I have to say this start to my writers’ assistant gig is very different than the last. For starters, I had more than a day’s notice before starting (almost not actually, but the room didn’t end up starting until a week after I got hired which is relatively luxurious). But in terms of the room, we really dove in head first into the story with three (almost four) already existing episodes and a series bible. I discussed in the earlier post how this show is entirely original, huge world-building, etc. while the last one was a well-documented true story that unfolded over a short period of time. Anyways, the room started basically by going through the entire season, figuring out each character arc per episode, before we just dove right into breaking episode 104. At this pace we’ll be sprinting through the story, with outlines coming alongside each newly broken episode as we keep moving forward. It’s neither better nor worse than the last show, which was much slower and methodical (but also with more ready-made story yet fewer writers). As a writers’ assistant, it’s hard to know how to be most helpful to the showrunner, the writers, and generally be in unique service to the creation of the show. The last show was incredibly research/fact-checking heavy, on top of the usual notes/outlines/character document creation. I wonder if this one will be more purely organizational, creating a Silmarillion of sorts for the show - (history, rules, geographic progression even) and tracking each character’s epic arcs (some of which might end up lasting decades and decades across the show). We’ll see. I just wanted to write it out here to let it resonate a bit more. Tomorrow I’ll post a document I’ve been working on which, to me from what I’ve seen so far, breaks down the essential process of how showrunners break a story with a room and move into writing the episodes.
Street Address
City, State, Zip
Phone Number
Your Custom Text Here
