A Prospectus for the Subject of the Narrative Title Sequence Project
Choose a source for your Narrative Title Sequence Project and answer the following questions in a file on your USB drive (so you will have a copy to keep).

Then, paste your answers into the fields below.

Name


Your Email


1. Title of Series


2. Source of Idea (including URL to some information on the source)

3. Fish Out of Water, Secret Life, or Fundamental Contradiction?
Like many TV-series concepts, your series idea will be based on a primary tension or conflict, which produces either comic situations or dramatic plots? These tensions arise out of a fundamental contradictions in the situation of the hero or the world of the story.
Examples: Hillbillies living in Beverly Hills; an advertising executive whose wife is secretly a witch with magic powers; an agent for the highly regimented, rationalistic FBI investigates supernatural and extraterrestrial phenomenon and "wants to believe."

In a sentence or two, describe this basic tension


4. Genre
Describe the genre of the show and give a couple of examples of actual shows in that genre (current or past)

5. Character Types or Positions
TV series--and stories in general--tend to feature the same character types. These types are products of the relationships of these characters to the hero (and thus to the audience). Note that in a series, rather than a one-time movie concept, relationships among these types are never resolved. Below, examples are given parenthetically from the series Seinfeld.

the Hero(Jerry)

the Buddy(George, Kramer)

the Love Interest (Elaine)

the Antagonist(s)/Blocking or Complicating Character(s)
(Newman, Jerry's parents, George's parents, Jerry's various short-time girlfriends, George's various short-time girlfriends, Soup Nazi, sometimes Kramer, sometimes George, sometimes Elaine).
List one or more "A.B.C." characters below

6. Backstory/Premise: In a short paragraph, give "the premise of the situation describing how the characters came together, the circumstances that hold them together, a description of that world" (see The TV Writer's Vault/Scripted Projects for more)

7. Real Places or Sub-Cultural Universes
Some series feature particular locales or real settings which do everything from providing background texture to generating plot complications to representing the ultimate subject and meaning of the show (Seinfeld/New York City; Dexter/Miami; Beverly Hillbillies, Sopranos/New Jersey).

In a sentence of two, try speculating on the meaning and function of the real-life setting on your series concept or on the reasons for having a generic setting like the middle-class suburbia of The Simpson's Springfield.

8. Log Line:
Try to write a one-sentence summary of your concept.
For example, "A likeable husband's tolerance and marriage is tested by the constant intrusion of his overbearing parents and dim-witted brother" - Everybody Loves Raymond (From The TV Writer's Vault, see also Wikipedia's Log Lines). See also some pitched log lines for movies (not TV series) with a producer's critiques from The Inside Pitch.

9. Any Notes, Questions, Further Comments: