Anatomy of a Pilot

About this course:

A new television show has exactly one shot at survival: its pilot episode. If the viewer isn't grabbed in the first hour, they're gone forever. But what is a pilot? How is it different from all other forms of screenwriting? What makes a good one work and a bad one fail? And how can you be sure yours is one of the winners? In this intense, informative and entertaining course, you learn everything you need to know about what goes into a winning pilot. You watch and dissect recent network and cable pilots; examine character, theme and structure; and discuss which pilots best launched their respective series. Emphasis is on identifying the common structural elements of all successful pilots, gaining an understanding of "weekly franchise" versus "series mythology," and crafting long-term character arcs. We also discuss and develop student pilot ideas, help you turn your idea into a concise "pitch document" (a two-to-three-page breakdown of concept, character, and weekly story structure), and give you the tools you need to make the big move from pitch document to pilot outline and script. The course features guest speakers who have written, directed and/or produced their own network television pilots.