I ’m a former Syfy exec who go away the mesh to co - create and compose a new TV show called Z Nation , which debuts on Syfy and Space Channel this Friday , Sept. 12 , at 10/9c . So how does a writing style TV show get on the air ? Here ’s what I ’ve learned from this outgrowth , set about with how you get your show greenlit .
Most TV show go out spirit as a fender script . The idea is a meshing exec can read the script and enjoy a kick - ass hour of TV while intuitively understand what the show will look like week - to - week and season - to - season . A pilot establishes the world , the tincture , the stage setting , the characters , their relationship … everything someone postulate to “ get ” the series .
If the electronic web likes the script , they make a pilot installment . That lets them dip their toe in the water supply . They can see what the show will look like while keeping their cost commitment to a minimum . If they do n’t like the buffer , that ’s the end of the line for the show . In the video earthly concern , most pilot book never become pilot episodes and most pilot episodes never go to series .
Z Nation did n’t have a pilot script or a pilot instalment .
It was greenlit under a newer economic role model of TV . where the internet picked up the show for 13 episodes based on an in - depth treatment .
This kind of filling - up is n’t unheard of , but it ’s uncommon . As the TV business cover to deepen due to DVR viewing , fragmented distribution program , etc . , it ’ll probably bump more often . likewise you increasingly see show getting cull up to series from a airplane pilot script with no pilot episode being made . cause show this agency has some advantages :
A huge benefit of having a full - season order for a show upfront is that it depress the per - episode cost of make it . The most expensive part of any serial is getting it up and run in the first place . You have to lease writers , actors and crew , find studio blank , build lot , make props , innovation closet and pay for all the other things a TV show needs . Imagine doing all that for a pilot instalment then not get a series order . You ’ve just wasted a stack of money on an episode no one will likely see , or that at best will air as a stand - alone film .
The bigger networks tend to make and then not air a lot of pilots , so those cost pile up quickly . And to compound ( ha ha ) the issue , pilots are usually much more expensive than regular episodes , because they ’re meant to both hook the meshing on the show — and hopefully glom viewers as well , if the show makes it to aerate . So the expenditure can be immense .
A full - time of year order means you’re able to spread a portion of the jump - up costs for a show across 13 episodes rather of just one . That throw everything cheaper ( like bribe in bulk ) . It ’s less endangerment for the production fellowship since they ’re guaranteed fees for a full season . It can also draw in more cast and crew to work on the show because they ’ll be undertake 13 episodes deserving of body of work . Everyone in the TV world is fundamentally a self-employed person , and if the original is n’t pick up they ’ll have to take care for another task . This way they ’ll have at least one season of stability .
The electronic connection benefits from a consecutive 13 - episode season because it compensate less per episode than it would otherwise , in the form of a lowly license fee . It ’s also an choice to the expensive and fourth dimension - devour mental process of determination , buying and developing many pilot script that may never be filmed . This reduced fiscal price aid countervail the risk / fear of unsuccessful person , which in the television set world is always extremely eminent . ( The TV industriousness passably much operates in a perpetual United States Department of State of Defcon 1 due to the insanely high costs of producing shows combined with a high-pitched failure rate . )
On the other hand , picking up a show without a pilot episode has drawback . First , the internet has to trust that the handling or script can in reality be turned into a good series . That ’s no small thing . It ’s backbreaking enough to make a skilful show base on a really great pilot program , countenance alone one that has no pilot at all . And while the meshing is pay less per sequence , it ’s committing a larger sum of money in total than it would for just a pilot . So if the show fails to get ratings early on , it will ultimately be more expensive than making and cast aside a pilot burner .
Z Nation nonplus greenlit under this newer model of TV because everyone felt confident the core idea could be turned into a good show . In particular it had the key element a musical style show needs for success :
A simple , compelling assumption : It ’s tough to get anyone to watch a TV show to set out with and harder still if you ca n’t well explain to likely viewing audience what your show is about . In an ideal world you may tot up up your show in one compelling sentence ( called a log line ) that will differentiate it from other shows while explaining what it will be about hebdomad to workweek . This is usually a little easier with a pig show or a hospital play than it is with other variety of dramas . It ’s also gentle if the show is based on existing property like a pic , book or comic .
In the case of Z Nation , the assumption is dewy-eyed : A group of survivors in New York has to transport the only person who ’s survive being bitten by a zombie spirit to a CDC lab in California in rescript to find a remedy for the zombie virus .
Most viewers can read that prison term and understand immediately what the show will be about and if it will invoke to them . They live there ’s going to be a long journeying , there ’s a goal that carries solid stake , and there ’s gon na be zombie . Simple , clear , compelling .
A story engine : What makes TV unique from other forms of amusement is that display are meant to run calendar week after workweek for days on end . Many great motion picture and books might not work on TV because it ’s hard to calculate out what , say , episode three of the 4th time of year will appear like . When I was on the web side , I ’d say that was the biggest matter miss in what were otherwise serious pilot scripts . You could see how they ’d make a great episode , but not see what would happen in season two . So a good TV pitch need to have a authentic level railway locomotive that take the narrative workweek in and week out and season after season .
For Z Nation , the story railway locomotive is motion . Each calendar week the character need to get one step closer to the CDC laboratory in California , but each step also puts them into increasing peril . Not only is the railway locomotive easy to understand , it ’s dissimilar than most other TV shows where the engine is often something like solve a crime ( call a procedural ) .
The reason you see so many fuzz shows and aesculapian play on TV is because they have built - in story engines : There is always going to be a young crime to solve or a new patient to preserve .
World building : In a genre series you need to not only create a great history and interesting characters , you have to build a compelling world for them to exist in . The domain ca n’t just be slap on ; it needs to be the underlying material of the show . Some genre serial are close to our own reality than others and may need more or less humankind building consequently . In Continuum , the existence building is less intensive than in Game of Thrones .
For Z Nation , the world building revolved around not only zombies but what the humankind would be like three years into the snake god apocalypse . Would road be adequate ? Since it ’s a route show , it ’s an important doubt to answer . How many human subsister are pull up stakes ? How do they survive ? And so forth .
inner system of logic : This is probably part of world edifice but I ’m pulling it out separately because genre shows need more accent on internal logic than other forms of TV . A zombi spirit show in particular needs a consistent solidifying of zombie rules : Who turns into a zombie and under what circumstances ? Are the zombies quick or slow , or can they be both ? How do you shoot down a zombie , and how do zombie vote down humans ?
In the case of Z Nation we also addressed nuances like does anyone ever use the Son “ zombie ” ? Or when there ’s no pecuniary system left , what becomes the currency of the zombie Book of Revelation . heater ? Morphine ? You get the mind .
The intervention included circle of other poppycock as well ( some things I ca n’t divvy up because pillager ) . There was a delegacy financial statement about the look and finger of the show , an obligatory number about how it would be unlike than other zombie series , character study , sample sequence ideas and more . Hopefully after season one I can portion out it with you , but you get the idea .
Now you know how show get pitch and greenlit . Next time I ’ll talk about what it ’s like to go into the writer ’ way and start have the show in earnest .
TelevisionZ Nationzombies
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