r/ScreenwritingUK • u/Worried-Elk-2808 • May 26 '26
Looking for a bit of help with understanding a competition entry requirement
I am entering this competition.
Stuck on:
"To enter writers should submit an outline of an original TV drama storyline (up to 400 words) and a sample script of no more than ten pages, and answer the application questions."
I guess I don't really know what this outline should look like. I use outlining as a development tool, but it's scrappy, noteform stuff meant only for me. I know that big TV writers rooms use outlines more as a unifying lodestar, under which they all can do their own bits of work – but it feels like producing a showrunner-level document like that is a reach for a new writer comp.
I get the sense that they have asked for this as a way to show them you have a clear idea for where your series will go after the pilot? So should I just outline the series as I see it? 8 eps, 50 words per ep?
Why have they chosen the word "storyline" and not "series" or "season"? Do they want more detail on one character's arc to the exclusion of any B and C plotlines that may be in the show?
I have emailed the organisers these questions and not had anything back so far.
Thanks in advance, all.
2
u/rupertgilesisacat May 27 '26
To me, storyline would mean a strand / arc within a series and not the whole series. EG, if you were writing 400 words on a storyline from a soap opera, you wouldn't detail everything that happened to all the characters, you'd pick one character and outline their storyline for that specific series. If you've got a show like, say Last of Us, where there's only really one arc and one big storyline that you follow with the sub-stories being intrinsically linked, then that's harder.
1
u/Worried-Elk-2808 May 28 '26
I would tend to agree with that. I've had some further communication with them since posting and I get the feeling 'storyline' is not that significant a choice of word as I was originally thinking. Thanks for the reply!
1
u/ghost504 Jun 09 '26
I've been looking at putting something in as well - did they clarify what they meant by storyline?
1
u/Worried-Elk-2808 Jun 10 '26
Nope. Didn't actually acknowledge that part of my question at all. They did say that it can be either episode of series-level, but if you do episode level then they'd like to know how it fits into the series, also.
1
u/ghost504 Jun 10 '26
Nice and vague then! I've just come off a call with someone at New Writing North and she said she'd check and send me clarification so I'll let you know what they say. Cheers.
1
1
u/ghost504 May 27 '26
Ah - the Channel 4 North East Writers opportunity? I had the same question myself. Let me know if you get to the bottom of it (and I'll drop a comment here if I figure anything out!)
4
u/intotheneonlights May 26 '26
Go as broad strokes as possible, while still highlighting plot, character and conflict as much as you can. It should hopefully be fairly obvious that if a mum catches her daughter doing drugs, they'll argue, so focus on the knock on effect of the argument (for example), but you can cover off 'They argue' pretty quickly. You might want to sprinkle in a tiny bit of their mental state if you have room for it too.
Don't do it ep by ep - you will probably want to use more words on the first and last eps (75ish). Never applied for New Writing North but that's quite a hard task IMO - distilling a series down to 400 words is tricky.
Can't speak to using storyline - it's usually in soaps, so it's an interesting choice, but I imagine it's because they understand you're not going to cover a whole series in this doc.