Are you on the ABBOTT ELEMENTARY bandwagon yet? If not, you should be. It's a mockumentary-style show set at a poor elementary school in inner Philadelphia, and even though the single cam talk-to-the-camera bit has been done quite a bit at this point, it still feels very fresh.
(If you're looking for a comparison, think the U.S. OFFICE, but where the protagonist is actually Pam or Jim and everyone else is just as wonderful but generally less insane.)
It's also has some great examples of structuring a sitcom. For instance episode 103, "Wishlist" written by Morgan Murphy, is just 22 minutes long--this is an ABC sitcom. And its main premise is that all of the teachers have been asked to submit wishlists of things they need for their classroom. (Right away, note how strong a premise this is: it gives all five of our teachers a potential story of their own.)
The idea of the wishlist is that local community members will donate what they need, but that does not really work--which leads to our C-story, in which All-Causes-and-No-Common-Sense JACOB is confronted with an awful old printer that is going to be thrown out after it has been donated/dumped. Jacob's story is all about trying to get it to work or have value. It's a perfect story line for him, as it emerges from his central desire to be 100% woke. And it gives Mr. Johnson the janitor room to play, too, as he watches and waits for Jacob's efforts to inevitably fail.
The fact that this community wishlist idea doesn't really work, our hero second grade teacher JANINE TEAGUES, has decided to try and create a viral video that will turn to the much broader internet community to provide her with what she needs. But she's terrible at it, which gives PRINCIPAL AVA, who has already been established as a communication god, a great supporting role. This is our A-story, and as with Jacob, Ava and Janine's stories once again fall along their main desire: Janine wants to believe she can overcome the deficits of this school and make everything better. Ava wants to be great with all forms of media.
Janine's story dovetails with that of BARBARA HOWARD, who opposes any attempt to go begging for handouts, insisting instead that she'll make do with whatever she gets. Some might call this the B-story, but really there's no quest on Barbara's part. Her story ends up dovetailing into and speaking to Janine's; once Ava succeeds in getting her what she wants, Janine wants to help Barbara too. Again, she's all about trying to make things better. But now that desire leads to the great further beat in that story where Ava's method involves problematic tactics like emphasizing how old Barbara is and how poor her students are. And then Janine has to fight to pull the video down and try and keep that information from Barbara, which gets harder and harder. Note how her problems are all rooted in her own choices. That's just perfect writing.
And it leads to this incredibly powerful moment with Barbara which speaks directly to Janine's desire. It's great to get things, Barbara says, but we're here to teach our kids to be strong, to live with they have, not to be embarrassed about what they don't. Again, if you were wondering whether this is the B-story, note that the end of it is really focused on Janine's desire. That's a pretty clear sign really this is all part of the A-story.
There is B-story, though. Janine notices that substitute teacher GREGORY's classroom has nothing on the walls. This is spooky and weird. She challenges him to do better.
Gregory's story is interesting. First of all, it's unrelated to the wishlists. It's a smart move; it allows for a completely different kind of story, avoiding any sense of repetition. Also this premise creates the opportunity for lots of gags--each new time we come back to Gregory's room we get the opportunity of a new punchline, as he tries different things. If it didn't end in a deeper and heartfelt place I'd almost call it a second C-story, a runner that's just there for laughs.
And speaking of the ending, it's notable that the resolution is not Gregory doing well as a teacher or realizing he's liked by his students. No it's Janine's affirmation that brings resolution. Because that's his real story in the series: he talks a good game about how long he wants to stay a sub at Abbott, but his answer keeps hinging on his experiences with Janine.
A couple principles you might draw from this:
1) As you're thinking of the different stories in an episode, you want to be sure that each character's initial problem speaks to some aspect of their core desire. The failed wishlist campaign brings out Janine's desire to overcome and save (and Jacob's, too).
2) Let the obstacles your characters face be generated by their own choices. It's way more organic and also raises the stakes for them.
3) Having characters be forced to respond to a common situation is a nice way of establishing both their differences and their desires.
4) At the same time, it's also nice to have an arc in there that's completely unrelated.
5) If you can, try and fool the audience a bit. It's not until the end that we really see that Gregory's story was about Janine not his classroom. Which creates a nice sense of surprise at the end. It's like there was a little gift bag we didn't know we were going to get waiting for us at the end.
