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Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Introduction -- Peak TV vs. Pique TV: The Streaming Smorgasbord -- How to Navigate TV Writing On Demand -- Part I Satisfying the Binge Viewer: New Genres, Formats and Trends -- 1 Blurring the Lines: Redefining Genre and Tone in the Dramedy -- How Did We Get Here? -- Dramedies and Life on the Cringe -- Female-Driven Dramedies -- Youâre the Worst: The Anti-Romantic Dramedy -- Baskets and Lives in Disarray -- Satire as the Weapon of Reason in Dear White People -- I Love Dick: Exploring the âFemale Gazeâ -- Master of the Observational: Master of None -- Better Things: Philosophical Vignettes -- Love and Death in Atlanta -- Bonus Content: Further analysis on dramedies, including the rise of the genre, Catastrophe and Casual -- 2 The Slow-Burn, Season-Long Procedural: From Murder One and Twin Peaks to The Night Of, Fargo, Search Party and More -- The Season-Long Mystery -- The Mystery Underlying the Crime: The Night Of -- The Good Fight : The Procedural Within a Procedural -- Search Party: Something From Nothing -- Fargo Is a State of Mind -- Truth and Consequences -- Bonus Content: American Crime, True Detective Season 1, Riverdale, Medici: Masters of Florence, Happy Valley, The Fall, Bloodline, The Expanse -- 3 Trust Me: The Long Con On-DemandâFrom The Riches to Sneaky Pete, Patriot, The Americans and More -- The Masquerade: Sneaky Pete -- The Period Political Masquerade: The Americans -- Entrapment and Reversals: The Night Manager -- All Is Not What It Seems: The Good Place -- The Farce Thriller: Patriot -- Ozark: Who Can a Con Artist Trust? -- Bonus Content: The Path, Younger, Mr. Robot -- 4 Dystopias, Multiverses and Magic Realism -- The Constructive/Destructive Power of Ideas: The Handmaidâs Tale -- Our World with a Cautionary Twist -- Crafting the Supernatural/Dystopian Pilot Microcosmic Dystopias and the Monster Mash: American Gods -- Portals and Multiverses: Childlike Wonder in Stranger Things -- Surprise and Shifting POV: The OA -- Adjoining Realms in The Man in the High Castle -- Bonus Content: Atlanta, Man Seeking Woman, The Good Place, Game of Thrones, The Young Pope, plus âThe Neurotic Superheroâ -- 5 Story Tentacles: Making Surprising Choices That Yield More Story -- Inevitable Yet Unpredictable -- Keep Your Frenemies Close: Orange Is the New Black -- You Canât Always Get What You Want . . . Mozart in the Jungle -- A Window Onto a New World: Switched at Birth -- Taboo Relationships in Comedies -- Points of View: The Affair -- Ensembles and Backstories -- When a Flaw Becomes an Asset: Girls -- The Macro/Micro Approach: The Young Pope -- Game of Thrones: The Ultimate Story Tentacle Show? -- The Unreliable Narrator -- Bonus Content: Breaking Bad, Scandal, Mad Men, Taxi, plus the Switched at Birth pilot teaser -- 6 Spotlight on a Rebel: Ryan Murphy Reinvents the Mini-Series by Embracing His Inner Outsider -- Why Canât I Be Audrey Hepburn? -- Tone is everything in television -- Reinvigorating a Genre -- The More Specific You Make Something, The More Universal It Becomes -- âNoâ = A Rest Stop on the Road to âYesâ -- Limitation as an Opportunity and Differentiator -- The Pop Culture Junkie -- The Limited Anthology Series -- Impossible = Possible -- Marcia, Marcia, Marcia -- Part II Developing Iconic Characters: Relatability and Authenticity -- 7 Character Empathy vs. Sympathy: How and Why We Align With Charactersâ Wants and Needs -- Touching the Void -- Nobodyâs Perfect -- The Dance -- Reverting to Type -- Judgment, Morality and Perception -- The Insatiable Appetite of the Ego -- Insecure: Authentic as F**k -- Big Little Lies, Guilt and Shame -- Sympathy for the Robot: Westworld Hannah, Clay and the Razorâs Edge: 13 Reasons Why -- Alignment and Allegiance -- Bonus Content: Mr. Robot, Getting On, Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, The Young Pope, Better Things, Animal Kingdom, plus âEmpathy and the Female Gazeâ -- 8 Choosing Between Two Wrongs: Characters Trapped by Limitation -- Creating the Dilemma -- Homeland: The Lasting Effects of Devastating Decisions -- A âWhat If?â Exercise -- Dilemma and Perspectives -- Politics, Power and Internal Logic: Legion, The Handmaidâs Tale -- Jessica Jones: How Late is Too Late? -- Guilt, Maturity and Aspirations: This Is Us -- The Cleanse and Crossing the Line -- Bonus Content: Bates Motel, Breaking Bad, Queen Sugar, Orange Is the New Black -- 9 The Wild Card Character: Power Dynamics and Motivations -- The Wild Card With a Twist: Mr. Robot -- The Wild Cardâs Wild Card: Mozart in the Jungle -- The Roommate Soulmate: Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt -- The Pushy Roommate/Friend/Business Partner/Mentor: Silicon Valley -- Disrupting an Institution: The Young Pope -- The Role of Destabilizing Characters: Better Call Saul, The Crown and Goliath -- Bonus Content: Luther, Big Little Lies, Stranger Things, Bloodline, plus script excerpts from Mr. Robot, The Crown, Goliath -- 10 Writing Smart Dialogue in the Digital Era -- The Oblique -- Bonus Content: The Profound Power of Silence plus Better Call Saul excerpt -- Idiosyncratic Voices: Empire, Silicon Valley -- Get in Late, Get Out Early -- Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication -- Point of View and Subtext: The Last Man on Earth, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend -- Shop Talk: Brooklyn Nine-Nine -- Naturalistic Dialogue: Profanity in The Wire -- Backstory: What They Donât Say -- ActionsâAnd Triangulation -- Overlapping Dialogue: Stranger Things -- Economy With Words -- E-Communication -- Listening to Our Characters Bonus Content: Bones, Orphan Black, The Americans, Scandal -- Part III Career Strategies in the Evolving TV Marketplace -- 11 To I.P. or Not to I.P.? That Is the Question: The Value of Intellectual Property in the Scripted TV Ecosystem -- Intellectual Property Glossary -- Breaking (Through the Noise) and Entering (the Zeitgeist) -- The Literary Approach -- Adapting Autobiographical Material -- Bonus Content: A deeper dive into putting a new spin on forms of I.P., from comics to musicals -- 12 The Show Bible as an Essential Sales Tool -- That Was Then. This Is Now. -- The Need for Reassurance: From Closed-Ended, Stand-Alone Procedurals to Open-Ended, Slower-Burn Serials -- If Thereâs a Central Mystery, There Needs to Be a Series Bible -- Networks That Circumvent the Pilot Process (Tend to) Commission Series Bibles -- The Following Networks Still Make Pilots, But Do They Require Series Bibles? -- Half-Hour Sitcoms Rarely, If Ever, Require a Series Bible . . . -- Drafting the Series Mini-Bible -- Bonus Content: Examples/templates of one-hour drama and half-hour dramedy series mini-bibles, plus how to create a story area document -- 13 Trips, Traps, Tropes: Avoiding Rookie Mistakes -- Become Experts in the Genre -- âGreat Pilot, But Whatâs the Series?â -- âItâs Too Wrapped Upâ -- âWhatâs the Franchise?â -- âWho Are We Rooting For?â -- âThereâs No Sense of Place or Timeâ -- âItâs Confusingâ -- âThe Premise Is Weakâ -- âIt Doesnât Feel Authenticâ -- âThe Dialogue/Style/Tone Are Uninspiredâ -- âItâs Too Longâ -- âThe Plotting is Tepidâ -- âThe Stakes Are Not High Enoughâ -- âItâs Just Talking Headsâ -- âItâs Too Superficialâ -- âThere Are Too Many Charactersâ -- âThe Good Stuff Appears Too Lateâ -- Know the IndustryâYet Be Innovative -- The Temptation to Rush Bonus Content: âThe War Against the Kitchen Sink Pilot,â a/k/a âThe Premise Pilot Bluesâ -- 14 The Creative Entrepreneur: From Kickstarting a Web Series to Hitting the Big Time -- âCall My Agentâ -- Getting an Agent -- Agents vs. Managers -- Advice From the (Staff Writer) Trenches -- Bonus Content: List of the Top Contests and Fellowships -- More Opportunities Than EverâYet Itâs Never Been More Competitive -- Show Them Your Proof of Concept -- Think Locally, Act Globally -- What I Really Want To Do Is Direct (a Web Series) -- Bonus Content: Advice from Kit Williamson -- Work Begets Work -- Acknowledgments -- About the Author -- About the Editors -- Index
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