Structure a 10 minutes webseries

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  • #16
    Re: Structure a 10 minutes webserie

    Originally posted by twilight View Post
    Okey. But shouldn't every episode have a inciting incident and some kind of mini goal?
    I alluded to it in my previous post, but I think so. The short story should focus on a beginning, middle, end. A cliffhanger is not an end.

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    • #17
      Re: Structure a 10 minutes webserie

      For the same reason I keep watching Castle, and Haven, and CSI, and Fosters, and Longmire...
      They're self contained stories though. The OP's implying this isn't the case with their series.

      Chapters seems like a good model - Dickens was writing weekly episodes and it worked for him, big time.

      Just thinking out loud: maybe it's put better as leaving unanswered questions rather than 'cliffhangers' in the DUN DUN DUN sense. Not necessarily melodramatic, just intriguing, and with an episode resolution that just raises more questions. Kind of like a ten minute sequence in a feature...

      Personally I love that nobody's pushing formulae for 10 minute webisodes.... yet. People might come up with something a bit less cookie-cutter.

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      • #18
        Re: Structure a 10 minutes webserie

        Originally posted by spinningdoc View Post
        They're self contained stories though. The OP's implying this isn't the case with their series.

        Chapters seems like a good model - Dickens was writing weekly episodes and it worked for him, big time.

        Just thinking out loud: maybe it's put better as leaving unanswered questions rather than 'cliffhangers' in the DUN DUN DUN sense. Not necessarily melodramatic, just intriguing, and with an episode resolution that just raises more questions. Kind of like a ten minute sequence in a feature...

        Personally I love that nobody's pushing formulae for 10 minute webisodes.... yet. People might come up with something a bit less cookie-cutter.
        Yes - I think this is exactly it. I think a dun dun dun cliffhanger every 10 minutes would be exhausting (even in an edge of your seat thriller), and inevitably end up contrived - but an episode can leave you intrigued without one.

        And I totally agree re your second point. I think that formula has its place and its definitely worth learning what's out there/accepted, but I'm really enjoying the freedom that 10 minute episodes brings. There will always be some kind of structure because you're not really telling a story otherwise, but shovelling inciting incidents and mini goals into every 10 minute episode would overwhelm the organic story, I think.
        Watch Over Me: The Story of a Movie

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        • #19
          Re: Structure a 10 minutes webserie

          Originally posted by MoviePen View Post
          I think you can write a web series that carries a longer arc through it, but also tells complete short stories each episode. It's not going to be easy -- short story writing is much harder than novels, and same is true for short film.
          In most cases, this is the best way, I feel.

          I wrote 16 episodes of 10 minutes. A kids drama. We were all learning so, although it got some audience, the result was pretty awful (not due to the writing in the most part, but at least a bit).

          What I took from this learning experience was this: it works best when you balance macro stories with micro. The macro story is the season and focuses on the inner development of your main characters - their arcs. The micro stories tend to be more 'outer' and goal driven, feeding into the macro story like a feature but in lots of little episodic narratives with their own goals (rather than one long enduring goal, though you can have that too) - these micro stories can span a whole episode or, for the biggies (near the end), two or even three episodes.

          To help cope with the short running time, the setup of a micro story (normal Act 1-type stuff) can be delivered in previous episodes - and you can use an inciting incident for the 'cliffhanger' in the previous episode.

          Remember that you can break up micro stories into beats that are scattered across several episodes too. They don't have to be all lined up in a row.

          One thing to be careful of - and where I failed most of all - think hard about the first few episodes - really hard. Episode 1 will be crucial to determining your following because anyone who hears about a cool series will start there. So I'd structure Episode 1 as a micro story, or at least half a one with a powerful midpoint as your cliffhanger. Being new to the format, the temptation for me was to think of the first 4 episodes as the first 25% of the story and more about setting up the characters than micro stories. Big mistake. Consequently, only episode 3 had any real drama (because it had a micro story).

          Regarding episode endings - they can be climaxes, denouements (think the best West Wing episodes - that glow you get) or new plot-points (cliffhangers).

          Hope that helps. It's a mad ride this format but can be rewarding and it's so new that it really opens up the tables for trying different stuff.

          I am doing it again in a different format that is procedural this time (standalone episodes) as it suits the premise better, but I look forward to having another crack at a serial-structured web series one day.

          Good luck!

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          • #20
            Re: Structure a 10 minutes webseries

            Thanks everyone. This really helps me. Thanks.
            English is not my mother tongue. So Patient.

            "And tell me, Mr. Anderson, what good is a phone call if you are unable to speak?" Matrix

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