The Third Age

Structuring Volume I

Now that a large chunk of The Third Age is available, I can talk a little bit about the large scale planning and structuring of the season. Laying out the events of the series, and fitting it all together was a process both precise and improvisational. The first season is structured in four major chunks, loosely broken down like this:

-       Episodes 1-3: Introduction of main characters/scenario and establishment of themes

-       Episodes 4-6: Rising Action and introduction of characters (Holly/Alicia) who complicate initial premise

-       Episode 7-10: Establishment of stakes and breakdown into chaos

-       Episodes 11-13: Resolution of Initial Conflicts and…

The story was always broken to some extent. We knew where the major characters would end up, and based on our ideas for Volume II, the end of Volume I always had to happen a certain way. But, the structure of that story wasn’t always there.

At the beginning of the writing process, Jordan and I broke out stories by episode, but as time went on, we moved each storyline forward independently. That meant that we reached a point where we had to sit down and figure out how all our disparate scenes would piece together. In doing so, the goal was both to pace the episodes in a way that spread out the various elements, like trippy scenes or dialogue scenes to ensure that there was enough of each in each episode.

But, I also liked the idea of a unity of feel and focus across episodes and chunks of the show. By having two intercut plotlines that develop independently, you’re invariably going to create some meaning in the way you combine them. In Episode 3, that meant seamlessly segueing from Jerrod Woolf’s story about the vision in Tibet to Milton standing on the bridge, to Morning sensing him through the TV. Connecting the story points gave a unified feel and added more emotion to the moment.

Similarly, in Episode 9, the chaos of the house invasion sequence puts the audience into the shellshocked mindset that Jerrod Woolf has when we see him at his desk in the next scene. The entire episode has a chaotic, out of control feel, even though Jerrod Woolf’s delirium is due to something entirely different.

This is something that could have been done all on the writing side, but I kind of prefer to do it with scenes once they’re shot because you have a better idea of the emotional feel of something. It can help determine color correction and cutting choices if you want to try to link things to each other.

In retrospect, I might have established the stakes of the story a bit earlier, since I know a lot of people said they were confused at the start and some may not have stuck with it. But, I like the mystery, and I think it leads to a great payoff in Episode 7 if you stick with it. It’s a slow build story that gets bigger and bigger until it all collides in the season finale. So, stop by in 10 days to see that collision and how the entire season story arc resolves itself.

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