Stage 32 8-Part Screenwriting Lab: Mock Writers' Room - Break Story on a Network 1 Hour Procedural Drama

This is a private, interactive virtual lab where you work one-on-one in a mock CSI: CYBER writers' room!

Limited to 10 writers

Interested in a Payment Plan? Email edu@stage32.com

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 is airing it’s 20th season?). The success of shows like CBS’s NCIS and THE 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.

The opportunities are plentiful and the prospects have never been more exciting, but 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 skill set. 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 NETFLIX entitled OBLITERATED. 

Over the course of this intimate eight-week interactive virtual lab, Kate will delve into the craft of the network procedural hour drama and then lead you through a mock CSI: CYBER writers' room, where you will gain experience pitching A, B and C story ideas, breaking the episode on a virtual whiteboard as a group, and then practice pitching acts to the showrunner. What better way to learn than to break the PILOT of a new CSI spinoff? Not only will you experience what it’s like to work in a writers’ room – you will also have hands-on experience breaking the pilot of a TV show. Through both Kate’s lessons and her leading of the writers’ room, you will gain direct, practical and real-world experience that you can take with you as you pursue your own television career.

Praise for Kate

"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.