STORY MAPS: TV Drama: The Structure of the One-Hour Television Pilot

by Daniel Calvisi

  56 CLIMAX “B” STORY (1995): Cohle finds a discovery in the shed: a Devil’s Net! The Aunt claims she’s never seen it before.

  57 CLIMAX “A” STORY (2012): Cohle gets the cops to show him a photo of the Lake Charles murder scene: a blonde woman is strung up naked under a bridge with antlers on her head. Almost identical to the 1995 crime scene.

  58 CLIFFHANGER (2012): Cohle asks the big hanging question:

  COHLE

  How could this murder be the work

  of the same killer when we caught

  him back in 1995?

  THE WALKING DEAD PILOT

  “DAYS GONE BYE”

  Written By Frank Darabont

  In 2010, AMC sent me an advance screener for a new show titled The Walking Dead. As I read the promotional materials, my first thought was, Wow, no one's ever done zombies on TV before. Clever idea. Then I watched the pilot, "Days Gone Bye," written and directed by Frank Darabont of Shawshank Redemption fame, and I found myself saying aloud, "This is going to be HUGE." It was just so fresh, so well-executed.

  Cut to today and The Walking Dead is the highest rated show on television, and the first scripted show since 2007 to defeat live NFL football in the U.S. overnight ratings. In our age of time-shifted DVR viewing and torrenting, this level of "appointment viewing" is, well, huge.

  But it wasn't just the novelty of a TV series in a fresh genre that sucked in viewers from the get-go, it was the treatment of the material -- the dramatic decisions made by Darabont as to how to reveal information, story engines and characters in the crucial first hour of what was designed as a sprawling saga.

  Watching the pilot after several years, the biggest thing that jumps out at me is that there are two major characters in the pilot, a father and son, MORGAN and DUANE, who do not appear in the rest of the season. (Morgan doesn't even pop up again until season three.) So why get the audience invested in these characters, only to drop them? There's a number of reasons, all revealed by the Full Story Map.

  Firstly, Morgan and Duane are vehicles to deliver vital exposition, to inform our protagonist and us about the "rules" of this new world. Secondly, they add the "B" story to the pilot, which is especially crucial here as the protagonist, Sheriff Rick Grimes, is in almost every scene so we needed a break from that line of action (the "A" story, Rick navigating the new world and learning when to kill and when to hold fire). Thirdly, since Rick's closest loved ones are separated from him and not given much screen time (the "C" story of the survivor colony), Morgan and Duane stand in for them, providing an active emotional throughline that we can all relate to. As Rick is our way into the external line of man vs. zombies, Morgan and Duane are our way into the internal line of the destructive family dynamics caused by this dystopian world.

  Notice also how each act brings a new movement, a distinct engine, and each movement comes to a clear end by the end of the act, with a hint of more that makes us sit through the commercial break.

  I particularly like the "Shadow Showdown" in Act Three: a powerful montage in which Rick and Morgan must commit separate acts of mercy, putting zombie victims out of their misery. Rick apologizes to his victim, a nameless zombie missing her lower half, before he pulls the trigger. In Morgan's case, his target is not so simple: the zombie is his wife and Duane's mother. In a heart-wrenching moment, Morgan puts his wife in his rifle sights...but he cannot bring himself to pull the trigger. Both of these scenarios express the central theme of The Walking Dead (which, by the way, was communicated from the very first scene of the pilot): the struggle to maintain one's humanity in the wake of disaster. Several seasons later, the series still finds new ways to explore that theme.

  THE WALKING DEAD

  Pilot “Days Gone Bye” (2010)

  Teleplay and Directed by Frank Darabont

  Based on graphic novels written by Robert Kirkman

  TEASER

  1-5 OPENING: DEPUTY SHERIFF RICK GRIMES pulls up to a deserted gas station, looking for gas. He spots a little girl walking, from behind. He calls to her and she turns around – she is a zombie! CATALYST: He is forced to draw his gun and shoot her in the head. Rick is troubled by this act. (THEME: The struggle to maintain one’s humanity in the wake of disaster.) (“A” STORY: Rick exploring the new world and choosing when to kill.)

  [OPENING TITLES. Mood is scary, mysterious, with rising tension.]

  ACT ONE

  5-9 Rick and his partner SHANE sit in their squad car, sharing lunch and conversation about women. When Shane asks Rick about his wife Lorrie, Rick reveals they’re having problems. (“C” Story: The survivor colony with Shane, Lorrie and son Carl) They get a call on the radio about a hot pursuit and race into action.

  9-12 Shane, Rick and other COPS set up a blockade on a rural road.

  12 INCITING INCIDENT: Rick is shot, goes down. FADE OUT.

  13 Rick wakes up in a hospital bed, his gunshot wound is bandaged. Curiously, no one is around. The hospital is deserted. He wanders around, sees the mangled, dead body of a nurse on the ground.

  18 TURN: Rick reaches double exit doors that have been chained shut, with “Don’t Open. Dead Inside” spray-painted on the outside. Unseen growling masses push on the door. Gnarled fingers reach out from the crack between the two doors. Rick isn’t in Kansas anymore.

  HINT AT MORE: How many zombies are there and can Rick survive this new world?

  ACT TWO

  20-23 AFTERMATH: Rick walks around outside the hospital, finding stacks of dead bodies, the detritus of a mass evacuation. The torso of a zombie woman slithers toward him! Terrified, he bolts.

  24 FIRST TRIAL: Rick comes to his home, to find it empty. He breaks down in sobs, calling out the names of his wife and son.

  26 FIRST CASUALTY: Outside, Rick is knocked out with a shovel swung by a kid, DWAYNE, who mistook Rick for a zombie. Dwayne’s father MORGAN (Dynamic Ally and Shadow) spares Rick’s life. (“B” STORY: Morgan and his wife.)

  28 NEW COMPLICATIONS: Back at Morgan’s house, Rick is tied up. Morgan cuts him loose after some questions, but warns him not to try anything or he’ll be forced to use his very sharp buck knife.

  30 MIDPOINT: Morgan gives Rick vital exposition about the state of the world, the “rules” of the post-zombie plague. They call them “Walkers,” and they are more active after dark. They are attracted to noise and light, which is why Morgan and Dwayne have sealed up their home like a bunker where they hide from the Walkers. If they bite or scratch you, you will turn into a Walker, an undead.

  34-36 Morgan shows Rick his WIFE, now a Walker, walking in the street outside their home. Dwayne cries at the sight of his undead mom. Morgan is ashamed to admit that he has not had the strength to “put down” his wife. (New Challenge: Will Rick be able to kill his family if they are turned into Walkers?)

  ACT THREE

  37 Partial Integration (A, B and C): Rick, Morgan and Dwayne go back to Rick’s house. Rick is sure Lorrie and his son Carl are alive. Morgan mentions a rumor that there is a large survivor colony outside town, and a treatment facility set up by the CDC.

  39 ASSUMPTION OF POWER: Rick leads them in a raid on the weapons cage at the police station. They stock up on guns and ammo. Rick is setting off on his own to search for his family.

  43 Before they separate, Morgan warns Rick about the dangers of coming across a pack of Walkers (setup: Walker mob.).

  43 Rick spots a fellow cop (seen in Opening), now a Walker, and knows he must release him from misery. Rick executes him with a merciful shot to the head.

  45-48 SHADOW SHOWDOWN: Cross-cut montage of Morgan and Rick, both attempting acts of mercy. Morgan lines up his wife in his sights but he can’t pull the trigger (End “B” story). Rick returns to find the half-body zombie woman, and after he says “I’m sorry this happened to you” he executes her. (Rick goes “all in.”)

  Hint at more: Rick has lost his innocence; he now shows the strength he will need to survive the terrible ordeal ahead.

  ACT FOUR

/>   50 AFTERMATH: Rick drives outside town, broadcasting on the emergency channel of his CB radio. His signal is picked up by a colony of survivors in the woods! The group includes Shane, Rick’s old partner. Shane loses Rick on the CB and argues with a woman about going outside the camp to help others.

  53 INTEGRATION (A & C stories): Shane and the woman kiss, and we cut back to Rick looking at a photo of his family and realize the woman is LORRIE, his wife. Shane is now in a relationship with her, and acting as surrogate father to Rick’s son, CARL. (End “C” story)

  54 Skirmishes and Complications: Rick runs out of gas. He travels to a country home to find a couple dead of suicide by shotgun. Rick finds a horse!

  57 NEW BEGINNING/DECLARATION OF WAR: Rick mounts up, looking very much like an old west sheriff. He rides the horse into Atlanta, a ghost town.

  60 ALL IS LOST: Rick runs into a massive mob of Walkers! (Payoff: Walker mob) He falls off the horse, which they quickly make into lunch.

  ACT FIVE

  60-66 CLIMAX (“A” story): Rick makes a harrowing escape, climbing into a tank. A voice on the radio calls him “the dumbass in the tank.” Has Rick found a new ally or foe?

  66 FADE OUT on the final image of hundreds of hungry Walkers converging on the tank.

  CLIFFHANGER: How will Rick survive? Who is the voice on the radio?

  GAME OF THRONES PILOT

  “WINTER IS COMING”

  Written By David Benioff & D.B. Weiss

  Game Of Thrones is a sprawling, epic serial set in a fantasy world of swords and sorcery, about the unending battle for supremacy in the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. Like The Lord of the Rings before it, the series draws on rich source material (the novels of George R.R. Martin) filled with many lands, colorful characters and fantastic creatures. Unlike The Lord of the Rings, there is plenty of bloodshed and copious nudity. Which may seem like a frivolous observation, but it is actually crucial to the show’s success that it targeted an adult audience, thus setting itself apart from the many fantasy films aimed at a “family” audience (e.g., Rings, Harry Potter, etc.). One of the keys to television’s success in the past decade has been the ability to provide entertainment that cannot be found on the big screen. Interestingly, Thrones aims for big screen scale and production values (including top-notch CGI) but where it really differentiates itself from feature films is in character development.

  This is a true multi-protagonist pilot. The central characters or “co-protagonists” – those with the most screen time and the deepest arcs – are Ned Stark, Jon Snow and Daenerys “Dany” Targaeryen. They are each pressured to make life-changing decisions. Interestingly, Ned is the only one to truly make a decision, although it is offscreen: he accepts King Barratheon’s request to become the Hand, the second most powerful position in royalty. Dany is passive, and Jon has yet to commit to joining the Night’s Watch (this happens at the end of the second episode).

  The creators can get away with largely passive main characters because the pilot is all about world-building. It is more about the promise of high adventure than the delivery of it. And yet, the writers use active devices to move the story; they show more than tell. We can clearly see the seeds of conflict being sown. We know this story will sprawl.

  The structure of “Winter is Coming” is kept rather simple. The first three Act openings are clearly delineated by location – Winterfell, King’s Landing and Pentos – in Act Three we begin to cross-cut between Winterfell and Pentos. Along the way, we are dropping hints of struggles for birthright, military alliances and even incest. There are several mentions of history and how that informs the present. We will come to find out that history repeats itself in this deadly game of thrones.

  With such extensive source material to draw from, the creators of Game of Thrones could tease certain aspects that would not truly come into play for many more episodes. Dany’s dragon eggs won’t hatch until the final episode of season one and the dragons won’t grow larger than her until Season Four. The White Walkers glimpsed in the cold open of the pilot’s Teaser (which I still think is too slow) will appear only a few times in the next three seasons.

  This slower pace affects the Beat Sheet. The true Inciting Incident of the pilot (the death of John Arryn) does not occur until Act Two, 18 minutes in. We wait until Act Three to establish our third co-protagonist, Daenerys, who I label as the “B” story because she has the second most screen time behind Ned Stark.

  At the time of this writing, the show is still going strong and there is no reason to believe it will end any time soon. Many series nowadays end after six or seven seasons to preserve quality and audience share, but Game of Thrones, with its dense source material and ever-evolving cast of characters, could continue well beyond that marker. It will be fun to see how the ride continues, and to find out who claims that throne, after all.

  GAME OF THRONES

  Pilot “Winter is Coming” (2011)

  Written By David Benioff & D.B. Weiss / Directed by Tim Van Patten

  Based on "A Song of Ice and Fire" by George R.R. Martin

  TEASER

  1-4 OPENING: A party of three RANGERS from the Night’s Watch exits the massive frozen wall and rides South on a mission. YOUNG RANGER walks ahead, finding a massacre of dead bodies. He and the SECOND RANGER want to return to the castle, but their CAPTAIN refuses to leave.

  5-7 CATALYST: They are attacked by WHITE WALKERS! The zombie-like creatures kill the Captain and the Second Ranger. As the Young Ranger trembles, waiting for death, we FADE OUT.

  [OPENING TITLES]

  ACT ONE

  8 AFTERMATH: The Young Ranger is found, wandering the countryside, and taken into custody by soldiers.

  9 TITLE: WINTERFELL. OPENING: We meet the Stark family. Lord NED STARK, his wife CATELYN, sons ROBB, JON, and BRAN, daughters SANSA and ARYA, and ward THEON GREYJOY. They teach young Bran (our New Arrival) to shoot his bow, but even younger Arya, a tomboy, is already better than Bran.

  11 (“A” Story: Ned’s honor) Ned is told about the Young Ranger, considered a deserter from the Night’s Watch, a crime punishable by death. Catelyn objects, but Ned knows it is his duty to put this man to death.

  12-15 Beheading ceremony. (“C” Story: Jon Snow’s place in the family) Jon tells Bran not to look away as Ned beheads the Young Ranger.

  16 TURN (“A” Story): They find dead animals, mysteriously killed by a powerful predator. Jon Snow convinces Ned to spare the pups of a dead Dire Wolf. It could be an omen, as there are five pups, one for each of the Stark children. TURN (“C” Story): Theon laughingly gives Jon the “runt of the litter,” because Jon is not actually a Stark.

  ACT TWO

  17-19 TITLE: KINGS LANDING. (“D” Story: Jaime and Cersei) INCITING INCIDENT (“A” & “D”): In the castle, a funeral is being held for John Arryn, the former “Hand of the King.” We meet the royal siblings, JAIME and CERSEI LANNISTER. Cersei wants Jaime to be the next Hand, but he doesn’t want the job; it’s too much work and too dangerous.

  20-22 Back in Winterfell, Catelyn (Dynamic Ally) tells Ned the news that John Arryn has died. Arryn was like a father to Ned. New Complications: The King is coming for a visit! They must prepare.

  23-24 Catelyn rebukes Bran for climbing up the tower. He could hurt himself (Setup for “D” Story climax). Arya is also fooling around. These are two mischievous kids.

  25-28 FIRST TRIAL: The royal family from King’s Landing arrives at Winterfell: KING ROBERT BARRATHEON, JOFFREY the boy prince, Cersei and Jaime. Arya asks, “Where is the imp?”

  29 MIDPOINT: Robert asks Ned to be his Hand of the King and wants their children to wed, joining their houses. Ned has a great weight on his shoulders.

  30-31 FIRST CASUALTY: We meet TYRION the “imp” (he’s a dwarf) in the whore house with a concubine. Jaime brings three more whores for his baby brother with a reminder to attend the feast later.

  32 SHADOW SHOWDOWN: King Robert and Ned visit Ned’s sister’s tomb. Robert was to wed her, his tr
ue love, before she was murdered by the Targaryens. Ned says the Targaryens are gone. Robert says “not all of them.”

  ACT THREE

  33-35 TITLE: PENTOS. FIRST TRIAL/FIRST CASUALTY: (“B” Story: Daenerys marries Kal Drogo) Meet DAENERYS TARGAREYN and her insufferable brother, VESERYS TARGAREYN. They have been exiled from their homeland (where they were royalty) for one year. He expects to return and regain his crown soon. He undresses and fondles her.

  36-37 INCITING INCIDENT (“B”): KAL DROGO and his Dothraki warriors ride up. Veserys has arranged for Dany to wed Kal. Kal looks at Dany then rides off, giving no indication of his feelings.

  38-39 SHADOW SHOWDOWN: Dany tries to get her brother to let her out of the marriage, but he refuses because they need the Dothraki army to take back the crown. Dany has no say in her own destiny.

  40 Back in Winterfell, Catelyn speaks with her eldest daughter, Sansa. Sansa begs her to ask Ned to say yes to the King’s offer to become The Hand so she can wed Prince Joffrey.

  40 INTEGRATION: Banquet with the two families.

  Outside, UNCLE BENJI (Jon’s Dynamic Ally) rides up, greets Jon. ASSUMPTION OF POWER (“C”): Jon asks him if he can join the Night’s Watch. Benji warns him about the tough life of a Watchman—it is a lifelong oath, wherein they swear off marriage and family.

  41-43 SHADOW SHOWDOWN: Tyrion talks to Jon about being “a bastard.” Jon’s father is Ned Stark but his mother was a lover of Ned’s, not Catelyn. Tyrion may be a full-blooded Lannister but, as a dwarf, he is the outcast of his family. (End “C” story)

  45 Sansa greets Cersei in front of Catelyn. Cersei insults Catelyn’s homeland.

  46 ASSUMPTION OF POWER (“D”): Jaime and Ned trade barbs (foreshadowing their fight in episode 5). Arya flings food at her sister, gets in trouble with her mother.

  48-50 TURN: Urgent message from a rider from Catelyn’s sister: Jon Arryn was murdered by the Lannisters and the king is in danger! ROADBLOCK: Catelyn begs Ned not to take the job while MAESTER LUWIN tells Ned he must—he swore an oath.