10 TV Series Bibles You Must Download & Read

Advice Filmmaking Producing Screenwriting

10 TV Series Bibles You Must Download & Read

6 years ago

If you think not writing a TV bible for your series is okay, think again. Studio and indie producers are asking for them, and there are a million reasons why having one can serve you.

Okay, maybe not a million. But enough.

Need a TV Bible For Reference Heres a Whole Slew Of Em

Here are a few:

1) A bible can help you, the writer, understand your characters and your world better than you thought.
2) A bible can give the producer faith that you know your world and are prepared to discuss the series with confidence.
3) Creating a bible can help you improve your world-building and other writing outside of your script.
4) Putting a document like this together can give you a leg up, should you be considered for a spot in a writer's room.

The list goes on. But let's stop there and get to the goods: a handful of show bibles for your review, including Freaks and Geeks, Grey's Anatomy, and Stranger Things. Enjoy!

If you have any you'd like to add to our list, please include the link in the comments. And thank you!

1) Stranger Things

2) Scrubs

3) The Crow

4) New Girl

5) Adventure Time

6) The Wire

7) Battlestar Galactica

8) Fargo

9) Grey's Anatomy

10) Freaks and Geeks

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As always, we welcome thoughts and remarks on ANY of the content above in the Comments section below...

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About the Author

Joleene DesRosiers is a former television reporter and anchor turned indie screenwriter and director/producer at a PBS affiliate television station in Northern New York/Canada.This role allows her to write, produce, and direct regional and national documentaries, docs-series, and other series produc...

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13 Comments on Joleene's Article

Cali Gilbert

Photographer (Still), Author, Director, Screenwriter

WOW! What VALUABLE info. Thanks so much for sharing. Loved the contrasts, yet so much great information to learn from. I've had a TV series in the back of my mind for years. Certain this will help if and when I choose to move forward. Again, many thanks.

6 years ago

Joleene Moody

Screenwriter, Actor, Producer

Get on it, Cali Gilbert !

6 years ago

David Chester

Director, Producer, Screenwriter, Songwriter

The 10 "bibles" listed above are listed in other places as well. It's really hard to find these things. Would love to see more comedies, i.e. THE GOOD PLACE, MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL, SCHITT'S CREEK, etc.

5 years ago

John Lyke

Actor, Content Creator, Director, Screenwriter

FYI Stranger Things is not a bible, but rather a treatment or pitch doc/packet. It's what they used to sell the show, while a bible is more for anyone working on the show to reference for details before bothering the creator or director with questions. That being said, I am very very happy I found this treatment, it's fantastic. Loving reading all of these.

6 years ago

Judith Johnson

Editor

Thanks for this topic. I will start reading immediately)

6 years ago

Ted Campbell

Director, Screenwriter

Think a discussion about the differences and similarities between a show bible and a pitch deck would be vaulable.

6 years ago

Margaret Lindsay Holton

Author, Publisher, Director, Producer, Screenwriter

Me too.

6 years ago

Ted Campbell

Director, Screenwriter

I'd be interested.

6 years ago

Lena Banks - Think Tank Ink

Producer, Creative Executive, Script Consultant, Screenwriter, Casting Director, Financier

Hi Jolene, thanks for the links. Just FYI, the LinkedIn icon to post there didn’t work.

6 years ago

Joleene Moody

Screenwriter, Actor, Producer

It works on our end. Maybe try again later?

6 years ago

Kimmie Dee

Illustrator, Screenwriter, Author, Line Producer, Playwright, Filmmaker, Videographer, Makeup Artist, Host/Presenter

This is very interesting and fun. Thanks for sharing. Some of the examples will be great help in the future.

6 years ago

Craig Walker

Actor, Director, Photographer (Still), Stage Manager, Voice Artist, Assistant Director, Production Manager

Brilliant selection of disparate approaches and styles for similar documents. Mine has taken the better part of two months to put together and then I get to pitch it to friends, who will dissect it and then make ready for a round two of re-doing it. It takes a lot of commitment and forethought, and at least this makes decisions and approaches down the line easier for those involved. Would be good to see another couple of seminal series bibles though.

6 years ago

Nassim Abassi

Director, Producer, Screenwriter

I've come across some of these bibles before and it's great to see how these famousTV shows started on a just few pages of paper..

6 years ago

Samuel Minier

Screenwriter, Author

Good stuff. Love how Stranger Things infuses the feelings of the show with stock images from its inspirations ...

6 years ago

Dan Musito

Producer, Screenwriter, Creative Executive, Script Consultant, Actor, Director

Very insightful, thank you !!

6 years ago

Tennyson Ewing Stead

Director, Producer, Screenwriter

Anyone who thinks preparation wastes a creative's time, perverts the creative process, or makes things unspontaneous: 1.) Doesn't know how to prepare correctly. Good preparation, whether it's an outline process, a rehearsal process for actors, or shot lists and blocking for directors, frees the creative to hunt for detail and specificity in their work. 2.) Gives a creative the structure and foresight to involve other people in their process without becoming a set psychopath. If we don't know what the gameplan is, we can't know if someone else is going the right or wrong thing until we actually see them doing it... if even then! When we're always playing catch-up to the runaway train of our own production, we eventually start yelling at people out of sheer anxiety. 3.) Is disrespecting the time of those around them, by failing to spare one's collaborators from as many of our own mistakes as possible. Assuming that our creative genius is enough to make ourselves worth other people's time, and then enforcing that decision by denying people the benefit of us having worked our own problems out beforehand, is narcissistic and rude. 4.) Sabotages our collaborators. Film is a team sport. Letting people know what we're up to as early in the process as possible gives them time to prepare for their own work.

6 years ago

Tracy Lea Carnes

Playwright, Screenwriter

My co-writer and I wrote our bible this fall. It's not something you simply throw together. There's an art to creating one. It took us almost a month to get it just right and then another few weeks after that tweaking it with our producer that is repping the project to the studios and streaming services. The bible and your pilot script are everything when you're presenting a tv series. We took a look at several of these bibles listed, including the Breaking Bad bible; however, we ultimately created our own look and pitch based on the tone and themes of our own pilot. It's good to use these as guides but ultimately you have to create your own bible that best fits your pilot and your series pitch.

6 years ago

Tracy Lea Carnes

Playwright, Screenwriter

We really liked Stranger Things bible because it fully illustrated the feel of what the Duffer Brothers were going for. Because of that alone, we used pictures throughout ours as well to fully illustrate our subject matter together with a bit of the vernacular that's used in our pilot and in the universe of our series. I think paying attention to the details and getting it just right is the reason it's sitting in the hands of a studio executive right now as well as snagging a great and accomplished producer to rep it. You just can't throw these things together if you're serious about being picked up. The competition out there is fierce and you can believe me, they all have their act together.

6 years ago

Joleene Moody

Screenwriter, Actor, Producer

Tracy Lea Carnes , couldn't agree with you more. It took me a good two months to fully flush out a polished bible for my pilot. When I was working with a non-writer on a concept, he said, "I can work on mine this weekend." I told him if he could pull all of the pieces together in a weekend without knowing his world, his characters, or even having a script or synopsis to start with, that every producer in Hollywood would be hot for him. (Probably not, but you get my meaning.) It really is an art. And one that is worthwhile, even if no one will ever see it.

6 years ago