The Series Development Bible (v2)

For anyone setting out to write and develop a long-form episodic project - be it TV or WebTV - the Series Bible is the mythical document that is the heart of such endeavours. But as anyone who has ever gone looking for examples of series bibles can attest, the diversity, range and variation in what might constitute a series bible makes such examples very far from consistent. Unlike a screenplay lay-out, the series bible has no set form or format. Each bible for a series is in effect a direct response to the needs of the unique story-world. Thus the bible for a show like Battlestar Galactica is decidedly different to that of The Wire as the story-worlds of these two shows have very different demands. 

I previously created an annotated Celtx project template for developing a series bible and it proved to be rather popular. So i have updated the document and re-uploaded it for all who want a firm platform on which to build their series.

It’s important to recognise that there are different kinds of series bibles, commonly there are two: the Pitch Bible - a document used to ‘sell’ the show to producers, networks and financiers; and the Production Bible - which is more generally a compendium generated over time with the series documenting facts, plots and character elements to ensure that staff-writers have a reference for future episodes. The former is commonly submitted along with a pilot episode script to give a sense of where a series might head as it develops or to map out the larger narrative and episodic archs over a season. The later is something that develops over time with a long-running series as it is in production.

What I am proposing with this template is a more clearly defined third kind of series bible; the Development Bible. The purpose of this is for the bible to serve as an effective writing and project development tool. Certainly parts of the Dev Bible might become part of the pitch and indeed it may also serve to guide writers of a series into the future when a show is in production, but its primary purpose is to give the creator of the show a firm structure and platform to flesh out story-worlds, natural dynamics, characters and story-archs in a way that will feed the series scripts.

The guiding principle of the Series Development Bible is WORLD FIRST, THEN PLOT. If you set out to write a series by writing an Plot, you will invaribly fail. It’s like building an engine without a fuel tank. In long-form storytelling Plot is what happens when the conditions, rules and pressures of the StoryWorld combust in a pressure cooker. If you get the story-world right then plot will flow. If you write plot on a thin or under-developed storyworld, your series will be brittle and unsustainable.

You can download the Series Bible Development Guide from the link below. Inside it contains instructions on how to use the and follow the annotations, sections and catalog. Any thoughts, comments, suggestions are welcome. 

- Series Bible Development Guide v2 Celtx Project - (right+click, ‘download linked file as’ or ‘save file as’)

Comments

[Terence]

Thanks for creating this!!!

[Mike Jones]

No worries Terrance. I'm currency working on a new book on episodic series writing and development and this is the short version of a much more detailed approach to story world development.

[Chris]

I am very new to celtx. I can open the bible in Celtx but can save it so that appears in the programme when I open it?

[Mike Jones]

The template is simply an ordinary project file - only it has sections already created and annotated ready for u to flesh out. So just download it, double click to open, read the instructions and intro - then you can rename, resave and use as u see fit.

[David]

I am new to celtx and also own a Mac. Is the programme Mac compatible, as I can't seem to open it?

[Mike Jones]

Yes Celtx is entirely cross platform - mac, windows, linux. Download Cektx from www.celtx.com and then open the series bible project file. Its all very simple.

[Brad Tollefson]

Thanks again for another incredible tool, Mike. Please tell us more about your coming book, and how it might work into the v3 of this SB Dev Tool. And no, Mike's mom didn't pay me to write this.

[Moses]

Hello, I love this idea. Thanks so much.

I have downloaded the file but it ends in .XML and will not open with Celtx. What can I do.

Thank you

[Mike Jones]

Thanks Moses. Sounds like your computer is mis-interpreting the file, but its a simple fix. Just rename *.xml to *.celtx and it should be fine.

Mike

[Chris]

Mike,
Thanks for creating this template. I'm not able to open the file even though it downloaded as a Celtx document, so my problem isn't exactly the same as Moses. Any thoughts?
Thanks.
Chris

[Moses]

What I get is Celtx error: " Could not open project selected."
And
Celtx version: 2.9.1
Locale: en-US
OS: WINNT x86-msvc
Exception: Project file must be a .rdf file

Stack:
JS frame :: chrome://celtx/content/celtx.js :: loadProject :: line 519
JS frame :: chrome://celtx/content/celtx.js :: anonymous :: line 105

Thanks

[Mike Jones]

Thanks for the post. I've checked the file and it's fine at my end and I've tested the download. So can only assume its something wrong at your end. Check u have the latest version of celtx and that the suffix of the project file is .celtx. I'll chase up with the celtx Devs and see what's up.

Cheers
Mike

[Moses]

Yes, I got it working with changing the suffix from *.xml to *.celtx. THis site helpped. http://www.mediacollege.com/microsoft/windows/extension-change.html

THank you so much for the template and the help.

[Mike Jones]

No worries Moses. Windows sometimes misinterprets the files as an XML (because they're XML based). Suffix change and all good. Hope u find the template a useful tool.

Mike