WHAT IS A PILOT EPISODE, AND HOW DO YOU WRITE ONE? 

We are currently living through a new Golden Age of television, which, over the last twenty-five years, has expanded from the major network television platform to the addition of cable television and into the current expansion of streamers. That’s three platforms dedicated to episodic storytelling, amounting to hundreds upon hundreds of current TV shows, with thousands of series that came and went before them. And all of them started with one particular type of episode — a TV pilot. 

If you want to break into television writing, you first need to know and understand what a TV pilot episode is, the purpose of a pilot episode, and how to develop and write one with the best odds of selling it in the marketplace. Here’s our step by step guide on how to write a TV pilot.

 THE HERO'S JOURNEY OF BALLERINA

From the World of John Wick: Ballerina follows a new character in the successful franchise and provides several of the violent fight sequences viewers have expected from the series. This is also an origin story, something John Wick never had, and is perfect for using the ‘Hero’s Journey’ method of storytelling as its guide.

We delve into what the ‘Hero’s Journey’ in storytelling is, and how you can to apply it to your own screenplays. 

WRITE ON: APPLE CIDER VINEGAR CREATOR/SHOWRUNNER SAMANTHA STRAUSS

The Netflix limited series Apple Cider Vinegar chronicles the incredible and heartbreaking rise and fall of the real-life Belle Gibson (Kaitlin Dever), a notorious health and wellness “scamfluencer.”  

Creator and Showrunner Samantha Strauss talks about starting her young life in Australia as a ballet dancer before a terrible injury led her to discover TV writing, and how her previous TV show got the attention of Nicole Kidman who became a champion of her writing career. 

DANGEROUS ANIMALS AND THE HISTORY OF SHARKS IN HORROR CINEMA

Sharks don’t hold a great reputation when it comes to movies. They’re predators and killers, lurking in the dark water. Here’s a list of the greatest shark horror movies of all time, and how the new thriller Dangerous Animals subverts the formula. 

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