4 steps to writing a great TV pilot

We are currently in the golden age of television and there are more and more shows on the air every year. How can you get staff for a TV show or get your own idea on the air? You’ll have to learn how to write a TV pilot.

To learn how to write a TV pilot, read a bunch of pilot scripts and go through the following steps. They should help you get a good start on writing a great TV pilot script. A great TV pilot script will help you get your foot in the door, can get you reps, and can even land you on a TV show.

A great TV pilot script will help you get your foot in the door, can get you reps, and can even land you on a TV show.

1. Know why you want to write a TV pilot

Many writers move to Los Angeles in search of feature film jobs, but Hollywood is making fewer films every year. In reality, the best way to break in now is with an excellent TV pilot. A great TV pilot script will help you get your foot in the door, can get you reps, and can even land you on a TV show.

It’s also a great practice to close some loops and leave others open. When you write a TV show, you have to think of some of the problems that your characters face every day. In a movie, you would theoretically close these loops at the end of the story. In a TV pilot you have to close some loops but leave others open.

Why do you leave those loops open? So you can show that you have a story with legs.

An idea with ‘legs’ means that it can last a long time.

2. Get an idea with legs

Don’t know what “an idea with legs” means? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. When you write a TV show, you need characters and storylines that can continue for multiple episodes and multiple seasons. An idea with ‘legs’ means that it can last a long time. Do you get it?

Think about your favorite shows: have they lasted a while? Of course we all have examples like Pushing daisies that disappeared too quickly, but it feels more likely that your favorite show has lasted a long time. Think about it The officeor Lost, Grey’s anatomyor Big Bang theory. Those shows were built around characters with a lot of problems, who lived in worlds where a lot of things happened.

If your idea has legs, you should be able to plan the entire first season and where it would go from there. If your TV show is a procedural, you want the characters to live in a world where problems can arise all the time. Think of programs like Criminal minds And Law and Order. The police in those shows are constantly dealing with a problem of the week. Sitcoms are similar in this regard. The characters in it Friends And Sex and the city all have to deal with… situations every week.

Okay, but what if you do something more cable-oriented, for example Break bad, Crazy menor You’re the worst? Those ideas have legs, but in different ways. Instead of a crime a week or some sort of recurring action, those shows take characters and sink them deeper into the world.

In Break badmeth sales go from casual to kingpin. In Crazy menwe navigate through the entire decade of the 1960s and see a man sink into his own depression. In YYou’re the worstwe dive into the deep cancellations of a relationship.

So does your story have legs? Great. But now you need your legs to lead you to great characters.

Writing for television means you get multiple episodes to explore a mood or trait.

3. Find great characters

Writing for television means you get multiple episodes to explore a mood or trait. If you want your show to sell and last, you need great characters. So how can you showcase great characters in your TV Pilot? First we need to understand what your characters need. In classic shows such as Cheersthe characters in the bar all need a connection. When the pilot ends, Diane needs a job. She gets the job in the bar and a series is made.

What about something more complicated?Game of Thrones balances a lot of character needs, but it sets us up for the next seven seasons. There are people who need the throne, who need allies and who need to listen to their mother.

The best characters are immediately recognizable to the audience. We don’t have to be pretty, smart, or witty, but we do need to understand the basic instincts of why they want what they want. Think about it Gilmore girls and how each character’s problem shapes the TV pilot. Rory is too smart for her current school. Lorelei is too poor to pay her to go to Chilton. Those are nascent character issues, but they work together with the legs of our show. What we learn in the pilot is that the only way to pay for Chilton is to accept help from Lorelei’s estranged parents. The legs in this show are the generations of Gilmore women reconnecting.

This TV pilot is a perfect example of how we build great show characters, giving executives and viewers a reason to keep watching. Now that you have a story with legs and great characters, what’s next?

When writing a TV pilot, the last thing you need to consider is the “world” of the TV show.

4. Settle the world

Are you in Westeros? Arizona? Stars Hollow, Connecticut? Atlanta? When writing a TV pilot, the last thing you need to consider is the “world” of the TV show. The world of your TV pilot doesn’t just refer to the location. You also need to work out the year, the rules and the environment. Is it the present, the future, the past? The world of your TV pilot is the ‘where’, ‘when’ and ‘how’.

Let’s think about it The Sopranos for a second. The Sopranos it’s great. The sopranos takes place in northern New Jersey in the early 2000s. That seems simple enough, but the world gets more specific.

The Soprano family lives in the wealthy suburbs. So we have to establish a lot of rules within that community. But The sopranos has one more wrinkle to add. It’s also about the mafia, and the characters and intricacies of that world. As you build your world, you can go back and adjust your characters and the parts of your story. All three of these elements work together to help you write a great TV pilot.

Let’s take a look at another world, specifically from an underrated TV pilot: Super store. When building the world for Super storeyou have to think about different levels. First off, the show takes place in a Superstore, so you have all the physical elements to get out of the way. You then have to think about who would work in this place, what characters would occupy the store and who would shop there regularly?

Finally, would you build out the world to show why your story has legs? Wait, what? That’s right, the best TV pilots have all three of the above elements working together and informing each other. Your world will be made believable by your characters, and your characters will be believable because we will see how the story works. It’s pretty crazy, but that’s the fun of learning to write a TV pilot. You create an intricate web that can spiral and expand outward each season.

It can take years to rehash and rewrite this stuff, but the best way to get these stories going is to just sit down and write them down.

Summarizing how to write a TV pilot

To write a great TV pilot, you need a world, legs, and some compelling characters. Writing for television is not an easy task. It can take years to rehash and rewrite this stuff, but the best way to get these stories going is to just sit down and write them down. Dig deep into each of these elements and see where they take you.

As I’ve said before, the fun thing about developing the TV pilot is that all three of these elements work together. You can have a great idea for a character, but you can then trace their personality traits to find the world. Once you have the world, you can see if it has legs.

As I say in every post, all writing is rewriting. Sit down, plan it and jump on it. I can’t wait to talk about your TV pilot in the near future.