Hi everyone - my name is Amber, a recent television graduate, and I am very new to S32 and the creative industry as a whole.
I have a TV Pilot script written and in order to get noticed, I have been advised to create the pilot myself. I have been informed that this will set the project apart from others and would be useful to include in proposals for production, get some experience and start creating a presence for myself in the industry.
I am aware that this will be a difficult task; however, it is one that I am very passionate about and am excited to begin so that I can show studios the tone and vision of my TV show idea.
Any guidance/tips/advice for this concept would be greatly appreciated moving forwards. Thank you for reading!
7 people like this
Hey Amber.
TV networks are looking for story, heaps of story, enough story to churn out season after season. Gaining a large audience is hard and they never want to give that up.A show bible is essential and it needs to convoy that the writer has years of story in their head with a concept that gets more and more interesting as it builds. All episodes of season one need to be covered along with overviews for a few seasons.
That's what we're selling, story over a significant amount of time.
A pilot is like handing in the first few pages of a feature. It's a writing sample. They should only be submitted if a network wants to see one and some really don't.
They want to be able to hand the concept over to a trusted showrunner who will manage a writing team. An unknown writer will be lucky to be on that team and may get a Created By credit which is valuable in terms of experience and status.
My advice is based on conversations with current and ex showrunners that I'm close to. A lot of what's shared on forums and by various platforms is backward.
80% of your energy needs to go into that bible as the result of developing a tremendous amount of story. 20% can go into the pilot. Sadly, a lot of writers get it the other way around.
Hey Amber, what's your pilot about/what genre? How long will it be?
1 person likes this
Keep in mind there are entirely new ways of telling the stories. It's not just the standard networks but you've got streaming services of various shapes and sizes to appeal to. When you get to the pitching phase look be sure to look at them.
1 person likes this
Give them a story, not just an idea.