Louis Ck on writing pilots So heres a rough outline of how it works, taking a show from pitch to series The first

step is to meet with a development executive at the network or studio and pitch them the general idea of the show. Usuall ou do this with several companies over a week or so, sometime in !ul or "ugust. Then the agent fields the offers from the interested people, and ou weigh the offers and decide which network#studio to go with according to three criteria$ %ho reall gets our show and will let ou do it without fucking it up. %ho is actuall most likel to pick up the show. %ho is pa ing ou the most mone &the worst reason to go with an one'. (f no one has made an offer, ou )ust go fuck ourself. (f ou have sold our show to a studio, ou now go on another round of pitch meetings with them in tow, to sell the show to a network. (f ou are a*le to sell to a network, then ou start working, now for *oth entities. &(n m case, ( sold the show to +,- (ndependant .roductions, which is making the show for +,-, which are a lot of the same people, so m life is easier. ' Then the agent makes our deal and ou start working. The first thing ou have to do is come up with the general stor line for the pilot, which ou pitch to the executives, first studio, then network. -nce the stor is *asicall agreed to, ou write an outline, which is )ust a *low * *low description of each scene in paragraph form, which should include all plot points and an funn details or )okes ou alread have. /ou then pass the outline in to the studio, which gives ou notes. /ou take their notes and re0write it and if the are satisfied, ou pass it in to the network. The now give notes which ou re0write the outline with and then pass it in until the network and the studio are *oth happ . %hen that happens, its time to write the pilot script. So ou go off and take as long as ou need to churn out a first draft. ( think this took me a couple of months. -nl a*out three da s were spent actuall writing. The other fift seven were spent driving m self nuts while ruminating a*out what the show is and how to do it. Thats me. Some people write ever da , )ust pounds and pounds of words. ( do a lot of work in m head and then )ust shit it out like fast diarreah. -ka , so ou now have a first draft and ou give it to the studio. The read it and then ou get their notes. The same thing happens now that happened for the outline onl often it takes longer. Unless ou wrote a good outline. %hat ( mean is that, if ou reall tackle to stor and get it right in the outline, sometimes the script is a lot easier. (n an case, ou go *ack and forth *etween studio and network until ever *od agrees that the script is in good shape. Unless no one agrees or it is not in good shape. 1enerall , this is the first failure point for most pilots. The writer, studio and network *at the script around and it gets re0written to death, while other pilots are clicking along and improving. /ou will start to notice that the executives oure dealing with are showing less and less interest and often oull )ust suddenl stop getting calls and our agent will sa 2/eah um ( think its time to move on.3 ,UT if our script is good, if it sta s hot and people like it and ou, itll *e decalred finished and passed in to the network for consideration for pick up. (n other words, the executives ouve *een dealing with at the network, who are development people, will now give it to the top executives, Les 4oonves, 5evin 6eille , whoever. (n m case, Carol n Strauss and Chris "l*recht. The read it and sometimes the have notes. (f the have *ig notes, like the think there are essencial flaws in the script, oure sent off to re0write et again and the read it a second time. Sometimes this is a good sign *ecause if the )ust dont like it, the pro)ect will )ust die there. (f the are giving ou notes at this point its *ecaus the think its worth wasting a little time on it. So ou do another rewrite and pass it in. 7ow its time to *reak out in hives and hit our children for no reason, *ecause ou have to wait. /our script is now finished and on a ver *ig and important desk with, depending on the network, L-TS of other scripts that have *een through all the same shit. This point is usuall reached,

horri*l enough, right *efore the hollida s. The network presidents take a *unch of pilots home to read over the hollida s, while ou spend the hollida s not knowing our future. (ts torture. "nd the +ollida s, in +oll wood are a L-71 8UC5(71 T(49. These people go awa from a*out +aloween to 7ew /ear. So now ou hate all of life and its a*out the second week in !anuar . .eople ou know are starting to hear that their pilot has *een picked up * the network oure with. "nd ou havent heard. /ou spend +-U6S on the phone with our agent and friends, tr ing to read tea leaves that arent there. /ou run into someone that tells ou the )ust had anal sex with the network president who told them that he is definitel picking up our show. Then our agent calls and tells ou the re passing. -6 ou get a call from our studio executive who tells ou that, congratulations, the re going to shoot our pilot. 7ow its time to actuall make the pilot. +ol mother fucking shit. /ou have to do the following things as ever pilot in the cit is doing them simultaneousl $ 8ind a studio to shoot in. Cast our pilot. 8ind a director. 1et *ack to work on the script *ecause now that its *eing shot people have a L-T of notes that the held *ack *efore, when it was )ust a pipe dream. (f ou are a strong enough and experienced enough writer, ou are the show runner. ,ut if ou wrote the pilot *ut are a novice, ou are also going to have to find a show0runner. (n m case, ( needed to find a show0running partner *ecause ( starred in the show as well as creating it, so once we started shooting ( would not *e an effective full:time show0runner without some help. So ou are tr ing to get the *est actors, director and writer in the world at the same time that ever one else in town is tr ing -ka , so casting. 8irst ou have to hire a casting director. There are onl a few good ones and ever *od wants them. ou have to meet with a lot of people who tell ou some ideas of who the might cast in our show. (f ou click with someone ou hire them &if ou can' and start casting. /ou see thousands of horri*le actors and hear our pilot script read over and over and over and over again. "t the same time, offers are going out to ver *ig named actors, none of which ou think fit the parts at all, *ut ou are told the will help our show get on the air. &(n m case, +,- doesnt give a shit a*out that, so we were a*le to cast people according to their funninness and acting. +oora for me' "t one point oure told that our pilot is going to star ,rendan 8ra;ier and !od 8oster. "t the last minute the *oth pass and ou end up with 5irk Cameron and Shell ,iglachnataps. The wa the casting works is that ou make usuall three top picks for ever part in the show. /ou now take these people to the studio and the decide if the like our choices. (f the do, ou take those three folks now to network. T+e sign what is called a test deal, which means the make their acting deal *efore the network even sees them. So o uhave to negotiate a deal with three actors per part, even though onl one of them will *e hired. So the three actors &per part' go to the network and audition for L9s moonves or whoever. +e#she#the pick one person and ou are cast. -6 &and usuall ' the dont like an of them and ou have to start all over again and now time is fucking running out and ever good actor is alread on a show. "lright, so ou cast our show and ou hire a director, also ver hard *ecause there are ma *e one of those that are good and hes working on something else. "ll of this hiring and setting up takes place over 8e*ruar and 4arch. Some pilots spin out and crash *ecause a good cast or showrunner was never found. So that da in !anurar , when ou got the green light, goes from *eing the *est to the worst da of our life. ,ut if ou survive all of that, ou shoot our pilot over some week in 4arch or "pril &we shot ours in "pril'. The pilot shoot week *reaks down like this$

4onda $ ta*le read. The network and studio come and watch the actors read the script. Then the give the writers notes. Sometimes the notes are staggering like 2%e dont know if the main point of the stor is reall that good or funn .3 "nd ou have to insanel re0invent ever thing. This is pro*a*l not going to *e a television show now. !ust the worst week of our life. S-metimes cast mem*ers get fired after the ta*le read, and ou now have one da to cast a part that took ou a month to cast *efore. ,ut if the notes are minimal and ever thign looks like its *asicall working, ou do our re0write happil as the director rehearses with the actors. Tuesda $ 6unthrough$ The show is acted out on the stage for the writers and the studio. the same thing happens as monda , ou get notes. Then ou give the director and the actors notes and go rewrite as the rehearse. %ednesda $ 6unthroug$ 7ow the network comes and watches the show on its feet. The give notes and ou rewrite and rehearse again. T+ursda $ the cameras are *rought in and ou *lock the show for them, as the director decides how to shoot each scene. The actors should all *e prett read at this point and the script should *e sta*ali;ed. (f ou are still rewriting and casting at this point oure prett fucked. ,ut it happens. 8rida $ *ring in the audience and shoot the show. Some pilots take hours to shoot *ecause no one has worked together, one or more actors are *ad, and the network "7< studio are giving notes after ever single take so ou are doing ever scene several times )ust to placate people. The give the audience pi;;a *ut the still leave ande ou end up shooting in an empt house for half the night. This didnt happen to me fortunatel . %e shot the Luck Louie pilot in a*out two and a half hours &actuall we did it twice' -ka , so now the show has *een shot and people get drunk. T+en ou start editing which is a long and difficult process. The director edits first, then the showrunners. /ou pass in our edit to the studio, get notes and then the network. Then, when the pilot is totall edited, ou wait. +ow ou wait differs from place to place. ( did a pilot at C,S and we had to wait while the tested the show. The do all kinds of screw marketting experiments and the show the pilot to a test audience. /ou are given ela*orate data according to the test and ou often have to re0edit the pilot to adress the testing data. &+,- doesnt test their shows, so i got to skip that this time' 8inall , someone takes pictures of the cast looking desperate as the all sit on the same eas chair, and the pilot is complete. (t is put on the desk of the network president, along with ela*orate reports and photos of the cast, along with ever other pilot that made it that far. ou wait and ou wait. (f its a network, ou wait until the 2Upfronts3 when the announce their schedule in new ork. S-me people are told the da of the announcement that the are or are not going to series. %hen ( did the pilot at C,S, we were told we were in the running until the last second. Someone from %arner ,rothers called me literall an hour *efore Les 4oonves made his announcement, to sa he wouldnt *e mentioning 2Saint Louie3 although we were strong contenders for mid0season &o*viousl that didnt happen either' +,- doesnt do up0fronts and the dont do marketing research. (ts )ust two people, Carol n Strauss and Chris "*lrecht, who watch their pilots and then mull it over for a while and then decide. (n our case, we were *rought in a*out two weeks after wed passed in the finished pilot, to meet with "l*recht and *asicall defend our thesis. %e told him what we learned from doing the pilot and how we intended to execute a series if he gave us the chance. %e left that meeting having 7idea which wa he would go. "*out a week after that, ( was picking up m daughter from her da care when m phone *u;;ed in m pocket. (t was someone from +(. calling to sa 2+,- has ordered twelve episodes of Luck Louie3 7ow, ou think making a pilot is hard, tr doing it twelve times in six months.