How to Write a TV Pilot - pt. 1 - Concept & Considerations

Oct 1, 2026

Guide on creating and submitting a sample TV pilot, focusing on how to build a compelling concept and make key early decisions. Explains the difference between spec scripts and original pilots, then details how premise shapes characters, conflict, and the created world. Uses examples from well-known TV shows to show how pairing character dynamics drives comedy and stakes. Covers format choice between single-cam and multi-cam, including production and performance implications.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages34

Reading Time52 min

AccessFree to download

Your Concept

Single Cam vs. Multicam

How to Write a TV Pilot, pt. 1: Concept & Considerations by Luke Giordano My job is that I write for television. I have been hired to write for three different television shows, finishing up work on my third one right now. This doesn’t mean I’m a better writer than you or even a good writer at all. But at the very least, it makes me good at tricking people into hiring me to write for television shows. If you’d like to get a job writing for television (you should—it’s great), here’s how to write a sample pilot to submit to agents, execs, showrunners, etc. I get a lot of questions about this stuff, so I figured I would write all my thoughts down. Formerly, the general wisdom was that you should write a spec script (meaning“speculative,” or for no pay) for an existing television show to use as a sample. [“Spec”seems to be used mostly to refer to a spec script for an existing series, but really it just means anything you write for no pay. If you’re writing an original pilot that no one’spaying you for, that’s a spec pilot. If you write something for a studio at their request for free, you do it “on spec.”] At some point, this shifted to writing an original pilot of your own conception. People probably just got tired of reading Friends scripts at some point. I personally have never written a spec script for another show. I’ve gotten all my work and meetings from my original pilot scripts. I’ll be primarily be talking about situation comedy and thirty minute shows because that’s what I have experience in. A lot of this stuff will apply to hour long drama, though. Your Concept You probably have some semblance of an idea for what you want to write about if you’ve made it this far. But what you might want to do is consider how your concept affects and influences the world you aim to create with your pilot script. If your premise is a show that takes place in a haunted bakery, you’ll want to populate your show with characters who are going to get the most mileage out of that premise. You’ll want to ask who the lead of your show is and how he or she is uniquely affected by the experience of the premise. How is his or her central problem related to or complicated by the situation you’ve set up? What you might want to do is consider how your concept affects and influences the world you aim to create with your pilot script. Alternately, if the concept of your show is based around a character—an inept bounty hunter, for instance—then what is the situation you can put him or her in that maximizes the comedic potential? What’s going to put this person in the most amount of conflict? Who are the characters you put around them that help or hinder them in resolving their conflicts, internal and external? You pair up true believer Fox Mulder with skeptic Dana Scully. You pair up blowhard intellectual Frasier with his blue collar, no-nonsense father. Who runs Cheers? An alcoholic washed-up ball player. Who’s the star of your documentary about your supposed everyday office? The most obnoxious, attention-seeking man who ever lived. Who’s the last man on Earth? The man least equipped to survive in the post apocalypse. A lot of writing is math in this way. You populate your world to get one hundred half hours of story and conflict so you never have to work again. If your idea for a show isn’t based around a high concept comedic premise, you have other considerations to make. Aziz Ansari’s Master of None is a show based around his worldview on dating, relationships, and social issues. He wanted to express how he felt about larger issues through the show and the characters. So his job was to choose the characters and setting that would best allow him to express that worldview. If Freaks & Geeks is a show about what life was like for the outcasts in high school, then the conflicts come from characters and how they relate to one another and their environment. Yes, this is true for all shows, but in this case they’re not high schoo

FAQs

What is a spec script, and how does it relate to an original pilot?

A spec script is written for no pay, and an original pilot you create without being paid is also a spec pilot. The text contrasts spec work for existing shows with creating an original pilot from your own conception.

How should a TV pilot concept influence the characters and conflicts?

The concept should determine which characters generate the most value from the premise and how the lead is uniquely affected. It should also shape internal and external problems and the way characters help or hinder resolving conflicts.

What are the key differences between single-cam and multi-cam pilots?

Single-cam is shot like a movie with coverage across angles over time, while multi-cam is shot on a stage-like setup with multiple cameras capturing the action simultaneously. Multi-cam often involves a studio audience or laugh track, affecting actor timing and delivery.

Oct 1, 2026

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