Friday, February 04, 2005

A reader writes in to say (specific details removed): 'I have created a wonderful world for a tv series and I'm wondering how to approach getting it set up. Write the pilot? Write the pitch bible? Write both?'

Unless you're an experienced TV writer -- Executive Story Editor credits and above -- you can't really pitch a spec TV series anywhere in the States. That's because the network isn't really buying an idea with a writer attached, so much as hiring a writer who has an idea.

But you can pitch a spec movie. People buy movie specs all the time. You don't have to have credits if you have a great idea.

The way to get your world on the air is to write a movie that showcases your world without explaining it. Have a fast-moving plot that uses the world as background, and creates the characters of your TV series; or at least creates the main character.

When you create a movie with an eye towards a TV series, it's called a "backdoor pilot," because you're essentially creating the pilot for the show -- in the old sense of the word pilot, meaning "an episode that's proof of concept for the show, that's made to see if the series is worth bankrolling" rather than "a two hour special episode that kicks off an already-ordered series." Joss Whedon's movie Buffy: The Vampire Slayer was proof of concept for the series, for example.

Note that if you have to choose between selling the series and making a good movie, make a good movie. You may well find that some of the story elements of the series won't work in the movie. Scrap'em. If the movie's a hit, you can always ignore it when you make the series. Again the example is Buffy, the movie of which was lighter and airier and funnier than the dark and scary, if still comic, series. The movie also didn't have the Scooby Gang, just the Watcher.

This is what I'm doing for Unseen: create the movie as proof of concept for the series. It'll be a lot easier to sell the movie than the series, and if the movie's made, it'll be easier to sell the series.

Don't use the movie to explain your world. Just use the world as background. When you're writing the movie, your first loyalty is to the movie, and movies don't like explanations much. Try to avoid them. As little expo as you can get away with.

Do create the characters if you can.

Don't worry if you give away a secret in the movie that you were planning to keep until somewhere in to the series. You probably shouldn't be keeping secrets from the audience in the series anyway. Who's going to watch the old episodes when they've seen the secret revealed?

Labels: pilot, spec pilots

6:15 PM

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