Premises, Precincts and Plots
And how they fit together into a Practically Perfect Pilot
Building a Sitcom: From Premise to Pilot on Saturday 11th April from 10.30-5pm at MediaCityUK in Manchester is now open for booking.
Places are LIMITED to 12. So book now if you want to make sure of getting a place around the writers’ room table. More information HERE.
Last time, we looked at how your pilot sitcom script can go wrong on page 1 by starting in the wrong place. The example we’re following is a sitcom about a billionaire and his family and staff on a superyacht. It’s called The Have-Yachts.
There are many other ways your script can go wrong, but we can reduce this risk if we’re clear on what is a premise, a precinct and plot – and how they are presented in your pilot sitcom script.
What is the precinct? That is the place or the situation.
In our case, it’s the yacht. That is where the main action happens. We have the owner of the yacht, his wife and kids, plus the captain of the ship, and the staff: a chef, a stewardess and a maid. There may well be other staff, but let’s focus on those. Eight characters is already plenty to handle.
What is the premise? The premise is more than the precinct.
It’s more about the big idea. This needs to be honed, but as far as I know, The Have-Yachts is about a billionaire trying not to be a baddie and getting used to everyone treating him differently.
What is the plot of the pilot? Here is what the plot of the pilot is NOT: the premise and the precinct.
This is a huge and common mistake that one encounters in dozens of sitcom scripts. The temptation is to think of the pilot script as the story of the millionaire becoming a billionaire and deciding to buy a yacht, fulfilling a childhood dream of sailing around the world. This will involve locations we never revisit and characters we never see again. Crucially, it does not show the characters making choices and being tested, other than over which yacht to buy.
Do not do this. Not if you want to write a classic sitcom: one in which the same characters do the same sorts of things in the same places every week – like in Cheers, or Friends, or M*A*S*H or Big Bang Theory.
If you want to write a sitcom, your pilot episode should be in that place. The show has started. We’re onto Act 2. And we never leave until the very last episode.
If you want to write a comedy drama with a beginning, a middle and an end, that’s fine. Do that. You can stop reading now. This blog is not for you. Also, my day-long workshop is also not for you, so that’s saved you a day and a train ticket to Manchester.
Your pilot sitcom needs a plot. A plot is a story that takes place in an episode. You probably need two or three plots. Each plot is a quest for one or two characters. Given there are eight characters, you will probably need three plots.
The first could be the billionaire and the captain of the yacht, a supercilious retired naval officer.
The second could be an issue between the wife and the daughter, possibly involving the maid and stewardess.
The third could be with the brother and the chef.
There are dozens of permutations and combinations. What we need is options. We need lots of ideas for plots, and then a sense of how each plot works.
That is hard. It requires experience.
But you can get some sleeves-up hands-on experience at my day-long workshop, Building a Sitcom: from Premise to Pilot on Saturday 11th April 10.30pm-5pm at MediaCityUk in Manchester. Bookings are now open. Places are limited to twelve. For more details, have a look HERE.