See if you’ve got what it takes to write a TV Pilot! We’re turning the Rochester Writers Workshop into a writers’ room for several upcoming meetings. We plan to dedicate the first segment of our online get-togethers to a reboot challenge.

So far, we’ve decided on a show: GILLIGAN’S ISLAND. It can take place on the ocean, on an alien planet, whatever you like. It can be sitcom or drama, 22 minutes, 44 minutes, or other.

PREMISE: A disparate group of people – a microcosm – are stranded and must find ways to work together to survive. Their goal is to get home.

STORY FOR THE PILOT EPISODE:
Set up who the characters are, and how they got stranded, and what is the nature of their new world. They must first struggle for food and shelter. What are th obstacles othat stand in the way of their goal? Ultimately, by the end of the first episode, they must move (perhaps in a small way) from being individuals to working as a team.

MESSAGE OF THE SHOW: Live together, die alone.

WHAT’S THE NEXT STEP? Write a one-page treatment in paragraph form, general thoughts on what will happen in the pilot script.

NEXT? Outline that first episode. What happens in each scene? Write it out in paragraph or bullet-point format.

We’ll be going over outlines in the next few weeks. It’s not too late to jump in!

The REBOOT A TV SERIES continues this week. Join the Zoom link here.

As always, we continue to welcome other original script pages to be read at meetings.