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How To Write a TV Spec Script

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How To Write a TV Spec Script

DURATION/TIME
12 weeks
Thursdays
November 9 - February 8
7-10 pm

LEVEL
Intermediate/advanced

LOCATION
New York (Soho)

PRICE
$610 ($575 for )
more info

Course Details

So you want to break into scripted television? There is only one writing sample accepted by TV agents, producers and networks across the board: a spec script of a current show. Getting your foot in the door starts with demonstrating your ability to write for someone else's show. In this class, you will start and finish your sitcom or one-hour drama spec script. From picking the right show, to learning the unwritten rules of spec writing, to polishing and troubleshooting final drafts, this is the first real step in your television writing career.

Each week you'll bring in new pages, "cast" those pages for table reads with fellow writers, get work-in-progress feedback in our simulated "writers room," and receive studio-style development notes from the instructor. The class will also emphasize practical industry job strategies so that you know exactly where to take your newly completed spec script.

In this class, you can expect to learn:

  • How to pick and study the right show to spec and the particular do's and don't's of spec storylines
  • Format and structure of varying episodic television scripts: serial dramas (Grey's Anatomy), procedural dramas (Law & Order), traditional sitcoms (How I Met Your Mother), and single camera sitcoms (The Office)
  • Creating A, B and C storylines and how to tie them all together
  • How to mimic character dialogue and action and write strong act breaks by analyzing actual script examples from current popular shows
  • Insider terminology, the television staffing season timetable, and getting your foot in the door

By the end of class, students can expect to have:
A complete and polished spec script of a one-hour drama or sitcom

Admission Requirements:
Please submit a letter of interest (including a brief work history), and a writing sample (less than 2,000 words)

Instructor Bio

David Allan's Courses

No courses available at this time.

David Allan
David G. Allan, Travel & Styles editor for The New York Times, is a creator of the MTV series The X Effect, an idea that began as a few notes on a cocktail napkin, now in its second season. He is also the winner of the Scriptapalooza TV contest for his Desperate Housewives spec script, The Refrigerator Bandit. He has pitched scripted and non-scripted projects to networks on both coasts, including MTV, VH1, Spike, Sundance, ESPN, Oxygen, TLC, Discovery, E!, Fox Reality, ABC Family, UPN and Sony Pictures Television. He has written several feature screenplays and TV specs and co-written an original sitcom pilot. He is also the co-writer of the television industry blog tubesocket.tv and co-founded the production company Lower West Side Productions.

David graduated with degrees in journalism and philosophy from the University of Maryland. Prior to his screenwriting and television work, David wrote two travel books for Frommer's, was an editor for the liberal news site workingforchange.com, and an editor at Random House. His writing has also appeared in various publications including LIFE magazine and American Journalism Review. He has lived on three continents and spent a year traveling around the world with his wife writing stories for their travel site thedharmabums.com.

Testimonials


David Allan is exactly the guy you hoped your friend's cousin's old roommate's brother who does someting in TV and might give you some advice, would turn out to be and never is. Smart, engaging, savvy to the realities of the business, he is not above admitting a thrill over selling a cheesy MTV reality show, but never lets you believe that's all there is. -- Victoria McKernan, novelist

"David Allan is an engaging, intelligent, informative speaker and instructor with a great sense of humor who knows his stuff and shares it freely. There wasn't a dull moment. You can see why he is so successful when pitching ideas to development people." -- Scott Wallace, freelancer

"This was a great class. I gained lots of perspective on this writing genre and as someone involved in PR, I think that being familiar with all aspects of media is a positive thing. As someone who knew nothing about television writing, the class gave me great insight on how the process works, from A-Z. Thanks so much!" -- Vanessa French, media specialist, PCI Communications

"David was candid, informational, a natural public speaker, honest, forthright, and helpful. He took the time to answer all the questions that some of us had. This workshop was more than I expected -- it was wonderful, it gave me inspiration and some excellent leads, and it gave me real tangible hope." -- Elizabeth Gabriella, real estate sales

"I can't recommend David highly enough. His class is filled with incredible wisdom, and he delivers it warmly, with humor, and with hope. An investment worth every penny, and then some." -- Meagan Hawkes, freelancer

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