I just finished Shonda Rhimes’ “Pitch & Write Stories for Film and TV” course on MasterClass. It’s very beginner-friendly, like most courses on the platform. Actually you don’t even have to be a writer to follow along; it offers a great peek into the story-breaking process and gives you a taste of the writer’s room experience if you’re interested.
Even though some aspects, like the studio system, don’t really apply in Turkey, the section on TV production actually took me down memory lane. I haven’t worked in TV for a while, but my break into the industry came as a staff writer on a show. As you all know, episode durations in Turkey have always been increasing over the years. When I started, episodes were already over 130 minutes long, which meant we had to churn out nearly a hundred-page script every week. It was chaotic, intense, and honestly a bit insane. Fortunately the people I worked with were very experienced, sharp writers. But under those conditions, the quality of our work inevitably suffered from time to time, sometimes to the point that it made me want to crawl out of my skin. Yet, strangely, it was still a satisfying experience.
Imagine coming up with a line of dialogue while boiling eggs for breakfast or strolling through the park, scribbling it down one day. Then just a couple of weeks later, you’d see it coming out of your favorite actor’s mouth on TV. It was quite surreal for me, especially after years of writing unproduced scripts.
And it wasn’t just about the writing—it was empowering overall. When the time between an idea and the final product is that short, it makes you feel like manifesting your thoughts into reality isn’t that hard after all. Like all you really need to do is keep dreaming, if that makes sense.
P.S. Scandal pilot was analyzed in detail as part of the course, and I also found it broken down in Daniel Calvisi’s Story Map – TV Drama. So, Scandal is probably the next pilot I’ll be reading.
A Screenwriter’s Journey 
Leave a comment