Creating a Series Bible from Scratch
A course by Gustavo Rosa de MouraDirector, Screenwriter, and Audiovisual Producer
A course by Gustavo Rosa de Moura, Director, Screenwriter, and Audiovisual Producer
Discover how you can turn your stories into an attractive audiovisual project, and learn how to sell your ideas
Developing the plot for a fiction series, building the characters, and organizing all the details to create an engaging story is a rewarding challenge for anyone wanting to adventure into the land of audiovisual production. Award-winning director, screenwriter, producer, Gustavo Rosa de Moura, shares his expertise in this art and takes you on a step-by-step journey to teach you the best way to achieve this feat.
In this course, learn to create a project for a series, putting together a comprehensive and efficient show bible with all the necessary information for it to be presented to a production company, studio, or TV channel. Gustavo also teaches you how to prepare a solid and convincing pitch.
What will you learn in this online course?
16 lessons & 35 downloads
What Is a Series Bible?
12 minutes, 32 seconds
What Should a Bible Contain?
6 minutes, 54 seconds
Testing Your Idea
14 minutes, 16 seconds
What Kind of Series Is Yours?
6 minutes, 1 second
Preparation, Premise and Universe
11 minutes, 45 seconds
Search
8 minutes, 30 seconds
What's included in this course?
Start by hearing a little bit about Gustavo Rosa's journey through the audiovisual world, as well as his most noteworthy projects and awards. He also shares some of his biggest influences and sources of inspiration.
Take a look at exactly what a series bible is and all its essential elements. Continue by studying your ideas more closely. Evaluate each one, see how to test them, and sort all the elements into objectives to give your project a clear direction.
Now it's time to start writing! Begin to define your main characters with a profile for each one. Gustavo shows you the importance of building complex personalities that reveal themselves gradually. Then immerse yourself in the plot, paying close attention to both the season premiere and finale.
Next, use all your materials to put together your bible, including a description of each character, the synopsis of each episode, and an introductory text. Wrap up the course by learning how to write a captivating and focused logline for your series to help sell your pitch.
What is this course's project?
Put together a fiction series bible of up to ten pages containing an image library, and write a pitch to sell your idea.
Who is this online course for?
Anyone interested in the audiovisual world who wants to turn their ideas into a series.
Requirements and materials
No previous knowledge is needed for this course.
In terms of materials, all you need is a computer with the word processing software of your choice.
Reviews
- 1 month ago
Muy completo y muy claro en todos los conceptos que se presentan. Los ejemplos están muy bien escogidos, están muy bien explicados y son muy útiles. Cumple lo que promete.
- 4 months ago
Ottime competenze, interessante dall'inizio alla fine.
- 6 months ago
Excelente curso para los que desean crear una serie para cualquier medio.
- 6 months ago
Curso totalmente focado na prática, sem perder a clareza conceitual. Os fundamentos da bíblia de série são apresentados de forma objetiva e fácil de aplicar no desenvolvimento de projetos reais. Além disso, o conteúdo vai muito além da bíblia em si, oferecendo ferramentas excelentes para a criação de todos os textos necessários para um pitch de projeto audiovisual. É um curso completo, prático e direto ao ponto. Sem exagero, parece uma verdadeira faculdade condensada. Recomendo muito!
- 7 months ago
Excelente
In addition, he directed the documentaries Cildo (2010) and Piadeiros (2015), as well as the fiction films Canção da Volta (2016) and Cora (2020). His most recent feature film Ela e Eu (2022), produced in collaboration with 20th Century Fox, received three awards at the 54th Festival de Brasília, including best screenplay. His films have also been shown at film festivals like Tribeca, Mostra de São Paulo, Festival do Rio, and the international festival in Rotterdam. He is currently working on a series for HBO Max.
Content
- U1
Introduction
- Presentation
- Influences
- U2
What Is a Bible and How to Test Your Idea?
- What Is a Series Bible?
- What Should a Bible Contain?
- Testing Your Idea
- What Kind of Series Is Yours?
- U3
Get to Work
- Preparation, Premise and Universe
- Search
- Characters
- Plot and Structure
- U4
Landing Your Ideas in Text
- Special Characters and Elements
- Synopsis
- Presentation
- Logline and Final Organization
- U5
How to Present the Project
- Visual Support Material (Mood Board)
- Pitch Preparation
- FP
Final project
- Creating a Series Bible from Scratch
What to expect from a Domestika course
Learn at your own pace
Enjoy learning from home without a set schedule and with an easy-to-follow method. You set your own pace.
Learn from the best professionals
Learn valuable methods and techniques explained by top experts in the creative sector.
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Each expert teaches what they do best, with clear guidelines, true passion, and professional insight in every lesson.
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Ask questions, request feedback, or offer solutions. Share your learning experience with other students in the community who are as passionate about creativity as you are.
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FAQs
This is an intermediate-level course, recommended for those with some experience in audiovisual or screenwriting, but it also welcomes beginners eager to develop series projects and deepen their knowledge of independent production and series bibles.
You should have an interest in audiovisual media, creative writing, and project organization. Prior training isn’t required, but basic knowledge of screenwriting, film, or production will help you follow along more easily.
You’ll learn how to structure a series bible, create complex characters, write synopses, define premises, build pitches, organize visual references, and develop original projects for the audiovisual market.
The course uses Miro as a collaborative virtual whiteboard to organize ideas, references, research, characters, and project structure. Other digital tools are also introduced to support series bible development.
A series bible is a key document that gathers all the details about a series’ world, characters, structure, and episodes, serving as a guide for producers, writers, and TV networks when evaluating and developing the project.
The course teaches you to create complex characters with dramatic arcs, social context, motivations, and growth throughout episodes, using checklists, practical examples, and visual tools to organize character profiles.
Yes, the course covers the structural differences between series, miniseries, anthologies, and films, teaching you how to identify, classify, and structure projects according to audiovisual market demands.