It's Alive!

I know, it’s been almost five months since my last sporadic blog post. I’ll admit it—for someone who has written ten books, blogging my least favorite thing to do. Crack the spine of a cozy mystery or hockey romance? On it. Write anywhere from 500—3,000 words about a topic screenwriters care about? Ugh. 

So I’m going to try something a little different. I’m going to attempt to write micro-blogs on a weekly basis. Small snippets of wisdom that might inform, entertain, or horrify you as a writer in equal measure.

I recently met fellow scriptwriting coach Heidi Lauren Duke at a CineStory TV retreat. We got to talking and Heidi came up with the brilliant idea of doing super-short Instagram Reels together on various topics. Here’s our latest about the difference between a story that would make a great feature vs. one that’s more suitable for a TV pilot.

Let me expand on my thoughts…

If the story you’re considering writing a script for could go on for at least three seasons, you’ve got yourself a series idea—huzzah! That means there are 50-ish main stories if it’s an episodic show, that is a show where each episode can standalone. Think NCIS (fill in the blank) or most broadcast comedies.
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OR, if your idea is a more serialized character drama (what used to be called a soap opera) then you need major stories that are so complex it will take your characters at least three seasons to unravel them, there’s still cause to celebrate. That’s the format of most dramas today—“Succession”, “The Boys”, or the juggernaut of drama series, “Grey’s Anatomy”.

But that’s only part of the puzzle. For a series to work, it has to have a fully populated world with multiple storylines going on all simultaneously. All these conflicts should roll on top of one another in a messy knot, just like real life. AND your pilot should be the blueprint of what every episode after that is going to look like. For instance, if you have 15 flashbacks, you’re telling the reader every episode will have multiple flashbacks.

A feature, on the other hand, is all about the main character’s journey. What do they want and what’s in their way? If their obstacles to happiness can be overcome in two hours (ish) then you have a feature idea. Just be sure your script establishes their normal life and what they’re going to have to learn or how they need to change or grow to get their goal.

Their goal can be as simple as winning the heart of their one true love, or as huge as saving the galaxy. But whatever it is, emotionally, the stakes need to be pretty high for the main character. After all, if they fail to win their one true love and are doomed to spend their life without them, that’s as devastating to the character—and the audience — as if a character fails to save the galaxy. The trick is they have to face a major obstacle and then change in their attempt to overcome it.

Bottom line, in a movie the main character needs a clear defined arc, but in a pilot they don’t.

Comment and let me know if there’s a topic you’d like Heidi Lauren and me to discuss! And be sure to follow me on Instagram @pitch2script to see more videos.