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    Story Area Documents: Logline

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    Yepo Yelo
    This document outlines the key components that are typically included in a story area document for a television pilot or series. These include a logline summarizing the central conflict, character descriptions avoiding stereotypes, discussion of the intended tone and format, exploration of universal themes, description of a prototypical episode structure, and a 3-5 page prose outline of the pilot story. The goal is to concisely pitch the concept and provide a roadmap for the series while allowing for flexibility.

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    Story Area Documents: Logline

    Uploaded by

    Yepo Yelo
    42 views4 pages
    This document outlines the key components that are typically included in a story area document for a television pilot or series. These include a logline summarizing the central conflict, character descriptions avoiding stereotypes, discussion of the intended tone and format, exploration of universal themes, description of a prototypical episode structure, and a 3-5 page prose outline of the pilot story. The goal is to concisely pitch the concept and provide a roadmap for the series while allowing for flexibility.

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    Story_Area_Document

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    This document outlines the key components that are typically included in a story area document for a television pilot or series. These include a logline summarizing the central conflict, character descriptions avoiding stereotypes, discussion of the intended tone and format, exploration of universal themes, description of a prototypical episode structure, and a 3-5 page prose outline of the pilot story. The goal is to concisely pitch the concept and provide a roadmap for the series while allowing for flexibility.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    42 views4 pages

    Story Area Documents: Logline

    Uploaded by

    Yepo Yelo
    This document outlines the key components that are typically included in a story area document for a television pilot or series. These include a logline summarizing the central conflict, character descriptions avoiding stereotypes, discussion of the intended tone and format, exploration of universal themes, description of a prototypical episode structure, and a 3-5 page prose outline of the pilot story. The goal is to concisely pitch the concept and provide a roadmap for the series while allowing for flexibility.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 4

    Story Area Documents

    Networks and content creators are notoriously guarded about their planning

    documents, but a friend kindly shared one from a one-hour pilot development

    deal at NBC. Story area documents can take many different forms, but will

    usually contain:

    LOGLINE: One sentence including the word “but” to articulate the central

    conflict for Season 1 of the series.

    CAST OF CHARACTERS: With one-paragraph descriptions for each principal

    character. Avoid stereotypes and tropes. The joke in the classic, dark satire film

    Network (written by Paddy Chayefsky) was that every character on the shows in

    development at the fictional UBS network was “crusty yet benign.” Defy

    formulization. Lean in to the unexpected. Be a visionary creator, not a copycat

    follower (a/k/a hack).

    FORMAT/TONE: Procedural or serialized? To express tone, creators often use

    “tonal comps” which could use other successful TV series or films as

    touchstones, i.e.: It’s Gilligan’s Island meets Twin Peaks (Lost). Or: It’s Sherlock

    !1
    Holmes as a misanthropic yet brilliant present-day physician, and his cases are

    medical (House).

    THEMES: It’s super important to explore themes! Find the universal, relatable

    thematic “nugget.” 1 Remember, House of Cards is not a show about politics. It’s

    a show about power. Transparent isn’t a show about gender dysphoria; it’s an

    ensemble show about identity, and this theme extends to the whole Pfefferman

    family—and their significant others.

    FRANCHISE/STORY ENGINES: This describes a prototypical episode. It

    highlights the intended “sweet spot” of the show. In Law & Order, the sweet

    spot is crime and punishment, investigation, trial and resolution. In This Is Us,

    the sweet spot is the tribulation encountered by triplets and their parents across

    multiple time periods, along with a central mystery.

    PILOT STORY: 3 to 5 pages—in prose form—detailing the pilot story,

    encompassing beginning, middle and end. The writing style of the story area

    document will ideally capture the tone of the series, so if you’re writing a

    comedy, the story area document needs to be funny. Many writers advise

    against including dialogue in a story area document, and instead describe the

    !2
    funny situations. If you’re embedding dialogue in a story area document, you

    run the risk of getting noted to death on specific lines of dialogue—when your

    goal is to get the story area approved. But many comedy writers do include it,

    successfully. It’s a personal choice.

    As established showrunner Jeff Melvoin (Designated Survivor, Alias, Early

    Edition), who also helms the WGA Showrunner Training Program, puts it: “If you

    don’t know where you’re going, every road will take you there.”

    The bottom line for all content creators: When in doubt, simplify. Stay on

    point and on theme. Have a roadmap—a series bible or story area document(s)

    as a selling tool, but be prepared for the inevitable and delicious detours that

    follow.


    !3
    Note

    1The “nugget” is attributed to writer/director/producer/actor Jessie Kahnweiler, whose original


    series The Skinny, based upon her popular web series, was purchased by Hulu. It’s a comedy
    about Kahnweiler’s struggle to overcome her eating disorder. But as she emphasizes, “It’s not a
    show about bulimia; it’s a show about shame”—which is universal. That’s the nugget.

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