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Script Study

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A Screenwriting Blog for writers looking to expand their understanding of screenplays. Script Study helps you better understand your screenplay by using an out-of-the-box lens to deconstruct structure, format, dialogue, beats, plot, creation, character, themes, workflow, and behind-the-scenes processes.


True Detective - Script Study

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Film: True Detective 

Screenplay by: Nic Pizzolatto

 

TV pilots. One of the hardest screenplays to write. There’s multi-camera vs. single-camera, networks vs. cable, serials vs. episodic, limited series vs. anthologies, etc. And something called a “TV show bible” that you’re not even sure if you need. TV pilot’s need to be jammed pack with nuggets of information in order to truly captivate and hook the audience (and producers) who need to be filled in on (and fund) the story-world, plot, characters, and style of the show.

First, you must lay the obvious groundwork of a concrete premise. What is your show? Second, you must layer in the meaning. What themes will your show touch on? It’s essential that you introduce the characters important to the story and make the audience root for them from the jump. Another important element that must be in every pilot, no matter the genre, tone, length, or network, is a hook. The hook is what snatches your audience member and draws them in. It is, in other words, the promise of the premise. Always refer to your logline for the premise. In the end of the True Detective Pilot, the screenwriter ends the episode with thematic satisfaction as we are shot into the next episode with an excitement to solve the questions that we’re left lingering in our mind. The question you should have once you finish the pilot should be “where is the play button for the next episode?”.

True Detective is a must-watch for any aspiring TV writer. It use to get you somewhere writing a spec of an existing show. Nowadays, though, it’s more advisable to write a TV pilot based on your own original idea.

Notice that Cohle’s last line isn’t a question, showing only the reader that he already knew that they got the wrong guy.

 
Shane Patrick