How do I write a TV pilot?
- Hour-long drama pilots run 55 to 65 pages; half-hour comedies run 28 to 35.
- A pilot must establish the world, the cast, the engine, and one complete episode story.
- The engine is the repeatable source of story that makes episode 40 possible.
- Premise pilots start the world; non-premise pilots drop you into an established one.
- Most pilots are read alongside a series document explaining seasons one to three.
A pilot does two jobs at once: it tells one complete, satisfying story, and it proves the series has an engine that generates a hundred more. Establish the world, the central cast, and the repeatable conflict, then resolve an episode-level story inside it. If either job is missing, the script does not read as a pilot.
Chapter i·Why it matters
Most failed pilots are competent first episodes of a novel. They set up beautifully and resolve nothing, betting the reader will imagine episode two. Executives do not imagine; they read what is on the page. The engine question, what happens every week, is the one a pilot has to answer without stating it.
Chapter ii·What to include
- A cold open or teaser that establishes tone in the first three pages.
- The series engine, demonstrated by the episode rather than explained.
- A complete A story with a real resolution inside the pilot.
- Every regular character introduced with a want and a distinct voice.
- A closing image that opens the series rather than closing it.
- A short series document: logline, engine, character bios, season one arc.
Chapter iii·Example
A writer's medical drama pilot introduced eleven characters and resolved nothing. She rewrote around one case that ran start to finish and cut four characters to season two. The same world, now demonstrably a series.
Chapter iv·Related questions
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