Writing a TV Script

How To Write For TV

If You Want To Get Into TV Script Writing You’ll Need A “Spec” Script (Or Three)

As in the land of features, if you want to break in, you’ll need a “spec” script— i.e. a script written “speculatively” that showcases your talents and can be used as a calling card.

In TV, there are two main types of spec script:

• “Spec episode” for an existing TV show
• “Spec pilot” for an original TV show

Let’s take a quick look at both of these in turn.

How To Write For TV: The Spec Episode

In the world of TV script writing, a “spec” usually means a sample episode of an existing show. It’s also known as a “TV spec”, “sample episode” and “spec episode” and for the sake of clarity we’re going to use the latter.

Writing a spec episode is the traditional way writers use to break into television writing, but it’s less in vogue now than a few years ago. This entails writing an episode of an existing TV series that showcases your ability to write current characters that people know and love, in a way that feels real and familiar, yet fresh.

It means writing characters with pre-set voices and personalities in order to demonstrate that you are not only a powerful writer with an imagination, but also one who can follow the rules, and this means following the show’s formatting structure and overall “voice” of the show.

Writing a spec episode of, say, Modern Family, would require you writing all the families as we know them now, with their quirky character personalities, breaking the fourth wall, documentary style, etc. and all within intertwining, compelling and funny stories.

A while back, this was by far the best way to break into writing for television. You’d write a spec episode of a series you loved, and then submit that work through your agent or manager for consideration for a staffing position.

Executives and showrunners would hire writers who could effectively emulate the tone and voice of the show they were staffing, and a spec episode was the best way to measure that ability.

But times have changed, and so too has the professional strategy for breaking into television writing. In Hollywood today, spec episodes are much less popular than they used to be, and some showrunners now only read spec pilots for original shows.

This is not to say, however, that writing a spec episode is a complete waste of your time as you’re still building your writing chops, and will also be able to use it as a sample of your writing ability that could get you noticed.

How To Write For TV: The Spec Pilot

This is a TV script written on spec for an original show you’ve created from scratch and is also known as an “original spec”, “sample pilot” or simply a “pilot”. Again, for clarity, we’ll be sticking to the term “spec pilot”.

It’s easy to imagine that writing a TV show that’s compelling and original is as simple as writing a feature screenplay, but shorter. Unfortunately, you’d be wrong on two counts: not only is writing a feature about as difficult as it gets, but writing a television pilot is in some ways even more difficult.

Sure, the page count is slimmer, but the reality is a pilot functions as a seed for the series it’s jumpstarting. And in order to write a pilot that works as both a writing sample, and a potentially salable and produceable series, you have to consider the rest of the tree before you even plant the seed.

Whether you intend to write a TV series for a network or cable, the most important element is that you bring your voice to the project. That it is unique and stands out from the stack of spec TV scripts piled on the desk of any rep, producer or executive.

It’s no secret that we’re going through a second “golden age of television,” and that bold creative choices garner critical praise and admiration not only from executives and producers but also, ultimately, high ratings from audiences worldwide.

In other words, television that makes bold creative choices is good for business.   All of which means that showing you can emulate the voice of an existing show has become much less valuable than demonstrating that you have a unique point of view and the ability to tell an original narrative in an exciting way.

Which TV Scripts Should I Write Then? A Spec Episode Or Pilot?

The answer to this is that ideally you should have both. The odds of writing an original pilot, having it be purchased, produced, be ordered for a run, and be the showrunner or even an executive producer are astronomical, even less than selling a feature spec. But having an original pilot is still important.

An original pilot shows what you can do when it comes to creating fresh new worlds, marketable concepts, and original characters. Fresh voices are always sought after, and always welcomed. As in the land of features, your voice and your view on the world, is what makes you stand out on paper. So we advise writing a spec episode and a spec original pilot to show the breadth of your talents, and to give yourself the best possible chance of getting staffed on an existing show.

As someone looking to start a career writing TV show scripts, we also recommend creating a portfolio that tonally compliments itself. In other words, write an original spec pilot of a show that tonally and thematically explores the same areas as your spec episode of an existing show.

For example, let’s say you’ve written a dark spec pilot that really pushes the envelope when it comes to crime drama. In this case, you’d probably do well to spec an episode of, say, Sneaky Pete, which shows your ability to also handle more mainstream TV sensibilities.

Let’s now take a look at six steps you should take when learning how to write for tv. These are the fundamental questions that should get you started as you consider how to write a script for a TV show, whether that’s a spec TV episode or pilot.

How To Write For TV Step #1: Decide Where You’d Feel Most At Home

Imagine for a moment your ideal TV writing gig… Are you staffed on a network channel like ABC or NBC? Or on cable, i.e. on a show airing on HBO or FX? This is a crucial distinction, as your answer will dictate the tone and style of spec TV scripts you’ll be writing.

NETWORKS

If you think you’d feel more at home writing for a network, you’ll be defined by a sense of (for lack of a better word) conventionality. These channels are the homes of work house series that rarely veer too far from a relatively rigid format.

Think of shows like Grey’s Anatomy or Modern Family. If you consider their structures by breaking down individual episodes into specific beats, you’ll find that they follow the same arc in almost every episode. While it might sound like this would make these series easier to write, the opposite is most often true, as finding a series that will function on the 500th episode in a fashion similar to its first episode is a taxing process.

CABLE & STREAMING

If, on the other hand, you think you’re more of a cable or specialty homes type of writer (think streaming services like Netflix and Hulu), your work will have more scope for originality. This medium naturally invites a more exciting degree of novelty as it allows the writer to branch out from traditional structure for both comedy and hour-long drama. In this space you can let your wildest creative impulses guide you in a more broad and expansive direction.

Look at a series like Atlanta, or True Detective, or Insecure. These shows upend convention and focus more specifically on the creators’ unique voices. They play around with audience expectation, giving us one-off episodes that follow secondary characters, their protagonists and worlds that are often reflective more of their creators’ worldview than any expectation of what a show “should be like.” A worldview which is often imposed on new writers by network and studio executives.

On a more pragmatic level, cable shows offer more flexibility in terms of profanity, violence and on-screen sexuality.  These series are often presented in a limited number of episodes, i.e. to tell an anthology story, as opposed to a franchise designed to run for decades. In other words, there are more creative liberties for you as a creator, and currently there is also more opportunity in this space.

Overall, if you want to write this type of show, your choice of content is not so restricted. Procedurals—including shows about hospitals, police work and legal fields—tend to land on traditional TV.  But if you want to go all out with zombies, sci-fi or any other genre, you will find endless creative freedom beyond the boundaries of network television.

How To Write For TV Step #2: Pick A Couple Of Shows You Love

Firstly, what TV shows do you absolutely LOVE? And secondly, what genre are they?

This may seem like a simple statement to make, but it’s important that you focus on the genre and type of show that’s going to keep you excited, rather than writing something just because it’s “current”.

Your enthusiasm for the tone and genre of script you’re writing will come across on the page — in the story world, plot, characters, dialogue, and so on. So start by making a list of your favorite shows and then decide what one you want to write as a spec episode or emulate in a spec pilot.

However, rather than write a list that contains both drama and comedy, pick one over the other. As a newbie television writer, you’re much better off positioning yourself within a certain genre, instead of attempting to be a jack-of-all-trades who can “write anything”.

Deciding on a genre is about as elemental as it gets, but it will give your script its first embryonic shape. Do you want to write drama? If so, then your TV scripts should typically fall somewhere between 55 and 65 pages. If you want to write comedy TV show scripts, then they should be landing around the 25 page mark, but these are by no means hard and fast rules.

Once you know where your natural TV writing habitat lies — network or cable — what your favorite shows are within that space, and whether you want to kick off with a spec episode or spec pilot, you’re ready to start some serious research.

A quick note on writing TV spec episodes: Pick a show that’s popular and currently on air.  For example, even though Frasier may be your favorite show of all time, once a show is over it becomes obsolete in terms of using it as a writing sample.

How To Write For TV Step #3: Research Your Chosen Show(s) To Death

Attempting to learn how to write a TV script without actually studying your chosen show, is a bit like trying to learn to play rock guitar without learning any Hendrix licks. Make it your mission to know whatever show you want to write or emulate, inside out. Do this by doing the following:

READ TV SCRIPTS

Go to a screenplay download site, such as SimplyScripts or Script City and download as many episodes of your favorite show as you can and get reading.

You want to go for the actual teleplays, though, and not one of those ubiquitous “transcripts”. These just contain someone’s transcript of the dialogue and nothing else. Reading the actual TV scripts of the series you want to write or emulate is probably the best way to learn how to write for TV.

WRITE OUTLINES OF TV SHOWS

We’re big believers in writing outlines of movies as you watch them and then breaking them down in order to master structure, and the same goes for writing a TV series. Simply, sit down with your laptop and type out what happens on screen in one or two sentences. Then break down the resulting document into sequences and acts.

This is an invaluable writing exercise on learning how to write for TV and you can sign up to our newsletter to get a copy of our free structure hack.

TRANSCRIBE TV SHOWS

I know a moment ago we told you not to bother with reading transcripts, but actually writing them yourself is another matter altogether as you’ll learn so much about how to write for TV. Whereas writing outlines is great for learning about structure, writing transcripts is great for dialogue and will really help you find the voice of your characters.

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READ BOOKS ON HOW TO BECOME A TV WRITER

There are some great books out there on how to write for TV such as

Writing the TV Drama: How to Succeed as a Professional Writer in TV by Pamela Douglas and Writing The Pilot, by William Rabkin that every aspiring TV writer should read.

From doing all of the above, you’ll not only learn the exciting stuff on how to write for TV, but also the less exciting stuff — the technicalities…

How To Write For TV Step #4: Master TV Script Formatting

Now, we know you can’t wait to get stuck in and start creating that unique world or kick-ass episode of an existing show, but it’s important to also be able to present your TV script professionally. And that means making sure you get the formatting spot on.

If you’re used to writing feature screenplays, then switching to TV scripts shouldn’t be too much problem as the fundamentals are pretty much the same. Especially when it comes to writing a single-camera show for cable or streaming.

TV SCRIPT SOFTWARE

However, the first thing you want to do is purchase a professional screenwriting program, such as Final Draft or Movie Magic if you don’t already own one, which will make sure everything’s up to industry standard.

Final Draft handily has the TV script formats for many of the most popular shows preloaded in its template database. There are some free screenwriting software options out there  but if you want to take breaking into TV script writing seriously, we’d recommend spending a bit on some pro gear.

Professional script writing software will take most of the formatting heavy lifting out of your hands, leaving you to concentrate on what counts — the story and characters. The biggest thing you’ll have to watch out for when writing a TV script, is its structure, as this will affect the formatting.

TV FORMAT & STRUCTURE

Broadly speaking, your TV script’s structure will fall into one of the three categories below:

• 1 hour drama. This is a 60 minute show that may or may not contain commercial breaks. They can roughly be broken down into procedurals such as The Mentalist, i.e. self-contained stories every week, and serialized shows such as Homeland, in which the plot line develops from episode to episode.
• 30 minute single-camera comedy. Single-cams feel more like a feature film as they’re shot in the same way, sometimes utilizing a hand-held camera style. Examples include The Goldbergs and Curb Your Enthusiasm.
• 30 minute multi-camera comedy. Multi-camera comedies represent the traditional way of filming sitcoms: in a studio, sometimes in front of a live audience, sometimes with a laughter track. Frasier and Last Man Standing are both examples of this format.

As we’ve mentioned, there’s not that great deal of a difference between writing features and TV writing. The main difference between the two — and also between writing a 1 hour drama and 30 minute comedy — is how the stories are structured.

So let’s now take a brief look at the different structures of each of these three TV script formats. 

1 HOUR DRAMA

Here are the main elements of a 1 hour TV drama — all of which, unlike in features, are written directly onto the page by the writer:

• Teaser
• Act 1
• Act 2
• Act 3
• Act 4
• Act 5 (sometimes)

Some contain commercial breaks while others don’t. If they do, then the next time you watch your favorite drama, note where they land as these will give you your act breaks.

Here’s an example of 1 hour TV script formatting from the Breaking Bad  pilot:

Generally speaking, the Teaser takes up the first two to five pages, introduces the audience to the characters and story world, and (hopefully) hooks them into wanting to see more. Then the subsequent acts each gain in conflict, much like in a feature, and end on a big cliffhanger to hook the audience into watching the next act or episode.

If you’re writing for a network, each one prefers their acts at different lengths and to be broken down in different ways, so you will want to tailor your script according to their preferences. This is where you as a writer need to do your research.

How To Write For TV Step #5: Write A Jaw-Droppingly Good Script

Now that you’ve decided where you’d like to work, in what genre, and mastered the basics of formatting, you can start to get into the fun stuff: writing a killer TV script that will open doors for you.

This is, of course, easier said than done, but this is where your talent and perseverance as a writer needs to come to the fore. We don’t have the space in this post to get into the minutiae of how to write a TV show script (there are plenty of great books on writing for TV out there) so we’re going to focus here on the most important element you should take away with you.

This is most relevant question you can ask yourself if you’re writing an original 1 hour spec pilot is:

What’s my personal connection to this material?

In other words, why are you the ONLY person who could tell this story? The more specific and honest an answer you can give to this question, the more value you’ll bring to the material.

The first step of breaking into the TV writing business using a spec pilot is writing one that communicates you, your worldview, and your unique story. Not only should this pilot sample be a reflection of your interests and vision, it should be loud and attention getting. This is your calling card, so make it something special and you will be presenting yourself as a strong addition to any writing staff.

A way to really stand out amongst the crowd of TV writing aspirants, consider building out a “show bible” — a document that touches on the broad goals of your series. Address character, set up, what each individual episode feels like, and how you view the series growing beyond a single season.

Really dig into what your primary story arcs are, and how they’ll integrate into the B and C stories. Basically, what are the beats that define your series? What are the most significant elements that make your series unique?

Is your series a procedural, where every episode of each season follows the same pattern? Or is it an anthology series like American Horror Story, which reboots its story each season, in spite of having a thematic through-line? In other words: you’ve written a great pilot, but you’re also considering the future of your concept.

Admittedly, this is a challenging prospect, but one that will serve you well in the long term. Not only will you have a greater understanding of what your series is (and how to pitch it), you’ll also be in a stronger position to sell your work if you ever find yourself in the position of doing so down the line.

How To Write For TV Step #6: Research How To Break Into The Industry

Once you’ve completed the hard work of actually writing your brilliant new TV script, you’re undoubtedly eager to share your work with the most powerful hands in Hollywood. And this is where the real work begins…

GAINING REPRESENTATION

As with writing features, your best bet is to find a manager or producer who accepts submissions or queries, and do whatever you need to do to get your work in front of them.

The general thing you want to do, though, is to fully research the lay of the land and where your TV spec may find a home. Work out who are the people you want to get your work in front of — people who fit your brand, genre, sensibilities, and target demographic. For example, there’s no point submitting your dark n’ edgy crime thriller to Nickelodeon.

In short, even if you have a terrific manager already, or land one in your pursuit of staffing success, the truth is you truly do need a television agent to break into the industry. Television agents have a special relationship with staffing executives and producers, and without making it past this threshold, you have very little chance of even booking a general meeting with television executives.

There are, however, a few other viable routes which you can use which circumvent the traditional need for representation in order to staff: TV writing contests, fellowships, and labs.