Wow, talk about lots of questions....

1/ Going in to a new episode how do you decide what the B plot will be? Do
you write the B plot concurrent with the A? (The two plots often seem to
contain thematic counterpoint.)

In breaking out the season in advance, I have a selection of arc stories
and non arc stories worked out. (In his Starlog interview, Larry
DiTillio, prior story editor on the show, mentions going through the lists
of stories I make up each season.) In looking them over, it's easy to
know which are A stories and which are B stories by the relative size of
the story and how much time would be required to tell it. A lot of time =
A story, less = B story. If a story is strong enough that it doesn't need
a B story, it's left alone. If, on the other hand, it's a bit slim, or if
I want to do more of a slice-of-life episode, then I pull in a B story.

Once I've decieded this, I look for a B story that's an interesting
counterpoint to the A story; if A is very dark, B tends to be lighter.
Sometimes I try and come up with a dramatic counterpoint or ironic or
thematically similar sub-story.

Once this is done, I write both at the same time, much as you see it,
right through, going from one to the other, not writing them separately.
I need to do this to be able to feel the flow of the story, where the
segues are, and to create counterpoint and tension. It needs a certain
kind of rhythm, and if you write them separately you won't get that.

2/ You say that you play out a scenario in your head before putting
fingers to keyboard. How much of an episode do you tend to picture before
writing anything?

Quite a lot of it, actually. Once I know the basic story, I cue the
"video" up in my head and start playing it over and over, gradually
becoming able to see the images more and more clearly, filling in the
blanks between scenes and the like. Once I know where all the pieces go,
I begin writing. (On some occasions, as a writing test, I'll launch in
with just a general sense of where I want to go and charge through it for
the adrenalin rush...sort of like an acrobat performing without a net.
This works particularly well when I know the episode is going to contain
surprises, or should have a sense of immediacy that sometimes can diminish
if you think about it too much in advance.)

3/ Is it purely experience that allows you to develop a script that will
fit within the time frame of each episode?

Yeah, it's just doing it. I almost never look at the page count as I
write, it's just a matter of *feeling* it, knowing how much time is
passing, and when you should begin racing toward the climax. Sometimes I'm
a few pages over, but usually I can nail it spot on.

4/ What percentage of time - roughly - is spent in the head, writing the
script itself and revising afterwards?

Hard to say. I have them on a back burner as I'm doing other stuff,
waiting to go on script #whatever. Even though I'm not consciously
working on them, I know that subconsciously it's bubbling away. Once I
start actually typing, I can finish a script in anywhere from 3-4 days (if
I'm in white heat over the story, in which case my door is locked and
nobody DARES bother me) to 10 days. Revisions take only a few days,
mainly for production purposes.

5/ When writing a script you must be roughly aware of where the ad breaks
will be; do you initially ignore these or do you write to fit them?

No, you need to write to the act breaks so that you end each act on a
hook; again you need to have that sense of how the acts flow at top and
bottom.

6/ Is there a writer's term for the coda that completes each episode?

It's called a tag.


jms