by Cyd Madsen

Created on: March 12, 2009   Last Updated: April 27, 2009

Writing a pilot script with the hopes of having it picked up by a network is equal in effort and tenacity to becoming a brain surgeon. Wait a minute, brain surgery is a lot easier. If you enjoy writing original television scripts you've got to keep writing and researching genres, learning formatting, structure, character, and target audience, but don't forget to build a very strong network of television network insiders. It can take years of relentless networking and proving yourself in other areas of writing before you'll ever have a chance to pitch a pilot, so learn to love working the game of TV Land as much as you do writing.

If there's one basic thing an aspiring scriptwriter of any kind needs to understand, it's that in the world of scriptwriting for feature films, writers are the gum on the bottom of the industry's shoes; in television the writer is god. Are you up to it? Do you have what it takes? Do you even know the difference between a theme and a concept? Is your uncle a mega-TV mogul? If you answered "no" to any of these questions, then you've got a very long and difficult road ahead of you, but it's not an impossible road. You have to be passionate, determined, and downright obsessed if your objective is writing a TV pilot and having it picked up by a network. Aside from television giving more power and status to writers than any other medium of scriptwriting, the money is much greater and continues to stream in years after you've closed the book on your writing career.

Writing and selling a successful TV pilot is the most difficult task you'll ever undertake as a writer. If that doesn't discourage you, then read on for a bare bones sketch of what you'll need as a starting point.

1. Network. Network hard. Apply as much effort to networking with television people as you do writing your pilot. Both Twitter.com and Linkedin.com are great places to start hob-nobbing with those on the inside. Television is a tough business, so you've got to start making nice with anybody and everybody with a toe inside the door, and you've got to start creating a buzz about yourself and your writing.

2. Learn the nuts and bolts of writing for television. How many minutes of actual screen time is there in a half-hour sitcom, and how many different kinds of sitcoms are there? If you don't know, get busy learning. Ditto for knowing how many "acts" there are in a three act drama (the answer is not three). Know the difference between a cover page and a title page, and what

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