How to write a TV pilot: structure, format and acts

A TV pilot is the first episode of a television series, written to show what the series is and why it can keep going. To write one, decide what the show's repeatable engine is, choose a premise or non-premise pilot, structure it to the show's format — half-hour or hour, with or without act breaks — and support it with a short series bible.

A pilot has two jobs a film script does not. It must tell a satisfying story of its own, and it must open more questions than it closes, so a reader can imagine episode eight. Most pilot problems come from doing only one of those.

What makes a TV pilot different from a feature?

A TV pilot differs from a feature screenplay because its protagonist usually does not finish changing. A film resolves its central question; a series sustains one. The pilot introduces a world, an ensemble and a situation that will generate conflict week after week — the show's engine — and its ending points forward rather than closing the book.

• Feature: one story, one arc, a resolved ending.
• Pilot: one episode's story resolved, the series question left open and the format of a typical episode demonstrated.

Premise pilot or non-premise pilot?

A premise pilot shows the event that creates the series — the arrival, the crime, the inheritance — so episode one is an origin story. A non-premise pilot drops the audience into the show already running, looking like a typical episode. Premise pilots make setup easy but can be unrepresentative of later episodes; non-premise pilots show the format clearly but must explain the world on the move. Choose the one that best demonstrates what episode five will feel like.

How long is a TV pilot?

A TV pilot's length depends on the format. As a rule of thumb, a single-camera half-hour comedy runs about 25 to 35 pages and an hour-long drama about 50 to 65 pages, at roughly one page per minute. Streaming series vary more because they are not cut to fit commercial breaks, but writing near these ranges keeps a spec pilot readable.

Teaser and cold open

A teaser, or cold open, is the short scene or sequence before the main titles that hooks the audience. In an hour drama it often sets up the episode's problem; in a half-hour comedy it may be a self-contained joke. It is labeled TEASER or COLD OPEN at the top of the script and usually runs one to five pages.

The best cold opens start inside the problem. Last Call, a one-page example in our Screenplay Museum, opens with no establishing shot and no backstory: within half a page we know who wants what and why it cannot happen tonight.

Act breaks in a TV script

Act breaks are the planned stopping points in an episode, originally placed for commercials and still used as a structural rhythm. Each act should end on a turn — a reveal, a reversal or a decision — that makes the next act necessary. Broadcast hours have often used a teaser plus four to six acts; half-hours often use a cold open, two or three acts and a short tag. Many streaming scripts drop labeled acts but keep the same turning points.

In the script, each act starts on a new page with its name centered and underlined, and ends with a matching END OF ACT line. A minimal version looks like this:

TEASER

EXT. HARBOR - NIGHT

A ferry idles at an empty dock. Its gangway is down. Nobody comes off.

DEPUTY KAYE (30s) shines a flashlight across the deck. Coats on hooks. Coffee still steaming.

KAYE
(into radio)
Dispatch, the six-fifteen is here.
(beat)
Nobody else is.

END OF TEASER

TV script format

Single-camera TV scripts — most dramas and many comedies — use the same page layout as a feature screenplay: Courier 12 point, scene headings, action, character cues and dialogue in standard columns. What differs is the scaffolding: a title page that names the series and the episode ("Pilot" or the episode title), act or teaser labels and sometimes a short scene list. Multi-camera sitcoms traditionally use a different layout with double-spaced dialogue, so check a produced script from the show type you are writing. The screenplay format guide covers the shared elements.

How to write a TV pilot, step by step

1. Define the engine: the situation that keeps producing stories. A family that runs a failing hotel, a detective who can only work cold cases, a lawyer who represents former clients' enemies.
2. Write two loglines — one for the series and one for the pilot episode.
3. Choose premise or non-premise and decide what the audience should feel at the last page.
4. Break the episode into acts: list the A story (the episode's main problem), a B story and, in an hour, often a C story.
5. Introduce the regular cast through action, not biography. Each should want something that collides with someone else.
6. End on a forward hook: something that changes the situation for episode two.
7. Draft, then check page count against your format and trim scenes that only explain the world.

What is a series bible?

A series bible is the reference document for a show: the premise and tone, the main characters and their arcs, the world and its rules, and the shape of the first season with short episode ideas. For a spec pilot, a bible of five to fifteen pages, often called a pitch document, is common. It shows that the pilot is the start of something, not a one-off. The story bible template has the sections in order and a filled show bible example.

• Logline for the series and a paragraph on why it can run for several seasons.
• Characters: what each wants, what they hide and how they change over a season.
• World: the rules, places and institutions that generate conflict.
• Season overview: where season one starts and ends, plus a line for each of several future episodes.

Short drama and vertical micro-drama episodes

Short drama, also called vertical drama or micro-drama, is a serialized format of very short episodes — often around one to three minutes — usually shot vertically for phones. Each episode needs a fast hook in its first seconds and ends on a cliffhanger, and the emotional turns arrive far faster than in a broadcast hour. The pilot logic still applies, just compressed: establish the engine in episode one and promise conflict that will last dozens of episodes.

Write it in Scenaloom

Scenaloom supports series projects with episodes, an outline per episode and an episode board for arranging the season, while Worldview serves as the series bible with entries such as the logline, the core issue and your own custom notes. For vertical series there is a Short drama Worldview template and a Short-Drama Producer advisor you can hire for the project. See outline and beats or start a series.