When writing a pilot script there are so many things to develop, consider, and bring into alignment. You have to really build the main characters to a three dimensional reality before actually knowing who they are and if you don’t have the actors picked, before knowing who is going to become them.

You have to create a situation or a setup in the characters lives right at the beginning that grabs the viewer and makes him compelled to watch moment after moment.

Then, in an ideal pilot script, you have to have the situation develop so that things have changed in the lives of the characters so they are now planted in a new situation which serves as the setup for the series.

I have noticed several things by studying pilots from several sitcoms. Almost always the main character has something magnetic and something detracting, a yin and a yang. Often though not always the main character causes trouble for others and this helps drive the plot. Often he has a driving force that he is trying to achieve. Almost always there is a singular main event, accompanied by possible subplots, which is the foundation that begins the series.

I hope to post a podcast episode soon detailing my findings and developments of understanding the form. I hope this is of benefit to some.

Scriptwritin’ Aaron

01/13/2017