| *Brainstorming. Just the writers sitting around, throwing out ideas, seeing what strikes a chord. This takes four or five days, during which time we'll generate a dozen or so things that feel like stories. *Story-breaking. We take each story and break it down into individual scenes. This generally takes a day or two per story, depending on its scale. *Mix-'n'-match. This is often the toughest phase of the process -- picking from the bunch of stories we have, and seeing what goes with what. (The basic rule is three stories per episode.) We also have to make sure each of the six characters is serviced in each show, and that the stories jibe in terms of time sequence. This phase may also include some additional brainstorming and story-breaking as we try to fill in the gaps in each episode. For a typical episode, this would take another coupla days. *Outline. We divvy up the episodes and each writer goes off and does an outline. The producers give them notes on the outline, and then they're off to... *Write a first draft. Generally the writer has about a week to do this. The producers give them notes, and then they... *Write a second draft, which we then begin... *"Tabling". This is all the writers in a room, going through the script line by line, scene by scene, making it better. Punching up jokes, making sure the story is telling itself properly, etc. This takes about four (often very long) days, at the end of which we have a finished script we're all pretty happy with. Then a whole new phase begins: Production. *"Table read." This happens on Monday around noon. The actors sit around a table with us and read through the script. This hopefully gives us some idea what's working and what's not. It's also a chance for the network, the studio and the director to give us whatever thoughts they have. Based on this, the writing staff spends the rest of the day and night doing a group rewrite. *Tuesday Run-through. After the actors have spent much of the morning and early afternoon working with the material, they run through the whole show for the writers and producers. This is our first chance to see the show "on its feet". Early notes are given to the actors on performances, we see if the changes we made the night before are working. Script rewrite again |
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| The Life Cycle of a Typical Show |
| *Wednesday network and studio run-though. Again, we get a feel for what's working and what isn't. The network and studio contribute their thoughts. The director and cast may offer additional ideas. The dreaded rewrite ensues. *Thursday camera blocking. The director runs through the show with the cast, figuring out what his or her shots are going to be, finalizing the actors' blocking, etc. There may be some marginal changes at this point if a particular joke just isn't getting there, but at this point the script is pretty much locked. *Friday night -- we shoot the damn thing! *Post-production. Cutting, recutting and mixing the show can take anywhere from a week to three weeks, depending on how close to the air date we are. It's on TV! |
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