#Tv pilot structure series#

But the structure you must include in your pilot is a bit more than the 3-or-5-act structure necessary to fit in the commercial breaks -it’s the format and essence of your show. Sitcoms and comedies are almost always half-hours, while dramas are an hour long. Your pilot’s structure is likely going to be broadly defined by what kind of show you’re writing. It will give you something to unravel in later episodes, and prove more captivating for audiences than if you simply tell them who each character is individually. If you can, spin the web of your characters while you introduce them in your pilot. Matt may be QB2, but he’s got his eye on Coach Taylor’s daughter Julie. Jason and Tim may be best friends, but Jason’s girlfriend Lyla doesn’t always think very highly of Tim. While introducing the characters, the writer also lets the audience in on the web of complicated relationships between all these people. Not only that but Friday Night Lights goes one step further. Saracen, the Mayor of Dillon, the radio host who comments on the high school football team - everybody. Coach Taylor, Tami Taylor, Jason Street, Tim Riggins, Matt Saracen, Julie, Landry, Lyla, Buddy, Tyra, Smash, Billy, Mrs. In the pilot episode of Friday Night Lights, all of the characters are introduced in the first 20 minutes. More importantly, why should the audience root for these characters? What about them is intriguing enough to get a viewer to tune in the following week, or not switch over to something else on Netflix? Who are your characters? Who will the viewers see every week? Which characters are major and which are simply supporting?

#Tv pilot structure series#

In your series pilot, it’s essential that you introduce the characters important to the story. Characters are the reason television shows exist - TV characters sustain a series over multiple seasons because their stories are bigger than that of their film counterparts. Whereas movies can sometimes get away with being more about the story itself than the people in the story, it can never be that way with television. The CharactersĪ show is nothing - I repeat, nothing - without its characters. It establishes that the show is about friendship. The pilot episode may not be very good in comparison with some of the episodes in the show’s later seasons, but it does something incredibly important - it establishes, right off the bat, that the entire series would be about a group of six friends who help one another navigate life in New York City. What themes will your show touch on? At its heart, what is the message, moral, or overarching universality you want to comment on with the story as a whole?Īs an example, think about everyone’s favorite 90s sitcom: Friends.