You have an idea for a TV show.
"I think I can sum up the
show for you with one word.
Nothing."
You can see it so
clearly in your head.
"-Nothing? -Nothing."
"-Oh, this must be your dad.
-Actually no, I'm her husband.
Don't be fooled by the eh...
Give me a second here."
Emotional.
"Come on, come on!"
And exciting.
"The things I do for love."
That's a great start.
How do you turn this
kernel of an idea
into the brilliant
pilot in needs to be?
"Right."
We`ll show you how
to start that process
and help guide you
through the steps
that lead to actually
writing the script.
"Is there a problem?"
Let's take the time to
answer simple question.
Is my concept a story?
This is Matt Rickett.
Matt has worked on "Arrested Development",
"Lady Dynamite", "Future Man."
"Bunch of others
people don't know."
He's getting Brad Steven`s
face tattooed on his back.
"Treatment part of
the writing process.
Probably when you
get free lunch."
Often times, you'll hear executives talk
about how an idea doesn't have any legs.
"When someone says
a show has legs
that means that this show
will be entertaining and
interesting beyond the pilot."
Not every great idea
is a great story
with an active engaging plot.
As the famous quote
from Ian Forster goes.
"The King died
and then the Queen
died is a story.
The King died
and then queen died
of grief is plot."
Every story starts at the
beginning, right?
Sometimes yes,
sometimes no.
The best pilots tend
to start at the end.
All of these
moments are endings,
but they're also
dramatic new beginnings.
You want to take your
idea and frame it in a way
that ends a normal
state of life,
to begin a new course.
And then ends again with
the compelling question.
This way you can build a back story
with strong conflict and drive
while teasing a larger art
that drives the show's future.
"Laying the groundwork for entire
series of pilot is something
that every pilot tries to do,
but very few actually do it.
And that's why a lot
of pilots don't get
picked up to series.
The law that has to do
with developing the world
and developing the
characters as a way to
very clearly indicate like this is who
this person is and this is what they want.
You have to have a global drive
for that character to
go over the series.
And then that way you can
kind of give people a sense
of like this is probably
where the shows going to go."
For example, "Cheers" is considered
by many writers to be a perfect pilot.
"The one of the
reasons why I love it
because it's so tight,
and everything that happens
happens for a reason,
and the way that you're
introduce to the people
is apparent of how it's going to
be for the rest of the series.
The show centers on Sam
and Diane's romance.
It's the "will they,
won't they premise" of most rom-coms,
but when it started,
Diane`s Story was with.
"-Sumner, this is crazy.
- Diane, we`re about to be married."
She was his plucky ta,
and the two were on their way
to elope somewhere tropical.
But when that ended.
"I'll go now and get
the ring from Barbara."
She had to begin again.
"Her turn going from the first
act to the end of the second act
when she actually takes a job
to be waitress at "Cheers."
"-You could work here."
"Watching that happen
and watching the way
she interacts with
Sam in that process,
clearly sets up where
the shows going to go,
and what we're going
to see down the road."
"-Carla, what am I making?
-Two vodka gimlets,
one straight up,
one blended rocks,
one Old Bushmill Irish decaf,
hold the sugar."
Ending. Beginning. Ending.
We end an old life,
to begin a new one.
To end the pilot with a question that
establishes the rest of the show.
Will they or won't they?
Let's go from
Boston to Kentucky.
And check-in with Raylan
Givens from "Justified."
But first, Raylan is forced to
end his nice sunny life in Miami
when this happens.
So he has to bold,
and begin a new one in his hometown.
Picking up pieces of a
life, he'd left behind.
"You get out of Harlan County by tomorrow
noon or I’ll come looking for you."
Only to confront the same
problems all over again.
Which ends the pilot leaving
us with the question.
Can Raylan ever escape
his violent nature?
"Honestly, you're the angriest
man I have ever known."
Here's an "Ansamble" show
where the town plays
a critical character.
"The pilot started
at the beginning
of the first day of
the football season.
And so you got to see
through the media,
and there's media
craze like who was who
and what they wanted,
what they're trying
to accomplish,
and you get to gets whole rundown
on the characters in the world
with like the first 10 minutes,
just because of the way
that they set it up on,
get a lot of media and a lot of press
asking all these expository questions."
"-Tim,I don't mean
to be inappropriate,
but I do smell alcohol
on your breath,
have you've been drinking?
-No."
So if there's kind of like
a normal day in the life,
that's a good place to really introduce
the characters and what they do.
But this moment right here.
"A fumble on the play! A fumble!
It's loose! Get the ball!"
That's the end of the
story of Jason Street,
the star quarterback.
And the beginning of a
story, no one expected.
"He steps up,
he hurls that football.
Whoa, man! Can this kid throw the ball!
He's got Dolia wide open."
He`s got it!"
Which ends the pilot with
the cliffhanger question.
Who will Jason Street
be from now on?
As you progress
through the series,
you'll see that the more groundwork
you lay before you start scripting,
the stronger your pilot will be.
Up next ,we'll show you how
to develop strong characters
that take these legs you've
developed and run with them.
"Run,Forrest,Run!"
Make sure you use our
screenwriting software
while developing your
show and characters
and tell all your friends about how
"Cheers" is the best pilot ever made.
"Cheers is filmed before
a live studio audience."
Or was it "Breaking Bad?"
"We gotta clean this up."
[Music]
