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by joeld42 4094 days ago
"I quickly wrote the screenplay for a pilot episode. I think that it came out quite good"

Not trying to be a jerk here, but unless you're a seasoned tv writer (and if you were, you wouldn't be asking this), it's pretty unlikely that something you dashed off quickly turned out that well. Maybe it is good, but to get produced it needs to be great. Have you read the Game of Thrones pilot script? That was pretty good, and without an option or a name writer attached it has to be better than that.

Also, you did this in the wrong order. You get the option first, then you write the pilot, unless it's a pure spec not intended to be produced, e.g. written just as a writing sample to get a staff job.

Almost every writer and showrunner in hollywood has a "passion project" like this that they would love to get made one day. And just as often, they can't do it even with a few shows under their belt and tons of connections.

Not sure why you're asking this on a startup news site. If you want, put on your flame-resistant armour and ask this again at in the forums at donedealpro.com. Post some sample pages there for critique. You'll get a lot of flak, and there's a lot of trolls on there, but you'll also get some good advice from people working in the industry.

All of that said, I hope you prove me wrong. You're right about one thing, it is a great series and would be a perfect fit for TV (well, except for budget, some of those settings would be unfilmable due to expense).

If you want, email me 5-10 pages from your pilot and I'll be happy to give you honest, constructive notes.

1 comments

Actually I've tried to buy an option first, before writing the script. And after I was denied, I decided to write it and try to find and convince somebody with an influence in the area to help me buy this option. I'm sure that the option is available, they just don't want to sell it to somebody they don't know. And I thought that it would be easier to convince somebody, if I have something to show to them. I've asked this here because by my observation there's a lot of different smart people here with totally different areas of expertise, and even if someone wouldn't help me right away, he can tell me in which direction I can look. Like you just did, pointing me to the donedealpro.com It's very nice of you to offer your time to review my work, and I'll send it to you right away. Thank you for the answer.