. . . starting with writing a pilot here. An excerpt:
Someone on the other crazy newsgroup asked me about pitching and
selling a pilot. I gave a long winded answer because I can't get any
work done. What I wrote answers lots of questions I've gotten here
before so I'm reposting it here for you folks who can't stomache the
unmoderated group...
So here's a rough outline of how it works, taking a show from pitch to
series...
The first step is to meet with a development executive at the network
or studio and pitch them the general idea of the show. Usually you do
this with several companies over a week or so, sometime in July or
August. Then the agent fields the offers from the interested people,
and you weigh the offers and decide which network/studio to go with
according to three criteria: Who really gets your show and will let
you do it without fucking it up. Who is actually most likely to pick
up the show. Who is paying you the most money (the worst reason to go
with anyone). . . .
If you have sold your show to a studio, you now go on another round of
pitch meetings with them in tow, to sell the show to a network. If you
are able to sell to a network, then you start working, now for both
entities. (In my case, I sold the show to HBO Independant [sic] Productions,
which is making the show for HBO, which are a lot of the same people,
so my life is easier. )
Then the agent makes your deal and you start working.
The first thing you have to do is come up with the general story line
for the pilot, which you pitch to the executives, first studio, then
network.
Once the story is basically agreed to, you write an outline, which is
just a blow by blow description of each scene in paragraph form, which
should include all plot points and any funny details or jokes you
already have. You then pass the outline in to the studio, which gives
you notes. You take their notes and re-write it and if they are
satisfied, you pass it in to the network. They now give notes which
you re-write the outline with and then pass it in until the network and
the studio are both happy. When that happens, it's time to write the
pilot script. So you go off and take as long as you need to churn out
a first draft. I think this took me a couple of months. Only about
three days were spent actually writing. The other fifty seven were
spent driving myself nuts while ruminating about what the show is and
how to do it. That's me. Some people write every day, just pounds and
pounds of words. ....
Okay, so you now have a first draft and you give it to the studio.
They read it and then you get their notes. The same thing happens now
that happened for the outline only often it takes longer. Unless you
wrote a good outline. What I mean is that, if you really tackle to
story and get it right in the outline, sometimes the script is a lot
easier. In any case, you go back and forth between studio and network
until everybody agrees that the script is in good shape. Unless no one
agrees or it is not in good shape. Generally, this is the first
failure point for most pilots. The writer, studio and network bat the
script around and it gets re-written to death, while other pilots are
clicking along and improving. You will start to notice that the
executives you're dealing with are showing less and less interest and
often you'll just suddenly stop getting calls and your agent will say
"Yeah... um... I think it's time to move on."
BUT if your script is good, if it stays hot and people like it and you,
it'll be decalred [sic] finished and passed in to the network for
consideration for pick up. In other words, the executives you've been
dealing with at the network, who are development people, will now give
it to the top executives, Les Moonves, Kevin Reilley, whoever. In my
case, Carolyn Strauss and Chris Albrecht. They read it and sometimes
they have notes. If they have big notes, like they think there are
essencial flaws in the script, you're sent off to re-write yet again and they read it a second time. . . .
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