Do I Write the Pilot or the Entire Series? Part I

All too often, as screenwriter will reach out to me with a story to sell- literally.

In many cases, the story is in a TV pilot form, with seven, eight- or even thirty-two episodes- to follow (yes- this actually happened once).

Mind you these episodes have already been written.

Now, the writer is looking for assistance in “selling” this series, as written, in its entirety. I am forced to tell them the bad news; that the reams of paper this series is printed on have more value than the words on the page.

Words of advice: NEVER write beyond the pilot episode.

Well, “never” is too absolute, so I would say “I strongly suggest you DO NOT write more than the pilot episode,” and the reasons are many.

You MUST first draw interest in the pilot.

This is going to include judgment on the concept, the characters, the settings, the plot, the level of conflict, the goal(s), the potential storylines and- most importantly- your personal writing skills.

When Brent Jones and I wrote “Bad Priest” together, we concentrated ONLY on the pilot. We had most of Season One written in our head, but we knew what we had to do. We spent a year writing, rewriting, and communicating daily, as we lived six hundred miles apart!

We shaped and shifted these characters until we each heard that “Bing! Bing! Bing!” in our head; we knew we had hit a home run with this idea.

At the very least, a triple.

We found A-list actors for a dream cast and wrote with these actors in mind, which is something I have always done. If you know these actors well enough- as I usually do- I can write dialogue and describe their mood and reactions much more easily based on having seen them many times over the years.

We had actors like Freddie Prinze, Jr. and his real-life wife, Sarah-Michelle Gellar, in lead roles; Jimmy Smits as the antagonist; Luis Guzman as the spineless Mayor of this border town, Hector Elizondo as the local church Father, and mentor to “Padre” (lead character).

To this day, this is one of my finest screenplays/teleplays of one of my original concepts I have ever been involved in, and Brent made it that much better.

The KEY was we saved the writing of the follow-up episodes to just a summation included in the required TV Bible. We completed one series of STORY OUTLINES, tracing each and every (regular) character’s relationship with one another, how they were planning to achieve their goals, defining new and existing inner and outer conflicts, while introducing additional (recurring) characters along the way- KNOWING each episode had to stand alone as a great story.

None of this is easy.

Early on in our marketing and competition period, we were told by two (2) very highly respected television producers that the pilot “begged” for a series. In fact, this was the actual quote:

"This pilot is compelling and clear and offers just enough to tease us with where these stories and characters might go. It begs for a full season..."

For multiple reasons, (Covid, among others), we- as a writing team- got sidetracked from continuing our marketing efforts but we have no doubt that we will be circling around back to this glorious story.

My point is, stick to a PILOT and the TV BIBLE. If you have trouble writing either/or both, reach out to us at The Script Mentor, and we can help you with this. TV Bibles are very difficult to do correctly, and sometimes take as long to create as writing the pilot.

Now, IF someone in the position to PRODUCE this series comes along, and wants this pilot, they will purchase or option that teleplay, then HIRE you to write three or four additional episodes. This is not always the case, though. Sometimes (often) the concept is stronger than the writing, and will purchase the pilot, giving you a single episode writing credit, and “story by” credit for the series. This is something that you and yours can work out. Few TV original writers stay on board through the entire series as the head writer unless they have a proven record, but it DOES happen.

So, in conclusion, you can WRITE your entire first-year season if you intend on producing it yourself, or simply want the practice. Do NOT attempt to market it as an eight-episode streaming series, though. If you give them MORE material, it will give them more opportunities to find mistakes or areas in which they will HATE the writing or the direction it may take. Concentrate on selling them on the IDEA of the series, then dazzle them with a few more (requested) episodes- AT THEIR EXPENSE (paying you)- displaying your writing skills and hope you can all become one package together.

This is how big TV writers get to be big TV writers.

WRITER'S BIO: Mr. Scala spent 24-plus years in the Hollywood community and was the Executive Director for the?72nd Annual Academy Awards,?as well as The Soul Train Awards,?The Grammys,?The Blockbuster Video Awards Show?and?The Saturn Awards Show. With three produced features- "Assassin 33 A.D.",?"Black Easter"?and?"The Tombs". All three are currently available on Amazon Prime and Tubi.

THE SCRIPT MENTOR and TSM Publishing and Marketing now offers a full array of additional services to the author and screenwriter, including...

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