An analysis of how Dan Harmon’s story circle shaped the writing of the NBC sitcom Community, from story structure and pacing down to the character arcs in each episode.

0:00 - Introduction

Overview -
1:00 - Story Circle vs. Hero's Journey
2:01 - Sitcom Structure
4:07 - Three-Act Structure
6:47 - Character Arcs

Analysis of Mixology Certification -
8:51 - Troy
10:58 - Abed
12:12 - Jeff & Britta
13:45 - Annie
14:51 - Shirley
15:54 - Pierce

16:49 - Conclusion

References:
Adult Swim, ‘Dan Harmon's Story Circle | Rick and Morty | adult swim’, YouTube (15th Jun 2020)    • Dan Harmon's Story Circle | Rick and ...  
BookSharing, ‘Joseph Campbell's Hero's journey’, YouTube (21st Jan 2015)    • Joseph Campbell's Hero's journey  
campbellfoundation, ‘Joseph Campbell - Jung, the Self, and Myth’, YouTube (3rd Nov 2018)    • Joseph Campbell - Jung, the Self, and...  
Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949)
Dan Harmon, ‘Story Structure 104: The Juicy Details’, Channel 101 (12th Aug 2009) https://channel101.fandom.com/wiki/St...
K. M. Weiland, Creating Character Arcs: The Masterful Author's Guide to Uniting Story Structure, Plot, and Character Development (2016)
Lacey Rose, ‘Community's Dan Harmon Reveals the Wild Story Behind His Firing and Rehiring’, The Hollywood Reporter (17th Jul 2013) https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/new...
Brian Raftery, ‘How Dan Harmon Drives Himself Crazy Making Community’, Wired (22nd Sep 2011) https://www.wired.com/2011/09/mf-harmon/
Dan Harmon, ‘Could you explain your story breaking process?’, Tumblr (9th Aug 2013) https://danharmon.tumblr.com/post/577...
Dan Harmon, ‘Could you explain a particular Community episode with the story circle?...’, Tumblr (10th Aug 2013) https://danharmon.tumblr.com/post/578...
Syd Field, Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting (1979)
Andy Bobrow, ‘How Writing for the TV Show Community Cured Me’, Medium (14th May 2014)   / how-writing-for-the-tv-show-community-cure...  

Music:
‘Community Medley’, ‘Community Medley 2’, ‘Community E101’, ‘Community Season 1 Music’, ‘Community E103’, ‘Greendale Is Where I Belong’, ‘Running Through Raining’

All tracks by Ludwig Göransson.

Additional:
S03E04 ‘Remedial Chaos Theory’ Story Circle https://danharmon.tumblr.com/post/114...
S05E01 ‘Repilot’ & S05E02 ‘Introduction to Teaching’ Story Circles https://danharmon.tumblr.com/post/752... & https://danharmon.tumblr.com/post/752...