Breaking the story

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  • Breaking the story

    What does this term mean? What is involved? How much time do you get to do this when up for an assignment?

    Thanks.

  • #2
    Re: Breaking the story

    It's just slang for figuring out how to make the story work. I've never heard of it being a step in an assignment. I've heard of steps for treatments, but those tend to be a fair bit more involved than merely figuring out who your characters are and what your structure's going to be like.

    I think when Mazin used it in another thread he was probably referring to a full outline or treatment, since he said his next step was pages. Again, the term is basically slang, so it covers a variety of work.
    QUESTICLES -- It's about balls on a mission.

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    • #3
      Re: Breaking the story

      Thanks, Knaight.

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      • #4
        Re: Breaking the story

        Originally posted by mariot View Post
        What does this term mean? What is involved? How much time do you get to do this when up for an assignment?
        Man, I don't know.

        Corona
        I love you, Reyna . . .

        Brown-Balled by the Hollywood Clika

        Latino Heart Project's MEXICAN HEART...ATTACK!
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        • #5
          Re: Breaking the story

          Originally posted by mariot View Post
          What does this term mean? What is involved? How much time do you get to do this when up for an assignment?

          Thanks.
          Not sure what you mean when you say, "up for an assignment." If you mean that you're coming in to pitch for a writing gig, you should have figured out the story before the meeting... because you're meeting them to pitch your take on it. In that case, the amount of time you have depends on when they sent you the underlying material, and when your meeting is. I've seen some writers pitch with less than 24 hours notice, and others pitch with months of preparation.

          If you mean that you've been hired to work on a project and are - for example - turning in a treatment step, there are guild-defined writing and reading periods for each writing step. I believe a treatment step is about a month to write, but I don't have the guild docs in front of me.

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          • #6
            Re: Breaking the story

            Thanks. Yes, I was wondering about the time from when your agent puts you up for it until you go in and pitch.

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            • #7
              Re: Breaking the story

              Originally posted by mariot View Post
              Thanks. Yes, I was wondering about the time from when your agent puts you up for it until you go in and pitch.
              That's mostly a matter of scheduling. In my experience, most creative/pitch meetings (although it largely depends on the urgency of the project) are within a couple weeks of setting the meeting.

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              • #8
                Re: Breaking the story

                Originally posted by Knaight View Post
                It's just slang for figuring out how to make the story work. I've never heard of it being a step in an assignment. I've heard of steps for treatments, but those tend to be a fair bit more involved than merely figuring out who your characters are and what your structure's going to be like.

                I think when Mazin used it in another thread he was probably referring to a full outline or treatment, since he said his next step was pages. Again, the term is basically slang, so it covers a variety of work.
                What Knaight wrote above. ^

                "Trust your stuff." -- Dave Righetti, Pitching Coach

                ( Formerly "stvnlra" )

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                • #9
                  Re: Breaking the story

                  Breaking the Story, from a TV writer's perspective:

                  http://heywriterboy.blogspot.com/200...ory.html#links
                  If you really like it you can have the rights
                  It could make a million for you overnight

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                  • #10
                    Re: Breaking the story

                    We got two weeks at Radiant. We received a one page and then did a treatment.

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                    • #11
                      Re: Breaking the story

                      A little more on story breaking in TV:

                      http://heywriterboy.blogspot.com/200...e-setting.html

                      http://heywriterboy.blogspot.com/2009/08/tv-series-scripting-part-two-outline.html


                      The outline is a reductive document, which is to say it tries to distill the many lofty ideas that might have come up or come out during the process of breaking the story and tie it down into a logical progression of beats.
                      Basically, brainstorm your story ideas, pitch them, then build an outline.
                      If you really like it you can have the rights
                      It could make a million for you overnight

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                      • #12
                        Re: Breaking the story

                        http://www.usc.edu/dept/publications...rses_ctwr.html


                        CTWR 250 Breaking the Story (2, SpSm) Examination of the fundamental elements of a good story, and how to use those elements to develop new screenplay ideas. Recommended preparation: CTWR 106b.
                        Anybody take this class at USC?
                        If you really like it you can have the rights
                        It could make a million for you overnight

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                        • #13
                          Re: Breaking the story

                          Originally posted by odocoileus View Post
                          A little more on story breaking in TV:

                          http://heywriterboy.blogspot.com/200...e-setting.html

                          http://heywriterboy.blogspot.com/2009/08/tv-series-scripting-part-two-outline.html




                          Basically, brainstorm your story ideas, pitch them, then build an outline.
                          Thanks a lot for this and the other link.
                          what the head makes cloudy the heart makes very clear

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                          • #14
                            Re: Breaking the story

                            Originally posted by odocoileus View Post
                            A little more on story breaking in TV:

                            http://heywriterboy.blogspot.com/200...e-setting.html

                            http://heywriterboy.blogspot.com/2009/08/tv-series-scripting-part-two-outline.html




                            Basically, brainstorm your story ideas, pitch them, then build an outline.
                            Thanks! You always find great links.

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                            • #15
                              Re: Breaking the story

                              Yeah, I think it means something different in TV than film. It's an official step in TV.

                              In film, I often hear the term "cracking" the story or "breaking the spine". That refers to a break through moment. You know how you have an outline and it's not quite "right" yet, technically all the necessary scenes are there? Or you know how you have a first draft and you can see the movie but the script is limping its way to it?

                              Cracking the story can happen in draft 2 or 10 or whenever, but it's that moment where all kinds of sh!t falls into place. It's that moment when existing scenes that were merely perfunctory all of a sudden take on new dimension, reinforcing theme or resonating more deeply with the characters in the scene.

                              I don't knwo if this relates to anything but I'm on coffee.

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