Storytelling - The Collaborative Model

How to write series together: from the US Writers’ Room to European models of collaboration.

High-end series have become a driving force of the European audiovisual market, and with them the way stories are developed is changing. Collaborative writing, long established in the US through the Writers’ Room, is increasingly being adopted by European producers and broadcasters. Yet it cannot simply be copied: production structures, financing, broadcaster relationships and creative traditions differ considerably on this side of the Atlantic.

This eTraining introduces the art of serial writing and explains how the US Writers’ Room works: how teams are put together, how the room operates day to day and what it takes to thrive in it. It then explores how these creative principles can be adapted to European realities, looking at different models of collaboration and at the development process from concept to pilot. Case studies from the industry show how these approaches play out in practice.