Any writers hoping to write for television must have a clear idea of the various types of television drama, and the opportunities which they present, so that they can have the best chance of breaking into the business.
Drama on television comes in a variety of forms:
- Made-for-TV Movie or single “play”
- Mini-series
- Series
- Serial
- Soap Opera
- Sitcom
Made-for-TV Movie or single “Play”
This is a single drama which can come in a variety of lengths, but which is designed to be broadcast and watched in a single sitting. Each drama is written by a single author, and usually is based on their own original idea. It may be broadcast as part of series of single plays under one umbrella theme (e.g. love stories) or under the title such as “Film on Four”. Opportunities often arise for new writers to break into the field, if they have a good original idea and a well-written script written "on spec" - that is speculatively, without receiving payment in advance.
Mini-series
A mini-series (sometimes written without the hyphen as 'miniseries') is a single story which has been divided into 2, 3, or 4 parts and broadcast either as one part per week, or on consecutive evenings. This may be the work on one individual or one than one writer, collaborating together on the scripts.
Series
A series consists of a concept, setting and characters created by one individual or several writers collaborating. A series is usually broadcast at the rate of one episode per week for a period of 6, 13, or 26 weeks. Each episode normally has a self contained story or storylines, which reach a conclusion within that episode. An optional extra seen more recently is the inclusion of some element of continuing story development across the series and snaking through the episodes; but traditionally an episode for a series would leave the main characters unchanged at the end of that episode. Normally ideas and scripts for episodes of series come from many different writers, thus series drama can be a way for a new writer to break into television.
Serial
A serial is a long-running drama, such as 24, told in episodes. It has one central story, interwoven with many sub-plots, which continues and develops across the episodes. The episodes are normally storylined by the show’s creators, and the individual episodes will be written by a team of writers, under the creator’s guidance.
Soap Opera
Soap operas are never-ending serial dramas. The demands on writers and material mean that writers often "burn out" therefore there are often opportunities for new writers to be brought into the writing team.
Sitcom
Sitcoms or situation comedies are normally written by the show’s creators. If new writers want to break into this field then they have to come up with their own idea and write a script “on spec”. Television companies will rarely commission comedy writing from new writers without seeing evidence of their talent.
No matter what type of television drama a new writer has ambitions to break into, it will be necessary to give examples in the form of trial scripts.
Find out more about writing for stage and screen here.
Janice Hally - Janice Hally has written more than 300 broadcast hours of prime-time TV drama in the UK, as well as fiction and non-fiction books.
