Join us for Understanding TV Structure vs. Features - ISA Connect Webinar w/ Max Timm

 - How to use Max's 12 sequence approach for short-form content
 - Using formula to your advantage
 - Learn how character types fuel episode structure

If you've followed and participated in previous ISA webinars with our Director of Education, Max Timm, you have likely heard him speak of a 12 sequence approach to structure. The problem with the 12 sequence approach is that it doesn't perfectly fit the structure of an episode of television. It is much more nuanced when writing for television compared to writing a 3-Act feature film.

Understanding structure is absolutely critical when developing your projects. It's not because we are supposed to follow a template or formula, but because structure is like the artery system of your story. Characters, flaws, relationships, the inevitable conflict and thus drama all exist within the structural system of your story. This may seem obvious at first glance, but having a full understanding of how to use the sequential order of a story to help you brainstorm your pilot and overall series is not so obvious. It isn't obvious because TV presents so much relativity. In other words, the 5-Act structure of an hour-long drama compared to the 3-Act structure of a half-hour comedy becomes a bit complicated not only when comparing the two as far as general page length, but some half-hour comedies will have a teaser and a tag (like traditional sit-coms). Some hour-long dramas will be strictly procedural and thus the end of the episode has a full resolution, as opposed to something like a Game of Thrones that purposely serializes storylines without a resolution.

There is so much to unpack here, so make sure you join Max and the ISA in this hour-long webinar and help yourself gain a better understanding of how to approach the structure of your own series. More videos posted constantly at https://www.networkisa.org/protips