Every TV writer needs a sample, and that sample needs to be a TV pilot. In other words, that's season one, episode one of your yet-to-be-made TV series.
There are lots of places to look for TV pilot inspiration. After all, every single TV show has an episode one.
BUT not all TV pilots are good. In fact, some pilots are terrible, and those series can even go on to be fantastic.
For example, I would argue, Seinfeld is a pretty prettyyyy bad pilot. It's even a pretty rough first season. But it turned into a great show.
So, you can't just look anywhere for TV pilot inspiration.
That's why I wanted to put together four TV pilots that are great inspiration for you as you write your own TV pilot.
I chose these because they're well-structured, set up the characters extremely well, plot out the episodic story, the series story, they're paced incredibly, and they're just plain good.
I find it helpful to not just watch these TV pilots, but to read them. So, as I describe each of these, I'm going to provide a link to the pilot script.
Take inspiration from these TV pilots
Breaking Bad Pilot
You probably already knew this was going to be on the list. It's as close to perfect as a pilot can get.
From the exciting cold open, in which Walter White prepares a video for his family and prepares to die, to the set up of his family and his place in life, career and all, to the even more exciting conclusion when we catch up to the cold open, this pilot does everything you need to do in a drama pilot.
However, one word of caution... the flash forward employed in the cold open was so powerfully used here that many pilots afterwards tried to employ it to lesser effect, and it became kind of a trope. So, be wary of using that same device in yours.
Check out the Breaking Bad pilot script here.
Futurama Pilot
Animated comedies are not known for their "premise pilots." A premise pilot is a pilot that sets up the story of the series, as opposed to a non-premise pilot, like Family Guy that's so episodic that there's no need to set anything up. You're just getting a regular episode of the show.
And speaking of set-up, there's a lot of setting up to do here. The pilot has to introduce us to Fry as well as his character and his character wants/needs, propel us 1,000 years into the future, set up a whole new world we're in, and introduce us to the new main characters, and all in the first act.
And it does it all in a fun, hilarious 23-minute episode.
Check out the Futurama pilot script here.
True Detective Pilot
This is a complicated script, and if you're writing your very first pilot, you might not want to try something as intricate.
Season one of True Detective tells the story of multiple protagonists within multiple timelines, and it weaves this tale so intricately, it's mesmerizing at times.
That means a very difficult pilot. Added to that, this is a very specific genre - crime is almost too simplistic. It's more of a Southern Gothic Noir, which means setting up the tone is as important as setting up the story and the characters.
Pay attention to how the tone is portrayed almost novelistically in the script without getting bogged down.
Check out the True Detective pilot script here.
Arrested Development Pilot
One of the more intricate comedy pilots of the time. There are a lot of characters to introduce, and a lot of story to unravel. This was also a very unusual style of comedy for the time.
There wasn't much on TV that required this level of focus in order to "get" all the jokes. The multi-cam sitcom was still thriving with big, broad jokes that are more obvious on the page.
Arrested Development changed the game.
Pay close attention to the way you immediately understand the characters they're painting from their first two lines of dialogue.
Check out the Arrested Development pilot script here.
Lost Pilot
Another game changer, this time in the world of dramatic TV. At the time, this was the most expensive pilot that had ever been made. And it needed a script that could warrant spending that kind of money.
The story's great, the characters pop off the page. But pay attention to the way the action is written. There's a lot to describe, and it's done so fluidly, you never feel like there's excessive scene description.
Check out the Lost pilot script here.
Image sources: Sierratangoxray, GringoStar,
