Learn the Tips of TV Writing and Development from Director Misha Green

By Stephanie Ornelas

During Sundance Collab's recent course on TV writing and development, Sundance Institute's Jandiz Estrada-Cardoso asked director Misha Green to finish this sentence: At the heart of every Misha Green show, you can always expect

And Green's response? Surprise.

That's what I think of when I'm reading, when I'm writing. I always think, How can I surprise myself?' And then hopefully that'll surprise my audience. My hope is that you're not coming to [my show] expecting to know what's happening.

The creator of Underground and Lovecraft Country sat down virtually with Estrada-Cardoso, Director of the Institute's Episodic Program, during Sundance Collab's online course: The Heart of Development with Misha Green. And throughout the webinar, Green talks about her own development process, her experiences with challenging TV executives, and tips for pitching your story.

Walking through the chaotic development process to get from idea to show, Green explains, that's part of the fun of Hollywood. It's the wild, wild West. It's like Olympic hoop-jumping. They'll put a new hoop up or a new hurdle to jump over.

Still, it's important to include network executives as early on in your pitch as possible, according to the director. I think that if you can pitch it, you should. Because a lot of people have ideas and if you want to get it made, you should try to involve them in the process as long as possible. People don't like to have finished [scripts]. They like to be able to say that they worked on this too.

Writers should then be prepared for anything, because any hoop you have to jump through is the next part of the development process. Then you write it, and then you have to write more of it, adds Green.

Looking back at her first show Underground, which she created alongside director Joe Pokaski, the decisions they made weren't easy, but ultimately, those choices kept her story authentic and true to what she wanted it to be.

Neither of us had run a show at that point and they wanted to bring on someone who had, recalls Green. But I said, they're not going to love [the show] as much as I will. I'm going to do all the work anyway.' That was a great first step and a suggestion I would make. Fight to not have a showrunner because that person's agenda is totally different than yours.

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