Writing in Batches (Patreon)

last night on twitter, Gabe Janisz (a patron on here, hey Gabe!) asked if I write Sublo episodes in batches before getting started on production, and if I find it helpful to do it that way. The short answer is yes to both but I thought it might be good to expand on that here!

I write each whole season all at once, beginning with a bunch of loose  notes that start to cluster together around themes or plots. I usually complete a bunch of shaggy first drafts that are way too long and not that funny. At this point I worry a lot about the episodes and then remember the first draft is just a starting point. Then I hop back and forth between different ones, gradually cutting them down, making them snappier and hopefully funnier. I don't have any set length they all have to be, it kind of varies depending on what the story needs to be. I aim for a variety of lengths, and the upper limit of that keeps growing each season.

I don't initially know how many episodes there will be, but I tend to start more episodes than I finish since some lead to dead ends and there's no network demanding I make X amount of episodes. So if one's really not working, I just archive it and sometimes revisit it next season, or raid it for ideas. But this  upcoming season should be approximately the same length as season 2, maybe a bit longer. Most likely 11 episodes plus some little extra videos.

And yes I do find writing in batches helps a lot, both in the overall balance of the season, and in working on the individual episodes.

Looking at the big picture, it helps me be aware of things like balancing the  characters' screen-time and focus, tracking how often I touch on recurring themes/ story threads/ foreshadowing, how often we revisit key locations,  etc. This will sound very lame but I have a spreadsheet as I'm writing the season which tracks a bunch of things through all the episodes, among them:

-is it set at Subpar (reuse backgrounds!) or around the city

-do Katy, Wubhamer, Tito, Ashley and others appear

-does it focus more on Sublo or Tangy Mustard  (they usually share the spotlight, but in the new season there are a few that focus on one over the other)

-what time of year or weather the story requires, if any

-who 'wins' or 'loses' in the episode

All of this helps determine the order of the episodes, track continuity and story arcs. It can be useful from a  practical production perspective as well as a creative one-- for  instance in season 2, I drew a streetcar interior background for episode 9 extra-wide because I knew I would also need it wider in episode 11.

It's also useful in writing the individual episodes. One obvious way is that I keep a file of bits that have been cut, and if I need to plug a hole in a different episode sometimes I can re-purpose them.

Anyway back to writing for now!