The scripting secrets of a successful miniseries

TV movies and miniseries have revolutionized the television schedule in recent years, reaching million-dollar audiences in prime time. What are the scriptwriting keys to turning a miniseries into a success?

On Monday the 19th the last episode of My Gypsy, the miniseries that Telecinco has produced about the turbulent life of Isabel Pantoja since she became the Widow of Spain, after the death of Paquirri, until today.

The two previous broadcasts of My Gypsy, have resulted in two resounding audience successes, captivating more than 4 million viewers and delivering a share of more than 20%, a milestone in these times of hyperfragmentation of the audience, which confirms a trend that Antena 3 began years ago with The punishment, one of the first miniseries that triumphed in style on the prime time grid and that marked the starting signal for many others, among which stand out 23-F: The King's most difficult day, The Duchess, A burka for love or the most recent The angel of Budapest, Tarancón: The fifth commandment o Tita Cervera: The Baroness.

Obviously between The punishment y My Gypsy, there are very marked differences in terms of style, intention and content, but all of the aforementioned share several characteristics inherent to the genre: they recreate the lives of popular coated paper characters, historical figures, shocking events or great historical moments, they seek to easily connect with the viewer and appeal to the collective memory. However, the differences are many and the keys to the success of a TV movie/miniseries begin, as in almost all audiovisual works, with the script.

Taking advantage of the success of My Gypsy, the Galician Association of Screenwriters has invited its screenwriters, Carmen Pombero and Antonio Hernández Centeno (authors of other miniseries such as The Duchess o Paquirri) to teach a Master Class on the Script of TV movies and miniseries, which will take place at the SGAE headquarters in Santiago de Compostela from 4:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. next Friday, March 23, in which the common characteristics of the most successful miniseries will be analyzed, the difficulties that creators face when approaching the script of a miniseries about a popular character (possible lawsuits, complaints, the limits of what it can and cannot be told, or it should or should not be told...), the complexities of the documentation processes, the impositions of the editorial line of the television networks, in short, how to write a miniseries or tvmovie script.