We are currently living through a new Golden Age of television, which, over the last twenty-five years, has expanded from the major network television platform (ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox) to the addition of cable television (HBO, Showtime, AMC, FX, etc.), and into the current expansion of streamers (Amazon Prime, Hulu, Netflix, Apple TV, etc.). That’s three platforms dedicated to episodic storytelling, amounting to hundreds upon hundreds of current TV shows — with thousands of series that came and went before them.  

And all of them started with one particular type of episode — a TV pilot. 

If you want to break into television writing, you first need to know and understand:

• What a pilot episode is
• The purpose of a pilot episode
• How to develop and write one with the best odds of it selling

With that in mind, here we delve into those questions, offer step-by-step guidance, recommend helpful tools, and share links to some of the greatest pilots of this modern Golden Age of television. 

What Is a Pilot Episode?

A pilot is the first episode of an eventual television series — developed, written, and produced as a testing ground, proof of concept, and seed from which a full television series can grow. 

Whether it’s for a half-hour sitcom or hour-long drama, the pilot episode of a series is what introduces the core concept, world, and characters of your show. 

• When it’s presented in teleplay format, the pilot episode script is what will pitch potential buyers in the form of networks and streamers. 
• When it’s produced, the pilot episode will prove if it is worthy to take to series, which entails producing anywhere from eight to twenty-two episodes (give or take) for a single season. 

The type of pilot episode, content-wise, really depends on the series being pitched. 

• Premise Pilots set up the overall focus of the series by starting chronologically at the beginning of the pilot’s concept, introducing the main concepts, conflicts, and characters from the beginning of the story. 
  
• Non-Premise Pilots focus on showing what each episode of the series will be like, essentially showcasing an episode that could fall anywhere within any given season of the series. 
  Premise pilots are usually found within hour-long dramatic shows (including those with action, thrills, and dramedy) while non-premise pilots fall under the sitcom (situation comedy) category. 

The History of the Pilot Episode 

The word “pilot” is derived from the scientific usage of the term which can be best defined as prototype. In science circles, introductory research would be labeled as pilot studies that would prove the validity and demand for larger-scale research projects.  

Historically, in television, pilots were produced and presented to the original major television networks for testing before season orders, proving the validity and demand for a full season order.

Networks and showrunners could then ascertain the strengths and weaknesses of the pilot — including the cast of actors — and then do one or more of three things:

• Scratch a potential series off the board and move on to another
• Rework, rewrite, and/or recast the series
• Greenlight the pilot to a multi-episode order

These days — especially with streamers like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and Apple TV involved — whole seasons can be greenlight based off of a concept, intellectual property, or talent-attached alone. 

But there’s always a pilot episode that must launch the series. 

Jason Momoa and Emilia Clarke in 'Game of Thrones'

The Fundamentals of a TV Pilot

We live in a binge-culture world. You’re not just trying to capture an audience with a well-written pilot. You’re now trying to gain a loyalty base that will keep coming back for more. 

But the role of a pilot in this day and age hasn’t changed. The fundamentals are the same. A great pilot must:

1. Introduce a compelling world.
2. Populate that compelling world with equally compelling characters.
3. Set and meet tone and genre expectations.
4. Present the engine of the series in the form of conflict that is ever growing.
5. End with a hook that keeps audiences wanting to come back for more.

A series pilot is a promise, sales pitch, and blueprint for what could be.

When you first start developing and outlining ideas for shows you may want to develop into pilot scripts, focus on these five fundamental elements.  

1. Introduce a Compelling World 

Movies are concept-driven. TV shows are world-driven. 

• Game of Thrones offered a world of kingdoms and conquerors amidst deceit, betrayal, loyalty, and honor — mixed in with magic and dragons. 
• Ted Lasso showed the world of European soccer through the eyes of an American football coach. 
• Lost presented a great concept of characters stranded on an island after a plane crash, but amidst an island of mystery, strange creatures, and unexplained phenomena. 
• The Office delved into the dull world of an office culture — a paper company office culture nonetheless.
• Friday Night Lights brought us into the world of Texas high school football and the trials and tribulations of the coaches, players, and community. 
• Superstore took a cue from The Office and showed us the equally dull world of working at a retail superstore. 
• The Handmaid’s Tale introduces us into the frightening possibilities of a dystopian near-future where the United States has fallen under fundamentalist theocratic dictatorship where women are forced to live as concubines.
• Abbot Elementary shows the day-to-day of an under-funded elementary school through the eyes of the staff.  
• The Last of Us thrusts us into the terrifying world of a global pandemic that has destroyed civilization. 
• The Sopranos gave us a peek into the world of the 21st Century mafia. 

When you’re dealing with episodic series storytelling, audiences want to take multiple episodes and seasons to explore interesting worlds that either captivate their imagination (Game of Thrones, Lost), intrigue them (The Sopranos), frighten them (The Last of Us, The Handmaid’s Tale), or inspire them (Ted Lasso). 

World-building tip: Find or create worlds that haven’t been featured on television yet. These are the types of world that networks and streamers will want to read about — and these are the worlds that audiences will be looking for as far as finding something fresh and new.  

Sheryl Lee Ralph, Lisa Ann Walter, and Tyler James Williams in 'Abbott Elementary'

2. Compelling Characters

You’re not just writing for the pilot episode. You’re building characters that we’ll (hopefully) follow for multiple episodes and seasons. They will evolve over the years. Give them distinct voices, strong goals, difficult relationships, and flaws to overcome. 

• What does the character want?
• What’s standing in their way of achieving that want?
• What do they fear most?
• How will they either change or resist change?

Developing compelling characters tip: Give us flawed characters. Flawless characters in television aren’t intriguing. They can work in movies, but when you’re dealing with a TV series, the character arcs have to be more prevalent. The more flawed a character is, the more compelling and relatable they are. 

3. Set and Meet Tone and Genre Expectations

You always want to be consistent throughout your pilot script. The most immediate elements of your script and eventual series will be the tone and genre. You need to meet the expectations of those elements from beginning to end.  

• If it’s a science fiction series, there needs to be tech. 
• If it’s a zombie horror series, there need to be zombies and scares. 
• If it’s a dramatic series, there needs to be some melodrama. 

The pilot sets those genre expectations. 

For tone, you can’t start a pilot episode by being funny and light, and then write the rest of the pilot as dark and depressing. It’s okay for a pilot script to be both funny and light, accompanied by dark and depressing moments, but you need to make sure there’s an even balance throughout the script if you plan on doing that. 

Be consistent in both your tone and genre expectations. 

Tone and genre tip: Consistency is key. You can write whatever you’d like, as long as the tone you set is consistent, and as long as the genre expectations are always met. Make sure that you have a plan going into the development of your pilot. 

4. What Is the Series Engine?

The series engine is the core conflict of the series. 

In The Sopranos, Tony is always battling his anxiety amidst struggles with his family and his position as the head of a mafia family. 
In Ted Lasso, Ted is always striving to find and spread the good in any situation. It’s always about inspiration. 
In The Last of Us, the story is always centered on the love between Ellie and Joel (or other characters) amidst the horrifying reality of the apocalypse. It’s always about family dealing with these extraordinary and terrifying circumstances and realities. 

Find the core of your series. 

Series engine tip: Focus on finding both the internal and external goals of your protagonist(s). The external goal may be trying to survive the elements or an external threat, while the internal goal may be them trying to find love and acceptance amongst the chaos of the external conflict everyone is dealing with. When you combine both external and internal goals, wants, and needs, you’ll find the series engine. 

5. End with a Hook

What’s your last visual or line in your pilot script? Does it pose a question or reveal a twist? You don’t have to end on a cliffhanger — you just need to leave the audience curious and anxious to see what happens next. 

Ending with a hook tip: Reveal something we don’t know about the protagonist. Showcase a mysterious and unexplained event. Leave a character with a choice they must make between two very different paths. Whatever it is you do, leave some intrigue in those final moments.

'Friday Night Lights'

Outlining Your Pilot Before You Go to Script

Outlining is an amazing tool every screenwriter should utilize before going to script. Outlining helps you to organize your thoughts, visuals, scenes, sequences, and ideas for your stories and characters. 

If you’ve ever read a screenwriting book or listened to interviews with top screenwriters, you’ve likely come across the classic notecard method where writers jot down story beats or scene ideas on index cards. These cards are then arranged on a physical beat board (often a wall), allowing for a visual and flexible way to map out the structure of a script.

Today, you can streamline that same process digitally using Final Draft’s Beat Board. This feature lets you create and organize virtual notecards directly within your writing software. You can easily move beats around, edit them on the fly, and seamlessly transfer them to the Outline Editor as you build your script from the ground up.

It’s highly recommended that you take the time to outline your pilot script first, using that outline to problem solve and plan the flow of your story before you’ve written script pages. It will make the writing process all the more easy when it comes time to go to script. 

How to Write and Format a TV Pilot Script: Sitcoms vs. One-Hour Dramas

Understanding the correct format for your TV pilot script is crucial. Proper formatting not only showcases your professionalism but also ensures that your script aligns with industry standards, making it easier for readers to visualize and assess your work.

Elisabeth Moss in 'The Handmaid's Tale'

One-Hour Dramas

One-hour drama scripts typically range between 45 to 65 pages, aligning with the standard that one page equates to approximately one minute of screen time. The structure often includes:

• Teaser: A brief opening scene that sets the tone, introduces key elements, or presents a compelling hook. This section usually spans 2-5 pages.
• Acts: The script is divided into multiple acts, commonly four or five, each separated by act breaks. These breaks often correspond to commercial breaks in traditional broadcasting and serve as narrative turning points.

Acts were originally created to adhere to network commercial breaks. With the advent of streamers diving into episodic storytelling, commercial breaks aren’t as prevalent within the format. So, be aware that you don’t always need act breaks — but it’s also good to have them in there if you plan on pitching your pilot to production companies connected with basic and cable networks. 

Formatting Elements

• Act Headings: Each act begins with a centered, underlined heading (ACT ONE) and concludes with an “END OF ACT ONE” notation.
• Scene Headings: These elements indicate the location and time of day (INT. OFFICE – DAY).
• Action Lines: Descriptions of the setting, character actions, and significant sounds or visuals. Written in the present tense and kept concise.
• Dialogue: Centered and formatted with the character’s name in uppercase, followed by their lines.
• Parentheticals can be used sparingly to indicate tone or action.

Quick Tips:

• Pacing is everything. Ensure that each act builds upon the previous one, escalating tension and stakes.
• Cliffhangers can be used at the end of act breaks to keep viewers engaged.
• It’s always important to maintain a consistent tone and style throughout the script to establish the show’s identity.

Rainn Wilson and John Krasinski in 'The Office'

Half-Hour Sitcoms

Sitcom scripts are generally 22 to 35 pages long, depending on the format and network requirements. The structure varies between single-camera and multi-camera setups.

• Single-Camera Sitcoms: These resemble film scripts and often follow a three-act structure, including a cold open and a tag.
• Multi-Camera Sitcoms: Typically formatted with a four-act structure and written more like stage plays, considering the live audience and multiple camera angles.

Formatting Elements

• Cold Open: An introductory scene before the opening credits, designed to grab attention. Labeled as “COLD OPEN” or “TEASER.”
• Acts: Each act starts with a heading (ACT ONE) and ends with an “END OF ACT ONE” notation.
• Scene Headings: Similar to drama scripts, indicating location and time.
• Dialogue: In multi-camera scripts, dialogue is double-spaced to accommodate timing and actor cues.
• Character names and stage directions are often capitalized and underlined.
• Stage Directions: Particularly in multi-camera formats, directions are more detailed to guide live production elements.

Quick Tips:

• Timing is everything in comedy. Ensure that jokes and punchlines are well-paced.
• Clearly describe any physical comedy or visual elements to aid in easy visualization and eventual production planning.
• As always, be consistent in your tone and characters. Make sure you know what each character would say (or not say), and how they would say (or not say) — and how each character would or wouldn’t react to any given situation.

Tools to Help You Learn to Write Pilot Scripts

Screenwriting Software

Screenwriting software is essential. It ensures the proper format and margins, yes. But it also makes your job as a screenwriter so much easier. And there’s no better software than Final Draft, the industry standard. 

• You don’t have to worry about page margins —  Final Draft does it for you automatically. 
• You don’t have to worry about formatting elements — Final Draft makes switching to and from script elements easy with the touch of a key.

The great thing about using Final Draft for writing your pilot is that there are specific templates you can utilize to do all of the above formatting for you with ease, allowing you to focus on your story and characters. Simply open Final Draft and select New > File from Template > TV to access TV script templates.  

Read Contemporary Pilot Scripts

There’s no better screenwriting education than reading scripts. While it’s great to read the classics from thirty to forty years ago, it’s always best to read the most contemporary scripts that you can. This will help you stay up-to-date as far as industry standards and expectations. 

Thankfully, it’s fairly easy to find any pilot script for any produced TV series these days if you do a Google search. Keep in mind that any pilot script you read — new or old — will not always represent the final product of the produced TV pilot episode. But this practice of reading pilot scripts will help you understand the flow of pilot scripts, as well as the general guidelines and expectations of format, structure, story acts, characterization, dialogue, etc. 

Find a produced pilot script that aligns with the type of pilot you are writing — and then follow that format (and page count with each act) to a tee. That’s the best way to understand and practice proper formatting and structure for TV pilots. 

How to Market and Sell Your TV Pilot Script 

There’s no one way to market and sell a TV pilot. Television is a competitive field. Despite so many series being made, there are still limitations when it comes to newcomers selling pilots. 

But don’t fret. If you follow the guidance we’ve offered and manage to develop and write some compelling worlds and dynamic characters within those worlds, the cream will rise (as they say in Hollywood). 

Here are some quick tips on marketing and selling your pilot.

• Enter TV writing contests (like Final Draft’s Big Break). 
• Submit to fellowships like those provided by Disney, Warner Brothers, HBO, etc. 
• Write a small series bible to lay out the intended direction of your potential show (you can use Final Draft’s Series Bible Template).
• Query literary managers by way of utilizing IMDBPro to obtain email addresses for cold queries. Look up shows similar to yours, find out who is writing for them, and see who is representing them. Always focus on managers over agents (who come into the picture only when there’s a deal to be brokered). 
• Query network and streamer television development executives. 

Rinse and repeat until your pilot finds a champion within the industry. Be patient. Learn from any rejection or silence. Keep writing. And maybe, just maybe, one of your pilots can be a prototype for your screenwriting career!