Christopher R. Hazenbush: Producer, creative executive and development coordinator in Los Angeles, California.

Hello @All. I signed up but cannot join live due to being extremely busy at work in UK. I have missed two lessons so far and tried to download them on Catch Up but could not find the email link in in box. There is two weeks left and it would be great if I could see footage so far so I can bombard Chris with Email questions but it's looking like I may not get access to all the lessons until after the 4 weeks. Still, better late than never. I can be the ghost in the room this Sunday!

HI UPDATE TO MY PREVIOUS POSTS. I signed up for classes but unfortunately I have work in UK & unable to attend live zooms but will be emailing you C.R in due course. I missed last Sunday's session, next masterclass is tomorrow, meantime I'm trying to download on demand so I can compile questions. Catch up with you all in Procedurals later! Subject is intriguing. I'll keep checking my email but looks like I need wait for classes to finish before accessing as a package.

Hey everyone! I recently posted on the Stage 32 Blog about why you should write for a procedural TV series - https://www.stage32.com/blog/top-3-reasons-you-should-write-for-a-procedural-tv-series-3133

If you're interested in trying out this format, I'm teaching a class on it starting this Sun 10/16 - see you there!

Thanks for a great article Chris - I think procedural shows are serialized shows or have a serial element to them rather than just being one or the other. The Disney/ABC series 'The Rookie' I do believe started out as a procedural but now is more serial especially as it relates to the character growth over a period of episodes as they are focusing more on the ensemble casts arcs rather than an actual case each episode it seems. Whereas the new Law & Order with Sam Waterson is more of a strict Procedural - episodic not really diving into character's arcs or goals outside of the case at hand. Would love to hear your thoughts on my assessment. Thank you for offering the class. I look forward to being in your class and learning lots of amazing gems as I write a serialized procedural which is not a law or cop series. Have a fantastic day!

Very interesting read thanks. My take home is there is less long term "Plot Pressure" with procedurals due to the closed ended story in each episode. (Unlike hybrid type where there may be one big ongoing plot throughout and closed ended sub plots each episode.) Most I've seen are Medicine or Police related EG Law and order or over here in UK Wire In The Blood, Inspector George Gently. Regards to writing a pilot for a procedural I'm thinking a Non Premise type where we jump straight into the character's world as opposed to a Premise pilot, the beginning of everything for ongoing main plot and the reason for everything that happens afterwards. But guess I need take class. Cool any writer accepted may have personal input in a big show. Grey's Anatomy was pitched as Sex In The Surgery.

I love this! I always encourage writers in my own pilot and pitch labs not to shy away from procedurals. I find that sometimes they feel this pressure to write serialized streaming shows, when their idea clearly lends itself to a broadcast procedural and they need convincing that this is still a viable format. I'd also add the rise of AVOD right now, which I think is going to fuel a huge demand for procedurals! I feel like this is broadcast, part two the revenge. I'd love to connect sometime if you feel like it and share some ideas. :)

Love it!

Really insightful blog, Christopher. I’m more of a feature writer, but I bookmarked your blog to come back to if I write a procedural show. You’ve worked on some big shows. Congratulations! I don’t think procedurals are going anywhere. I actually think we’re going to see more procedural shows get made, especially since shows like “Chicago P.D.” "Chicago Fire," "Chicago Med," and “Abbott Elementary” are doing so well. P.S. “Chicago P.D.” and “Abbott Elementary” are two of my favorite procedural shows.

Hey everyone! Check out the Stage 32 Blog for a short article I wrote about why you should write for a procedural TV series - https://www.stage32.com/blog/top-3-reasons-you-should-write-for-a-proced....

If you're interested in trying out this format, I'm teaching a class on it in two weeks - see you there!

Great article, Christopher. There's one other aspect of procedurals that is worth mentioning: they translate well to a world market and, therefore, have a longevity that many character-centric stories that are not stand-alone do not have. My "day job" when I'm not writing is I am a composer and one of my credits is Cold Case which ran for seven seasons. Despite being off the air for over a decade now, thanks to ASCAP it still pays a bigger piece of my bills than anything else I've ever written including the theme to Resident Evil Biohazard and the KitKat Gimme A Break jingle. Almost all of the Cold Case income now comes from markets outside the U.S.

Spot on, Chris! I also feel like even streaming serialized shows have a procedural element involved, at least at first. Like The Witcher has a “monster of the week,” and House of Cards had a set piece event that the single event would revolve around usually (which is similar to Gossip Girl’s party-of-the-week format). So even serialized shows benefit from a little bit of procedural

As someone who consumes a lot of television, episodic series are very satisfying as a viewer. Watching characters change (for better & worse) and seeing the pay-off from beginning to end is what keeps me engaged. My range goes from The West Wing to The Office, so I'm in it for the long haul!! To all you writers out there - get to it!! :)

Hi Christopher. I'm RB, co-founder and CEO of Stage 32. As an actor, screenwriter, and filmmaker, I know first-hand the challenges all creatives face finding work and attracting attention to their projects. That's why we created Stage 32. Since our launch in September of 2011, the community has grown to 90,000+ members strong spanning 180+ countries making Stage 32 the social network uniquely populated with the most creative people on Earth. This is a network for you, built by you. Like most things in life, the more you participate, the greater the rewards. We ask all new members pay it forward and invite at least 5 fellow creatives and to spread the word of Stage 32 through other social media sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. You can also invite fellow creatives through the site by using the "Send Stage 32 Invites..." button on the upper right side of your profile. The more creatives, the stronger the network. The stronger the network, the more opportunities. Thanks for joining the movement and for being a part of this most talented and inspiring community. PS - Please take a moment to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter at @Stage32online.

Hey Christopher, I'm the CTO and lead developer at Stage 32. Please let me know if you have any questions or feedback about the site. I'd love to hear your comments! To get started with Stage 32 and understand all the features and resources the site has to offer, please check out the Getting Started section and our FAQ.