Day Five: June 14th, 2018
Heather, Adam, and Gayle weren't in the office today; only Laura was there. She told me that in writing, try to create the feel or senses that you don’t have for a podcast (basically everything except for listening). She also taught me the three-act structure of writing. I will use the 2001 movie Shrek, as an example.
Act one is the setup. This includes the characters (heroes, villains, and supporting characters) and what everyone wants (the hero and villain's goals). The end of act one features a disrupting force of some kind, but up until that point, the hero lives in stasis. They can't move forward until they're forced to. Shrek is the main protagonist of the movie. He lives peacefully in his swamp, but what he wants most of all is to be loved for who he is.
Act two is the meat of the story; conflict after conflict that impede's the hero's goal. Shrek is forced to act when Lord Farquad, the main antagonist, exiles the fairytale creatures into Shrek's swamp. It is important to note that the villain doesn't see himself as bad; they are just trying to achieve a goal that makes them clash with the hero. In other words, the villain is selfish. Shrek now has to take matters into his own hands by confronting Farquad himself. After this, he ends up on another quest to rescue Princess Fiona from a fire-breathing dragon. The end of act two is the climax (a huge showdown). Shrek fights the dragon and successfully saves Fiona.
Act three is the hero succeeding or failing. He or she officially exits the stasis, and returns as a changed person. Shrek brings Fiona to Lord Farquad. However along the journey, Shrek falls in love with Fiona; so even though he got what he "wanted" (his swamp back), he still doesn't have someone who loves him for who he is. Now, the protagonist returns to claim what he's wanted all along. Shrek stops the wedding and declares his love for Fiona. The protagonist then concludes all conflict in one final burst and returns to the once familiar world they had lived in stasis within. Only now, he and that world have changed. Shrek sees Fiona's true form, and they get married. He moves back to the swamp with Fiona, is hailed as a hero throughout the land, and lives happily ever after.
Because this is a movie, the three-act structure flows perfectly. When it comes to podcasts, TV shows, or anything else with a serial storyline, the structure is stretched out from the series' beginning to end. This could take 2 episodes, or it can take 500 episodes.
After we went over the structure, I read the next draft of EEP's podcast. Not only did I fill out another coverage letter, but I also did a three-act structure analysis of the new draft. It was like a trial run; but because this is just episode one of a serialized podcast, I was not able to fill out act three yet.
After this, I finished the coverage letter for Cloudia and Rex and emailed everything to Laura so she can look it over.
Next week, we dive into the pitching process.
Act one is the setup. This includes the characters (heroes, villains, and supporting characters) and what everyone wants (the hero and villain's goals). The end of act one features a disrupting force of some kind, but up until that point, the hero lives in stasis. They can't move forward until they're forced to. Shrek is the main protagonist of the movie. He lives peacefully in his swamp, but what he wants most of all is to be loved for who he is.
Act two is the meat of the story; conflict after conflict that impede's the hero's goal. Shrek is forced to act when Lord Farquad, the main antagonist, exiles the fairytale creatures into Shrek's swamp. It is important to note that the villain doesn't see himself as bad; they are just trying to achieve a goal that makes them clash with the hero. In other words, the villain is selfish. Shrek now has to take matters into his own hands by confronting Farquad himself. After this, he ends up on another quest to rescue Princess Fiona from a fire-breathing dragon. The end of act two is the climax (a huge showdown). Shrek fights the dragon and successfully saves Fiona.
Act three is the hero succeeding or failing. He or she officially exits the stasis, and returns as a changed person. Shrek brings Fiona to Lord Farquad. However along the journey, Shrek falls in love with Fiona; so even though he got what he "wanted" (his swamp back), he still doesn't have someone who loves him for who he is. Now, the protagonist returns to claim what he's wanted all along. Shrek stops the wedding and declares his love for Fiona. The protagonist then concludes all conflict in one final burst and returns to the once familiar world they had lived in stasis within. Only now, he and that world have changed. Shrek sees Fiona's true form, and they get married. He moves back to the swamp with Fiona, is hailed as a hero throughout the land, and lives happily ever after.
Because this is a movie, the three-act structure flows perfectly. When it comes to podcasts, TV shows, or anything else with a serial storyline, the structure is stretched out from the series' beginning to end. This could take 2 episodes, or it can take 500 episodes.
After we went over the structure, I read the next draft of EEP's podcast. Not only did I fill out another coverage letter, but I also did a three-act structure analysis of the new draft. It was like a trial run; but because this is just episode one of a serialized podcast, I was not able to fill out act three yet.
After this, I finished the coverage letter for Cloudia and Rex and emailed everything to Laura so she can look it over.
Next week, we dive into the pitching process.
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