The Inspired Writing of the ‘Severance’ Series

Want to write a script like Severance? Ninja Neno discovers the secret behind this amazing TV show — after sneaking into Lumon headquarters!

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Noi Sabal
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Neno Popping up in front of the iconic Lumon water tower at Bell Labs

5 min read • 1,254 words

If the TV series Severance teaches us anything as writers, it’s that there is no story idea too strange to be told — as long as the narrative is well-crafted.

Show creator and screenwriter Dan Erickson was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for his inventive story for Season 1 of Severance. From its Premise and Theme to its complex Characters and Action, everything about Severance’s unique story makes us as an audience lean in. (And the screenwriter in us sit up and take notice!)

As Executive Producer and Director for many episodes, Ben Stiller brilliantly helmed production and guided actors to many award nominations for Severance’s unique story. From production design (locations, sets, etc) through the final edit, he managed to craft a masterful TV series.

The lobby of Bell Labs (aka Lumon Industries from "Severance") with little Ninja Neno mascot in the middle

The way Stiller and Erickson weave psychological narratives together in Severance somehow languidly makes you lean back to be bathed in the ennui of the characters’ daily lives… yet also throws you on a rollercoaster of tense emotion as the story arc progresses. Episode after episode, they take the audience up and down through the complex characters’ lives, equally drawing you into the mysterious “Um, what’s going on here?!” world of Lumon Industries by day… and humdrum suburban desperation at night. Brilliant.

Haven’t seen it yet? Stop reading and go watch it — right now!! Here’s where to watch Severance.

Or, if you don’t have access to it, here’s a brief summary of Severance Season 1:

Premise & Theme: The Story of Severance

Caution: Spoilers ahead!

The premise of Severance is as captivating as it is chilling:
In an alternate present, a large fictional corporation, Lumon Industries, has mastered the art of workplace efficiency through a peculiar procedure that gives them near-total control over its employees.

Everyone who works there, including the main character, Mark Scout (played by an outstanding Adam Scott), willingly undergoes a surgical operation that splits their consciousness into two entities – a “work self” for day and a “personal self” for night.

Mark and his colleagues are all divided between their “Innie” selves — solely designed to exist within the office, devoid of personal memories — and their “Outie” selves — their regular old pre-procedure persona that has zero recollection of their work day.

But what happens when these two selves begin to meld into one another? As the season’s story arc progresses (major spoilers coming..!), a former coworker finds Mark outside of work, confronting him and forcing him to unwittingly discover that the sanctity of this duality can be breached. As the mundane office existence of Mark and his fellow “Innie” coworkers begins to unravel, we discover that Lumon Industries holds darker secrets.

Severance is a beautifully crafted narrative that explores Themes of achieving work-life balance, exploring modern office culture, and the cost of pursuing truth. Season 1’s story arc navigates the labyrinth of the human psyche and weaves in just enough open-ended questions to make us pant for Season 2.

Read Severance Episode Scripts

As a screenwriter or novelist, you should be reading as many scripts/novels as you can find. Every story you read — no matter the format — whether they’re good, bad, or somewhere in between, will help you become a better writer. Why? Because the more you read and break down the kinds of stories you like/want to write, the sooner you’ll be able to write your own more easily. Before you know it, you’ll be living and breathing your genre!

Want to read some great screenwriting?

Check out these Severance Episodes from Season 1:

Pilot S1, E1: “Good News About Hell” (Originally titled “Mister”)

Season Finale S1, E9: “The We We Are” This is a Shooting Script*

*Shooting Scripts are used during Production and are formatted differently than spec scripts. To help all departments do their jobs, Shooting Scripts include Cast/Location/Set Lists, as well as Scene Numbers.

So, Episode 9 is NOT how you should write/format your spec scripts — leave all of that work up to Production. (It’s a major red flag to readers to see these elements in a spec script – especially when Newbie writers spitball a “dream cast” for their show!) So, ignore the formatting and extraneous info in Episode 9; just concentrate on reading a fabulous script!

The lobby of Bell Labs (aka Lumon Industries from "Severance") with little Ninja Neno mascot in the middle

While Severance’s Lumon employees may be stuck in a cold concrete building and generic white offices all day, there’s nothing generic about this rich, layered Thriller/Mystery/SciFi/Drama story. (Just look at how many genres it takes to describe it!) Stories that are getting picked up/sold these days are the ones that defy a single genre. They go deeper, mixing and matching genres to remix the old tried-n-true to make something new — like the “Dystopian Sci-Fi, Conspiracy Thriller, Psychological Drama” that is Severance.

Water Tower at Bell Labs with Ninja Neno

Ninja Neno Visits Lumon!

The shooting location that doubles as “Lumon Industries” in Severance is actually the old Bell Laboratories building in Holmdel, NJ.

In its heyday back in the 1960s, “Bell Labs” was a bustling hub of inspiration and innovation. It’s actually the birthplace of world-changing innovations like the laser, cell phone, and even the Big Bang theory — nine Nobel Prizes were won by researchers from this very building! So, it’s quite appropriate that Production chose this as the birthplace of the Severance procedure!

Swipe through pics of Ninja Neno at this iconic location:

Ninja Neno got a peek into what it must’ve felt like when those world-shaping ideas were being born. As you can see from the pictures, the building is still in use, but now it’s a collection of random offices and businesses, not Bell/AT&T. (But who knows… maybe someone on a sofa in the main space behind Neno is brainstorming another life-changing invention… or just maybe an Emmy-worthy script, like Severance!!).

Behind the scenes -- Ninja neno sticker is small and scuffed and just taped to a toothpick! lol

(And here is a little peek behind the scenes here at Writing Ninja…. Yep – all of our #Where’sNinja photos are just of this little 2-inch Neno sticker… small and scuffed and taped to a toothpick. 😉 )

Inspired by “Severance?”

Are you ready to create your own Severance? Well, the pilot for Severance wasn’t born from sporadic bursts of inspiration — nor did it spring forth from Erickson’s mind, fully formed and ready to be shot. Nope. A story arc like the one Severance has over the course of its first season comes from a well-structured writing process that not only considers what is ON the page… but also what is BEHIND the page. It’s a story that had to be developed.

And that’s where Writing Ninja comes in: it’s a one-of-a-kind story development platform designed to help you craft amazing, sellable stories for your screenplays or novels.

Our fun, easy-to-use online software guides you through the maze of story development, one step at a time, making it easy to develop stories like Severance. The Brainstorm Boards® and Story Puzzle® offer a groundbreaking approach to story creation that frees your creative mind but ensures you have all the elements you need to write a sellable story. Within minutes, you’ll start to discover the best version of your idea, organize your thoughts, and start gathering everything you need to craft a compelling story. Whether you’re just starting or are already a seasoned pro, Writing Ninja’s all-in-one software can help through every step of story development.

You have a Writing Ninja in you… and it’s waiting to be unleashed!

So, if you’re an aspiring novelist or screenwriter with a story to tell, it’s time to stop dreaming and start creating it! Just like Dan Erickson writing Severance; he had to start somewhere. Now’s your chance!! Grab a Free Forever Writing Ninja account to spark your creativity and bring your story to life.

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About the Author

Noi Sabal has been steeped in story for decades: writing screenplays, teaching storytelling at the university level, editing TV shows & feature films, and consulting on scripts. Her work has been broadcast nationally and worldwide on ABC, Disney, Fox, Nickelodeon, Sundance, and many more. In 2017, Noi founded Writing Ninja®, a suite of Story Development Tools that empowers writers to build better stories, one Brainstorm Board® at a time.

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