Story Grid Showrunners

Latest Episodes:

04: The Beginning Hook for Killing Eve Nov 21, 2019

Show notes

This week we will discuss the 5 Commandments of the Beginning Hook of Killing Eve. Some things to remember:

3 acts - most stories are made up of 3 acts - BH, MB, EP
5 commandments are present in each act
The Global Life Value - determined by the primary genre of the story
Every core scene turns on the global value

In this case, as we think that Killing Eve is a Thriller, these core scenes should turn on the global values of Life and Death.

What is the Inciting Incident of the Beginning Hook?

The Inciting Incident for the Beginning Hook is the same scene as in episode 1, There is a killer on the loose and they need to solve the crimes.

It’s upending Eve’s life, isn’t it? Eve is interested in studying female assassins and finally on her doorstep arrives this assassination where she thinks it might be a female killer so that’s what motivates her to want to investigate these murders. If it had been a male assassin, she might not be so interested.

So formally, we have Eve Polastri, a MI-5 security manager who has an opportunity to input on a crime which MI-6 is looking into, but she is quickly slapped down, that this isn’t her position.

Does this turn on life and death - hell yeah it does; it begins with this guy having his femoral artery slashed.

This is the perfect setting for this series, I mean, this series is about a psycho assassin and the Inciting Incident is the assassination.

The first 2 episodes are incredibly strong. The further you get into the series, the viewers aren’t disappointed. It becomes more and more complicated.,

The Inciting Incident sets the theme, tone, and mood for the series - people will die, can the protagonist stop her? It’s exactly where you want to be as an author or a screenwriter - you want to tell you your audience this is what this series is about.

And also we see the power difference between the two. Eve is very, very unprofessional. She’s taking croissants to the briefing and making noise, she’s clumsy (she bumps the table, and she’s late to the meeting. And then we have Villanelle, who isn’t making any mistakes.

** For complete Show Notes see www.showrunners.com or www.storygrid.com **

03: The Protagonist on a Mission - Killing Eve Ep2 Nov 14, 2019

Show notes

This week we will discuss the 5 Commandments of episode 2 of Amazon Prime’s Killing Eve.

Inciting Incident

Melanie:

When Eve is fired, her computer files are scrubbed and Carolyn discovers that Eve has independently been putting together a file about assassinations conducted by women killers. As Carolyn asks Eve about those files, Eve tells her she used to study criminal psychology and she’s just a fan of those kind of woman, and that’s something that makes Eve such a great and truthful character. Confronted with the question why, Eve says that this new female assassin has style and is not slowing down and that’s what interested Eve.

Speech in Praise of the villain - end of last episode:

“We think she has been operating for 2 years, highly skilled, across ten countries, and she is starting to show off”.

“She’s outsmarted the smartest of us all, and that’s why she deserves to kill whoever the hell she wants to as long as she’s not killing me”.

The Inciting Incident happens when Carolyn offers Eve a job, because she is just perfect for leading a secret task force dedicated to finding the unknown assassin. Eve is perfect because she is deniable.

Difference in power is evident here as well, because Eve is very inexperienced and has very small assets to bring to play, and Eve is like the perfect assassin with a lot of experience and training, as well as assets from her higher bosses.

This is a Causal Inciting Incident due to the fact that the character Carolyn offers Eve the job.

This inciting incident is really powerful because the viewer has already seen the abilities of the Assassin and the instincts of Eve and they are anticipating a confrontation between the two. This incident places Eve on the direct path to hunt down Villanelle.

Progressive Complications/ Turning Point - Episode 2

...

02. The Assassin and the Detective: Killing Eve Ep1 Nov 07, 2019

Show notes

Review of Episode 1 - "Nice Face"

Some excellent assassinations
A bored MI-5 employee
The Assassin and the hunter meet
As the Spartans would say in the movie 300, it’s a good start

As a quick recap, Villanelle kills an Eastern European Politician/ Human Trafficker but leaves his Polish girlfriend behind as the sole witness. Eve is late to an emergency meeting about this murder and is ordered to protect the girlfriend. Villanelle makes another excellent assassination in Tuscany and is then told that she must kill the girlfriend so as not to leave any witnesses. Eve does some illegal investigating and interviewing with the Polish girlfriend and discovers that her first inclination was correct and the assassin was a woman. And finally, Villanelle, dressed as a nurse, meets Eve briefly in the ladies' bathroom of the hospital where the Polish girlfriend is being held under guard and Villanelle tells Eve to leave her hair down. Villanelle then kills a nurse, all the guards, and the Polish girlfriend (off-screen). Villanelle escapes before anyone knows she was there, and Eve returns from the bathroom to see the massacre. Eve is fired, but Carolyn meets with her briefly to talk about the female assassin.

Introduction to the 5 commandments of Storytelling

This week we will discuss the 5 Commandments of episode 1 of Amazon Prime’s Killing Eve.

These are the five elements that are used to build a scene and should be clearly defined and executed for each scene, each chapter, and each episode.

Inciting Incident, Turning Point/ Progressive Complication, Crisis Question, Climax, Resolution

An inciting incident is the big event scene that kicks off the story. It’s the frisson that the reader/ viewer experiences that excites them.

An Inciting Incident can be either Causal - a result of an active choice by a character, or Coincidental - an event that is unexpected, random, or accidental.

For our complete show notes, check out our website at www.sgshowrunners.com, leave us a comment or question and vote on the next television series we will analyze.

For more information about the Story Grid Methodology (articles, videos, and other resources) check out www.storygrid.com.

01. Intro to Killing Eve: The Ultimate Thriller Nov 01, 2019

Show notes

What is the hype about for Killing Eve?

We discuss that, Genre, and the conventions/ obligatory scenes of a Thriller.

Also, what is your favorite female assassin in films, television, or novels (or even comic books)? Let us know, write us at hello@sgshowrunners.com or visit our webpage at www.sgshowrunner.com.

00. Why we're watching TV shows Oct 28, 2019

Show notes

Welcome to the Story Grid Showrunners Podcast, dedicated to helping writers master their genre.

If you’re writing a book and you want to make it stand out, we can help you.

How? We’ll be watching and analyzing hit TV series using the Story Grid and will help you apply what we’ve learned to your own writing.

Why the Story Grid? There are many templates and schools of thought that can help you self-edit your book. The Story Grid takes many of these concepts, for example, Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey or Kim Hudson’s Virgin’s Promise or Save the cat! Writes a Novel, and allows you to understand why your novel isn’t working.

So what does the Story Grid have to do with TV series?

In the Story Grid Universe, we believe that you can learn from masterworks. At www.storygrid.com you can find resources showing how and why Silence of the Lambs is a classic thriller, and why Pride & Prejudice is still a celebrated love story even though it was published over 150 years ago.

If you want to see films analyzed, go to the Story Grid Editors Roundtable. We love those guys, and they do an awesome job showing how films work.

We are three Story Grid Editors - Parul, Mel, and Randall - and we met while studying under Editor Shawn Coyne. In an ugly business hotel in the wonderful city of Nashville, Tennessee we bonded as we studied together; we analyzed novels, films, songs together. We’re part of a select group of Story Grid geeks who help writers write better stories using the story grid methodology.

When we work with writers we often find ourselves asking them to look up kick-ass TV series. So, for example, if you’re writing a thriller, I might ask you to take a look at the subversive Villanelle in Killing Eve,

In this podcast, we’ll create shortcuts for you.

Each season we will select a TV series and help you understand why it works, episode by episode and overall. We’ll look at the characters and why they’re memorable or not.

If you're writing a novel, screenplay or TV series, our show will help you look at storytelling from an editor's perspective.

We’ll keep our analysis to around 20 to 30 minutes long, so you can pop the kettle on, and get yourself a cup of tea, and join us.

Are there any shows you would like to have analyzed? Drop us a line.

References:

www.sgshowrunners.com

www.storygrid.com

Editor Webpages:

Melanie:

Parul:

Randall: www.randysurles.com

Podcasts:

Story Grid Podcast