For the past few months, I have been polishing a TV pilot to take out in the new year. And it seems like every time I go back to it, something is missing.
So I went ahead and made this checklist that I've been using to make sure my stuff is done and ready to send around.
I tried to make everything on it follow what I believe is the core of the best TV pilots: A pilot shouldn't just be the "prologue" to your story. It needs to be a functional episode of television that demonstrates what the "average" episode will feel like.
Let's dive in.
Your TV Pilot Checklist
'Breaking Bad'Credit: AMC1. The Engine & Concept
- The "Series Engine": Identify the central conflict. If it’s a procedural, where do the cases come from? If it’s a serialized drama, is the core friction (e.g., Succession’s sibling rivalry) sustainable for 50+ hours of television?
- The Hook & The "Inciting Incident": Does the "world-changing" event happen by page 10? More importantly, does your protagonist make a proactive choice in response to it, or are things just happening to them?
- The World & Rules: For "high-concept" shows, have you established the Cost of the Magic/Technology? Stakes are only high if the audience knows what happens when the characters fail or break the rules.
2. Character & Internal Logic
- The Want/Need Gap: Does the protagonist’s Want (e.g., "I want to be CEO") directly conflict with their Need (e.g., "I need to learn to trust people")? This internal friction is what makes scenes dynamic.
- The Character Grid: Can you map your characters on a grid of perspectives? If two characters have the same worldview, they are redundant. Every character should provide a different "angle" on the show's central theme.
- The Ghost (Backstory): Does the protagonist have a "Ghost"—a past trauma or event that dictates their current behavior? It shouldn't be fully explained, but its presence should be felt in their flaws.
- The Signature Entrance: Avoid "JOHN (30s) walks into the room." Give them an Active Intro: "JOHN (30s) is mid-argument with a vending machine." Use their first action to define their personality.
3. Structure & Pacing
- The Multi-Cam/Single-Cam Blueprint: Is your structure mathematically sound for your format?
- The A/B/C Story Weaver: Do the B and C stories offer tonal variety? If the A-story is a heavy thriller, the B-story should ideally offer a different pace or emotional frequency (humor, romance, etc.).
- The "Midpoint Shift": Around page 25-30, does the goal of the episode change or escalate? A pilot that stays at the same "temperature" for 60 pages will feel sluggish.
- The Escalation Ladder: Does each act break end on a Rising Stake (a new problem) rather than just a Resolution? You want to open a new "loop" before you close an old one.
4. Dialogue & Action Lines
- Subtext vs. Text: Highlight every time a character says exactly what they mean. Now, find a way for them to say it through a metaphor, a lie, or an avoidant question.
- The "Three-Line Rule": Scan your script for "blocks" of action. If an action paragraph exceeds 3–4 lines, break it up. Directing on the page means using white space to control the camera's rhythm.
- Weaponized Dialogue: Does every line of dialogue either characterize or advance the plot? If a line does both, it’s a "gold" line. If it does neither (e.g., "Hi, how are you?"), cut it.
- The "In Late, Out Early" Rule: Do your scenes start at the latest possible moment of the conflict and end the second the emotional "beat" has landed?
Summing It All Up
Hopefully, this list helps you find the plot holes and beats you think are missing, and if you have all that, it makes you able to polish the dialogue and action beats that might be a little wonky.
Let me know what you think in the comments.
