[Watch the video interview on Youtube here]
Film Courage: How much time is a writer’s room given to break a story?
Niceole R. Levy, Screenwriter/Author: It’s very determined by the showrunner and their process but I would say in general it’s about a week per episode. Sometimes longer especially if it’s a really serialized show and it’s a streaming show where you’re writing everything before it shoots. The 20 weeks of the writer’s room (if you have 20 weeks) can sort of stretch each episode break a little further because you have more time. In broadcast television, once the train of the season starts running, you have to keep running too or else it will run you over, so a week is about as long as I think I’ve ever had and a week (meaning seven days or shorter) if you can is always preferred but yeah it’s no one wants to rush an episode off the board because if you do you always end up putting it back on the board when you go write the outline and stuff doesn’t work. Then it’s like Okay and you put the cards back up and you’re like Let’s fix it. It’s better to take the time to fix it while it’s there.
Another thing that can happen in a break is that different people prefer different things as writers when you’re breaking your episode that you’re going to write. I think it’s always great to have a conversation in the room about How do we get into the scene, how do we get out? because that’s helpful. It’s sort of shorthands for you about I just need to come into the scene while they’re already sitting at the table arguing. I don’t need the build up and whatever. But there’s a lot of things that I’m like You guys, I can figure that out, I don’t need to talk about it. I will figure out how we get out of the scene. I just don’t need to have a conversation about it. Some writers need to have that conversation…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).
BUY THE BOOK – THE WRITER’S ROOM SURVIVAL GUIDE: Don’t Screw up the lunch order and other keys to a happy Writers’ Room by Niceole R. Levy
BIO:
After growing up near China Lake Naval Weapons Center in the middle of the Mojave Desert, Niceole escaped to the bright lights of Los Angeles. While studying acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, she realized her true love was writing stories, not playing them out. She worked as a police dispatcher to pay her way through USC undergrad and then completed the Master of Professional Writing program, also at USC. An alum of the CBS Writers Mentoring Program, NBC’s Writers on the Verge, and the WGAW Showrunner Training Program, Niceole has written on “Ironside,” “Allegiance,” “The Mysteries of Laura,” “Shades of Blue,” “Cloak & Dagger,” “Fate: the Winx Saga,” “S.W.A.T,” and “Graymail.” She also co-wrote a feature, “The Banker,” with former “Allegiance” showrunner and director George Nolfi, available on AppleTV+, and is now writing “Spark,” a film inspired by the life of Claudette Colvin. Niceole is currently a co-executive producer on an upcoming Netflix series and has several TV and feature projects in development. Her first book, “The Writers’ Room Survival Guide,” will be released in October of this year.
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