Stage 32 8-Part Screenwriting Lab: Breaking Story For 1-Hour TV Dramas With An Interactive Mock Writers' Room

In this 8-part writing lab you will experience what it's like to work in a television writers' room while learning from a professional television staff writer who has worked on CASTLE, CSI CYBER, NCIS NOLA, BLINDSPOT, and more!

***Flexible Learning: if you cannot attend any of the sessions live don't worry - you will be sent the links to the recordings of each session within 48 hours of the live session and you will have direct access to Kate on email to ask her any questions so you can keep up at your own pace and schedule.***

Payment plans available - contact edu@stage32.com for details

It's hard enough to break an original story on your own, but how do the professionals do it as a group in a writers' room on an idea someone else created?

Getting to work in a writers' room is the dream for many, but once you're in, the hard work is just beginning. This interactive lab shows you exactly how a writers' room operates by putting you in a mock room to create an episode of the hit series THE ROOKIE: FEDS from scratch as a team.

The hunger for new one-hour drama television series has never been greater. Some industry experts are predicting we may see as many as 1,000 television shows greenlit per year by 2025. Much of the attention in recent years has been on streaming platforms, but it would be foolish to overlook network dramas that continue to not only draw huge crowds, but can stay on the air for many more seasons than their streaming counterparts (can you believe GREY’S ANATOMY has had 19 seasons??). Current ratings for shows like ABC's WILL TRENT, CBS’s EQUALIZER, FOX’s 9-1-1 and NBC’s CHICAGO P.D., CHICAGO FIRE and CHICAGO MED demonstrate just how wildly successful network dramas continue to be. If you’re looking for a long-running and lucrative TV writing career, network dramas could be a powerful opportunity. Now it’s just a matter of breaking in.

If you want to write for network television you need to prove that you have the chops, and this means more than just writing a pilot script by yourself; it means that you can excel in a writers’ room, breaking story with the showrunner and fellow staff writers. TV story breaking is a wholly different process than solo writing and requires a separate skillset. It’s more collaborative, it’s more flexible, and it requires the ability to pitch and defend your ideas. The ability to thrive in a television writers’ room can allow you to find real longevity in your writing career and give you the opportunity to contribute to a lot of exciting new shows coming out of this gold rush.

Kate Sargeant is an accomplished television writer with especially deep experience in network procedural dramas, working on over 100 episodes of network TV on shows like CASTLE, CSI: CYBER, NCIS: NOLA and BLINDSPOT. Most recently, Kate served as a Supervising Producer on a one-hour drama for TBS entitled OBLITERATED. Kate started her career as an actress at the age of eleven, starring as “Emily” in the cult classic film 3 NINJAS, directed by Jon Turteltaub. In addition, Kate created two original comedy series. The first one she wrote, directed, and produced called YOU CAN’T DO THAT ON THE INTERNET about our obsession with social media. The second series, VIRTUALLY SINGLE, is currently streaming on YouTube and is about a newly divorced single mom dipping her toe in the treacherous online dating pool for the first time in a decade.

Over the course of this intimate 8-week workshop, Kate will delve into the craft of the network one-hour drama and then lead the class through a mock writers' room for the hit ABC SERIES THE ROOKIE:FEDS.

Students will gain experience pitching A, B and C story ideas for THE ROOKIE: FEDS, breaking the episode on a virtual whiteboard as a group, and then practice pitching acts to the showrunner. Through both Kate’s lessons and her leading of this mock writers’ room, you will gain direct, practical and real-world experience that you can take with you as you pursue your own television writing career.

Praise For Kate's Previous Stage 32 Courses:

"What a unique and rewarding experience to live the life of a writer on a show. I was always curious how writers' rooms worked and now I not only know, but feel that my writing has drastically improved as a result of this lab. Thanks, Kate!" -- Samuel S

"I've taken a lot of screenwriting courses and workshops but have never experienced anything quite this fulfilling. Kate's instruction is top notch." -- Sabrina R.

"I wish I could do this as a career! I loved being in the mock writers' room and feel that this lab really set me up to pursue the career I've always dreamed of." -- Morgan M.