"Master of None" Co-Creator And "Parks and Rec" Writer Alan Yang On Breaking a Story
One term you'll hear a lot in the world of TV writing is "breaking the story." Master of None's Alan Yang breaks down how it's done.
The opening credits on most TV shows often come with a side order of lies. The main offender is the "written-by" credit. It's a suspiciously narrow designation that suggests one or possibly two story-artisans painstakingly handcrafted every plot-point, every turn, and every string of sparkling banter that make up the episode all on their own. Barring some exceptions, what actually happens is an entire writers room full of interlocking personality types forms like a comedy Voltron to pitch and polish ideas until one or two writers have enough material to go off and write up a draft. It's a process that's known as breaking a story, and it is incredibly difficult to do.