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package/templates/skills/screenwriter/knowledge/categories/series/formats/flashback-episode.md

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+# Flashback Episode — Series Format
+
+> Episode that takes place primarily or entirely in the past. Reveals backstory affecting present.
+
+## Format basics
+
+- Length: matches series
+- Mostly or entirely past
+- Reveals backstory
+- Recontextualizes present
+- Often emotional / character-focused
+
+## Why flashback episodes
+
+### Reveal hidden truth
+- Why character behaves this way
+- Origin story
+- Past trauma that explains present
+
+### Provide context
+- New audience can catch up
+- Refresh existing audience
+- Cultural / historical setting
+
+### Emotional payoff
+- Audience invested in present
+- Past moment hits harder
+
+### Plot necessity
+- Information audience needs
+- Character motivation revealed
+
+## Structure types
+
+### Full flashback
+Entire episode in past.
+
+### Bookend
+Present opens and closes; middle is past.
+
+### Intercut
+Past and present alternate throughout.
+
+### Single character's past
+One character's history examined.
+
+### Multi-character past
+Different characters' pasts in same time period.
+
+## Famous flashback episodes
+
+### Lost — "The Constant"
+- Time-jumping romance episode
+- Past + present intercut
+- Emotional payoff massive
+
+### Breaking Bad — "Negro y Azul"
+- Walt's past briefly shown
+- Heisenberg origin glimpse
+
+### Game of Thrones — "The World of Weiss and Benioff"
+- Various history flashbacks throughout series
+- Single episode episodes rarer
+
+### Better Call Saul
+- Many flashbacks throughout series
+- Slippin' Jimmy origins
+
+## Structure
+
+```
+COLD OPEN (0-5 min)
+- Hook in present (often)
+- Or jump straight to past with date title
+
+ACT 1 (5-15 min)
+- Establish past time period
+- Show younger character(s)
+- Setup key event
+
+ACT 2 (15-40 min)
+- Past unfolds
+- Character development revealed
+- Decisions that shape present
+
+ACT 3 (40-55 min)
+- Pivotal past moment
+- Character changed forever
+- Connection to present
+
+TAG (55-60 min)
+- Return to present briefly
+- Audience sees character with new context
+- Emotional resonance
+```
+
+## Sample flashback episode
+
+```
+TITLE: "Karavan" Episode 9 — "The First Bag"
+(Flashback episode — 1973)
+
+LOGLINE: The story of how their father Arif Aliyev, then 23 years
+old, started the coffee business that would define his children's
+lives.
+
+COLD OPEN (0-5 min):
+- Present: NIGAR (38) opens an old box of her father's papers
+- She finds a yellowed business plan, dated 1973
+- She begins to read
+
+CUT TO TITLE CARD: "Baku — 1973"
+
+ACT 1 (5-20 min):
+- 1973 Baku
+- YOUNG ARIF (23), rough working-class background, works at the docks
+- Sees a Soviet trade ship arrive with a new shipment
+- Among the cargo: experimental coffee beans from Yemen
+- Most workers ignore them
+- Arif is curious
+
+ACT 2 (20-40 min):
+- Arif, fascinated, smuggles a small bag home
+- Tries to brew them
+- Ruins it the first time (no equipment)
+- Visits the only cafe in Baku that brews real coffee
+- The OLD MASTER (70) sees his interest
+- Becomes apprentice
+- Year passes
+- Arif learns
+- Develops his palate
+- Identifies blends, origins, qualities
+- Old Master dies
+- Wills him the cafe equipment
+- Arif sets up small operation in his apartment
+- Begins selling Friday mornings
+- Customers grow
+
+ACT 3 (40-55 min):
+- A CITY OFFICIAL arrives at his door
+- "You are operating without permit."
+- Threatens to shut him down
+- Arif: "You like coffee?"
+- Brews him a cup
+- Official sips. Closes eyes.
+- Long silence.
+- Official: "What do you need?"
+- The deal is made
+- Arif gets his first warehouse
+- Karavan Coffee begins
+
+TAG (55-60 min):
+- Cut back to PRESENT
+- Nigar finishes reading the business plan
+- She is crying
+- Her father's first dream — the same business she now runs
+
+CLOSE ON: a faded photograph in the box — young Arif at his first
+warehouse, holding a single coffee bean.
+
+(Score: emotional, period-appropriate music with modern emotional weight.)
+```
+
+## Key principles
+
+### Show, don't recap
+Don't just tell us backstory. Show us being there.
+
+### Past must connect to present
+Flashback exists because it ILLUMINATES the present.
+
+### Emotional payoff
+Past beat hits harder because we know who they become.
+
+### Period accuracy
+- Costume, set, language, music
+- Specific to era
+- Avoid anachronism
+
+### Younger versions of characters
+- Cast carefully (look-alike)
+- Or different actor (and acknowledge)
+- Or never show present version
+
+## Common flashback mistakes
+
+- Just exposition (no real story)
+- Disconnected from present
+- Inconsistent with established backstory
+- Period inaccurate
+- Too long for what it reveals
+- New characters who never appear again
+- Out-of-character past (doesn't match present)
+
+## When to write flashback episode
+
+- Audience needs context
+- Character backstory important
+- Theme parallels in past + present
+- Production benefits (limited present scenes)
+- Anniversary / origin episode
+- Mid-season character episode

package/templates/skills/screenwriter/knowledge/categories/series/formats/limited-series-episode.md

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+# Limited Series Episode — Series Format
+
+> An episode within a self-contained limited series (typically 6-10 episodes total). More like film chapters than series episodes.
+
+## Format basics
+
+- Length: 50-75 min typical (longer possible)
+- Total series: 6-10 episodes usually
+- Self-contained story arc
+- Each episode is a chapter
+- Production-grade often near film
+- Awards-friendly category
+
+## Limited series vs ongoing series
+
+| Aspect | Limited | Ongoing |
+|--------|---------|---------|
+| Length | 6-10 episodes | 8-22 per season |
+| Total | One season | Multiple seasons |
+| Story | Self-contained | Continuing |
+| Cast | Often star-studded | Variable |
+| Budget | High per-episode | Variable |
+| Awards | Limited series category | Drama / comedy series |
+
+## Examples
+
+- Chernobyl
+- The Queen's Gambit
+- Mare of Easttown
+- The Underground Railroad
+- The Night Of
+- Big Little Lies (originally limited)
+- Sharp Objects
+- Olive Kitteridge
+
+## Structure
+
+Each episode ≈ chapter of a novel:
+
+```
+COLD OPEN (5-7 min)
+- Hook for episode
+- Connect to series arc
+
+ACT 1 (10-20 min)
+- Episode-specific beat
+- Series arc advances
+- Character development
+
+ACT 2 (25-40 min)
+- Main events of episode
+- Climax of episode-level story
+
+ACT 3 (45-65 min)
+- Episode resolution (partial)
+- Series arc moves forward
+- Hook for next episode
+
+TAG (65-75 min)
+- Often quiet
+- Character beat
+- Final image
+```
+
+## Per-episode role within series
+
+### Episode 1: Pilot
+- Establish world, characters, central mystery/question
+- Hook for entire series
+
+### Episode 2-3: Setup
+- Deepen characters
+- Expand world
+- First major reveal
+
+### Episode 4 (mid-series): Pivot
+- Major reversal or revelation
+- Stakes change
+
+### Episode 5-6: Confrontation
+- Things get worse
+- Subplots reach crisis
+
+### Episode 7 (penultimate): Setup for finale
+- Position for climax
+- Major questions converging
+
+### Episode 8 (finale): Resolution
+- Climax
+- Resolution
+- Final image
+
+## Sample limited series episode
+
+```
+TITLE: "Karavan" — Limited Series, Episode 4 of 8
+"The Mountain"
+
+LOGLINE: ELDAR returns to the village where he was born to find a
+witness their father had been protecting — and discovers the witness
+is the brother they never knew about.
+
+COLD OPEN (0-7 min):
+- Present-day Eldar arriving in remote Caucasus village
+- He is here based on a name in his father's papers
+- The village is hostile to outsiders
+- An OLD MAN watches him from a window
+
+ACT 1 (7-20 min):
+- Eldar asks for a man named "Murat"
+- Villagers refuse to acknowledge the name
+- Tension
+- He waits at the village's only inn
+- That night: the OLD MAN appears
+
+ACT 2 (20-45 min):
+- The old man is the village headman
+- Reluctantly, he tells Eldar a story:
+  - Eldar's father (Arif) had a brother
+  - Different mother
+  - Born outside marriage
+  - Hidden from family
+  - Raised in this village
+  - His name is Murat
+- Eldar is stunned
+- He has a brother he never knew
+- The headman: Murat is in the mountains
+- Is in hiding because he was witness to a crime that connects to
+the present-day investigation
+- Eldar must climb to find him
+
+ACT 3 (45-60 min):
+- Eldar climbs into the mountains alone
+- Finds a small herder's hut
+- MURAT (50, Eldar's half-brother) emerges with a rifle
+- Standoff
+- Eldar identifies himself
+- Long silence
+- Murat lowers the rifle
+- Murat: "I knew you would come. Eventually."
+- Beginning of difficult conversation
+- About their father
+- About what Murat witnessed thirty years ago
+- About the name of the man who killed their father
+
+TAG (60-75 min):
+- Eldar and Murat sit by a fire that night
+- Two brothers separated by life, time, and a father's secret
+- Eldar will return to the city tomorrow
+- He asks Murat to come
+- Murat: "Tomorrow. Maybe."
+
+FINAL IMAGE: Eldar and Murat in firelight, two faces showing the
+same father in them.
+
+(Score: piano + strings, emotional, Hildur Guðnadóttir-style.)
+
+(Hook for episode 5: Will Murat actually come down? What is the name
+he gave?)
+```
+
+## Key principles
+
+### Each episode = chapter of larger story
+Self-contained but advancing.
+
+### High production value
+Limited series often near-film budgets.
+
+### Character depth
+Time to develop beyond ongoing series usually allows.
+
+### Resolution by series end
+Audience expects closure.
+
+### Cliffhangers per episode
+Hook to next chapter.
+
+## When to write limited series
+
+- Self-contained story too big for film, too small for ongoing series
+- Streaming hit potential
+- Award aspiration
+- Star vehicle
+- Adaptation of book / true story (often)
+- High concept needing multiple episodes
+
+## Common limited series mistakes
+
+- Padding (could have been film)
+- Overreaching (could have been series)
+- Pacing inconsistent
+- Episode-level structure weak
+- Resolution unsatisfying
+- Subplots abandoned
+- Tone inconsistent across episodes

package/templates/skills/screenwriter/knowledge/categories/series/formats/mid-season-episode.md

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+# Mid-Season Episode — Series Format
+
+> Standard episode in middle of season. Balances self-contained story with season-arc advancement.
+
+## Format basics
+
+- Length: matches series
+- Standalone enjoyable
+- Advances season arc
+- Subplots developed
+- Recurring rhythm
+
+## Structure
+
+```
+COLD OPEN (0-5 min)
+- Hook for THIS episode
+- Often character moment
+- Or quick story setup
+
+ACT 1 (5-15 min)
+- Episode's specific conflict introduced
+- Connect to season arc
+- Subplots checkpoint
+
+ACT 2 (15-40 min)
+- Episode story develops
+- Subplot advances
+- Character moments
+- Midpoint reversal
+
+ACT 3 (40-55 min)
+- Episode resolution
+- Season arc nudged
+- Subplots resolved or progressed
+
+TAG (55-60 min)
+- Often quieter than pilot
+- Character beat
+- Setup for next episode
+```
+
+## A-story / B-story / C-story
+
+Most mid-season episodes have:
+
+### A-story (main plot)
+- Episode-specific
+- Largest screen time
+- Self-contained
+- Connect to season
+
+### B-story
+- Subplot
+- Different characters often
+- Less screen time
+- Develops over episodes
+
+### C-story (sometimes)
+- Minor subplot
+- Brief scenes
+- Setup for future
+- Or comic relief
+
+## Sample mid-season episode
+
+```
+TITLE: "Karavan" Episode 4 — "The Yemen Shipment"
+
+LOGLINE: Eldar travels to Yemen to track the missing coffee shipment;
+Nigar deals with a labor dispute at the warehouse; Ramin discovers
+his father's secret personal connection to a city official.
+
+COLD OPEN (0-5 min):
+- Eldar in airport hotel in Sana'a
+- Suspicious man following him
+- He notices, takes evasive action
+- Loses tail, but barely
+- Establishes danger
+
+ACT 1 (5-15 min):
+- Eldar meets contact at coffee farm
+- Nigar gets call: warehouse workers threatening strike
+- Ramin researching father's history
+- Subplots checkpointed
+
+ACT 2 (15-40 min):
+- A: Eldar at the coffee farm — discovers father had been buying
+beans at premium to support local farmers being exploited by another
+buyer; that buyer is the shipment thief
+- B: Nigar negotiates with workers, learns labor dispute connects
+to the missing shipment (workers haven't been paid for it)
+- C: Ramin meets old friend of father; learns father had affair
+with a senior city official thirty years ago
+
+Midpoint: All three threads connect — the missing shipment, the
+labor dispute, and the old affair are linked by ONE person
+
+ACT 3 (40-55 min):
+- A: Eldar caught by tail, in real danger, escapes barely
+- B: Nigar secures temporary truce with workers
+- C: Ramin confronts the old official (now elderly, retired)
+
+TAG (55-60 min):
+- Three siblings on three video calls
+- Each shares one piece of information
+- The picture clarifies: their father was being threatened for
+months before the murder
+- Cliffhanger: Eldar's flight back is cancelled. He's stuck in Yemen.
+```
+
+## Key principles
+
+### Self-contained satisfying
+Episode tells complete story. New viewer could enjoy.
+
+### Season arc advances
+Major question/conflict moves forward.
+
+### Subplots get attention
+Characters' individual journeys progress.
+
+### Character relationships develop
+New tensions, alliances form.
+
+### End with hook
+Cliffhanger or question for next.
+
+## Episode types within mid-season
+
+### Plot-heavy
+Major plot advancement; less character
+
+### Character-focused
+Slower episode; deepens character; less plot
+
+### Bottle (single location)
+Constrained; dialogue-heavy
+
+### Flashback
+Reveals past; informs present
+
+### Standalone (lighter season tie)
+Almost standalone; case-of-week
+
+### Multi-POV
+Different storylines told in same episode
+
+## Common mid-season pitfalls
+
+- Stalling (no real advancement)
+- Filler (no character or plot growth)
+- Tone shift (different from rest of season)
+- Underused regular cast
+- Subplots unconnected to main
+- Cliffhanger doesn't pay off
+
+## When to write mid-season
+
+- Series production
+- Show staffed and running
+- Need standard episode for X spot
+- Subplot to advance
+- Specific A-story idea

package/templates/skills/screenwriter/knowledge/categories/series/formats/mid-season-finale.md

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+# Mid-Season Finale — Series Format
+
+> The episode that ends the first half of a season. Major cliffhanger before mid-season break.
+
+## Format basics
+
+- Length: matches series (often longer than typical episode)
+- Major cliffhanger
+- First half of season's story arcs partially resolved
+- Hook to bring audience back after break
+- Often production milestone (winter break)
+
+## When mid-season finales happen
+
+- Network TV: half-season hiatus (Christmas)
+- Streaming: rare (binge model)
+- Cable: midseason breaks
+- Limited series: rarely (usually shorter run)
+
+## Structure
+
+```
+COLD OPEN (0-5 min)
+- Quick recap or new hook
+- Stakes amplified
+
+ACT 1 (5-15 min)
+- All season threads converge
+- Climax setup
+
+ACT 2 (15-35 min)
+- Climactic events of first half
+- Stakes paid off (some)
+- Major reveals
+
+ACT 3 (35-50 min)
+- Apparent resolution
+- Then twist / new threat
+- Cliffhanger established
+
+TAG (50-60 min)
+- Cliffhanger image
+- Question audience must wait to answer
+```
+
+## Sample mid-season finale
+
+```
+TITLE: "Karavan" Episode 7 (mid-season finale, 13-episode season)
+
+LOGLINE: As the siblings close in on their father's killer, one of
+them is taken — and the other two must decide if they will negotiate
+or attack.
+
+COLD OPEN (0-5 min):
+- Recap of season's clues
+- Eldar returns from Yemen with proof of corruption
+- Nigar has decoded part of father's USB
+- Ramin's research has named the suspect
+
+ACT 1 (5-15 min):
+- They meet to share findings
+- The killer is Garib Bey, their father's old business partner
+- Now retired, seemingly powerless
+- They plan to confront him
+
+ACT 2 (15-35 min):
+- Confrontation at Garib's mansion
+- Garib admits his role
+- He shows them: he is dying. Three months at most.
+- He says he killed their father to protect his own children
+- Their father had been about to expose his crimes
+- Then: Garib's son (also their father's old enemy) bursts in
+- Garib's son SHOOTS Garib (his own father)
+- "He talks too much."
+- Garib's son grabs NIGAR
+- Holds her hostage
+
+ACT 3 (35-50 min):
+- Standoff at the mansion
+- Garib's son demands the USB and the family business
+- Eldar tries to negotiate
+- Ramin (the academic) shocks everyone — pulls a hidden gun
+- Tension peaks
+- The son fires at Ramin, who falls
+- Eldar tackles the son
+- During the struggle: Nigar is dragged out, into a car
+- The car drives away
+- Police arrive, find Eldar with the dead Garib
+
+TAG (50-60 min):
+- Cliffhanger: Eldar in interrogation, framed for Garib's death
+- Ramin in surgery, condition unknown
+- Nigar somewhere in a moving car, blindfolded
+- Final shot: Eldar's lawyer in the interrogation room — same lawyer
+who represented their father — looks at Eldar and says: "I'll handle
+this. But first you tell me everything."
+- Cut to black.
+
+(Audience must wait six weeks for episode 8.)
+```
+
+## Key principles
+
+### Pay off (some) season setup
+First half threads partially resolved. Audience feels rewarded.
+
+### Raise stakes for second half
+Things get worse, not better. New problems introduced.
+
+### Major cliffhanger
+Audience needs to know what happens next.
+
+### Multiple characters in jeopardy
+Spread the tension.
+
+### Production-friendly stop point
+Often a natural break in production schedule.
+
+## Cliffhanger types
+
+### Life threatened
+Character in danger, audience anxious
+
+### Identity revealed
+Major secret out, world changed
+
+### Decision pending
+Character must choose, audience waits
+
+### New threat introduced
+Bigger antagonist appears
+
+### Loyalty broken
+Trust shattered, alliances unclear
+
+## Common pitfalls
+
+- Cliffhanger doesn't earn (forced, not setup)
+- Resolution too complete (no hook)
+- New character/threat unprepared
+- Tone shift jarring
+- Low-stakes climax (felt small)
+- Ignoring established subplots
+
+## When to write mid-season finale
+
+- Network production needs winter break
+- Streaming season has natural mid-point
+- Cable midseason break
+- Specific cliffhanger setup ready