(Aug. 13 & 14, 2022)
Television is an inherently commercial medium, and learning to write it goes hand in hand with learning how to sell it. This weekend course will introduce the craft of writing serialized television and give students guidance and tools to pitch their screenplays and series ideas to producers.
Participants will be expected to watch (and read) a one-hour drama pilot as preparation for class. They should also come with 1-2 rough ideas for TV series. Please note, however, that no experience reading or writing TV scripts is necessary for this course.
Students will be guided through screenwriting basics and the structures of a pilot episode and a continuing series. They will learn the hallmarks of a successful and long-running series, and will also spend class time developing their series concepts. Participants will get a chance to practice their “elevator pitches” — an industry standard pitch that clearly communicates a series concept in under a minute — and they will also learn how to create pitch materials producers want to see.
Will Buckingham has worked in the entertainment industries of the USA, Europe, and Asia for over 10 years. He has written made-for-TV movies that have aired on Lifetime, Hallmark, Amazon Prime, SkyTV, TF1, Antena3, and more. He has also worked as a lead writer for the immersive fiction app Galatea. He graduated from NYU-Tisch School of the Arts Asia with an MFA in Dramatic Writing, and was recently a participant in Serial Eyes, Europe’s premier postgraduate training program for television writers.
