I recently turned in a final draft of my pilot to my agents and you are the first group I wanted to tell! I want to break down the timeline and process for you to give you one example of how the writing process of a pilot can function from start to finish. This may look slightly different for you, perhaps instead of a manager or agents, you consult with a trusted friend or a writers group. But the general process is something you can take inspiration from, or just use as background for when you're in the position to develop originals like this!
It's worth noting that the timeline of this process is based on a period where I am not writing as my only job. I currently have multiple freelance gigs on top of writing, where in the past my only focus was writing, all day erry day, so I was able to work a bit faster. Regardless, I had a great time writing this.
I documented this process through vlogs on social media, so I'll link to the episodes in case you want visuals to accompany this little breakdown!
NOVEMBER 2025:
I had a call with my manager to discuss what project to write next. I keep a google doc that I share with my reps whenever we have the "what's next?" convo, and I highlight the ideas I'm most excited about there. It's separated by format so there's a 1-Hour, 1/2 Hour TV and a Features section. I want to write a new feature sample, but I had been feeling antsy this year and wanted a quick creative win, so I opted for a 1/2 hour pilot for maximum fun and shorter gestation period before I start writing. We agreed on an idea and my next task was to write a 1-pager for him to approve and to send to my agents. I spent a few days over Thanksgiving doing some research, and blue-skying the show so I could decide what the pilot story would be.
The 1-pager included a general overview of the pilot, story, the world and the characters.
DECEMBER 2025:
Right after Thanksgiving I sent a doc to my agents to get their buy-in on the idea. I trust my team to help me make strategic choices, and wanted to make sure they were into the idea as well. The holidays are the worst time to ask agents to read anything, so I was nervous they wouldn't get to it before the break, but after communicating to everyone how badly I just wanted to "get to the fun part" ie - the writing, they read quickly and gave me the go ahead to get started!
HOLIDAY BREAK:
You may know there's a 3 week period in December/early January where you cannot reach anyone in Hollywood, which is typically a time I use to write! No emails to respond to or meetings to go to! Sweet blissful free time on planes, trains, and automobiles. I used the holidays to do a beat sheet/outline of my pilot to send to my manager when work resumed in January. I broke out the beats on a board in canva, then put the beats into my screenwriting software and drafted an outline from there.
The outline was a few pages and covered the general shape of all the scenes in the storylines we agreed on. I submitted it in the first week back from the holiday, then pivoted to other projects while I waited.
JANUARY 2026:
Normally I budget for 3-4 weeks for reps to read drafts, but since I expressed how much I wanted a full draft by Jan 31, my manager read quickly! (for context, I loop my agents in at the beginning and the end of this process, but the nitty-gritty development is usually just my manager, writer friends and I.)
When he read, I got some feedback about adjusting act 1 to allow for more character development and getting the audience on board with my protagonist, which I agreed with, and after a quick chat on how I'd address that note I was off to draft!
Drafting is where I thrive it's my favorite part of the process and typically moves the fastest for me. In my first draft zero, I don't worry about revising, grammar, punch-ups, or generally being... good. I just focus on story and making sure that makes sense. I did hit my deadline of having a first draft by Jan 31, but It wasn't a draft I was willing to send to my reps quite yet. Something felt off.
The issue I ran into is that the story felt bloated. It felt like I was trying to pack too much in and it wasn't leaving room for the comedy to breathe and for us to acclimate to the characters. It took me a minute to realize this was the problem. Initially I was just worried it wasn't funny enough, or the format was wrong (I toyed with making it a mockumentary, and was second-guessing myself) I sent the draft to a friend to see if this was just me being in my head, or if it was too packed and she agreed I had too much story in the episode. I cut a storyline and a character felt a lot better about it but something still felt wrong so rather than rush, I decided to sit on the problem for a few more days - which turned to weeks.
FEB 2026:
I went for walks, watched other pilots, read scripts, saw a play, and just let my brain breathe and then-- BOOM-- I figured it out. I added back in a stylistic choice I cut and a character I cut and rearranged the structure a bit and it felt sooo much better. I stayed up until 4AM fixing the draft, listened to it out loud a few times and then sent her off to my manager! Then.... I waited! I worked on other projects and waited for revisions.
MARCH 2026:
Revision city! I didn't have that many rounds of notes from my manager, actually. Just some clarifying of character voices, making motivations extremely clear, and adjusting for the fact that the average reader does not have the same interest/understanding of the period in American history I am writing about (open the schools!). I had to read through my draft not just as myself, the writer with a vision to execute, but also as an average audience member who has no concept of who I am, my voice, the subject of the show, the history-- they don't know anything. That person should still be able to enjoy the episode so I worked to make sure everything was clear enough for that person to still have a great time reading/watching my show.
APRIL 2026:
After two rounds with my manager, we sent it to my agents for their feedback. It's always great to get fresh eyes since my manager has been with the story just as long as I have, he can miss things as well. I got great feedback from another team member at my manager's company (Hi Cole!) and my agents. I was surprised that they suggested I cut a storyline!! I had to kill some darlings, but the reason behind it was to let the A story really shine and not give the audience too many things to focus on. By simplifying the story a little we are able to lock-in on our core ensemble and their journeys.
The other note I got was to vary the POVs a bit more amongst the core ensemble to further differentiate the characters. There are two main factions in the story, and I realize I could have gone farther to differentiate within those groups on the page, not just contrasting the groups against each other. I know the characters so well, that sometimes it doesn't occur to me that the details in my head that may play out in future episodes aren't apparent in the pilot, and therefore are unclear to the reader, so this was so helpful to know!
TODAY I made those adjustments and fired off what I am assuming/hoping is the last draft of this thing!
So that's been the pilot process so far! Sometimes it takes less time, sometimes it takes more, it depends on the project, how busy I am and my readers/reps are, and if there's an urgent deadline to meet. But the order of operations is typically the same.
Hopefully this is a helpful rundown for you! If you have any questions about the process, reply to this email and let me know!
