Chapter 70 – Outlining Your Web Series Saves the Day
by Leesa Dean
This has been a crazy week. My cat Lamont suddenly got very sick so I stopped working for a few days–running back and forth to the vet, buying medicine, etc. Meanwhile, on Friday afternoon when he seemed be better, I went out to play tennis and blow off some steam and BAM, the guy I was hitting with accidentally (I’m hoping accidentally anyway) bashed in my finger when he mistakenly hit a ball towards me at about 70 mph. Luckily, the finger didn’t break, wasn’t on my right hand or a thumb (which would’ve really freaked me out for drawing) but was swollen, bruised and I was NOT a happy camper. I also was forced to take a few extra days off while my finger and the cat healed.
Meanwhile, a friend who has an idea for a web series but hasn’t written anything yet asked me about the best way to proceed. I told her to outline everything. She’d never done it before (she’s written one movie script using the “I’m just winging it” method) and was a little intimidating by getting right in a short format. She also wants to ultimately break into tv writing.
Since I was laid up, I had the time to help break down what’s involved for her and realized, ok, these tips might also be useful for other web creators/aspiring web creators…if (high drama), I can ever type again. I’ll cut to the chase: I can type again. And since outlining is an important part of being a tv writer, it’s also a crucial skill to develop if you’re attempting to go that route. Creating/writing/outlining a web series is a great place to start. So, hobbled finger and all, here are four tips to get started: read article
It’s a sad fact of my professional life that over the years, the actors I’ve most admired for their acting skill have almost always turned out to be thoroughly disappointing (as in detestable) human beings when I’ve actually worked with them.
August 2014
