Writing the Pilot
William Rabkin
Language: English
Pages: 96
ISBN: 0615533612
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Television networks are so desperate for new voices and fresh ideas that for the first time in history they're buying spec pilot scripts and turning them into series. Today's aspiring writer can be tomorrow's showrunner. But it's not easy. Conceiving and writing a pilot that can launch a series is a complex assignment even for a seasoned pro. This book will take you through the entire process, from your initial idea through the finished script. You'll learn how to identify a concept that can carry one hundred episodes or more; how to create characters who will stay interesting year after year; how to design the unique world those characters will live in; how to identify the essential elements that will set your series apart from everyone else's; and most importantly, how to capture it all in one 60-page script. Riverside-Palm Desert's low residency MFA program.
keep worse criminals off the street. He only stole from crooks, and he did it to help his family. And if he was violent, it was because he lived and worked in a violent world, and that was the only way to get the respect of the bad guys he went up against. As for killing the other cop, that was required for his own self-defense – but even then he knew it was wrong, and it tortured him for the entire run of the series. This was the central conflict that powered every episode of The Shield – Vic
for writers who want to show what they can do, it's even worse. These shows are so rigidly formularized that even a produced example can demonstrate little more than basic professional competence. And what's being developed seems to be less and less original every year. Even the pilots are getting formularized, with each new show borrowing its soul from an established hit, whether that means Dr. House transformed into a brain surgeon or a private detective, or Gray's Anatomy's mix of sexual and
lawyer who believes that the entire legal system is nothing more than a game set up for his own amusement. And then of course we'll need someone else in the firm who believes the exact opposite. Now there's no need for us to actually create this show, since Boston Legal ran for five seasons on ABC. We can, however, go back and look at the early episodes, which established these conflicts so clearly. And we will see how these characters, some wild and wacky, some deadly serious, were created to
an hour later I had a rough outline scrawled out on a legal pad. So thanks, Michael!) For most of us, that initial idea is the most exciting part of the writing process – one moment there's nothing, and then, seemingly with no effort, there's a series in your head. It's rare that one starts writing from the initial inspiration, no matter how thrilling it seems at the time. Even though it feels complete at the moment, usually the inspiration has only provided a small piece of the whole.
desperately to get someone to read your script? For the moment, yes. And as I'm sure you already know, this is not a place you want to be. As long as you're standing on the wrong side of the door, holding out your script and politely asking to be admitted, they are never going to open it for you. You need them to invite you in. You need to make them want to invite you in. And while I wish this wasn't the case, your script, no matter how brilliant, isn't going to do that. They don't want to