Questions to ask yourself before you begin:

● What is this about?

○ What do you want to say?
○ What speaks to you about this idea
● Why am I the one to tell this story?
● What emotion do I want to elicit?
● Who is this for?
● What’s exciting about this idea? Why should people care?
● How is this different/fresh?
● What is this about? (ask again)

What type of pilot are you writing?

● Premise vs non premise
○ Premise pilot - big world changing thing happening to main character (30 rock)
○ Non-premise - day in the life (always sunny)
● Episodic vs. serialized
○ Episodic - a closed(ish) story w/ resolution in each ep (modern family)
○ Serialized - a show where you have to watch each episode, cliffhanger
● Cable vs. network
● Sample vs. production
● What category genre is it?

Building blocks of a good pilot

● Characters
○ Know them as if they are your friends / enemies
○ Try to base them on people in your own lives
● Character relationships
○ Think of shows that have good blends and do your version (the office)
● The world and the setting
○ The world as a service to the characters (the office boring world which inspires
michael scott to be who he is)
○ A normal world where crazy things happen or a crazy world where normal things
happen?
● Tone
○ Think about existing shows where this show fits in
● Theme and message
● format/style
○ Is there an interesting way to tell your story (flashback, animation, letters,
mockumentary)
● Relatability
○ Flaws, complexity, longing, fears
● Personal connection
Things to do before your start writing
● Stress test the idea
○ Brainstorm and come up with as many ideas about that particular avenue
○ 50 things exercise
■ 50 things (character, setting, dialogue, whatever related to idea)
● Put it away / sleep on it
● Watch and read things
○ Ge excited about your genre
○ Look at things that you think were super well done
● Know the landscape
○ The stuff that you can find easily / what your average person might know

Structure
● Things happen - plot / things need to happen in your story (roadblocks etc.)
● Beginning, middle, end

Beginning
● Set up your world, make sure people know where they are
● Introduce your characters
○ Economic intro for each character (arrested development)
● Inciting incident (jack as the new boss-- the thing that sets everything in motion)
○ A decision your character makes
● First five pages are all that matters
○ Flashforward ?

Middle
● The place where things get complicated for your character
○ The world they are comfortable in starts imploding around them
● A good story needs problems
○ Problems or mystery
● Complications
● Escalation
● Obstacles
● Bigger obstacles !
● Low point (false win, some sense of accomplishment before the rug is pulled out)

Greg Daniels’ Wisdom

● Stakes
○ What’s at risk?
● Motivation
○ Why are people doing the things they are doing?
● Turns
○ A twist or surprise
 ● Escalation
○ Pressure is steadily growing

South Park’s Wisdom

● Can you link this beat to the next beat with a:
○ Therefore (this means things are building and affecting each other)
○ But then (this means earned twists are happening)
○ And then (this is just a list w/o cause and effect - and act of god twist)

The End
● payoff/resolution
○ What did they learn
○ Will it feel natural to reset the character to zero
○ Curb your enthusiasm - callbacks
● Were goals achieved
● What was learned
● Why should we keep watching
● twist/surprise/throw-forward
○ Larger scale twist
○ Big change to the status quo (last man on earth, modern family)

Comedy Pilot 3 Act Structure

● Cold open (1-5 pages)
○ Set up the character, the world
○ End on intrigue and a joke - don’t necessarily need a joke in a dramedy
● Act one (ends page 12-17)
○ Set up A and B stories
■ A plot based
■ B emotional
○ Goals - what does the character want and why
○ Set up the obstacles
○ End act one on a big obstacle/turn in the A story - and a joke (the blow)
● Act Two (ends on page 20-25)
○ Escalate A story
○ A and B story obstacles
○ Explore a C story / runner (3 moments or a runner which is a callback)
○ Don’t repeat plot and emotions
○ false win (most exciting moment)
○ End on the lowest emotional / story point
● Act Three (ends on page 28-35)
○ Minor complications/fallout from lowpoint
○ Fix problems
 ■ Take something that happened to them earlier and they use this to solve
their problem
○ Resolve story
● Tag (1-2 pages)
○ A stand-alone scene that is not essential to the story, funny

Some resources:
Dan Harmon story circle / Joseph Campbell’s hero's journey
Save The Cat - rollercoaster arc
Beats that you can use to check your story against:
● Opening image
● Theme stated
● Set up
● Catalyst
● Debate
● Break into two
● B story
● Fun and games
● Midpoint (false win or reverse of actual climax)
● Bad guys close in (more problems and obstacles)
● All is lost
● Dark night of the soul
● Break into 3
● Finale
● Final image

Drama Structure

Act One
● A-plot - establish the world
○ Get to the point
● A-plot - establish a character
● A-plot - blow up one or both
○ Establish stakes
● B-plot - tease it

Act Two - Part One

● B-plot - starts in earnest
● A-plot - investigate/act/emote
○ Things happen in dramas
● B-plot - things are going okay plot wise, but characters are shaky
○ As the A plot escalates it deteriorates the b plot
● A-plot - something intriguing happens
Act Breaks and Story Turns
● Act break = story turns
● Things should always get harder
● Every win should come with a loss
○ Plot win = emotional loss and vice versa
● Plot drives character
● Your ending is a redefinition of the world and/or stakes
○ Stakes are much higher than they could have ever imagined

Drama Structure - Act 2 Part 2

● A plot - things get harder
● B-plot - things are going okay character wise, but plot is shaky
● A-plot - steel your resolve/lose your nerve
● B plot - finale (if appropriate)

Drama Structure - Act 3

● A plot - the turn
○ Destroy the plan
● A-plot - action scene (the big showdown, the fight, the chase -- big climactic moment)
○ Plot resolution
● A-plot - denouement with a but…
○ The stakes/world/everything is a lie
● A/B/C - the stinger (a throw forward)

Story Checklist
● Beats need to earn their way in (at least 2 out of 3):
○ Is it funny/exciting
○ Are you learning something about character
○ Are you moving the plot forward
● All scenes stand alone but no jazz solos
○ Jazz solo = giving an actor an opp to show off / doesn’t inform the story
(indulgent)
● Trailer moments/set-pieces/action
○ A moment that someone wants to tell another person about
○ They’d make the trailer (so funny, so original, so action filled)
● What is it about?
○ Be able to describe your story in a simple manner (“the one where…”) // elevator
pitch
■ You can see an episode of tv in that sentence - if you can’t it’s just a
scene
 Tips n’ Tricks
Cracking the story
● What would I do after 5 drinks
● Steal from life
● Think outside the category box
○ Change the framework
○ Think of it as a family
○ Think of it in a diff genre
● Watch tv pilots and beat them out
● Keep a running log of ideas
● Just get it down, revise later
● Improv principles
○ Yes and
■ Don’t contradict yourself
■ Build into the story
○ One crazy thing
● interviews/questions with yourself
○ Asking yourself what’s my character's birthday
○ Why do they feel that way about their __
○ Why did they hide first and then work up the courage
● Gut check, no “should”

Character
● Main character is active
○ Their choices are making things happen to them and other ppl
● Flaws, longing and fears
● Use interesting descriptions
○ Avoid long list of adjectives, rather try the type of person who… or he or she
wants…
○ Don’t describe people based on their attractiveness
○ Do not use actor types in your descriptions (with the exception of writing unlikable
characters)
● Best intro / coolest way / makes the most sense to intro your character
● Consistency is huge
● compelling/not likable
● Action has a beginning, middle and an end
● Action should reveal character
● Satisfaction is better than subversion

Reading Experience
● Assume they’ve read 10,000 scripts
● Break up big chunks of dialogue
○ (3 line rule - no action description can be longer than 3 lines)
 ● Put in new jokes/new ideas in each draft to keep it fresh
● compelling/funny visuals behind static conversations
○ Characters figuring out where they are going to dinner have them stuffing
balloons into the car at the same time
○ Have the funny visual inform their character
● Clarity is king
○ Clear, understandable and readable
○ Use stage direction to your advantage
○ Intrigue is good, confusion is bad

Common pitfalls
● Too much exposition
○ Cut it out or parse it out
○ What actually needs to come across
○ Is this important ​now​?
● Confusing
○ Shine a spotlight on what is important - make things easy on your reader
● Boring
○ Don’t hoard your goodies
○ You don’t have a series yet
○ Things happen in pilots
● Unoriginal
○ What is your personal connection again? Become an audience member
● Overstuffed
○ Stay focused
○ A, b, runner. If a scene doesn’t fit into one of those, cut it.
○ If you feel like there’s too much happening, take out every moment that doesn’t
directly relate to your plot
● Not funny
○ Read it out loud and get relatable, think about people you know
● Do a readability pass
○ Be clear, concise and confident
○ White space
○ Overly long dialogue or action chunks
○ Get fresh eyes on it