I'm reading scripts for the #WGASolidarityChallenge and noticing some things about those all important first few pages which I think are worth a thread:

1) Everything in those first few pages takes on outsized importance. Every camera angle, every character action, every line of dialogue. You're setting up a world, a tone and a main character. It needs to be both ruthlessly efficient and so interesting it doesn't feel that way.

2) The instinct for world building is often to use news footage, V.O. exposition or some other inorganic plot delivery system. Try to avoid that. World building doesn't need to happen all at once, but we do need a sense of a core aspect of your world immediately...

3) In other words, if your world has magic or a supernatural aspect to it, give us a sense of that up front (unless it is also going to be a surprise to the characters of the world...but then the tone should indicate something abnormal is afoot).

4) Think of every great character intro you've ever seen. What makes them great? Usually, it's that the intro is a microcosm of everything you need to know about them in one deft brush stroke. That's really hard to do, but you have something on your side...

5) You are choosing where to start the story. Form that moment to organically intro the character while also setting up the rules of the world they are in. How they react to circumstances will immediately set the Tone.

6) Many pilots start with specific camera directions that are either unnecessary or distracting. If you start on a tracking shot of a specific set of boots that is The Murderer, and every time we see those boots we know what they mean, great. But shots need to be that purposeful.

7) Read as many current pilot scripts as you can and watch the shows in your genre. You may find some overlap in how your story is starting that will make it feel like a dim echo of something else already in the world. A minor change might make a big difference.

8) As with all writing advice, take what works for your specific story and leave the rest. But the overall note is you have a limited amount of time to do a lot, so everything needs to be doing double duty up front. It can't "get" interesting. It needs to start there.

If you found this thread useful you might want to also check out my pinned tweet which is another long writing thread related to breaking story on a TV show. (It's largely focused on 1 hour drama/genre but I'm told has applications to other writing as well).

Gonna add to this thread with some pet peeves:
9) Words capitalized in descriptions should be purposeful, drawing the eye to things of note the way a camera would. Often people capitalize things and I can't for the life of me figure out why. It slows and confuses the read.

10) Things described as "average", "mundane," "usual," have an unintended effect of making the script itself feel that way. Saying "you are looking at something boring" can mean "As a reader, I am bored." Don't waste time calling out the expected, focus on what is surprising.

11) Same goes for casting. Saying "The waitress is exactly what you'd expect here" should be avoided. Treat the character like a human being, no one feels like they're "out of central casting." Or if they just have a couple lines, name the character "WAITRESS" and move on.

12) Time on the page is time on screen, and time is limited. The more important the character or the moment, the more space it will likely take on the page. Take time for introductions of important characters and settings. Things we'll move on from & never return to, not so much.

13) Names. Generally you want to avoid having characters with the same first letter to start their name. It's easy to get confused when you don't have any visual to attach to a person. If by page 3 I'm still getting confused by who is who, I start to check out.

14) Pilots tend to have long teasers; networks want to make sure they grab the audience before the first ad break. We need to know something about the character in danger in order to care enough for a moment of violence/threat to provide a tease-out. Give it the space it needs.

15) The world of your show shouldn't feel like it started on page 1. The world precedes the pilot, when character dynamics where established and a villain's plan is already in progress. The pilot is the change of condition to the Protagonist that begins the story for the viewer.

I did mention everyone won't hear back. Every writer who signed up to read got hundreds of submissions. Tried to get to as many as I could but it would take years in the time I have alotted to read scripts to get to them all.