Despite it being a UK public holiday this Monday 25th, Nic Ransome was up in the morning for the festival’s keen ‘Zoomsters’ (Zoomies? Zoomdogs? Sorry, I’ll stop) looking for guidance as we all stagger through the valley of characters, genres, storylines and beat sheets.
Nic is a screenwriter, script editor, and story consultant who plied his trade on both sides of the Atlantic, having written for Holby City and Freephonix and developed TV for Silver Pictures Television, Starz, Artists Studio and Bentley Productions.
We jumped right in on an insightful Q&A covering Nic’s special subjects; story & structure, and what can make your projects different to all the others…
Q: “The Map is not the territory” Nic could you explain what that means?
I was glad somebody asked this because despite having written two TV pilots, I had no idea what a map was until this session. When talking about maps, Nic namechecks the writing gurus Christopher Vogel, Robert McKee, Syd Field, Michael and Blake Snyder as craftsmen who have some sort of ‘map’ or structure style to achieve the rise and flow, the beats and hooks, of their stories.
Nic circles back to the Pixar mantra – ‘No Rules, Just Tools.’ In other words, one guru’s map is not the THE answer, but rather an application you can choose to help your writing flow and pay off. There is no one ‘correct’ version of a story map; no one ‘correct’ structure.
If you find a map that works for you and achieves the result you wanted that’s great, but understanding different versions of structure can pay off in the long term if and when you come to collaborate with development teams and script editors who could be talking a different map language to you.
Consider checking out the gurus, you will find some of them here in this festival!
Q: How would you apply writing ‘maps’ to a TV series such as an ensemble drama?
Nic begins by breaking down the difference between form and structure. Once you know what your story is – the characters and the world they live in, their problems, their aims and the obstructions to them getting there – then you have your form.
The best thing you can do from here when you’re developing your drama is to apply a basic map at every story level. That means mini-structures within each act, then each episode, and finally the series.
For example, if your series has eight episodes, the structure could be four episodes on one side, four on the other with a natural mid point to the journey at the end of episode four. You can use a four act structure as the Big Structure for the series.
Nic cites the final season of Homeland as an excellent example of a series hitting all of the classic beats of a four act structure in a satisfying way. Within this master structure, you can do the same for each episode, treating each as a small feature film giving it the big beats and cliff-hangers that make the viewer stay for the whole ride.
Q: What is the magic formula to gaining an agent?
The dreaded question for the speaker, the holy grail of the new writer. While there are no easy answers, the absolute most important thing is to have something you believe in. If you are second guessing what you think audiences want – you will get found out.
In a sea of talent, producers are looking for a unique voice. Nic is often asked by writers ‘How can I be different? How can I stand out?’ He asks how is your voice tangibly different to the other voices in your genre? What can you bring from your own psyche, your family, your cultural history or your religious background to your characters and world building?
You can’t fake these lived experiences. They are unique to you, so consider yourself a source of original material and mine it for the gold, and leverage it in your character creations and storylines.
Q: Do you have any good tips on writing scene descriptions?
And here is the honest advice for us all. It’s boring but… practice. You have to write a lot. So get writing those spec scripts.
Lesley McGlynn is a new screenwriter for TV Drama and Comedy, and was a Studio Camera woman and News Director in a very recent previous life.
