Every TV writer needs a sample, and that sample needs to be a TV pilot. In other words, that's season one, episode one of your yet-to-be-made TV series. Technically, you should have two TV pilots in your arsenal, but if you're just starting out, just focus on your first one.
A TV pilot is the most difficult episode of a series to write. You need to set up every major character, the season arc, and the series arc, while establishing the tone for your series and on top of that, delivering an entertaining episode. Not an easy task!
The best way to learn how to write a great script is to read scripts. Read tons of them. And for these purposes, read pilots. And there are a lot of pilots out there. After all, every single TV show that's ever been made has a first episode. The only problem is not all TV pilots are created equal. In fact, some TV pilots of very successful, critically acclaimed shows are downright terrible. They needed a few episodes, or seasons, to find their footing.
For example, it's pretty well agreed among Seinfeld aficionado circles that the Seinfeld TV pilot is pretty bad. It's even a pretty rough first season. But it turned into a great show. 30 Rock is another example of an uneven, just ok pilot that turned into an incredible show.
My point is, you can't just look at any TV pilot for inspiration. You need to look at the right ones. That's why I wanted to put together five TV pilots that will serve as great inspiration for you as you write your own TV pilot. Read them to get inspired, but also read them to see what they were able to accomplish in a finite number of pages. I chose these TV pilots specifically because they're well-structured, they set up the characters extremely well, they plot out the episodic story and series story, they're paced incredibly well, and they're just plain fun to read.
If you're a TV fan, which I assume you are if you're reading this, you've probably watched these pilots before. I don't find watching them to be as helpful as reading them for breaking down the structure. The reason is that things change during the edit, and the well-structured pilot script may change in the edit due to timing issues, or a really great action scene, etc. Reading the TV pilot script gives you the episode in its purest form, and makes it easier for you to draw inspiration from.
5 TV Pilots To Learn From
Breaking Bad TV Pilot
You probably already knew this was going to be on the list. It's as close to perfect as a pilot can get. From the exciting cold open, in which Walter White prepares a video for his family and prepares to die, to the set-up, in which we learn about his family, his abandoned aspirations, and his current station as a down and out high school chemistry teacher, to the even more exciting conclusion when we catch up to the cold open, this pilot does everything you need to do in a drama pilot.
However, one word of caution... the flash forward employed in the cold open was so powerfully used here that many pilots afterwards tried to employ it to lesser effect, and it became kind of a trope. So, be wary of using that same device in yours.
Check out the Breaking Bad pilot script here.
Futurama TV Pilot
Animated comedies are not known for their "premise pilots," which is a pilot that sets up the story of the series, as opposed to a non-premise pilot, like Family Guy that's so episodic that there's no need to set anything up. The Family Guy pilot could very well just be a regular episode of the show.
And speaking of set-up, there's a lot of setting up to do here. The pilot introduces us to Fry, gives us his character wants/needs (tired of his station in life, wants to be more than just a delivery boy), then propels us 1,000 years into the future to set up a whole new world and introduces us to the new main characters. And that happens all in the first act.
And it does it all in a fun, hilarious 23-minute episode.
Check out the Futurama pilot script here.
True Detective TV Pilot
This is a complicated script, and if you're writing your very first pilot, you might not want to try something as intricate. Season one of True Detective tells the story of multiple protagonists within multiple timelines, and it weaves this tale so intricately, it's mesmerizing at times. It plays like a novel.
This is a very specific genre - to call it "crime" would be almost too simplistic. It's more of a Southern Gothic Noir, which means setting up the tone is as important as setting up the story and the characters. Pay attention to how the tone is portrayed almost novelistically in the script without getting bogged down in excessive details.
Check out the True Detective pilot script here.
Arrested Development TV Pilot
One of the more intricate comedy pilots. There are a lot of characters to introduce, and a lot of story to unravel. This was also a very unusual style of comedy for the time. There wasn't much on TV that required this level of focus in order to "get" all the jokes. The multi-cam sitcom was still thriving with big, broad jokes that are more obvious on the page.
Arrested Development changed the game. Pay close attention to the way you immediately understand the characters they're painting from their first two lines of dialogue.
Check out the Arrested Development pilot script here.
Lost TV Pilot
Another game changer, this time in the world of dramatic TV. At the time, this was the most expensive pilot that had ever been made. And it needed a script that could warrant spending that kind of money.
The story's great, the characters pop off the page. But pay attention to the way the action is written. There's a lot to describe, and it's done so fluidly, you never feel like there's excessive scene description.
Check out the Lost pilot script here.
Writing a TV Pilot is just the first step
Being a great writer is half the battle towards making it in the TV writing world. The other half is building your network and developing your career. This is everything I tackle in my book, Breaking into TV Writing. I wanted to break the legacy of gatekeeping that this industry thrives on and show you how the TV writing world really works.
Image sources: Sierratangoxray, GringoStar,
