During this intensive, ground-breaking week, it was our daily privilege to be led by Emmanuel (and each other), to better series development via his ground-breaking but, crucially, non-prescriptive approach. Emmanuel helped us re-examine our series from multiple angles to enhance the creative punch, audience reach, potential longevity and scope of our projects. The course workbook provoked productive discussions with my script editor and pointed us to solutions that have transformed the series. That workbook also helped to signpost discussions and feedback with the very talented and insightful group of fellow writers. The reading and viewing in advance of the workshop in tandem with the online course elevated my understanding of the mechanics of successful series via concrete examples. Finally it is a mark of a truly visionary and versatile process that so many series wildly diverse in tone and range were demonstrably improved during the week. An unexpected bonus was seeing our abilities to pitch soar. Moving forward with a detailed time-bound action plan for the work now is challenging and also exciting – as we get to see how far we can bring the projects along with these new tools.
Highly recommended to anyone who wants to ‘break’ their series open and learn a new approach to creating work that resonates.