We’ve spent the last 12 weeks in a writers’ room of 29 people, which is about three times the size of what I though it’d be. But our size turned out to be our strength; using our individual experiences and ideas, we combined to chip in and create a story that is so compelling and full of heart. For our pitch deck, I decided to join the group in charge of introducing our show. This involved explaining the show’s format, audience, logline, and story. It was our job to set the tone for the show, which we did rather well, I think.
For our final work, we were given an exciting opportunity to complete a draft script of a section of the pilot individually. I decided to take on creating a version of the first segment, which involved introducing the beloved characters Josh and Mercedes, as well as a handful of the Behind Bars supporting cast. I found myself rereading my script at multiple points to ensure I was creating a start to a pilot that would grab my attention as an audience member. I ended up jumping the gun quite early, finishing my first draft script before we could finalise the scenes as a collective – which I maintain I did not know we were going to do. With a sigh and maybe like, one tear rolling down my cheek, I set off to work on my drastically changed second draft, trying as hard as I could to infuse this new script with my renewed grasp on our characters and the now more rigid plot structure.
I absolutely loved the feeling of getting into the swing of a script; every single epiphany I reached in creating the dialogue felt so satisfying. The most meaningful thing I got out of this final work was the feedback I received; the learning moments during the workshopping of my script were so invaluable and have allowed me to make sense of what a good script should look and read like. I’d like to Drop the Pilot for you— well at least, drop a screenshot or two of my script for the first section of Behind Bars’ pilot.