Wednesday, December 17, 2008

TV Pilot Outline

OK, so the show is basically gonna be "Ally McBeal on a Plane" to put it in TV lingo. It's a half-hour dramedy (no laugh track). I'd appreciate some feedback on this, thanks in advance!
The core cast is small, because it's hard to follow a bunch of flight attendants around on their trips, and also because our main character will be a point of view character. We'll have a lot of celebrity guest stars as both flight attendants and passengers, though (think: Britney Spears as a flight attendant!) The core cast consists of:

Elena aka “Queen of Sky” (lead/POV/narrator) She’s a cross between Carrie Bradshaw and Ally McBeal who speaks just enough Spanish to qualify as a Spanish speaker at Legacy Airlines. I'm picturing someone like Alicia Silverstone.

Ricky, Latin flamer/party boy—He’s so hilarious he can get away with murder, like joining the Mile High Club with a random passenger while he’s working the flight!

Ivette, Caribbean diva/party girl—likes to tease nerdy frequent flyers and use them to buy her stuff. Later she becomes a “cockpit queen” (always in the cockpit flirting with the pilots).

Queen of Sky
Pilot Episode Breakdown

Teaser: The show begins in the middle of an airplane evacuation. When the camera zooms out, we see it’s actually a simulator in a training facility. Our heroine, Elena, is the last one off and she trips and falls down the slide face first.

Title sequence and theme song.

ACT 1

• Final Exam at flight attendant school—we hear Elena reading the questions aloud in her mind: “What’s the city code for Spokane, Washington?” “How many fire extinguishers are on a 757 and where are they located?”

• The uptight trainer announces everyone passed the final except Tony. (“And for future reference, Tony, PBE does not stand for ‘Pleasurable Balls Encounter’—it’s ‘Protective Breathing Equipment!’”) Tony is escorted off the premises, making a dramatic exit. (“I’ll be back!”) Ricky blows him a kiss.

• Graduation ceremony. The recruits receive their wings, donning their uniforms for the first time, then the trainer announces Base City assignments are posted in the hall.

• Scene of hysteria as most find out they got the dreaded New York base. Elena imagines her boyfriend back in Miami distraught. Elena, Ricky and Ivette decide to catch the first flight to NY to beat the rush.

• Onboard the flight to NY, Elena calls her boyfriend in Miami to tell him the bad news. He acts disappointed, but is actually thrilled. Ricky and Ivette tell her they both dumped their boyfriends when they got invited to flight attendant training and recommend that Elena do the same.

ACT 2

• The flight attendant offers them on ground cocktails—doubles!—(“You’re gonna need these…”) and some advice. Ricky asks her if she knows of any available crash pads in NY. She says she’ll ask Wanda in the back.

• Wanda, a motherly black lady, says there are three spots open in her crash pad, but she can only take them temporarily since they’re new hires. Their conversation is cut short when Wanda has to arm her doors for departure.

• At the crash pad (a two-bedroom apartment with eight bunk beds in Kew Gardens, Queens) Wanda gives the three of them the house rules.

• A grouchy “senior mama” complains about allowing new hires at the crash pad. (“They’re gonna be here all the time!”)

• Elena wakes up to a 4am call from scheduling: “We’ve got your first assignment for you!”

ACT 3

• Elena walks onto plane rubbing her eyes and yawning. The crew asks if she’s the reserve replacing Julie. She responds, “Whatever you say—this is my first trip.”

• She sits on the jumpseat with Bonnie, an outspoken bisexual Asian chick a la Margaret Cho. Bonnie explains that airline passengers check their decency and humanity at the aircraft door. She also tells Elena all about her love life (she has a boyfriend and a girlfriend). Elena is shocked.

• After takeoff, a man goes into the lav next to their jumpseat with a thick newspaper in his hand. Bonnie says, “See what I mean?!”

• Then, during the beverage service, a passenger yells at Elena for not having his drink choice (hot chocolate). Bonnie nods at her as if to say “I told you so.”

• Then, as they’re picking up, a passenger lowers his seatback abruptly, causing the passenger behind him to hit him over the head. Bonnie nods to Elena again, knowingly.

• Montage of three more FULL flights with city codes captions (ex. ORD-MSP). We see Elena and Bonnie pushing the beverage cart up and down the aisle in a seemingly endless loop.

• Last leg, video equipment breaks and they have to do the safety “dance.” As Elena does the demo, she imagines herself on a stage with the spotlight on her and her theme song playing.

• Elena returns to the crash pad late at night to find only one snoring flight attendant with eye mask and ear plugs in place. She can’t get a hold of any of her friends to debrief, so she starts a blog (“The Queen of Sky’s Life of Glamour”) to recount her first crazy day on the job. “I’m already wondering what I’ve gotten myself into…I mean, really, I thought this was supposed to be a glamorous job!” Fade out.

*****************
Any thoughts? Rereading this, I think I need to adjust the Act breaks. I believe the rule is "your characters can only sleep on the commercial break."

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Infinite glamour
Portions dedicated to exploitation
To those that view the spectacular
Mentally enduring this masturbation
Visually interpreting her vernacular

Her presence, Alluring with temptation
Eyes piercing through my fragile character
Exposed by her flirtatious penetration
Leaving it bruised and fractured

This dominance portrayed in facets
From interpretations conceived through banter
of sexual escapades and wishful tangents
With aspiration towards the future
While glamorous images fill my dreams
Your infinite beauty resides in time
Tranquil as the mountain streams
Desiring your glamorous self be mine

http://allpoetry.com/poem/4416387

OJ (not that one) said...

I can't help but wonder about the main character: What does she want (from her job, in this case) and what does she not realize she really needs? You know, like she thinks she wants to "see the world and experience all kinds of things" but really feels she needs to have exotic stories to tell to not feel like one of the crowd. (Or something. It's your semi-fictionalized life, so you'll have a better idea. ;) )

I don't have any experience in TV writing (just watching it with the mind of a writer and reading a couple of blogs), but I strongly believe this is the theme of the show, i.e. it needs to be able to be sustained through however many seasons it needs to get to "syndication level." Also, it should be established in Act One of the pilot in some way.

The plot is fine for a pilot, surely, and I can imagine myself wanting to watch the characters.

Doctor Zee said...

“You need three things in the theater - the play, the actors and the audience, - and each must give something” ~Kenneth Haigh

Ellen Simonetti said...

This is a comment from my MySpace page:

Wow! I really like your ideas! The New York thing is great, this will be perfect because this is the dreaded base for all new hires in major airlines!
I like your ideas for characters and also think there could be room for one more if you decide to that. Maybe a conservative type like Charlotte (Sex in the City) that tries to find her place in the craziness of the airline business.

I do prefer the new hire way of introducing these characters. I think it's the only way "civilians" can truly appreciate and understand how it really is in flight attendant world.

As far as your concern about the sleeping, I don't know that I have heard that, but as long as the call is the first thing we see, why not?

I hope Showtime or HBO will pick this up becuase I would like to see a full 30 mintues and not 22!

Posted by Cathy T on Thursday, December 18, 2008 - 12:06 AM

Anonymous said...

Most Annoying Airline Passengers Ever
http://www.lemondrop.com/2008/12/19/most-annoying-airline-passengers-ever/

13. The idiot who stands in the aisle rearranging their bag before stowing it in the overhead compartment.

12. The jerk who keeps using their phone even after the flight attendant has asked them to turn it off so the plane can depart.

11. The one person on every single flight who seems to think their feet don't stink when they take off their shoes.

10. The late passenger who ruins your dream of having an empty seat next to you for onc

9. Everyone in First Class. They won't even deign to look at you when you board.

8. The person in the aisle seat who fastens their belt as soon as they sit down, only to sigh loudly when having to unbuckle and stand up to let in the other passengers.

7. The one who refuses to admit that their bag is too large for the overhead compartment.

6. The people with the neck pillows. Often honeymooners or Scientologists...or in a worst case scenario, both.

5. The guy who snores the entire flight. Often the same culprit as #4.

4. The guy who still thinks it's ok to recline in coach.

3. The person sitting next to you who hasn't figured out that you don't feel like chatting.

2. The person who's doing God-knows-what in the lavatory while you really, really have to go.

1. The shutterbugs who have never been on a plane before and intend to document their entire trip from multiple angles in several formats.

Anonymous said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vl8ucJRyGMc

Yeli said...

Sounds pretty funny, being aa FA for 5 years, I can relate!!! Good luck- if it hits TV, I'll be sure to watch!

Ellen Simonetti said...

THanks everybody for all your great comments here, on Facebook, and on Myspace! Special thanks to Rick (he sent me a Word doc with his recommendations)!

Next up I'm going to post some of the pitch...stay tuned :-D

Anonymous said...

its a bit dry. you've tapped into the travel arena, which is great. there isnt anything on tv filmed on a plane/airport.

However, its really lacking sticky humour. just really boring.

you need to incorporate intelligent humour - think - arrested development, curb your enthusiasm, and good ol' fashioned Friends humour.

These 2 types of comedy are universal. dont limit yourself to the US audience, (as most people dislike american humour!). Except for the above examples.

Jennica said...

Hi Ellen,

Since you've asked for feedback, here's some more! I think you're going to find that the plot for this pilot episode isn't quite there yet. Right now, it feels like a lot of light character/situation intros, but there's no actual unifying plot here.

Even in a pilot, we should have a single problem for the episode that is introduced in Act One, and then complicated (the problem goes from bad to worse) until it's resolved in Act Three. Here, there's really no connection between various scenes from act to act.

An example of a single problem you could follow: the boyfriend. Maybe she keeps trying to get back to Miami to keep a date with him (a birthday, etc.?) -- Elena's trying to have it all -- and it's not until the last act that their breakup happens?

Just a thought; there's lots of choices, here, but I do think you're going to need some actual structure in your pilot.

Good luck!