Interview (Part 5): Amy Berg

My Q&A with a top Hollywood TV showrunner.

Amy Berg is a writer and TV producer whose credits include Leverage, Person of Interest, Eureka, Caper, Da Vinci’s Demons, and the current hit STARZ series Counterpart. I crossed paths with Amy several years ago the way many writers do nowadays: via Twitter. In 2017, I reached out to Amy to do an interview and what followed was a months’ long back and forth via email.

Today in Part 5, Amy talks about the hit Starz series Counterpart and the basics of how to break and write a script for an episodic TV series:

Scott: Let’s delve a bit more into Counterpart. What stood out about that pilot script which got you excited to come aboard as a key part of the writing-producing team?

Amy: For starters, I liked that it wasn’t a pilot. It didn’t have any of those paint-by-numbers characteristics you usually see with how the world is set up and how the characters are introduced. It was written as the first act of a movie, or at least that’s how it read. It didn’t give you any answers as to what’s going on. It didn’t explain the science. It didn’t tell you who were the good guys or the bad guys. There was no talk of “parallel dimensions” or any of that. You had to figure it out for yourself.

If course, that was also part of the challenge of turning it into something people wouldn’t turn off. If you watch that first episode, there’s actually a lot more explanation in there that we added that wasn’t in that early draft. There was even a scene I wrote in the car between Howard and Quayle as they’re driving back to the office at the end. We added detail not to codify anyone at the studio or network by offering more exposition but because we thought the details were so juicy they’d even further tease the audience about what they didn’t know. At the same time, it was enough to show them we had the answers even if we weren’t going to give it to them right away.

Scott: The way Counterpart got set up at Starz was somewhat unusual, at least in the way it was reported in the trades, in that the network gave a two season order based on the pilot script. Could you provide some background on how and why that worked out the way it did? What elements about the pilot script and series pitch do you think enticed Starz to make such a strong commitment?

Amy: Starz picked up the show based on a pilot script with JK attached to star and Morten Tyldum attached to direct. The two-season order wasn’t confirmed until after the writers room was convened and Justin and I were able to pitch out the story and character arcs for the first season. We also had two more scripts for them to read and evaluate. Based on the pitch and the additional material, the two season order was a go. At that point we hadn’t shot a single frame.

Scott: While you work primarily in television, if I’m not mistaken, you’ve also written some feature length screenplays. What are some of the chief differences you have discovered in your own writing between writing a script for TV and writing a movie script?

Amy: I’ve done rewrites and polishes on features as a fixer for hire, but I’ve only recently written my first original screenplay. We’re going out with it this spring. It’s definitely a different beast. There’s more rising and falling tension in a television show versus a film where it tends to be a more steady build to the climax. That might be too sexy an explanation, but it’s the best I got.

A way to look at it might be that film is a complete novel whereas episodes of television are individual chapters and the series finale is what completes the story. Every chapter has to have some kind of interesting development or revelation in character or plot to keep the television viewer engaged week to week, whereas in film the audience’s butts are in the seats for the duration so it doesn’t need to be paced in quite the same way.

Scott: Could you describe the process of how a episodic script for a TV series goes from concept to finished draft, from breaking the story to final edit?

Amy: For me the process starts on day one of the writers room. Before a single story card goes up, we start with character. We build what I call a character grid. It’s something I’ve done for every room I’ve run, including Counterpart. The grid usually takes up an entire wall of the writers room and consists of a vertical column with the names of all your characters and then a row at the top with the episode numbers. This allows you to track each character’s arc for the season and it serves as a constant reminder that the entire goal of plot is to service character.

Initially I have my rooms talk in broad strokes about the characters and their trajectories and we usually end up filling up about a third of the grid before we start breaking a single episode.

When we start a story break, we consult the grid to see where our characters are coming from and where they’re going. Then once we’re done breaking an episode, the writer assigned goes off to write an outline and then a draft of the script while the rest of the staff continues onto the next episode’s story break.

I like to have my staff heavily involved in the prep and production of their individual episodes. Not only does it make my life easier, it makes them better producers at the end of the day. They’re in every meeting and running the department-specific meetings that normally I cannot attend. Rarely do they sit with the editors without me in the room, but I welcome their involvement if they want to come along for the learning experience.

Tomorrow in Part 6, Amy answers some writing craft questions.

For Part 1 of the interview, go here.

Part 2, here.

Part 3, here.

Part 4, here.

Follow Amy on Twitter: @bergopolis

For more exclusive Go Into The Story interviews with screenwriters, TV writers, filmmakers, and industry insiders, go here.