The TV Showrunner's Roadmap: Creating Great Television in an on Demand World

Description

This all-new edition of the best-selling guide The TV Showrunner's Roadmap provides readers with the tools for creating, writing, and managing your own hit streaming series. Combining his 30+ years as a working screenwriter and professor, industry veteran Neil Landau expertly unpacks essential insights to the creation of a successful show and takes readers behind the scenes with exclusive and enlightening interviews with showrunners from some of TV's most lauded series, including Fargo, Better Call Saul, Watchmen, Insecure, Barry, Money Heist, Succession, Ozark, Schitt's Creek, Euphoria, PEN15, and many more. From conception to final rewrite, The TV Showrunner's Roadmap is an invaluable resource for anyone seeking to create a series that won't run out of steam after the first few episodes. This groundbreaking guide features an eResource with additional interviews and bonus materials. So grab your laptop, dig out that stalled spec script, and buckle up. Welcome to the fast lane. Cover Endorsements Half Title Title Copyright Dedication Contents Also by Neil Landau Foreword How to Navigate This Book Introduction 1 From Concept to Pilot Script Interview: Alon Aranya, Your Honor (Showtime) and Tehran (AppleTV+) on Acquisitions, Development, Pitching and Selling 2 Intellectual Property and Adaptation Interview: Saverio Costanzo, My Brilliant Friend (HBO), on Cinematic Episodic Television Interview: Noah Hawley, Fargo (FX), on Reinventing a Classic Interview: Peter Gould, Better Call Saul (AMC), on the Breaking Bad Prequel: Jimmy McGill to Saul Goodman 3 World Building, Specificity of Setting, and Revising History Interview: Damon Lindelof, Watchmen (HBO), on Addressing Racism in an Alternative America Interview: Justin Hillian, The Chi (Showtime), on Authenticity and the South Side of Chicago Interview: Tony McNamara, The Great (Hulu), on Revisionist History as No-Holds-Barred Satire 4 Fueling Your Story Engine: Central Questions and Central Mysteries Interview: Robert and Michelle King, The Good Fight (Paramount+), on the Legal Procedural in the Age of Trumpism 5 The Power of Empathy Interview: Jesse Armstrong, Succession (HBO), on Greed, Power, and Sticking the Landing 6 The Value Family Dynamics Interview: Tanya Saracho, Vida (Starz), on Biological vs. Chosen Families and Gentrification Interview: Leonardo Fasoli and Maddalena Ravagli, Gomorrah (Sky Atlantic), on Power Dynamics in Organized Crime Families 7 Get to the Heart of Your Story Interview: Anna Winger, Unorthodox (Netflix), on the Role of Shame Interview: Sam Levinson, Euphoria (HBO), on Emotional Voids and Addiction 8 POV and Subtext Interview: Liz Feldman, Dead to Me (Netflix), on Who Knows What When 9 Antagonists Interview: Steven Canals, Pose (FX), on Who and What They’re Up Against 10 Defying Formulaic Structure Interview: Alex Pina, Netflix’s La Casa de Papel (Money Heist), on Innovative Episodic Story Structure Interview: Alec Berg, Barry (HBO), on Unexpected Tonal Shifts and Transcending Viewer Expectations 11 Theme Interview: Yehonatan Indursky, Shtisel (Netflix), on Unifying Storylines via Theme and Metaphor 12 Cliffhangers Interview: Chris Mundy, Ozark (Netflix), on Raising the Stakes 13 Life on the Cringe: Comedy and Culture Interview: Gloria Calderón Kellett, One Day at a Time (Netflix/Pop TV/CBS), on Assimilation and Harmony Interview: Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle, Pen15 (Hulu), on Belonging Interview: Daniel Levy, Schitt’s Creek (Pop TV/Netflix), on Loss and Humility Interview: Issa Rae, Insecure (HBO), From DIY Awkward Black Girl to Media Mogul 14 Pitching and Selling Interview: Alex Berger, Canal+ Le Bureau Des Légendes (The Bureau), on Selling in the Global TV Marketplace Acknowledgments About the Author Index