Screenwriting 101: Mickey Fisher

“I used to never outline in a real way, it was mostly just brainstorming and bullet pointing ideas for scenes and figuring out what the characters wanted until I had enough of a foothold to really sit down and write. I typically wouldn’t start until I knew at least a solid beginning and the end. I won a screenwriting contest early last year that The Writer’s Store sponsored called The Industry Insider Contest, where they pair you with a mentor to write a feature script and my mentor, Kay, had me do extensive outlining. It was really smart the way she went about it and I treated it like it was a studio job, following her notes and really doing the work and it paid off. For the show, we outline every episode, scene by scene, for our producing partners and the network, so I’m in the habit of doing it now. I may eventually crave a more free-wheeling approach again one of these days but for now it helps. Now when I sit down to write the script, I know scene by scene who wants what and why and all the basic questions of the drama.”

— Mickey Fisher (GITS interview, July 11, 2014)