Understand the Challenge: Crafting a pilot script is difficult; it must introduce your show, characters, and potential while being engaging and unique.
Pilot Functions: A pilot should serve as a promise, a first date, a set-up, a launchpad, and a cathartic story, demonstrating the tone, execution, and story potential.
Types of Pilots:
- Premise Pilots: Origin stories that introduce the show’s world and characters.
- Non-Premise Pilots: Feel like episode 4, with the world already established.
New Situations: Establish a new situation for the main character(s), whether it’s a new job, a discovery, or a philosophical change.
Get Personal: Introduce your main character’s flaws and strengths, demonstrating how their personal makeup leads to conflict.
Emotional Impact: Aim to make the audience feel something. Empathy for the character is crucial.
Series Theme: The pilot’s theme should align with the series’ overall theme, addressing the hero’s flaws.
Whiff of Change: Introduce a hint of transformation in your main character, even if it’s just a small psychological shift.
Opening Pitch: Quickly introduce the show’s essence in the first 2-3 minutes. This could be through voice-over, speeches, or mini-episodes.
Story-in-Motion: Start with a situation already in motion, providing immediate conflict and questions.
Strong Character Introductions: Make your main characters memorable from their first appearance with unique and compelling traits.
Window Characters: Use a character who doesn’t know the show’s world to help introduce it to the audience.
Guided Tour: Provide a guided tour of the world and its people, usually through the window character.
Avoid Clichés: Be cautious with typical scenes like breakfast setups; aim for originality.
Unresolved Issues: Set up issues that won’t be fixed in the pilot but offer a glimmer of hope for resolution in the future.
Long-term Payoffs: Ensure your pilot has standalone appeal but leaves questions and mysteries for future episodes.
Series Structure: Think of the pilot as Act 1 for your show, with a structured setup leading to a commitment to the series’ premise.
Highlight the Whiff of Change: Make the hint of transformation evident by the end of the pilot, often through a statement or action.
Include Key Elements: Ensure all primary components (characters, locations, tone) are introduced in the pilot.
Make the Pilot Count: Don’t save the best elements for later episodes; the pilot must be compelling enough to greenlight the series.
Nash, Jamie. Save the Cat! Writes for TV: The Last Book on Creating Binge-Worthy Content You’ll Ever Need. Save the Cat! Press, 2021.