Shotwright

Plan the channel
like a show.

Show bible, episode plans, recurring shot conventions. Stop reinventing the format every week, and stop losing the Notion tab.

The show
off the map. a doc-series about infrastructure that failed: a drowned town, a highway to nowhere, an unfinished subway. one ruin per episode.
The format
cold open at the site. archival history. why it failed. drone sign-off. same shape every week.
The engine
there are hundreds of these. the show never runs out. each one is a different kind of mistake.
✦ Show Bible
Off the Map
Every week, one piece of infrastructure that was built, abandoned, and left behind, walked through on site and traced back to the decision that doomed it.
The engine
Hundreds of ruins, one per episode. Each a different kind of failure, so the format never repeats itself.
The format
Cold open on site, the archival turn, what it cost, the drone sign-off. Recurring every episode.

Three steps. Then you are ready to shoot.

Build the show bible

Format, voice, recurring segments, opener, sign-off: the bible lives on the canvas. Every episode references it.

✦ Show Bible
Off the Map
The world
The format
The slate

Plan each episode

A folder per episode holds the hook, beats, background footage, and references. The shot list inherits the recurring shots, so new episodes start ahead of zero.

A folder per episode
The Drowned Town
12 refs · shot list
Highway 9
8 refs · script
The Unfinished Line
15 refs
The Dam That Never Filled
outline

Hand it to the editor

The editor opens one folder and finds the plan, the references, and the shot list in one place.

The Drowned Town — ep. 04
ref_01Spire above the water
ref_02Reservoir, low light
Cold open
The church spire breaking the surface.
Recurring
The then / now dissolve.
✦ Shot list

A show bible and an episode plan the team can run from.

Two documents, one canvas. The channel stops being a one-person memory and starts being a team asset.

Show Bible

Off the Map

Every week, one piece of infrastructure that was built, abandoned, and left behind, walked through on site and traced back to the decision that doomed it.

The show

Off the Map is about the things we built and walked away from. Every episode is one site: a town under a reservoir, a six-lane highway that ends in a field, a subway tunnel that never saw a train. We go there, we walk it, and we find out who decided this and why it failed.

It has the rhythm of a good essay. Cold open standing in the ruin. Then the archival turn, how it was sold, who believed in it. Then the cost. Then a drone pulls back and the place goes quiet again.

The engine

There are hundreds of these places, and they keep being made. That is the engine: every episode is a different kind of mistake, so the format holds without repeating. Season one is ten sites we already have access to. Season two is the same show, a new map.

The format, every week

Cold open on site. The archival turn. What it cost, in money and in people. The drone sign-off. The shape is the promise: the audience knows the ride, the location is always new.

Format
18 to 24 minutes. One site per episode. Weekly.
Episodes
Season one: ten sites, access already secured. Pilot is The Drowned Town.
Tone
Curious, not ghoulish. Atlas Obscura with a structural argument. We mourn the ambition, not just the ruin.
Look
Drone and on-foot, archival stills, one recurring then / now dissolve. A cold, clean grade.
Season one
  • 01The Drowned Town, a village under a reservoir, its spire still breaking the surface.
  • 02Highway 9, six lanes that end in a field, and the town that bet on the exit.
  • 03The Unfinished Line, a subway tunnel that never saw a train.
  • 04The Dam That Never Filled, a valley cleared for water that never came.
Off the Map · Show Bible1 / 10

Keep going.

Video podcasts
Recurring multi-cam shows with set conventions.
Documentaries
Long-form story planning at series scale.
Folders
A folder per episode, with its own canvas.

Your next project starts on a canvas.