So, I’ve decided to turn my monthly articles for “Ms. In The Biz” into a running blog detailing my web series journey from concept to creation. My hope is that it may inspire and aide you in the creation of your own dream project!
For those who have been following from my previous posts, in September I completed a crowdfunding campaign that garnered me $18,000 to fund my project. It was tough and we fell short of the $25,000 we were initially after, but $18K is not anything to sneeze at. It’s enough to still allow us the ability to push the web series into production!
So, with most of the funding in place and the idea in mind, what’s next? Ah, the lovely development stage, of course! We’ve all heard of projects getting stuck in development hell, lucky for us that when we set out to create and produce our own projects, the development stage can be as long or as short as we make it. I, being the detail-oriented person I am, suggest devising a plan and assigning dates by which to reach certain milestones. Call me over-ambitious but I want to get into production as soon as possible (by late February to early March), so, I’m making sure to coordinate the development schedule accordingly. Since I am creating a comedic web series, I am approaching it the same way as creating a situational comedy for television.
First step of the plan, create a mini bible for the show. You want to make sure you have everything that’s been floating around that amazing brain of yours jotted down in a sequential, well-articulated document. The treatment should clearly identify your vision for the project. Start with the logline and expand. Include all characters along with character bios and even prototypes that will help those you involve visualize the kinds of actors that will bring the idea to life. If you have some show ideas or scene ideas, write those down as well. The more information you have available the better your chances of seeing your vision come to fruition in every wonderful detail you imagined! Set a date by which to finish this (one week should be long enough). Done yet? Good, on to the next step.
The next step for me was to find writers. How do comedic single-camera shows get written? By writers, of course. Yes, “writers” plural, as in more than one and probably, more than two. If you are not a writer, it doesn’t mean that you can’t create, it just means you need to enlist the help of those you know who can write and are as eager as you are to get their work out there (or you can pay them). This is the point to start reaching out to those you know or admire, pitch them the idea and see if they want to come on board your writing team. I initially reached out to a couple of writers from my writing group who I knew were skilled at comedy. Two explained that they were too busy and one agreed to come on as a joke writer to punch up the scripts once they were complete. Not everyone will jump at the opportunity. Don’t let it discourage you. Create a list of possibilities and as one falls off just keep moving down the list. We ended up getting a good friend who has been writing professionally for the past ten years and a newbie from another one of my writing groups who, though not as experienced, I found to be an exceptional writer with a passion for our project. In fact, he made a distinct effort to meet with us and pitch himself as a potential writer for the show. His determination and enthusiasm sold us! I wanted three writers on the writing team with me and my Co-Creator, so we were one short and had already exhausted our personal resources. What to do, what to do? Start asking for references. I reached out to producer, director and writing friends to see if they could recommend anyone for the show. Through this I found a talented writer who has optioned a number of screenplays, has a film going into production next month and is quick with comedy. We were set. Oh, but do not assume these writers will be working for free. Offer some kind of pay. People will always work harder and show up on time if they’re getting some sort of compensation. It gives value to the skills they are going to lend you. Respect that.
Once writers are in place, it’s all about scheduling and prepping the team for the upcoming writing sessions. We have scheduled an initial four-day session to break story for the six episodes (“Breaking story basically means figuring out the screenplay’s blueprint — mapping out a story and coming up with a logically and dramatically consistent beginning, middle, and end, and the major checkpoints therein.” – Screenwriting.io) and then create a scene by scene breakdown for each, after which, I will go off and write all the scripts for the web series. (Again, if you’re forte isn’t writing, assign the task to one or more of the writers in the group.) In two weeks, the group will reconvene for rewrites over another weekend then it’s off to the joke writers/ script puncher-uppers!
To save money, we are holding the writing room in the comfort of our own home. This will benefit us as we want to create a relaxing, enjoyable environment where creativity can run free. We’ll have our Wii and Playstation 3 available for those writer’s block moments or just to get us off our butts. (Love me some Wii Winter Sports!) These are things to consider when creating your own writing space to breed genius.
Needless to say, I am super excited to get into the sessions. If you are approaching the development phase of your own production, you should be excited too. Stay tuned for my next post as I divulge how the sessions went and discuss what went right, what went wrong and what’s next! Until then “Ms. In The Biz” friends!