Limited series pilot

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  • Limited series pilot

    Hello friends!

    I soft pitched an idea to a few producers and to my reps. The response was positive.

    Since I am a Noob in the TV landscape I am trying to figure out the best way to tell my story. Of course I do not expect you guys to do it for me! But I do have a question about mini series [or limited series] and about the difference between a pilot for a limited series, and a pilot for an ongoing series.

    My story is quite novelistic and it would be perfectly suited to a limited format. I don't have a myriad subplots or characters coming in and out of focus. In that sense it is more like The Night Of - with a clear beginning and end. There is room to expand beyond the first season by moving to a different city, but that remains to be seen pending interest in the show.

    My questions are:

    - what are the pros and cons of formatting the story as a limited series? Is it a harder sell?

    - How does writing/structuring the pilot of a limited series differ to writing the pilot of a multi-seasonal show? In my mind a limited series is essentially a very layered, long-format movie- whereas a multi-seasonal show can often repeat itself or have a much more rigid structure. I guess I think of the pilots to a limited series as chapter 1 in a 10 chapter novel - am I right?

    - when putting together a limited series, what would you tackle in terms of materials? The pilot script? A couple of pages with the idea and the main characters/episode breakdowns? I am facing the issue of whether to just jump in and write the pilot – which I'm sure would be a lot of fun and possibly a good thing for me since I have never written TV – and wondering if I might be better off writing a handful of pages with the idea, characters, and maybe pilot description, and seeing how that resonates with people beyond my soft pitch.
    Although there is a part of me that fears people won't get the tone or will nitpick the "idea pages", as opposed to just reading the damn pilot itself.

    Thoughts hugely appreciated !

    MD

  • #2
    Re: Limited series pilot

    I've noticed no one has responded to this. Maybe no one knows. Maybe everyone is different. Maybe people are less inclined to set off to do a limited series.

    What I can tell you from my teeny tiny bit of experience is that I had a producer interested in a feature script I wrote. After he got it to his "people," he started talking about shopping it as a limited series. However, what he was shopping was the feature script-- not a limited series pilot or even a regular pilot. I suppose it's like selling a house that people intend to revamp. You show them the house (with the new carpet and paint job) and then talk about the possibilities of knocking down walls, building additions, putting in a pool and a greenhouse, etc.

    The reason I think he thought "limited series" for my particular script rather than five seasons (which, I assume, would be most people's goal) is that it's set in a particular moment in history.

    Otherwise, I hope someone with more info can share before the forums close down. Good luck!

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    • #3
      Re: Limited series pilot

      Think of things like this, if you will:

      A novel = feature

      Comic book series = TV show

      Novella = a limited TV series/miniseries

      The length of whatever type of project it is, is dictated by what the story can carry.

      With a regular TV series, you're looking at mostly the characters and what you see happening for them over at least a few seasons. You're not really thinking about an end being in sight, per se.

      But with a limited series, it's more about a story unfolding over a finite amount of time that is great than two hours but less than multiple seasons. One should most certainly know what the last episode will be vs. the vast majority of TV shows out there -- half-hour and hourlong.

      Your pilot, I'd tend to think, would be an hour to an hour-half tops. Then you should truly be able to describe to anyone what the next six to ten episodes should be. They should be written out in a bible of some sort.

      When one pitches at TV series, it's generally about the pilot and the first season's worth of episodes (or at least examples of episodes) with possibly some general hints of what could come down the road in future seasons.

      With limited series again, you "better" be able to spell out what happens in each of the remaining episodes along with how it all wraps up. There is a treatment floating around out there for TRUE DETECTIVE which clearly does this. It clearly spells out what happens in all eight episodes. And in TD's case, also gives some thoughts as to another season and franchise potential.

      So in terms of your pilot, there should be some hint, I would suggest, that this is not some open ended show like FRIENDS, BREAKING BAD, ER, LAW & ORDER, etc., etc. I'd think you should have some sense, even if ever so slight, that there is a clear goal in mind and that most likely a resolution of sorts will come about in a relatively short time. Not say five years from now or never.

      Write the pilot. Then also have, or better yet write first, a document breaking down your limited series with each episode spelled out, if nothing for other than just yourself to have. But they will surely ask in meetings. A writer/director I worked for wrote a 90 minute pilot for a TV series he pitched and at every meeting clearly spelled out the entire first season along with hinting at what could come down the road in future seasons. (It wasn't really pitched as a limited series per se, but that's really probably what it would have been in many ways.)

      This may or may not do you much good, but here is a brief article about the limited series world from early last year:
      http://variety.com/2016/voices/colum...ry-1201696159/
      Will
      Done Deal Pro
      www.donedealpro.com

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      • #4
        Re: Limited series pilot

        Thanks!

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