Telling stories isn’t that hard, it’s a skill we start practicing as soon as we’re able to communicate. But when it comes to telling that story in a script, like a TV pilot, things suddenly start to feel more difficult. In this article we're going to explore some storytelling building blocks that will help make coming up with your pilot story a little easier.

Building Block 1: What’s the story?

The main story in your pilot might seem obvious to you, but if not you can draw on some of the concepts from the first two lessons in our "How to Write a Great TV Pilot" course. In Lesson 1 we learned about chronic conflicts and story engines, and in Lesson 2 we learned about creating fundamental disconnects for your characters.

I recommend checking out those lessons if you haven’t yet, but as a quick refresher of those three concepts:

1. A chronic conflict is a conflict that isn’t resolved once and then is over, like in a movie. Instead it keeps creating more problems, that lead to more stories, which lead to more episodes.
   1. Example: In The Sopranos, Tony is a mob boss who has to go to therapy because he has panic attacks. That’s going to keep causing problems.
2. A story engine is an element in your show that keeps creating new stories.
   1. Example: In Law & Order, there is a new case to solve and prosecute every week, which means there is a new story.
3. A fundamental disconnect is the gap between what your character wants and the reality of their world.
   1. Example: In Abbot Elementary, Janine is a teacher who wants to do everything possible to help her students learn, but that’s really hard because her school is underfunded and she lacks experience. That disconnect is going to keep causing problems and creating stories.

The story in your pilot is an instance of the problems those three things cause. Often it is the first instance of that problem. We call that a premise pilot, because the premise of the show is being established in the pilot.

There are also shows that are episodic pilots, which means they feel more like a regular episode, but usually shows have at least some instance of starting things out.

To recap your story in your pilot is an instance of whatever kinds of stories the show will be telling moving forward. And it usually includes how this all gets started.

Building Block 2: Story Beats

To build your story you need to know what stories are made of, Beats. In film and TV the word “beat” means a lot of different things, but in this context I’m talking about beats as a unit of story. (If you add up all your beats, that’s your story.) A helpful way to think of a beat is that something in your story is changing.

Beats vs Scenes

A beat is a section of your story, while a scene is a section of your script. A scene is everything that occurs in your script in one place at one time. Sometimes a beat can last for one scene, but a beat can also last for multiple scenes. For instance, if a couple is having an argument that starts in their front yard, goes inside their house, and ends in the backyard. That’s just one beat of the story but it’s at least 3 scenes in the script. EXT. FRONT YARD, INT. HOUSE, and EXT. BACKYARD. Together we’d call those three scenes a sequence.

Beginning, middle, and end

It’s really helpful if each of your beats has a beginning, a middle, and an end. The beat starts for a reason, something happens, and then it ends for a reason. The key phrase is for a reason. It’s not just your characters randomly doing stuff in their lives. In the previous lesson we talked about how character goals can help your story long-term, but they’re also useful here at the beat level. Another way to think about a beat having a beginning, a middle, and an end is through the lens of character goals. The beat starts because your character wants something, it has a middle because they try to get it, and it has an end because they either succeed or fail, which leads to the next beat.

“But” and “Therefore” are good!

A beat is like a brick. By itself a brick is not that useful, but by arranging the brick with other bricks you can build a wall or a house. Similarly, by arranging beats with other beats you can create a story. While bricks use mortar to connect with other bricks, beats use "but" and "therefore" to connect with other beats.

A "but" is a complication in your story, and a "therefore" is a consequence of that complication.

Here’s an example:

Teddy realized he needed to buy an ingredient to cook dinner, but when he got to the store he found it was closed. Therefore, he got a pizza instead.

The complication in the story is the store being closed, and the consequence of that complication is Teddy getting pizza instead.

That’s a story in three beats. Teddy realized he needed the ingredient, he went to the store and found it was closed, so he went a got a pizza. Happy ending!

And each of the three beats has its own a beginning, middle and an end. But how could that be? The beats are so simple!

Well, let’s look at the first beat,

Teddy realized he needed to buy an ingredient to cook dinner.

That beat starts with Teddy needing something to cook dinner, then he does something about it in the middle when he looks for the ingredients, and it ends with him being frustrated because he doesn’t have the ingredient, which then leads to the next beat.

There’s a small story arc there, and what you’re doing is building your big story arc out of many small story arcs.

Necessary Beats

One of the great things about but and therefore is that it makes all the beats necessary, because they’re causing each other to happen. You can’t just take one out, because that would change the story. A good test if you need a beat in your story is to try and take it out. If the story doesn’t change, you probably didn’t need that beat.

Characterization

Complications and consequences also are fantastic at helping us develop our characters, because how characters react to complications shows us who they are. For instance, how does Teddy respond to the complication of the store being closed? Is he the kind of guy who will drive all over town looking for this ingredient? No, he’s the kind of guy who immediately gives up and buys a pizza.

Drama in everyday life

A last great thing about complications and consequences is it lets us find drama in everyday life and regular human things, like shopping. You can explore things with your characters that the audience will resonate with. Not everything has to be life and death.

“And then” is boring!

Now let’s look at a counterexample. What would Teddy’s story look like without complications and consequences. This is the “and then” approach.

Teddy realized he needed to buy an ingredient to cook dinner, and then he bought the ingredient at the store, and then he cooked the dinner.

That’s also three beats, similar things occurred, but it’s not really a story. It’s just a list of events. There are no moments where you wonder what’s going to happen next, no surprise, no twists, and no real tension. Plus, on a character level we don’t learn that much about Teddy.

Building Block 3: Audience Questions

One thing you want in your story is for your audience to be asking questions along the way. If they want to know the answer to something, they’re going to keep reading the script or watching the show to learn the answer. Some of those questions might be obvious, like "What happens next?" Or if it’s a murder mystery they’ll be wondering "Who is the killer?"

But there are a lot of other questions the audience may ask, for instance:

• Why did a character do that surprising thing?
• What will the consequences of this risky action?
• When is that other character going to learn the horrible truth?
• Will the protagonist be successful?

There’s a truism that all stories are mysteries. As you're developing your story, make sure there are questions or little mysteries along the way that will compel the audience to keep reading or keep watching.

Building Block 4: Other Storylines

Sometimes a pilot will have more than one story. The main storyline is called the A Story, but you also may have a second storyline called the B Story and even a third story called the C Story, also known as a “runner.”

The A Story is the main storyline of your episode, and usually it's about your protagonist. In a pilot most of the episode will be about the A Story, because there’s a lot of work to do to get the show moving, but your pilot might also have a B story. Often times a B story will follow another character. So your A story is about your primary character, and your B story is about your secondary character. In later episodes of your show the other storylines might be bigger.

If there are two main characters we call that a “two hander,” and if there are multiple main characters we call that an “ensemble.” But even in those kinds of shows you’re usually focusing on one of the characters in particular in each episode. Whomever that character is, their story is the A Story. If you’re in this situation, I’d recommend choosing one of your character’s stories to focus on in the pilot.

Sometimes both the A Story and B Story can be about your main character. In these cases the A Story tends to be the big plot story, and the B Story is an emotional or relational story. For instance, the A Story could be about a detective trying to catch a serial killer, which is what the show is about, And the B Story, could be about the detective’s problems at home.

In this case you need to start both of these stories in your pilot, but you would probably still spend more time on the A story. Most of the pilot would be the detective investigating the case, but there would be a few beats with the B Story at home..

The C Story or “Runner” would be some minor story, could be something funny. But a lot of times Pilots don’t have a C story because there isn’t room.

CONCLUSION

Spend some time thinking about these building blocks, and how you they apply to your TV pilot. It’s going to make things a lot easier for you when we build out the pilot story in our next lesson.