Tweetstorm: Matthew Federman on Breaking Story

Advice on the story prep process from TV writer, producer, and co-creator of the series Blood & Treasure.

Matthew Federman is a writer and TV producer whose credits include Jericho, Limitless, and Blood & Treasure. Recently, he posted a series of tweets about the ins and outs of what Hollywood writers call ‘breaking story,’ straight from the front lines of a writers room. Reprinted here by permission.

41) Darkness is only perceived when counterpointed with light and vice versa. Juxtaposing organic humor with dark moments (and the reverse) brings both into stark relief and gives scenes and stories a sense of reality. Life doesn’t artificially separate comedy and drama.

Much, much to ingest from this thread with the promise of it continuing to grow over time, but let me zero in on the most succinct tweet in the thread:

If the story doesn’t work, the spectacle doesn’t matter.

Aristotle couldn’t have said it better. If a writer focuses on the pop and sizzle of a project’s action and doesn’t pay at least as much or more attention to the overall story, that’s a big problem. Of the six elements of drama, Aristotle in “Poetics” puts spectacle last on the list. Character… Plot… Theme… all more important. Why? Because that’s what creates an emotional and psychological context for the viewer to experience spectacle in a way that actually means something.

Here is a trailer for Blood & Treasure:

Official Series Website

Twitter: @TreasureCBS, @matthewfederman.

If you subscribe to Amazon Prime, you can see Season 1 of Blood & Treasure here.

Thanks to Matthew Federman for taking time to create this awesome list about breaking story.

For dozens more screenwriting tweetstorms, go here.