WRITING PODCAT MINI

 r i t t o n Pe r e l m a n

eptemer 10, 2019

Pilot reakdon: LOT

One of the ke element in a creenriter’ portfolio i an original pilot — epeciall if

that creenriter hope to land a eat at the tale in a riter’ room. Pilot are an art.

And one of the eaiet a to learn ho to rite our on pilot epiode i to reak

don thoe that alread exit.

In thi erie, e’ll reak don the pilot epiode of oth drama and comedie,

current and pat, treaming and netork.

Thi i the f irt reakdon of the erie.

Click here for a decription of the element I’ll e uing and h, hich ou can then ue

for our on ork, or ome of our peronal favorite.

AOUT TH PILOT:

• Created : Jeffre Lieer, J.J.

Aram, Damon Lindelof

• Genre: Drama

• Pilot Run Time: 57 and 42

minute

• Pilot Page Count: 108 page

• Original Air Date: eptemer

 22, 2004 and eptemer 29, 2004

• Total Numer of piode: 121

• Where You Can Watch It: Hulu

The pilot of LOT i actuall to conecutive epiode — Part 1 and Part 2 — hich premiered

one eek apart in eptemer 2004. There i jut one ingle cript though, o for thi reakdon, I

ill conider the to part a one. 

PRMI

The urvivor of a plane crah f ind themelve on a mteriou, eemingl uninhaited

tropical iland. 

ACT

Ignoring the even total commercial reak and focuing olel on tor, the pilot of

LOT olidl follo a ix-act tructure. ach uequent eem to follo thi ame ix-

act tructure a ell. 

TORYLIN

Given that LOT pilot i actuall a to-parter, it eem to make more ene to analze

the torline chronologicall (a in: one torline happen, then another, and o on). 

A-tor — The immediate aftermath of the plane crah / Firt da on the iland

-tor — Finding the cockpit, tranceiver, and the pilot

C-tor — Adapting to life on the iland / Fixing the tranceiver

D-tor — Firt part of the hike (leading up to the polar ear)

 -tor — econd part of the hike / Uing the tranceiver

If ou reall ant to reak don the torline  character, m et gue i that it

ould look omething like thi… 

A-tor — Jack & Kate

-tor — Charlie

C-tor — aer v. aid

D-tor — Michael & Walt

 -tor — verone ele

CHARACTR INTRODUCD

Fourteen — Jack, Kate, Claire, Hurle (aka. Hugo), oone, hannon, aer, Charlie,

aid, un, Jin, Michael, Walt, Locke. 

TTING

The Iland (2000)

IMPORTANT MOTIF / DTAIL 

• An ee opening

• Flahack (hich later ecome f lah-

forard and f lah-idea’ )

• The moke Monter (though the

urvivor don’t call it that et)

OPNING CN

Jack ake to f ind himelf in a amoo grove. A retriever i licking hi foot. When he i

ale to tand, he tumle to the each, here he ee the chao of the plane crah he

ha jut urvived. 

INCITING INCIDNT

Oceanic Flight 815 crahe on the Iland. 

MAIN CONFLICT

verone veru the Iland

The name of the game in the pilot of LOT, and, argual, the entire erie, i

urvival. Conf lict come from the natural iue that arie hen ou’re tranded on a

eird iland ith 40-ome-odd people ou don’t kno — injurie from the crah,

culture clahe, conf licting peronalitie, iling rivalrie, lack of reource, and that

ominou noie that keep coming from the jungle. 

TH TURN

Jack, Kate, and Charlie f ind the cockpit, and the pilot i miraculoul till alive. He

tell them that the plane’ radio ent out during the f light, the ere off coure, and

an recue plane out there i looking for them in the rong place.  

TH TWIT

During the hike to higher ground, omething come running at the group. aer pull

out a gun and hoot… killing, of all thing, a polar ear. 

TH IG MOMNT

The tranceiver can’t end a ignal ecaue there i another outgoing meage locking

it — a meage that a: “It killed them all.” aid doe the math and dicover that

the meage ha een on repeat for 16 ear. 

THM() TATD

“Gu, here are e?” (Charlie)

“ackgammon i the oldet game in the orld. Archaeologit found et hen the

excavated the ruin of ancient Meopotamia. Five thouand ear old. That’ older

than Jeu Chrit.”

“Did the have dice?”

“Their dice ere made of one. To plaer, to ide. One i light, one i dark.”

( John Locke)

CLOING CN

Kate, aer, aid, Charlie, hannon,

and oone tet the tranceiver, hich

till doen’t ork ecaue it’ locked 

another outgoing meage on the ame

frequenc. hannon tranlate the

ominou meage from French, hile

aid f igure out that the meage i on a

loop — and ha een for 16 ear.

WHAT COM NXT? 
 • I Claire going to give irth on the iland?

• What’ up ith Jin and un?

• Will Walt f ind hi dog, Vincent?

• What i that mteriou, noi creature in the jungle that killed the pilot?

• Ho on arth did a polar ear end up on thi tropical iland?

• When ill the other urvivor f ind out that Kate i the criminal?

• Who left the outgoing meage?

• WHR  are the??

Pulihed on creenCraft.com on eptemer 1, 2019.

None of the photo in thi pot are m on.

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Pilot reakdon: Ho to reak Don a T V

TR ANGR THING Pilot cript

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