By Carol Badaracco Padgett
This spring, the Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD) in Midtown Atlanta is slapping the clapperboard without hesitation. Forget the country’s sluggish start to ramp up film and TV production following the resolution of the writers and actors strikes. As part of the university’s TVfest series of programming for students and the public, SCAD partnered with the LA-based Writers Guild Foundation (WGF) to bring a day of scriptwriting wisdom and a world class pop-up library to SCADshow on April 19, 2024, for an event called SCAD TVfest: Screenwriting.
Notably, SCAD TVfest: Screenwriting marked the first time the WGF has brought a collection of pitch decks, show bibles, scripts and episode outlines to the East Coast. The materials are usually archived at the Writers Guild Foundation Library inside the Writers Guild of America West Building in Los Angeles — and available only for viewing in person.
The scripts, pitch decks, show bibles and episode outlines at SCAD included greats like films Barbie – with a signed note from director Greta Gerwig – to Everything Everywhere All at Once and TV shows including “The Sopranos,” “Game of Thrones,” “Black-ish,” “Friends,” “Golden Girls” and “Star Trek.”
SCAD students and the Georgia public soaked it in, with a turnout of more than 400.
In the SCADshow auditorium, WGF Librarian Lauren O’Connor began her presentation with a scene from a famous episode of “Grey’s Anatomy” – known as the bomb in the body cavity episode — just before its act break to a television commercial. Her selection drove home the power of an artful act break (a code black in drama) in bringing back viewers following a commercial break.
“Writers use the WGF Library to learn their craft, and seasoned writers use it to hone their craft,” O’Conner said. Usually in the library and not on the road, O’Connor helps build, archive and showcase a collection of more than 40,000 scripts donated by writers, their families, and studios.
In graphics the width of SCADshow’s big screen, O’Connor illustrated her points, including the structure of a typical sitcom, from 2-5 acts, both single cam and multicam. “Having multiple protagonists gives you enough material to fill up all five acts,” she noted of today’s content.
Many in the audience could relate when O’Connor talked about conventions writers still use from “I Love Lucy” days – the building blocks of what continues to make great television today.
Yet, in the current streaming world, O’Connor asked attendees to consider: “Are act breaks relevant in streaming?” Her SCAD TVfest: Screenwriting presentation provided the answer.
“Amazon has started adding ads, and Hulu too,” O’Connor said of distribution trends, talking about both streamers’ TV program-structured episodic and serialized content. “So now, once again, there are advertisements in these stories, just like the old days,” she said.
“Go back and look at your TV history,” O’Connor told students and the public in attendance at SCADshow. “If you’re developing materials, put the act breaks in your script if a streamer requests it.”
Now that the classic TV format is coming back, budding screenwriters who spent the day in Georgia at SCAD TVfest: Screenwriting got a leg up on the competition. Just in time for even more clapperboards to slap back into action.
Coming up next in the series is SCAD TVfest: True Crime, to be hosted on the Atlanta campus this summer.
