Storylines concept: A / B / C-story in parallel
A storyline = one narrative thread = following a set of characters through a particular conflict or goal. Series typically have 3-5 storylines running in parallel (A-story / B-story / C-story).
Why storylines
Short film / movie usually has 1-2 main threads. Long-form series must run multiple threads in parallel:
- The audience sees different characters' arcs progress each episode
- Different storylines can stagger climaxes (A-story climax in E3, B-story in E5)
- Prevents a single thread from ending too soon and leaving episodes flabby
Example (The Last Night Train):
- A-story: J. Doe and A. Smith's first encounters and mutual probing
- B-story: the lighthouse's secret (a 30-year-old disappearance)
- C-story: J. Doe's childhood flashbacks, gradually unburying repressed memory
The Storylines tab in Plan view
Plan view top sub-tab 3 → Storylines.
You see:
- All storylines (A / B / C / ...)
- Each storyline's description, primary characters, colour
- Which scenes each storyline appears in (via link-scenes-to-storylines)
A / B / C naming convention
Series-writing custom:
- A-story: the episode's primary story
- B-story: the secondary thread
- C-story: tertiary, often a single-episode vignette or long-form setup
Importance per episode is your call.
Colour coding
Each storyline picks a colour. Scenes linked to a storyline carry that colour stripe — Scene Board sorts at a glance.
See: Scene card anatomy
A scene can belong to multiple storylines
One scene can push both A-story and B-story simultaneously (e.g. J. Doe and A. Smith's dialogue progresses their relationship [A-story] and unlocks the lighthouse's secret [B-story]).
The card displays multiple colour stripes.
Not just metadata — AI Coach uses it
The AI Coach in Script Studio, when reading the script, ingests the storyline structure — you can ask "Is the B-story too quiet after E5?" and the AI answers based on metadata.
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