Television Pilot Story Structure Webinar with Anna Henry

LUPIN PILOT STORY STRUCTURE

Story Engine:

Assane is trying to get back the necklace that his father once supposedly stole – taking back what should
belong to him. The central conflict is Assane vs. the Pellegrinis and more generally Assane, a black
immigrant vs. a rich, entitled, white society.

Teaser:

In many ways this is a typical teaser in that it puts our main character in an unusual situation – how
many of us have even thought of janitors at the Louvre. It nicely establishes the tone, slips in the theme
of inequality and the idea that appearances can be deceiving as another janitor calls out Assane’s
interest in the necklace, and of course gets the story started by ostensibly having Assane notice the
necklace for the first time. But this teaser almost doesn’t feel like a teaser. It flows so seamlessly into
the rest of Act One that I would argue there is no teaser at all, regardless of the placement of the title
card.

Act One:

Status Quo:

A-Story: Starting in the teaser, Assane recently got a job as a janitor at the Louvre where he’s admiring
the queen’s necklace, soon to be up for auction.

B-Story (told in flashbacks): Babakar just got a job with the rich Pellegrini family. He and Assane are
immigrants from Senegal and he is a single father. (Note how flashbacks are omniscient but connect
organically to the A-story almost as if they were Assane’s memories.)

C-story – Assane / Claire / Raoul – Assane just got a job and he’s trying to have a better relationship with
his son and Claire, but Claire knows he’s hiding things from her. Assane promises to change to be a
better father (one of the themes). (Note: the C-story is acting as a frame story in this pilot, in part
because a new storyline will be introduced later in the pilot which will eventually move up in
importance.)

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Note that by 5 minutes into the pilot we’re starting the story with Assane not being able to pay the
money he borrowed from a group of thugs and explaining the plan to steal the necklace.

Exposition:

Natural exposition of the workings of the Louvre (“rules of the universe”) and the plan through Assane
explaining it to his co-conspirators – narration over visuals that show what we’re hearing but with his
twist. This is an expo dump but it works because of interesting visuals. And again the theme of “they
don’t really see me” is woven into dialogue and action.

Natural exposition from Assane as a child to Anne Pellegrini – he is the “newcomer” introducing us to his
family situation.

Character Intros:

At the café we meet Assane immediately as a “gentleman” and an illusionist – the paper rose and
money given to Claire. We also get a brief private moment of a sly smile and look of wistful longing from
him.

When we meet Babakar, he is teaching his son how to spell presumptuous – introduces the close
relationship between father and son, but also that there is more to them than their station in life might
suggest, and one of the themes is slipped in here as well.

When we meet Anne, she shows her racism by locking the car door, but then does a mea culpa calling
Babakar a “gentleman.” Here is another theme.

Pilot Launch:

A-Story: Assane doesn’t have the money to pay back the thugs – plan to steal the necklace.

B-Story: Babakar and Assane go to live with the Pellegrinis.

Because we get into the story so quickly and efficiently, the end of the act actually comes a little early
(at around 12 min), where the plan starts to be put into action and we see Assane and Babakar living
with the Pellegrinis.

Act Two

The act is a series of escalations in both the A and B stories.

Natural exposition as the presentation at the auction – it makes sense to give the background of the
necklace here. Crucially this connects the necklace (A-story) with the story of Assane as a child (B-story)
– both have to do with the Pellegrinis. Theme: “you saw me but you didn’t really look.”

Another character intro: When we meet Juliette, we immediately get the sense that she’s a nasty piece
of work – teasing Assane about not being able to swim and offering him a “real kiss,” yet they also have
chemistry. This introduces the tension between Assane and the Pellegrini family.

The heist plan doesn’t work out – everything goes wrong, meanwhile the auction serves as a ticking
clock, including the 7-minute clock already set up in the plan.

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More and more moments of tension: the spray doesn’t work, will Assane’s identity be confirmed – yes!,
surveillance guy is not asleep & hapless thug can’t figure out how to shut off the cameras…

Meanwhile tension between Babakar and Hubert builds over his rudeness (business problems?) vs.
Anne’s kindness. Here is one of the big plants of the pilot (and series) - the Lupin book!

Midpoint (happens literally at the halfway point of the pilot):

Assane bids an outlandish price (60M) – he’s all in and the necklace is his. Everything is in place with his
co-conspirators posing as security guards – but they plan to betray Assane! (Note weaving in the themes
even into these high-tension moments: “wasn’t expecting someone like you as a buyer.”)

B-story midpoint follows – the necklace is missing and Babakar is accused of the theft.

Act Three

This act has continued escalation: for example, Juliette wants to meet Assane which he sidesteps,
Assane wants / needs to get a hand on the necklace, the getaway car is noticed…

The A and B plots intersect – Assane’s father was accused of stealing the necklace -- that’s how it went
missing in the first place. So this is personal to Assane, not just about money!

The fight breaks out over the necklace – now everything really goes wrong as the thugs are discovered
and car is spotted, the necklace is seemingly taken by thugs with Assane left behind.

Climax (overlaps the act break):

A-Story: The “thieves” are caught – spectacular crash, but the necklace is actually found by the police.
Assane is briefly suspected but he’s a master of disguise. The climax seems like a defeat for him - his
plan has supposedly failed though he oddly doesn’t look like someone who’s been defeated. Why?
Mystery and suspense.

Note about mystery and suspense: The audience understands perfectly what has happened so far. It’s
not that we don’t know what’s going on or we’ve been kept in the dark on the motivations, we are just
misdirected and don’t see what’s really been going on. This is a deft combination: 1. Anticipation and
excitement: the audience knows what’s supposed to happen and how things are going wrong –
seemingly more than our main character does. 2. Momentary mystery and suspense: the audience isn’t
sure what really happened to the necklace or why Assane doesn’t seem defeated and is surprised when
the truth is revealed.

B-Story: Babakar has committed suicide in prison, causing Assane to break with the Pellegrini family – all
is lost in this plotline too. Note the plant for a future episode – Assane spots Comit in the prison – these
plants in the second half of the pilot help propel us to future episodes.

Act Four

Much of this act is devoted to paying off the many earlier plants to give the audience that surprise and
delicious satisfaction, and to launching the series.

Assane finds the Lupin book Babakar left for him… here the B-story launches into the series (and is now
on pause) – how does the book connect to everything else? “Let’s start from the beginning…”

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One detective immediately thinks of the Lupin books in connection of the case. This launches a new
plotline that will move up in importance in future episodes. This technique can also help propel to future
episodes as long as the new plotline is an immediate consequence of the A-story not a completely new
idea, which is the case here.

Note that the narration through this act doesn’t simply tell us what we see, but highlights the concepts
being revealed. Also note the reference to being “one step ahead” – Assane is often one step ahead of
the audience and we want to catch up through the series. But the new B-story with the detectives also
puts us in some ways one step ahead of Assane.

We have here a very late introduction of a key supporting character, Benjamin. This is unusual but
introducing him sooner would have spoiled the surprise and he’s not a main character.

Series Launch:

Ironically, the launch of the A-story includes the reference that “there is no next time” – but we know
there is because we already have the fuel for future episodes: The police will know the necklace is a fake
and be looking for the real thief. And we’re left with a series of open questions: Did Babakar really steal
the necklace? If not, who did? How did it end up going missing? Why does Assane believe it belongs to
him? Why did he have to get it back? Clearly this is not just about the money – there is something very
personal going on here. And how did he go from the bereaved teen to the master criminal he is now?

At the end of the act there has been a big reversal from the climax – Assane has actually gotten away
with his plan.

Act Five

Note that this act provides a wrap-up and “step into new world” but no really new information.
Everything about the show has already been launched.

The necklace is a fake and the police are now after the real thief – one detective suspects “Lupin,” but
we already knew this.

End of C-Story (frame story) with Raoul: Claire obviously knows something is up and Assane and she
have some spark still. Assane gives Raoul the book - this will now be the D story. Again, this is a nice
wrap-up but not really new info.

Our narrator is Assane aka Lupin – a nice tag though of course we already knew this too.

Note how Assane has changed through the pilot - he can’t go back to square one. He now has the
necklace which is both an accomplishment and the start of many questions. He’s becoming a better
father by passing on his heritage. Someone is finally really onto him. And his journey in the flashbacks to
becoming Lupin is just beginning.

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