Just browsing around – couldn’t help but comment – I remember the guilt with which I first started using a spreadsheet to storyline my new scripts – and then the sneaking realisation that a lot of story editors and other writers did the same – and then, of course, it’s very similar in principle to having a mass of index cards pinned to a corkboard – and much easier to work with.

I ended up developing my own reasonably complex spreadsheet that has slots for all sorts of story beats, act breaks, different character stories – and I’ve used it all all stages of the storylining process, and in between drafts to check everything is in a sensible place – on everything I’ve written since probably 2003. Overall, with the caveat that you are prepared to throw away large chunks of it if you have a better idea, I would strongly recommend some version of this for every writer’s process.

Would be fascinated to see your diagrams of other shows – I bet there is a massive commonality underlying them all.

Personally I’d love to see diagrams of WtD, Silent Witness, Wallander from your point of view. Shorter shows like Hustle, Casualty and Spooks probably also have a kind of base DNA that could be decoded to show their fundamental structure.

I’d never take this approach when writing something completely new but it might be helpful when briefing new writers on these existing shows.

Well no I certainly wouldn’t recommend a diagram of the story as an essential script pre-requisite! But I do think that certain stories – particularly those 2 hour ‘long-form’ TV investigative stories, like Waking The Dead, Silent Witness, Wallander, etc. – lend themselves to this approach, in their tricky combination of regular \ investigative characters, guest \ antagonist characters, serial story elements and complex, gradually unfolding investigative plots. Perhaps my next blog should be story ‘diagrams’ of certain shows, although it may be something of a challenge for my limited computer skills…!

Philip Shelley
http://www.script-consultant.co.uk

Actually, it’s not *that* interesting, but it gets a laugh at parties.

Would you advise writers to create a diagram of their script *before* the first draft, though…?