Character, not plot

I believe that the best stories come from character, not plot. Once you’ve figured out who your characters are and what they want, their story will almost tell itself.

Here’s where selling comes in. In TV, every time there’s a commercial, the audience has the opportunity to change the channel. If it doesn’t make a difference to them whether the character or characters they’re watching get what they want, why would they want to devote their time and energy to them? Especially when there are so many other choices.

So, your characters must be someone:
l. The audience KNOWS
2. LIKES
3. and ROOTS FOR.

How do you develop your characters? Carefully and in detail. One at a time. Some shows depend on a great many characters, like ER or LOST. Others, just a few, like TWO AND A HALF MEN. The important thing is to make however many characters you have:
1. THREE DIMENSIONAL
2. UNIQUE and
3. SOURCES OF CONFLICT

How do we make our characters sources of conflict? By making them different from each other and in opposition to each other. You will need to determine:
1. YOUR HERO/HEROES
2. VILLAINS and
3. CATALYSTS (move the story forward)

At the My TV Treatment six-week workshop, we’ll cover the do’s and don’ts of how to present your concepts to TV executives and get the impact you want. If you’re serious about success in the TV business, learn how it works from an experienced insider.