Hi Everyone and welcome to all newcomers!

Today I'm sharing ...

1. Cheat Sheet for Linda Aronson's Webinar on the TV Series Unorthodox (some of you may have seen this. If so jump to new stuff)
2. Video explaining Preview Flashback
3. Info about my upcoming Webinar on Nonlinear TV Writing for the London Screeenwriters' Festival
4. Info about my upcoming Online Course on TV Writing (high speed, high pressure wrangling story beats, multiple storylines, limited sets and locations etc)

Enjoy!

1. Cheat Sheet for Linda Aronson's Webinar on the TV Series Unorthodox

Well, it's amazing what you find when you're not looking. I recently came across a Cheat Sheet I wrote for the audience at the London Screenwriters' Festival prior to delivering a webinar in which I took apart the interwoven nonlinear storylines in the TV series Unorthodox. Unorthodox has a very clear double narrative flashback construction and ...

​Read more ​

2.Video ...Preview Flashback in Goodfellas: Instant Impact in film and TV Series

Preview Flashback – use it in film or TV! The flashback type in Goodfellas is a type I've given the name of 'Preview Flashback'.Preview Flashback is really powerful, really easy type of flashback that punches up impact. I use a film example because the structure is very clear.

As well as describing the practical mechanics of Preview flashback, that is, how you actually do it, I'm explaining how and why it differs from the Double narrative flashback - the kind you see in Citizen Kane and the like, with a story in the past and another in the present - and stressing that unless your story content is of a certain kind, consider using Preview Flashback because there are significant dangers with Double Narrative flashback.

LINK PROBLEM As you know, I emit death rays whenever anything remotely to do with IT comes up. Seems YouTube may or not permit you to watch this video from here. I give up...

If it doesn't work., go to https://www.youtube.com/user/LindaAronson​

3. October 2 2021: London Screenwriters Festival Webinar on Nonlinear TV Series Writing

I’m once again teaching online at the London Screenwriters' Festival – the biggest and best of its kind in the world - and thanks to all the attendees last time who voted my session at the LSF the favourite. A big honour! I'm humbled. It's happened a number of times when I've spoken at the LSF, as I rave on about constructing nonlinear TV series and film scripts. I think as writers we're all trying to keep up with the clever story fracturing that's going on in TV series. Fantastic material is being produced. Mind-blowing! Nowadays we're even getting TV series that use several different sorts of nonlinear storyline in the one series.

Last time at the LSF online I spoke about how to construct a five part TV series using the structure of Pulp Fiction. The time before that I spoke in detail about the multiple storyline structure of the TV series Unorthodox, particularly the flashback component.

This time I'm going to do something a bit different. It's entitled

TV Writing Secrets: Constructing Nonlinear and multiple protagonist TV Series

I'm going to do an overview of different types of nonlinear story structures as seen in TV series, mentioning The Serpent, Chernobyl (not the Russian version), Narcos (Colombia seasons) and The Queen's Gambit. Quite often these are using more than one type of nonlinear or multiple storyline/multiple protagonist structure. Here's the blurb. The date is not completely finalised.

Exact time and date to come when I know. Hope you can join me! The LSF is an excellent festival

4. Are you struggling with TV writing?

Practically every day I get letters from people who are either trying to write for TV and getting badly stuck or unsure of whether what they're writing works for TV .

If that sounds like you, the chances are what's holding you up is that you're trying to apply film-writing structure (one hero models), when TV structure is totally different - because it's all about multiple protagonists and multiple storylines and serial structure and lots more.

Here's what I want to tell you – as an old TV writer (a multi-award winning TV writer for what it's worth). It's what I've already told you above, but it bears reiteration.

There are a set of really clever insider techniques that the TV pros use to do all this stuff at speed!

But it's not magic! You can do it!

There's an art to the speed construction and interweaving of multiple protagonists, multiple storylines and serial lines. There are techniques for calculating the ratio of story to screen time, for working within restricted sets and locations. And much more. This is what the pros use.

Don't struggle in the dark getting stuck and wondering what and how and why and going round in circles and trying to apply film writing rules that don't work and don't give you any guidance with multiple storylines, when many TV series will require you to interweave six storylines or more. And not only that, they'll require you to write it at speed and to a budget, which means you need to learn storytelling within limited sets and locations

These nuts and bolts techniques are rarely taught outside of the TV writers' room, but if you want a career in TV you really need to know them. From my decades of experience as writer and teacher, I've created a 14 week in-depth online course for you on my new learning platform – involving lots of practice, which is vital. You have to learn how to apply your knowledge.

Unfortunately, while you can learn a lot about TV writing from quick courses and general talks without practice, I think all experienced TV writers would agree with me that unfortunately, the practical skill of close plotting, breaking a story - the key survival skill - is not among them.

Real World TV Writing Skills runs from August 30- Dec 6 2021. Go to https://onlinecourses.lindaaronson.com/ Scroll down until you come to the course card for Real World TV Writing Skills.

Hope you enjoy this! Let me know if you want any particular topic discussed in a video and I'll see what I can do.

Very best wishes

Linda