THE BASICS

1. What is the WORKING TITLE of your show?

2. Give me a clear LOGLINE that includes the word “but.”

3. Why are YOU interested in writing this? In what way can you make this story
personal?

4. Why do you want to write this story NOW?

5. What shows would be considered COMPS (tonally, structurally, thematically,

etc.)? Why?

THE SETTING

6. Where/when does your story take place?

7. What is interesting about this setting?

THE CHARACTERS

8. Who is your MAIN CHARACTER? And in a perfect world they’d be played by

____________.

9. What is interesting about this person?

10. What INTERNAL conflict chronically plagues your main character?

11. Give me 1-3 sources of EXTERNAL conflict for your main character?

12. What does your main character WANT more than anything?

13. Why can’t your main character get what they want? What gets in the way?

14. Briefly describe your main character’s backstory (no more than 5 sentences
for this one).

15. Why do we CARE to watch this character every week? What makes them
interesting?

16. ANSWER THESE SIX QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR MAIN CHARACTER

(and yes, there will be an explanation as to what this all means):
A) What’s people’s most common first impression of your character?
 B) What’s your character’s deepest childhood fear?
C) What does your character most admire in other people?
D) What does your character detest most in other people?
E) What trait regularly gets your character into trouble?
F) What’s your character’s greatest strength?

17. In what way is your main character TRAPPED?

18. Besides DEATH, what’s the worst thing that can happen to your main
character?

19. Give me TWO CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS of other characters who will

come into CONFLICT with your main character. Be sure to make it clear WHY
these characters will conflict on some fundamental level.

20. Describe one of your main character’s ALLIES. What keeps this person from
being a PERFECT ally?

21. Describe one of your main character’s ENEMIES. What makes the enemy
more POWERFUL than your main character?

22. How will your main character be DIFFERENT by the end of SEASON ONE?

PILOT STRUCTURE

23. What’s the most valuable aspect of your main character’s ORDINARY
WORLD?

24. What is the INCITING INCIDENT of your series – the thing that officially
LAUNCHES the story? And why does your story begin on THIS DAY?

25. What is your main character ACTIVELY trying to accomplish in the pilot?
(your character can be PASSIVE for part of your pilot, but usually the mid-point is
where they make some active decision//OR by the END of the pilot, they should
be forced to do something active.)

26. What happens HALF-WAY through your pilot that changes the whole
trajectory of the story?

27. What’s the LOWEST POINT for your main character in the pilot?

28. What’s the CLIMAX of your pilot?

29. How does your pilot BEGIN?

30. How does your pilot END?

31. What question(s) do we want answered as we go into episode two?

SERIES STRUCTURE

32. What are we tracking in each episode on a PLOT level?

33. What are we tracking in each episode on an EMOTIONAL level?

34. What happens at the END OF SEASON ONE?

35. What are two other HUGE MOMENTS that can happen in season one?
Basically – what’s your MID-SEASON twist and what’s your LATE-SEASON low-
point/ramp-up?

36. What kinds of things can happen in subsequent seasons? Is there an

OVERALL SERIES ARC you have in mind?

37. What is the ENGINE of your series?

THEME

38. What is the THEME of your show? Think of your theme as a thesis
statement. It should be something someone can disagree with or have an opinion
on. “Love” isn’t a theme. “No one can love someone else until they truly love
themselves” is.

39. Why does this theme matter?

40. How does your PILOT STORY relate to this theme?

41. What secondary themes/ideas are you interested in exploring in the series?

42. To what extent are FAMILY and/or IDENTITY part of your overall theme?

MACRO STUFF

43. What makes your show different? Is it the WORLD, the CHARACTERS,
some NARRATIVE DEVICE, the TONE, GENRE, etc.?

44. How do you want your audience to FEEL after watching your show?
45. What will we LEARN from your series?

46. Where’s your ideal home for the show? (Netflix? CBS? FX? Etc…)

47. Will your main character ultimately get what they want?

48. How will your uncle describe your series to his work buddies?

49. What RELATIONSHIP is most important in your series?

50. What is the SWEET-SPOT of your series? When your show is firing on all-
cylinders, what will we be seeing? (the sweet-spot of Breaking Bad -- we see
Walter White using his brilliant ingenuity to get out of trouble all the while digging
himself deeper into the criminal drug underworld.)