Extended Webinar: How to Master Story Structure for Your Drama Television Pilot

This webinar has a 100% satisfaction rating! 

Extended two-and-a-half hour webinar!

Includes case studies, story maps and free script downloads of the pilot episodes of SUCCESSION, THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL,THE EXPANSE

We are living in an era where TV dramas as diverse, ambitious, and creative as SUCCESSION, THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL, THE EXPANSE, BEEF and THE BEAR are not only put on air, but find an audience and gain serious popularity. This is in turn an era where networks and streamers are actually looking for new voices and new stories. More than ever before, there is a path for your own television drama to be discovered. Yet no matter how great your concept is, how strong your characters are, how diverse, clever or unique your world is, your drama series will not be effective and will not be successful unless you can nail your script’s structure.

Nailing your TV drama’s story structure—specifically your pilot—is no easy task. In the span of just 40-60 pages, you have to introduce your world, your characters, your central plot and conflict, and your inciting incident, all while keeping your pacing consistent, finding some resolution for that episode, and allowing your audience to want to watch more. This is a complicated, and delicate game and ultimately comes down to how you structure and map out your script before you start writing. No matter what genre you’re writing in, understanding how to structure your pilot is vital. Gaining a clear grasp on how successful drama pilots are arranged and the rules they all follow is a necessary step if you want to have a show that will get picked up and ultimately connect with an audience.

Anna Henry is a Producer and Development Executive who has worked at CBS, ABC, Nickelodeon, and multiple production companies, as well as a manager at Andrea Simon Entertainment. Her clients have worked on shows such as THE DEUCE, POWER, IN CONTEMPT, TOMMY, VIDA, SEVEN SECONDS, HUNG, CHICAGO FIRE, FEAR THE WALKING DEAD, THIS IS US, and THE FLASH, and have set up projects at AMC, Amazon, Starz, HBO, Sony, Fox, EOne, ITV America, OddLot Entertainment, Corus, and others. One of Stage 32’s most popular instructors of all time, Anna has projects currently in development around the world and is incredibly familiar with what goes into a great television pilot.

Anna will go in-depth on how to properly structure your drama TV series pilot and will use real past pilot scripts as examples as she breaks down, act by act, the elements necessary to turn your series pilot into stand-out script. Anna will go over the main types of one-hour pilots and will outline the elements for pilot development, including story engine, world, characters, themes and tone. She’ll discuss how to select and map your own template show as well as incorporating multiple plotlines. Anna will then delve into the function and elements of your pilot’s teaser and Acts 1 through 5, as well as your pilot launch, pilot climax, and series launch. She will finally lay out the most common structure problems that you should avoid.

Don’t even think about starting to write your own drama pilot until you gain the tools Anna will provide.

Examples will be used from notable past one-hour drama pilots on network, cable, and streaming platforms. PLUS! you will receive pilot scripts and Anna's own story maps for each after the webinar:

• THE EXPANSE (Syfy)
• THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL (Amazon)
• SUCCESSION (HBO)

Praise for Anna's Previous Stage 32 Webinar:

This was my first Stage 32 webinar, and it exceeded my expectations, both in terms of quality (and quantity) of information and overall value. Anna was personable, knowledgeable, and organized. The slide deck was helpful, and her overall presentation hit all the key topics. Anna and Stage32 delivered the goods.

- John R.

What a thoughtful, thorough and inspiring webinar. It's clear that Anna Henry put an enormous amount of work into this presentation. Not only was the content there, but the structure was also superb. I feel educated and inspired to go back to my own work and do better than what I thought was my best. What could possibly be better than that! Thank you Anna for your genius and your generosity.

- Crispin L.

"Comprehensive, insightful. Combined a lot of material I had heard snippets of on character, world dev, etc. but artfully stitched together in one presentation."

-James F.

"It was amazing, enlightening - completely. I learned soooo much - especially as a feature writer who's been asked to turn a feature script into a pilot!! Thank you soooooo much."

-Kristin G.