Jesse Armstrong is the key writer and creator of the often-starling HBO series “Succession.”
But being the key writer doesn’t mean being the only writer. Like most episodic television, “Succession” brings together dozens of writers and consultants for each season.
The writers’ room is where they come together to write and weave each episode into a greater whole that will keep you riveted to the screen rather than side-scrolling social media. Keep you in a state of flow where cortisol and dopamine dance across your synapses for hour upon hour.
It’s magic. Not metaphorically, or allegorically. It’s literally magic. The writers design and conjure plot points and story arcs and action and dialogue out of thin air that actors (along with other cast and crew) bring to life before your eyes on a screen.
You know what else shares that screen? Your website, your app, your online whatever. All competing for the same pixels, the same attention.
Why wouldn’t you use the same processes, the same tools to capture and hold attention. Starting with the writers’ room.
Take a leaf (whiteboard?) out of “Succession”. For Season Three, the show employed ten staff writers, half British and half American. Unusual for a comedy, there’s a roughly equal proportion of men to women.
There’s no clock in the writers’ room. Plenty of whiteboards to chart each character’s development episode by episode. Plenty of talk and arguments and truths snatched high and low.
Imagine writing a website like this. Plenty of talent writing the emotions into play that will pay off with the call to action.
Deepening themes and providing resonance and broadening connection.
Imagine a website just as captivating as your favorite show.