the deadline and I had only a half of a spec for a dead show.

In a state of panic, I emailed a screenwriter friend of mine to find out what I should do. If I was wasting my time, or if there was minuscule possibility that it might be accepted, though I was pretty sure I knew the answer.

He tried to sound as optimistic as possible within the harsh reality, which was that no one wants to read a dead script. He suggested though, that I finish it and send it in anyway because of the amount of work I had put into it and due to the fact that the deadline was swooping upon me like a lioness on the backside of a handicapped zebra. Something was better than nothing.

I hustled to contact Nick.com and as it took a few days for them to get back with me, I finished the script and eventually got a message from them though voicemail that a script from a cancelled show was a very bad idea. Dead or alive, at least I finished it, I thought. And let me just say, it's a pretty darn good one too.

Well, despite my pats on my own back, getting this fellowship was looking extremely slim and with only a week left, I had to pick another show. At my daughter's request, I chose a show about a blended family called Drake & Josh.

I had to upgrade my Netflicks account to have the only Drake & Josh material available sent to me. I watched it, took notes, created my outline, and hammered out the script. I was even able to send it out two days before the deadline.

There it was. I did the almost impossible, and I felt good - so good that I picked up Straczynski again and chuckled to myself as I read his section on "Writing the Episodic Program."

He wrote, "The single most important rule to follow before writing a script for episodic television is to study the series you intend to write for." Too bad I didn't read this before the "Ginger" spec. I did a little bit of homework, which was good, but if I had done a lot more, it would have been great, and I could have spent much more time on the Drake & Josh spec.

I don't really feel too much regret though, as I wait to hear Nick's acceptance or rejection. It was a learning experience for writing television scripts under tight deadlines. A new first. Also, I've discovered that I'm way more creative than I've given myself credit for. Most importantly, I've been inspired to keep reading, keep researching and keep writing - for television. So go ahead, you can start looking for my name in the credits.