An international writers' room simulation with unique talents.
An international writers' room simulation with unique talents.
Selected participants are offered lectures tackling the organization of a writers' room as well as addressing the structure of a pilot episode and season. Majority of the workshop time is dedicated to a writers’ room simulation led by experienced professionals.
Writers
The workshop offers the possibility of enhancing the craft and writing skills, plotting and writing exercises, knowledge and skills connected to the processes occurring during scripted series writing, such as creative teamwork, joint brainstorming, and creating or following one unified narrative voice and vision as well as the structure of a series episode itself.
Observing producers
The workshop offers an observant role with a unique opportunity to explore a professional writers’ room led by experienced mentors.
Ms. Murphy will discuss the highlights of the most powerful and critical parts of your script… The beginning and the end. In this market of television where there are hundreds of shows to watch - how can you break out of the clutter. It is critical to hook the audience in the first 10 or 15 pages. This is the heart of your show… the make it or break it. Maggie will screen an assortment of iconic pilot openings and analyze why they keep the audience mesmerized. There will also be discussion on the ending of your pilot and how it must also be equally strong to bring the audience back for more.
The US Writers’ Room is undeniably an extremely successful and efficient working model. Even though narrative cultures and prerequisites across Europe are very diverse, it still serves as a model and forms the starting point for various forms of collaborative writing. In a concise lecture, Katrin explains the market conditions under which this system has developed and explains how the US Writers’ Room works: mindset, working methods, positions and the central development tools.
As the creator of a drama series project, you may be tasked with setting up and running a writers' room. As a freelancer, you may be asked to enter a writers' room as a hired writer to follow the creator’s voice. Either way, you become part of a team. In this lecture, we’ll be looking at the foundations and practicalities of this team work. In the process, we’ll be demystifying the notion of the writers' room, and explore how it is viable within the European industry, especially in countries with nascent drama series markets and tight development budgets.
Selected alumni of the Writers´ Room 2023 program will have a unique opportunity to present themselves to industry professionals as promising European writers committed to developing their careers in the TV series industry. Writers will be trained under the mentorship of an experienced pitching tutor.
The specially designed event is hosted by Berlinale Series Market and is happening in collaboration with Torino Film Lab.
MIDPOINT will provide full accreditation coverage to participants who will be selected to present themselves at the Berlinale Series Market. Participants are responsible for arranging and covering their own accommodation and travel expenses.
The individual participants, entering the program as talents looking into enhancing their craft and writing skills, will get acquainted with the structure, hierarchy and processes running in a writers’ room from two different perspectives: of a procedural and a serialized show. Theoretical lectures and plotting exercises will be offered alongside the simulation.
The program’s graduates will acquire knowledge and skills connected to the processes occurring during scripted series writing, such as creative teamwork, joint brainstorming, and creating or following one unified narrative voice and vision as well as the structure of a series episode itself.
Not really. Writers' Room is a program designed to work on your skills, as opposed to a particular project. However, if you do have a project you'd like to develop within MIDPOINT, we strongly suggest that you apply for MIDPOINT Series Launch or MIDPOINT Smash Cut.
This really depends on your ambitions: if you'd like to participate in writing and be trained in actual writing skills, we'd suggest applying as a writer. As a writer, we will be asking you to participate in writing exercises during the training. If your profile is more of a producer and you feel more comfortable in a semi-observing position, we suggest you apply as an observing producer.
Sadly, no. As the entire training runs in English, and during the working days you'll be asked to write directly in English, we require an intermediate level of these language skills. This simply means: your grammar doesn't have to be perfect, but you need to talk/write fluently and have the vocabulary to do so.
We don't like to narrow the profile of the applicants down too much, as we believe talent comes from all places, however, Writers' Room is designed for writers wanting to train their skills in series writing, in particular. Writers that have written features, documentaries, shorts or series before are welcome. But so are script editors or directors or any other actively writing talents.
No, it doesn't have to be produced already, and you're most welcome to submit any fiction script you feel reflects your style the best: feature, short or series episode. Of course, the sent material has to be submitted in English.
While the selected writers will be actively participating in all the writing and plotting exercises, and actively work throughout the training, the producers will rather take on an observing position. But don't get us wrong, it will be no holiday. They will be still asked to participate and be a part of the discussion.
The Writers' Room is specifically designed for European writers, as we'd like to address the demand for training coming particularly from this territory.
Sadly, not for this particular program. We HIGHLY recommend to submit an application to a national organization (fund, institute, ministry) at the same time you're applying to MIDPOINT Institute. You can always withdraw your application if not selected, but as the processing time of this support can be rather long, it might be quite late to do this once we confirm you're in