![]() ![]() Remember, if your pilot doesn’t grab their attention, then the other episodes are never going to happen! So instead of saving the best for last, save the best for first. Can you imagine if Tony Soprano waited until the fourth episode to have his panic attack, or if Piper Chapman waited until Season 2 to end up in prison. Probably the biggest mistake aspiring TV writers make is waiting till a late episode to get to the real engine of the series. You Need To Lock In Your Engine By The End of Your Pilot. So you can certainly take some time to make the adjustments necessary to your spec pilot that show you can play by the rules. But remember, a year from now, you’re hoping to be banging out a script a week for your own series. Look for patterns: exactly how long is each script? How is it formatted? Where do the act breaks happen? What kinds of themes do they explore? What kind of elements does each episode share, and what kinds of things never happen on this network? If that seems like a lot of work, it is. Study every show you can get your hands on for your favorite network, or take a class with someone experienced enough to break them down for you. That means the more risks your pilot takes, the more targeted it needs to be for the specific expectations of the network. And they don’t stray from those models easily. Seeing all the groundbreaking work happening on TV nowadays, it’s easy to forget that each network has a unique and very deeply held model for the format of a successful series. But with hit series like Orange is the New Black and Louis blurring the lines between dramatic and comedic writing, deciding the right format for your script can be more complicated (and a lot more exciting) than it used to be. It used to be that TV pilots fell clearly into one of two categories: 30-minute sitcoms, or hour-long dramas. You Need To Know What Network You’re Targeting and What Format You’re Writing So you need to create a replicable engine from the very first episode that assures a producer they can run this series for the next 8 years, without having to go back to the drawing board each week for a new source of inspiration.Ģ. Remember, the writing team for this series is going to have to generate another episode at a frantic pace-every single week. And without it, your series is totally unsellable. Producers call this the Engine of the series. By the time a producer is finished reading your pilot, they should be able to imagine how every episode that follows it is going to work, without any additional explanation from you. If you’re going to break into the TV industry, you need to think about your pilot script as a blueprint for every episode will follow. ![]() There are 5 important differences between TV and Feature Film writing that every writer needs to understand. This leaves TV writers with a challenging quandary: how do you shape your TV pilot to fit the distinct formulas required by each network, without compromising the unique voice as a writer that actually gives you a chance of selling it? It’s about telling a reproducible one, which can be told again and again, for years and years, in a way that fits within the current business model of a very specific network. ![]() TV producers would like that unique voice too, but for TV producers it’s about more than just telling a great story. When a feature film producer reads a spec script from an emerging writer, they’re really looking for a unique voice: a writer who can tell a great story in a way that no one else can tell it. TV writing and feature film writing are inherently different because the expectations of producers are so different. But oftentimes when it comes to writing TV pilots, screenwriters fail to recognize the vast differences between these two kinds of writing, and make mistakes that end up killing their chances before they even get a chance to show their talent. And with new networks like Netflix and Amazon hungry for quality content, there’s never been a more exciting time to get into TV Writing. It’s no secret that some of the best writing out there right now is happening in television. With the announcement of our long awaited TV Drama Workshop, I’ve been getting lots of questions from aspiring TV writers about what format is best for their stories. If you are interested in our upcoming classes click here. The White Lotus: Engine of a Limited SeriesĪ post from our vault.The Last of Us: How To Find Variations on Your Series Engine.Succession Season 4: The Difference Between Plot & Structure.Everything Everywhere All At Once: Evelyn’s Journey is the Screenwriter’s Journey.Everything Everywhere All at Once PART 2: The Opening Sequence.Novel, Memoir & NonFiction Writing Classes. ![]()
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