Quick question I have regarding screen writing for procedural weekly tv show scripts.
How does one go about managing time and writing consistent scripts for these types of shows?
I had always been interested in the work that goes behind the writing of these types of shows since I grew up watching the earlier seasons of Criminal Minds. When I realized that the episodes air about a week or so from each other I grew curious on how the writers managed to have time enough to write the scripts before shooting them. Will be appreciated in receiving any advice and information on this.
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Funny moment, when you realize that someone writes the stories and they air once a week. Key word for you: writers room.
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Usually they'll write and shoot several shows, and not release them so they have a supply. They'll launch with three to five episodes and still have several unaired shows waiting for release. This gives them time to write and shoot. You never want the supply to drop to zero or you will be in crisis mode every week writing to a shoot date and air/broadcast date.
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Network tv series is the holy grail job for tv writers. 20-26 episodes a season pretty much employs a person for a whole year.
Law n Order: SVU just started filming this week in nyc. Each episode takes about 8 to 13 days to shoot. The 1st episode of the new season will air in October.
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Thank you all for the information!
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The writers room on those shows starts in late May - early June for the September premiere. They usually have around 5 scripts done by the time the season premieres, so they're that far ahead at the start. They also "break the season" during the first couple of weeks of the room starting up, meaning they develop a rough outline of the episodes for the entire season (what part of the season arcs of the characters will be in each episode), and the showrunner assigns each episode of the season to one or two writers per episode. They have pretty big rooms, but it also helps to know exactly which episodes you will be writing in advance - though things can change. They always plan for a couple of "bottle episodes" - episodes that are true stand-alones that can be popped in anywhere in the season in case something goes wrong during production and an episode is delayed. Once they have a few scripts banked, pre-production can start (casting, location scouting, etc.). As a general rule, they have a 3 - 4 week production window for each episode, with a week pre, 10 day shoot, and a week post. Since each episode has its own director, one can be in pre while another one is shooting and a third one is in post - so they are always working on 3 episodes simultaneously.
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Nice answer, Anna. Bottle episodes.