This essay was written by lower-sixth former Ronan Lenane, and shortlisted for the 2020 Fifth Form Transitional Research Project. The following provides a short abstract to the full essay, which can be found at the bottom.
Estimated read time of abstract: 1 minute
Estimated read time of essay: 45-60 minutes
In this piece I wrote a 60-minute comedy TV pilot for the Fifth Form Independent Research Project.
The pilot is written in the style of an anthology, following four central characters whos paths all cross by the end of episode one, after a series of bizarre and interconnected events. The pilot takes cues from shows like ‘Between two ferns’, ‘That Mitchell and Webb Look’ and ‘What We Do in the Shadows’.
As part of my preparation for this project, I read books on screenwriting and listened to interviews with accomplished screenwriters such as Aaron Sorkin. In addition to this, I investigated classical approaches to drama- such as Aristotle’s Poetics. My research for the content of each section of the pilot consisted largely of watching movies and TV that were thematically or tonally similar to the scenes I was writing. For example, for the Noire section I rewatched films like Chinatown and Sunset Boulevard, taking note of the genre conventions and key stylistic effects in order to imitate them.
I wrote this Pilot due to a personal interest in creative writing, specifically for Film and TV, and thought it would be an interesting challenge to attempt during quarantine.
To view Ronan’s full script and documentation of process, follow this links below.
The Unchained Library 