“It’s a great time to think about original TV scripts” — Tom Benedek
A guest post from my colleague Tom Benedek:
I am in the middle of a writing assignment — a one hour spec pilot script based on a true story — for an independent producer. If we get it right, there is a great marketplace for this hard edged, character driven, topical project. There are all those cable channels which already have one hour dramas — and all the cable channels that want to establish a foothold in fictional TV. I have to be optimistic in the writing phase!
Driving home last week, I started wondering if I had anything from the past — a feature script, pitch or outline that might work in TV. I managed to find one in my writer’s trunk, not the Toyota’s. It’s a pitch which didn’t sell. I did many long and detailed outlines for it. The problem as a pitch — too many characters, too many plotlines, and a main conflict which seemed vague for a feature film. In TV today, all these weaknesses may be strengths. Additionally, when I was pitching it 12 years ago, the subject was a bit taboo. Today, the question is more about whether anyone else has this idea in development already.
I am still writing feature scripts. But we all know that TV matters more than ever before for screenwriters — as an aesthetic standard and as a marketplace. Netflix released the second season of House of Cards lasts Friday and the “watching the box” series binging phenomenon is in a phase that is amazing.
As screenwriters, whether we watch a lot of TV or not, it is important to recognize that audiences are conditioned by TV viewing — and feature film storytelling may never be the same.
Understanding TV, how script structure, plot, character development differs from feature length movies is a worthwhile thing. If this interests you, please consider my upcoming class TV: PILOT CREATION WORKSHOP starting Monday, February 24.
It is an 8 week class TV script writing workshop. We will study 9 great pilot scripts, examine their structural fundamentals, as each students builds out their series concept, outline and then writes their own 30 minute or 60 minute original pilot script.
Writing an original TV pilot is a great thing to do right now. It is fun. It is challenging. It is a great creative endeavor and writer’s marketing tool. Managers, agents, producers like to read 30 page or 60 page scripts. Spec pilots sell. They get made into shows. They lead to jobs — in TV and in features.
If you have a TV idea that you wish to workshop and build out to script, please do join me for this fun and exciting class.
Go here for more information on Tom’s TV workshop.
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