How to Write Great Stuff From Watching Television

Breaking Bad had almost 3 million viewers by season five. Sure there’s a number of contributing factors to its enormous success and one of those defining factors is its gripping storyline and complex characters. There are a lot of lessons on successful writing that you can take away from these popular TV shows. Here I've listed the most prominent from a few of my favourites:

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What I learnt from Breaking Bad (SPOILER ALERT)

1. Take your character just far enough but not too quickly. For example, when Jane (Jesse’s girlfriend) died, the writers consciously wrote in that Walt wouldn’t save her from dying as opposed to killing her directly.
2. Put the characters in difficult challenges and let them get themselves out.
3. Be flexible. Jesse was originally written to be a temporary character but worked so well, they had to rewrite him in.
4. Have endless discussions, with your cowriters, yourself, your keyboard, they character themselves. Only then will you be able to write what is best for the story.
5. The location of Breaking Bad very much influenced the story. Albuquerque tourism offered discounts to entice film crews to work there and once they started filming there, the writers found that the colours, the landscape and scenery, the way the sky sat all influenced the story.

What I learnt from Parks and Recreation

1. The character of Lesley Knope was already formed in creator, Amy Poehler’s head, she just needed to write the TV show that would fit around her and refine how the world and responded to her.
2. Fart jokes are always funny.
3. Write the lines for the characters, not for the audience.
4. A writing project is just like any other project and a project needs a good leader – either in a team or a part of yourself.

What I learnt from New Girl

1. Just write about what and who you know and make it something you are proud of.
2. Let people help. Collaboration can make your project better – especially in writing for TV.
3. Don’t write a joke for the joke’s sake (especially a runner - an ongoing joke), make sure it fits, step back and view the whole piece to see if it works.
4. Story lines and processes can be messy and organic – it’s more realistic.
5. People hooking up always creates great conflict and audience interest. It’s not always the resolve of a situation but can be the start of one.
6. Walking is great for remedying "writer's block".

What I learnt from American Horror Story

1. The stories came from weird obsessions in the writers that have risen to the top.
2. Personal urgency breeds great writing.
3. If the subject is really important to you or you’re obsessed with it, it will spur the project on more.
4. Find a creature to put your anxiety on.

Fight to write or protect your characters.
Anti heroes are more fun to write as they are unpredictable, flawed, dark, and weird with skewed morality. Give these characters the space to do something and it could go anywhere.

What I learnt from watching too much TV
Ideas come from real life. Both Breaking Bad and Dexter were born out of ideas inspired by an article and Parks and Recreation came about because Amy Poehler and colleagues were inspired by global issues, such as the global financial crisis.

Screenwriting is about making precise decisions. Screenwriters must expect their words to be workshopped on and that their original creation is no longer their own.

Overall, high concept sells.

‘I see the story and then cut out the parts of the story that aren’t in the paper’, Papercutting artist Béatrice Coron.