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TV Drama 3

Online Apr 30, May 7, May 14, May 21, May 28, Jun 4, Jun 11, Jun 18 (8 Wednesday Evenings)6:00pm - 9:00pm Pacific$9651 Spot Left

3 Spots Left

Prereq: Successful completion of TV 2, TV Drama 2 at Writing Pad (no exceptions unless you are a professional TV writer).

In this class, you’ll learn how to focus your story, trim the fat, tighten your dialogue and sharpen your action.

You’ll also learn how applying theme to your pilot will elevate your work and get you closer to the impeccable pilot script, which will advance your career. Successful writing partners John Herrera and Nina Fiore (The Handmaid’s Tale) will also show you how to introduce your characters, write that killer opening scene and with a little elbow grease, turn your first draft into literary gold.

Note: For TV certificate program members, this class can be taken in lieu of 1 private script consult.

409 padders have been staffed & 185 won fellowships at ABC, Fox, CBS and NBC after taking our TV classes.

Prerequisites: Successful completion of TV 2, TV Drama 2, TV Comedy 2 at Writing Pad (no exceptions) or if you have sold a pilot or written on a TV show, you can take this class.

John Herrera

(Co-EP, The Handmaid’s Tale, 4 pilots)

John Herrera is an Emmy-nominated writer and Co-EP on Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale (all seasons) where he collaborates with writing partner, Nina Fiore. John and Nina wrote on Bloom, a new show for Netflix that will be coming soon, and they have also worked together on USA’s The Purge, Syfy’s Nightflyers, Blood Drive, Alphas, and Eureka. Additionally, they have sold their pilots Players and Dante’s Inferno (the latter co-written with Ethan Reiff & Cyrus Voris) to CW and Freeform, respectively, and an adaptation of Melissa Lenhardt’s genre-bending, feminist western novel, Heresy, with MGM. John also co-wrote the movie Nancy Drew and The Hidden Staircase for Warner Brothers and is currently adapting a true-life feature story about the latter days of the Bosnian-Serb conflict of the 1990’s. Before becoming a TV writer, John was a script coordinator on Eureka, Californication, and Sleeper Cell. MORE

“John is fantastic. He treated newbies and those with experience with the same interest and respect for their work. He shares his experience with examples of his past shows which makes beat sheet expectations clear and understandable. It's evident he's an amazing writer because he's like a laser beam to the issues in the beat sheets and offers a clever, funny or perfect solution to fix them. ”
“John did a great job at helping us dissect our beat sheets and gave us excellent and informative feedback on areas of improvement. His feedback is invaluable.”
“Very thorough and supportive, spent extra time to make sure he could give thoughtful and specific advice.”
“He kept it real. I love his no bullshit approach about advice and what the business is like and how hard it is. No sugar coating but at the same time kind and realistically encouraging.”
“John listened and gave concrete guidance and supportive feedback. Really created a safe environment for us to share.”
“They clearly broke down the basic elements of what are needed in a pitch deck, then modeled what it would be like to present one. John and Nina also listened thoughtfully to all pitches/decks presented and offered excellent feedback and suggestions in a very positive and encouraging manner.”
“The whole experience was wonderful: the material they so generously gave us before and during class, the opportunity to pitch to them, and their feedback - it was all invaluable.”

Nina Fiore

(Co-EP, The Handmaid’s Tale, 4 pilots)

Nina Fiore is an Emmy-nominated writer and Co-EP on Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale (all seasons) where she collaborates with writing partner, John Herrera. Nina and John wrote on Bloom, a new show for Netflix that will be coming soon. She and John have also worked on USA’s The Purge, Syfy’s Nightflyers, Blood Drive, Alphas, and Eureka. Additionally, Nina and John have sold their pilots Players and Dante’s Inferno (the latter co-written with Ethan Reiff & Cyrus Voris) to CW and Freeform, respectively, and an adaptation of Melissa Lenhardt’s genre-bending, feminist western novel, Heresy, with MGM. Nina also co-wrote the movie Nancy Drew and The Hidden Staircase for Warner Brothers and is currently adapting a true-life feature story about the latter days of the Bosnian-Serb conflict of the 1990’s. Before becoming a TV writer, Nina was a script coordinator and writer’s assistant on Eureka, Sleeper Cell, The L Word. Born in the Bronx to a Puerto Rican mother and a Sicilian father, Nina spent most of her formative years surrounded by an excess of personality. MORE

“Nina gave useful feedback on my beat sheet and clearly knows a lot of great and valuable information on TV writing. She was also often funny.”
“Nina is very compassionate, kind, empathetic, and thoughtful. Being a working writer, she comes with experience and insight that is very beneficial. She is very approachable and pays attention to each student as they share their ideas.”
“She was amazing at keeping things positive and providing great feedback. She always made sure we were comfortable with feedback and notes.”
“Nina knows how to get to the heart of a concept and makes great suggestions to elevate it, without ego. She knows the writer might take a different approach. Also, she has been incredibly open with her own experiences. She's very encouraging.”
“BRILLIANT! Nina is best ever at breaking things down and communicating it to you effectively. I learned more from her than I have from all the other projects I've done.”
“Both John & Nina were so great at sharing their own real world experiences and being open and honest about the entire experience of making a great pitch & pitch deck and what it is like to be in the room. I learned so much about how to improve and move forward with my project. They give great insight, suggestions, and ideas. I'd love to learn more from them in the future.”
“Nina has an amazing ability to get you out of your head and your story onto a complete beat sheet in 5 weeks! She knew where the cracks and weaknesses were, and gave smart coaching on how to fix them. She's just awesome!”
“They clearly broke down the basic elements of what are needed in a pitch deck, then modeled what it would be like to present one. John and Nina also listened thoughtfully to all pitches/decks presented and offered excellent feedback and suggestions in a very positive and encouraging manner.”
“She is exceptional at honing in on elements of your story that need addressing. I didn’t agree with her suggestions all the time but absolutely agreed and appreciated the element itself being pointed out.”
“The whole experience was wonderful: the material they so generously gave us before and during class, the opportunity to pitch to them, and their feedback - it was all invaluable.”
“She helped me figure out what questions I needed to answer to make the show work and how to be able to do that on my own if I hit speed bumps along the way.”
“John & Nina provided a lot of great input on my pilot that will help me immensely. They were direct while also being kind.”
“Nina is awesome! She taught us how to write a pilot from beat sheet to outline to script. It was an amazing process. I feel I had tremendous growth in this class. I am extremely grateful for Nina, her teaching style, and Writing Pad. ”

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