Pilots are notoriously horrible (or the only decent relic of long dead scripts). Pilots are critical to the television realm as the episode that determines whether networks are going to pick up the series for a season run. As a result, the scripts often get entangled in the minor details - trying to explain enough backstory to make the current plot interesting, establishing a tone/setting, introducing characters, etc. There are a lot of factors at play, and the result is often the least liked episode of a running series or a reshelved, dust-collecting reel that is almost never found again. For my research on writing a pilot, I broke it down into two parts: the mechanics of writing a script and the existing shows that will inspire the direction and creation of my show. 

 

The Mechanics of Script Writing

How to start and How to (Hopefully) Not get Lost in the Weeds 

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To begin the writing process, it's recommended to look at existing series that can inspire and serve as a model. This is especially helpful to networks to understand the intention and direction of your narrative - particularly if these types of shows have been successful for them in the past. It’s also important to write about something that you’re passionate about (if you get picked up, you’re going to have to keep writing about it) and are relatively well versed in. The Internet will immediately (and is often just waiting for the opportunity to) call you out on inaccurate background knowledge, and a foundational idea involving history and nostalgia are two areas for scrutiny. Also, think of the genre that you wish to hone in on (Script Writer Pro). In this case, I am looking at a drama piece intertwined with many other genres: science fiction (time travel), historical (um, obviously), docu-fiction (the events are real, yet fictionalized), etc. So, there are clearly a lot of factors at play within the narrative that I am hoping to craft, and it will require a balance of many different aspects of storytelling. 

Another major component of script writing is determining the style of storytelling that it will take on: episodic, serial, anthology or limited. For the purposes of my script, I plan to pitch an anthology: a mix of episodic and serial narratives that feature the same genre and themes, but change storylines season to season (Script Writer Pro).

To begin the actual script writing process, it is best to start with an outline of the episode you want to produce. Summarizing each scene into a few short sentences to capture the essential meaning and gist of what is happening. Then, break down the outline’s scenes into acts or the cliff hanging moments when the scene changes and that will be answered later. From here, the beginning of world and character building starts to take shape (Script Writer Pro).

There are a few basic recommendations that also go along with the standard script writing process. These include: open with a strong visual: set the scene and tone for the characters, make the audience wonder what is going to happen - this can occur through a single, strong image or a sequence of visuals; crack into character: not only what a character says, but also the subtext of the world around them matters to see how the characters move and interact with each other; start moving the plot: keep pace and set up the main frame or twist of the story; set up the desired goal: what do the characters want?; set up the opposition to the goal: how will the characters have to fight for their goals? Overall, using these recommendations can shape how acts are then written. In a standard script, acts are structured as follows: Act one - set up, seed story points, introduce characters; Act two - establish the twist/main conflict; Act three - explore the story: it will have various peaks, make that possible; Act four - pull everything together that has happened thus far, a time for character reflection; Act five - build to an end point, yet with still unanswered questions (Grace). 

It’s clear that setting up the story of a script (and a pilot in particular) is complicated, however these basic understandings will guide the process of me writing my script. 

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The Existing Framework

A Little Inspiration 

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The premise of my series is that it is an anthology, which will shift season to season the storyline with the same basic pretenses. Current series that are similar to this are American Horror Story, Fargo, and The Sinner. I have personally enjoyed both American Horror Story and The Sinner, so I will be drawing inspiration from these scripts to help build my worlds. This style of storytelling allows for shows to tell a range of stories within the same show heading, therefore it is perfect for the style of show that I wish to produce within the realm of nostalgia. 

Anthology style shows used to be common in TV with shows like The Twilight Zone and Alfred Hichcock Presents, but they gave way to shows, such as sitcoms and dramas. Recently, this style of storytelling has seen a revival in the television world. Black Mirror has become the biggest Twilight Zone paralleling hit and has also been one of the most successful shows on Netflix’s platform (Welch). Most recently, The Twilight Zone has gotten its revival from CBS and American Horror Story is going strong on its tenth season. This style of show is both nostalgic and modern making it the perfect choice for the project I am completing. 

In order to also incorporate the aspect of time travel without the show being centered around the supernatural aspects, I also watched a number of episodes from the first season of Outlander, in which a woman from 1948 travels back to the 1740s. The show doesn’t focus on any science fiction plot as a result of the time travel, especially in the first season. The show instead focuses on the plot of what is happening in the world depending on the time period that the main character is in. I plan to do the same in my show and script. There will be a foregrounded focus on plot and the narrative outside of the science fiction piece, which will really just be a background piece. The audience will be able to accept the time travel aspect without extensive backstory or background knowledge that I feel would take away from the true nature of what I am attempting to achieve in this script. 

Given the current relevancy of this style of television and the wonderful examples that it has produced, I will be drawing inspiration from the pilot scripts of FX’s American Horror Story and Netflix’s The Sinner as examples of good script writing within the format that I am experimenting with. 

 

 

References

Grace, Yvonne. “How to Write a Pilot for a Television Series.” Script Magazine, Script Magazine, 24 Jan. 2019, scriptmag.com/television/how-to-write-a-pilot-for-a-television-series. 

Script Writer Pro. “How to Write a TV Pilot Script: The Ultimate 8-Step Master Plan.” Script Reader Pro, 7 Jan. 2020, www.scriptreaderpro.com/how-to-write-a-tv-pilot-script/.