Adapt Your Book, Short Story or Personal Essay Into A TV Show

Dreaming of turning your novel, memoir, or short story into a TV show? Want a TV writing sample that shows a mastery of character, structure, story engines, and more?

Details

This workshop, taught by a WGA Award-nominated writer from "The Morning Show" introduces you to all the tools you need for a strong adaptation.

Intellectual property is King in Hollywood these days. Everybody wants a source.

In this workshop, you will learn all the tools you need to do exactly that. Where in the story should your pilot start? What will make this a TV show and not a feature, and which is best for your idea? How do you master TV structure and where does it differentiate from novel structure? Does your character work for TV, or do you need to externalize them more? How should you balance multiple timelines?

This workshop, taught by a WGA Award-nominated TV writer and experienced teacher, is a lecture-style presentation, followed by a Q&A. Come prepared to learn a LOT and very fast.

What you will learn

• Building characters who drive action • The differences between writing characters in a book and TV characters • The structure of a half-hour pilot and an hour-long drama • How to create effective story engines (and fully understand what they are) • Building unique hooks and conceits to make your pilot stand apart • Creating a consistent tone • Incorporating theme into your pilot

Workshop takeaways

You will leave with a deep understanding of how to properly structure a pilot, with an emphasis on how to create great, memorable characters who drive action and make us want to come back for more. In this course, you will also find the core conflict of your show so your series can last 50 episodes, not just one. You will leave feeling confident in how to take any fictional prose idea (short story, memoir, or novel), and adapt it into a compelling, lasting series.

Additional info

If you can't attend this class live, it will be recorded! Students will receive a recording the day after the class, and it will be available for 30 days.

*Testimonials*

“I loved Ali's workshop because it gave me a roadmap for approaching an idea as a one-hour drama. She broke down building great dramatic characters, then using their psychological needs and the show's themes to shape the overall story. Her in-depth structure analysis was also very helpful to see where specifically the form differs from a sitcom. A great class!” — Chelsea Davison (Ted, The Tonight Show), TV Drama Writing For Comedians workshop

“Ali’s class was amazing! Thanks to this class, I was finally able to complete my outline, which I had been “working on” for several years (i.e., doing anything and everything but actually writing it). Ali had so many amazing insights and experiences that she shared with us in class and, at every step of the way, provided us with constructive feedback on our individual projects.
Highly recommended!” — Diana T., ongoing TV writing course

“Ali gave extremely thoughtful notes on every assignment I turned in. She had an incredible ability to point out flaws in my story structure and character work without making me feel bad. Rather, I left each class feeling excited and motivated to keep doing the work. I especially appreciated her lectures, where she used many examples to illustrate her points clearly, and was very open to questions and discussions. I will be taking Ali's next course, and I'm excited to continue working with her!” — Katie M., ongoing TV writing course