Elements of Story Structure

Event ID: L10243
Info: Jul 18-19 • Sat/Sun • 9:00am-4:00pm • 2 mtgs • UHM Krauss 012 (Yukiyoshi Room) • $200
With: Ellen Sandler

Examine the basic building blocks used by television writers to create episodes of a TV series. Through both lecture and in-class exercises students learn principles and techniques that can be used for any script they write. The instructor, Ellen Sandler, is a veteran television writer who has worked on over twenty network television series. In this class she uses one of her own scripts, the Emmy nominated episode entitled “No Fat” of Everybody Loves Raymond to illustrate the principles of story structure. Each student registered for the class receives a copy of the shooting script along with copies of the writer’s developmental material and a DVD of the aired episode.


Class Outline

DAY ONE
9:00 – 12:00 What Is Story
Where ideas come from
Story Premise – what it’s about
How to find it
How to pitch it

12:00 – 1:00 Lunch Break

1:00 – 4:00 Turning Ideas Into Stories
Breaking a Story
Set Up
Conflict -The Opponent
Confrontation
7 Building blocks of story structure
Character Driven Stories
Plot Driven Stories
Creating a Narrative - Why dialogue and jokes are not story


DAY TWO
9:00 – 12:00 Screening Of “No Fat” Emmy Nominated Episode Of Everybody Loves Raymond
Scene by scene analysis of the episode including:
Identifying the 7 building blocks of story structure as they appear
in the actual show.
How Exposition is handled
Effective scene buttons

12:00 – 1:00 Lunch Break

1:00 – 4:00 Evolution Of A Sitcom Script
Tracking the episode step by step from story idea to on air show including:
Backstage at a TV show - anecdotes about how the episode evolved and
about the production of the show.
Network & Studio hierarchy explained
Why there are so many producers
Future of TV and the part the internet may play

Ellen Sandler has worked as a writer/producer on more than 25 network television comedies, including ABC's long-running series, Coach. In addition to staff work, she has created original pilots for ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox Family, Oxygen, Disney Channel, and the Australian Children's Television Foundation. She received an Emmy nomination for her work as co-executive producer for the CBS hit Everybody Loves Raymond. Sandler is currently on the faculty of the USC School of Cinema-Television and is a popular seminar presenter at many writers' conferences. She appears annually at the annual Screenwriting Expo in Los Angeles, where she is featured as a "star speaker." As script doctor and private career coach, Sandler provides custom-tailored services to her students and clients, many of whom have gone on to staff positions on hit television shows (Sex in the City, Men in Trees, Malcolm in the Middle, Everybody Hates Chris, The New Adventures of Old Christine). Others have gained acceptance in the Disney Writing Fellowship and Cosby Writing Fellowship, and have won prestigious writing competitions (Austin Film Festival, Scriptapalooza). Sandler began her career in New York as a playwright and director. Her recent theatrical productions in Los Angeles include Jewish Roots at the Hudson Theatre and How'd It Go? starring Megan Mullally at the HBO/Warner Bros. Workspace. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild and the Writers Guild of America.