A free Netflix and Stage 32 webinar details how to write Sci-Fi screenplays from idea to TV series, via the Netflix way.
Through Stage 32’s EdTech partnership with Netflix, creators are being given worldwide access to webinars on ‘How To Create Television for a global marketplace’. Now in part four of this five-part series, Stage 32 is featuring a free next-level webinar on storytelling from showrunner Mikey Fisher on how to develop compelling sci-fi content for streaming television.
This fourth webinar in this exclusive series begins on Monday, March 28th, and will run from 10 AM to 1 PM PST. You can sign in using the designed software from Stage 32 and you must have a Stage 32 profile to attend. The event will be recorded and uploaded within 24-48 hours after air, though if users attend live online, they’ll be able to ask questions in the Q and A.
In this webinar, Stage 32 welcomes educator Mickey Fisher, TV Creator and Showrunner for CBS’s EXTANT, NBC’s REVERIE, and National Geographic’s MARS. Mickey broke out onto the scene when his contest-winning TV script Extant caught the attention of Steven Spielberg and later became the science fiction series on CBS starring Halle Berry. Mickey has since firmly implanted himself in the world of science fiction television, creating the NBC series Reverie and National Geographic’s Mars. He has also served as a consulting producer on Amazon’s Jack Ryan and a writer and co-executive producer on Guillermo Del Toro’s acclaimed FX horror series The Strain.
The Syllabus For Monday’s Event is as Follows
Case Studies: EXTANT, REVERIE, STRANGER THINGS, DARK, GAME OF THRONES, SQUID GAME, MONEY HEIST (not sci-fi but there are some relevant points), YELLOW JACKETS, THE MANDALORIAN, PEACEMAKER
1) Choosing a Sci-Fi Series Concept
- Story Darwinism – 5 questions to ask about your series idea
- Starting with a concept / hook
- Starting With character
- Serialized vs episodic
- Finding your voice
- Fuel and friction – maximizing your chances for a success (scope, budget)
2) Core Elements of Your Sci-Fi Series
- Worldbuilding
- Characters (great characters are subconsciously at war with themselves) C) Setting up A,B & C stories
- Importance of relationships
- Story engine – powering your series through multiple seasons
- Tone
- Theme / premise
- Series logline — your north star
3) “On the Axis” – Planning Character Journeys (pilot, season, series)
- External goals and internal obstacles
- Setting the stakes – the basic questions of drama
4) The Pilot
- The pilot is a contract with the audience
- Hooking the audience early
- Landing your premise by the end
5) Season One and Beyond
- The curse of the “10 hour movie”
- Episodic structure, or “the episode where”
- Tentpole moments of your season and series
- Plot twists
- Common pitfalls (such as unearned character turns, tonal shifts)
6) Thinking Globally – common elements of worldwide success stories
7) Owning Every Word
8) Q&A with Mickey
Screenwriters should check out the event to learn how to write some good Science Fiction scripts. You can learn more on www.stage32.com
