Community is one of the best shows on television. If you haven’t started watching it yet, get on it. Here are links to the Pilot, Episode 4: Social Psychology, Episode 7: Intro to Statistics, and Episode 9: Debate. The show was created by Dan Harmon.
Here is the pilot script for Dexter, written by James Manos, Jr.
Here is the pilot script for How I Met Your Mother written by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas.
Here are a few episodes of The Wire — The Target (pilot), Game Day (Season 1, Episode 9), 30 (Season 5, Episode 10) — and the original bible for the show.
I don’t usually post TV scripts, but I think there is a pretty high demand for this one. It’s the pilot episode of Breaking Bad written by Vince Gilligan.
Another thought-provoking session from last weekend’s Great American Pitchfest was entitled “Your Career in TV – The View from Both Sides.” The session was essentially a conversation between former Disney executive Kathie Fong Yoneda and Emmy-nominated writer Ellen Sandler.
The session was full of wise advice from both sides of the fence. Here are some highlights:
This is an old article, but a worthwhile read, especially if you’re a diehard Whedon fan. Jane talks about the writing process in a Joss writer’s room:
Okay, first there is the idea. This is usually something that Joss brings in, and it always begins with the main character – in my case, almost always with Buffy. We spend a lot of time discussing her emotional state, and how we want her to change over the course of the season. Frequently this in itself will suggest a story area – we will find a story in which we explore her mental state metaphorically. The episode “Same Time, Same Place,” was centered around Willow… we wanted to explore her emotional distance from the other characters. This turned into a story in which no one could see or touch Willow and vice versa. The episode “Conversations with Dead People” dealt in part with Buffy’s ambivalent feelings about her calling. She explored the feelings during a mock therapy session with a vampire she was destined to kill. Notice that the episode ideas *begin* with “what is she going through” and never with “what would be a cool Slaying challenge?”.
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