Writing an episode of Kim’s Convenience at the TSC

Hey CBC, you can go ahead and greenlight Season 3 of Kim’s Convenience because the folks in the WGC Writers Room Intensive at the Toronto Screenwriting Conference have got you covered.

Storylines featuring a pregnant Janet, a shirtless Jung, Nuit Blanche, speed dating, Feng Shui and, yes, more shirtless Jung, were outlined during an eight-hour session at Entertainment One’s downtown Toronto offices. Writers Amy Cole, Derek Robertson, Elize Morgan, Gillian Muller, Jennifer Siddle, Lisa Rose Snow, Marcia Johnson and Richard Clark were chosen to participate in the Writers Room Intensive and, led by Kim’s Convenience co-creators Kevin White and Ins Choi, broke ideas for a mock midseason episode of the hit CBC comedy.

Two groups of four, with White and Choi as the leaders on each—as they do when working on Kim’s Convenience—went off and brainstormed ideas for scenes. Nothing was ignored, but everything was analyzed in detail, plot holes plugged and then written down on sticky notes. Then the two groups assembled and the culling began. White, aiming for a “typical” episode of Kim’s, nixed a plethora of possible threads until two remained and two groups of four separated to beat out the scenes. It was fascinating not only to see how Choi and White

It was fascinating to see how Choi and White strip away ideas to figure out what would work and what wouldn’t. An added bonus? The pair taking threads, verbally running through them with the group and then with each other. There was a lot of laughing, especially when Choi adopted Appa Kim or Kimchee’s persona to recite dialogue.

What did the group settle on, and what story beats were nailed down? Make sure you attend In the Writing Room with Kim’s Convenience, taking place on Saturday, April 22, at 2:30 p.m. ET in the John Bassett Theatre at the Toronto Screenwriting Conference.

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