SITCOM SUCCESS: Find the Pilot Story
In part 4 in her series, Sitcom Success: The Perfect Pilot in 30 Days, Marilyn Horowitz recommends using the Five W’s to flesh out your story.
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Once you’ve decided on which kind of pilot you’re going to write, either the premise or concept pilot, you’ll need to use what I call the “Five W’s” to find the story and flesh it out. The Five W’s, you may remember from grammar school, are “who, what, when, where, and why.” If we use the example of Family Guy, we can look at it this way ...
- Who: the story is about Peter.
- What: it’s a family comedy.
- Where: it’s in Quohog.
- When: it’s a contemporary story.
- Why: it’s about a family trying to get by.
What are your Five W’s? Using this technique will give you the clarity you need to begin expanding your premise into a synopsis, which will lead you to the actual writing of your pilot.
I also suggest that you repeat the same exercise for your villain or obstacle and a few of the other characters as well because it will help you define the central conflicts in your story, which again will help you when you get down to the actual writing.
Now, let’s start thinking about building your synopsis.
- More articles by Marilyn Horowitz
- Curiosity Did Not Kill the Cat: Can New Story Ideas Thrive?
- Download your FREE TV Pilot Kit to help you create your pilot!
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Marilyn Horowitz is an award-winning New York University professor, author, producer, and Manhattan-based writing consultant, who works with successful novelists, produced screenwriters, and award-winning filmmakers. She has a passion for helping novices get started. Since 1998 she has taught thousands of aspiring screenwriters to complete a feature length screenplay using her method. She is also a judge for the Fulbright Scholarship Program for film and media students. In 2004 she received the coveted New York University Award for Teaching Excellence. Professor Horowitz has written several feature-length screenplays. Her production credits include the feature films And Then Came Love (2007).
