PEOPLE'S PILOT COMPETITION

TV NEEDS YOUR IDEAS NOW MORE THAN EVER!

What's Happening in the
PEOPLE'S PILOT COMPETITION?

July 25, 2010

The PEOPLE'S PILOT IS BACK ON TRACK

Whew! Many of you may not know this, but our fearless leader, Larry Brody, suffered a heart attack, followed by quintuple bypass surgery, back in January, and in an operation as small as TVWriter.Com losing even one person can be catastrophic. The good news is that LB is doing fine and has returned to the fold.

This means that the show is going on and judging of both the SPEC SCRIPTACULAR and PEOPLE'S PILOT have begun. We'll be announcing Semi-Finalists and Finalists at the end of November of this year, and the Winners will be proclaimed in time for them to celebrate their victories on Christmas. TVWriter.Com, Cloud Creek Communications, Inc., and the PEOPLE'S PILOT apologize for the delay and its accompanying lack of communication. New channels have been opened and new assistants brought in to make sure this doesn't happen again.

Speaking of things that shouldn't have happened, it's come to our attention that the very last batch of contest entrants, way back in February, never received their acknowledgements. This calls for further apologies, and we're asking you to watch your e-mail in the coming week for the long-delayed missives. We'll also be e-mailing a more complete update to everyone on the TVWriter.Com e-mail list ASAP.

Thanks for your patience. Everyone here - especially LB - appreciates the warmth and consideration you've shown during this difficult time!

February 1, 2010

19th PEOPLE'S PILOT DEADLINE POSTPONED

Due to illness here at TVWriter.Com, the deadline for the 19th PEOPLE'S PILOT has been postponed from February 1, 2010 to June 1, 2010. This gives you not one, not two or three, but four entire months to face that blank page and write, write, write your way into a successful TV career.

Details about the situation are in an e-mailing going out today. If you don't receive that e-mailing, the scoop is HERE.

December 1, 2009

19th PEOPLE'S PILOT IS NOW OPEN FOR ENTRIES

We're ready and waiting, which means you've got 2 months to polish your gems and submit them. So don't just sit there, write!

And while you're writing, here's something else to think about. In order to ease the congestion caused by the fact that 90% of the entries arrive in the last two weeks of the contest, we're going out of our way to encourage entrants to enter early.

Our way of encouraging you is this: Everyone who enters the PEOPLE'S PILOT between now and the end of December will receive - in addition to the usual e-mail of acknowledgement - another e-mail containing the full PDF version of Larry Brody's highly honored and best-selling TV writing How-To book, TELEVISION WRITING FROM THE INSIDE OUT. Cover price is $22.95. We think this is a helluva deal.

Remember, you will only receive the PDF version of TELEVISION WRITING FROM THE INSIDE OUT for free if you enter the PEOPLE'S PILOT before January 1st, 2010. Fire up those screenwriting apps now!

November 23, 2009

18th PEOPLE'S PILOT WINNERS

These are the Top Dogs, in all their glory. Great stuff here, all of it:

18th PEOPLE'S PILOT WINNERS

First Prize--COMPLETELY IN-ZANE by Daryl A. Moon - Sitcom

Second Prize--REPUBLIC by Steve Elliott - Action/Drama

Third Prize--PARADISE CITY by Alisha Brophy - Action/Drama

Runners-Up

1st Runner-Up--THE BRIDGE CREW by David Beshears - Game

2nd Runner-Up--PURGATORY POINTE by Steve Chivers - Action/Drama

Congratulations, kudos, garlands of flowers. You guys rock! (And, yes, Winners, we'll notify you soon re how to collect your prizes - if we haven't done it already.)

November 16, 2009

18th PEOPLE'S PILOT FINALISTS

Here they are, the final contenders for the PEOPLE'S PILOT crown. Let the day begin!

CASTAWAY PIRATES by David Abrantes - Sitcom

COMPLETELY IN-ZANE by Daryl A. Moon - Sitcom

PARADISE CITY by Alisha Brophy - Action/Drama

PURGATORY POINTE by Steve Chivers - Action/Drama

RAINBOW RIDGE by Huck Hirsch & Jim Brodsky - Sitcom

REPUBLIC by Steve Elliott - Action/Drama

SUNDERLAND FALLS: Paradigm by Barbara Gaillard - Action/Drama

TENURE by Michael Valentino - Sitcom

THE BRIDGE CREW by David Beshears - Game

THE LONG RUN: WITH FAR INTENT by Barbara Gaillard & Rob O'Hannon - Action/Drama

Congrats! Congrats! Congrats! (Did we remember to say congrats?!)

Next: The Winners!

November 9, 2009

18th PEOPLE'S PILOT SEMI-FINALISTS

They're here! And not a moment too soon. The following is a group of pilot scripts so terific that any network would be proud to have commissioned them. Look at the writers' names closely. Each and every one of them has the potential to change the face of TV:

CARPE DIEM by Cassandra Hennessey - Other

CASTAWAY PIRATES by David Abrantes - Sitcom

COMPLETELY IN-ZANE by Daryl A. Moon - Sitcom

GABRIEL OF ANGELS by Alessandro Nicolo - Action/Drama

INDIES by Matthew Kellard - Sitcom

MAX SUNLIGHTER – PRIVATE NOSE by John LaVine - Other

PARADISE CITY by Alisha Brophy - Action/Drama

PURGATORY POINTE by Steve Chivers - Action/Drama

RAINBOW RIDGE by Huck Hirsch & Jim Brodsky - Sitcom

REPUBLIC by Steve Elliott - Action/Drama

SUNDERLAND FALLS: Paradigm by Barbara Gaillard - Action/Drama

SWEET HOME CHICAGO: NARCOLEPTIC BANDIT by Christiana Miller - Sitcom

TENURE by Michael Valentino - Sitcom

THE BRIDGE CREW by David Beshears - Game

THE LONG RUN: WITH FAR INTENT by Barbara Gaillard & Rob O'Hannon - Action/Drama

YOU DON'T KNOW JACK by Amy Coombs - Sitcom

Congratulations, everyone! And don't forget to check back early next week for the FINALISTS!

September 30, 2009

IMPORTANT TVWRITER.COM CONTEST ANNOUNCEMENT

Time now for some important news about the People's Pilot and Spec Scriptacular Contests currently being judged, and the hip, trendy, and just completed Tweet-a-Logline contest as well.

First, the PEOPLE'S PILOT and SPECSCRIPTACULAR update:

Our plans called for announcing Semi-Finalists in mid-October, Finalists a week later, and Winners the week after that. However, do to circumstances of extreme coolness, we're going to have to postpone those announcements by a month, starting the sequence in the middle of November. We'll probably also postpone the start date of the next runnings of the PP and SS as well. Keep you eye on this space for the scoop on that.

Second, the TWEET-A-LOGLINE update:

We promised prizes, and prizes there will be...but the prizes will be late for the same reason as the results of the other contests. Yes, the same very cool reason...

Which is that yours truly is off to China in just a few hours to spend several weeks researching a film I'm producing in China for Manner Movie, Ltd., the generous folks who supply the 1st place awards for the PP and the SS.

Don't worry. Cloud Creek Ranch has been heavily fortified and will be properly looked after and taken care of. And so will I, even though we will be spending most of our time along the China Sea, traditional home of exotic and not-so-exotic pirates. (Anyone remember "Terry & the Pirates?" or the Dragon Lady? (MAD called her "the Dragging Lady" way back when.)

A thousand apologies for the inconvenience of the delay. But the whole point of coming to TVWriter.Com is to help y'all get that foot in the showbiz door y'all need, right? And one of the reasons for picking this site is that I'm one of the few pros out there busting my hump to help newcomers, so I hope you'll appreciate the sacrifice I'm making by taking on this gig in order to keep current.

(Okay, so it's not exactly a sacrifice. But you know what I mean.)

So that's it for now. Contest stuff is on hold till November, but then, I promise you, we'll rock!

LYMI,

LB

September 5, 2009

18th PEOPLE'S PILOT IS CLOSED TO ENTRIES

Whew! Pant! Pant! At last!

In other words, our little sprint to the finish line of the most recent PEOPLE'S PILOT feels like a marathon due to the fact that we extended the deadline by a month. Now that entries are closed, though, we can breathe more easily...and look at what we have in hand.

As of this writing, the PEOPLE'S PILOT has received 66 entries, more than two dozen fewer than last time around. Why? Damned if we know, but we're disappointed, gotta admit it. Still, for a contest with almost no advertising except on TVWriter.Com, (because it's primarily intended for TVW.C's loyal visitors, students, and posters), this isn't bad, not at all. Of the 66 entries, over 90% have come in via the web. We're waiting for the last snailmail entries, but already are thinking seriously of accepting web uploads only next time around. (What do you think, gang? Great idea or pure suck?)

Our plan is to start judging by the middle of this month and announce Semi-Finalists in the middle of October, then Finalists as soon afterward as is practical, and then the Winners in time to open for the next running of the contest November 1. (So stop writing and asking when the announcements are going to be made. You now know as much as we do. Probably more, when you consider what life and age are doing to TeamTVWriter, memory-wise.)

TVWriter.Com, Cloud Creek Communications, Inc. and the PEOPLE'S PILOT thank everyone who entered. So far, just skimming through, the work looks...well, impressive. Impressive indeed. Judging's going to be a blast!

August 3, 2009

FORMER PEOPLE'S PILOT WINNER'S TESTIMONIAL

Today was a day when, in spite of the usual travails, it was wonderful to wake up in the morning. Mostly thanks to this e-mail we received from 17th PEOPLE'S PILOT winner Christiana Miller:

Thought you might be interested in this...

Because I won both your competitions, simultaneously...
Word started getting around...
And a showrunner I had recently run into at a party,
emailed me, to see if I was still unrepped.

Because I won both your competitions...
He emailed his rep. Repeatedly. And met with her...
So she read my scripts...
And I kept sending her updates...

Because I won your competitions...
It inspired a showrunner to take up my cause...
And his huge mega-corp management company,
[name withheld], called me in to meet with them.
And now his manager is repping both my scripts
and my novels.

And all of a sudden, I'm playing on an entirely different
playing field. I've gone from sand lot (writing for myself)
to majors (writing to be a player in the industry).

So who says that entering competitions is a waste of time? ;-)

One step leads to another and another and another. Keep your
fingers crossed that I can maximize this opportunity and turn
it into a career!

xoxo,
Tana

Heartfelt congratulations, Tana! You've earned this!

May 14, 2009

SCRIPTPIMP.COM HAS RETURNED TO THE FOLD

Starting with the 18th PEOPLE'S PILOT, ScriptPimp.Com will once again be awarding 1 year membership in the ScriptPimp.Com Writers Database to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Place Winners. Welcome back, Pimpsters - and thanks!

November 1, 2008

THE BIG CHANGE HAS OCCURRED

How big? Well, we've altered our founding concept - because of the overwhelming number of requests from YOU, the entrants to the PP.

In the past, the PP has been a contest for series concepts. Write up a proposal. Enter it. Period. But over the years we've been inundated with e-mails from writers wanting to enter their fully written spec pilot scripts...somewhere.

A few years back, in order to accomodate these requests, our sister contest, the SPEC SCRIPTACULAR chose to accept pilot scripts in its original MOW category. At first, this worked smoothly, but in the past couple of years a few flies have gotten stuck in the ointment.

For one thing, people have been sending fewer and fewer series proposals and more and more pilot scripts to the PEOPLE'S PILOT. We've turned over all of the scripts to the SS, where they've been judged as part of that particular contest, but the result has been a significant reduction of entries here in the PP.

For another thing, it's been seeming more and more unfair to have spec pilots compete against spec screenplays. Not unfair to the pilots, believe it or not, but to the screenplays. Because for some reason the quality of the pilots has been head and shoulders above that of recently entered screenplays. With the screenplays seemingly relegated to also-rans, the number of them entered has fallen dramatically. We're hoping that with pilots no longer in the mix, more writers will have the confidence to enter their top screenplays and that category will bloom again.

One more reason for turning the PEOPLE'S PILOT into a pilot script contest: That's the name! PEOPLE'S PILOT. Not "People's Series Concept," or whatever. Although our intentions were honorable, we haven't been living up to our name. The time to change that is now.

So that's the story. If you've written a spec pilot script for a sitcom, drama, action show, kid's show, reality series, game show, variety show (yes, they use scripts!), we want to reward you for it. And if you've also got a terrific series proposal, hey, feel free to send that along as well because proposals will be considered if/when the judges find themselves in tie-breaking situations and in need of some guidance regarding where they should go.

We repeat: The PEOPLE'S PILOT, TVWriter.Com's flagship writing competition, is now open. Our warmest welcome to all those who enter here.

September 6, 2004

PEOPLE'S PILOT ENTRY TIPS

As the 9th PEOPLE'S PILOT gets underway, changing conditions in the Industry mean that the ways of getting a new series on the air - and winning a contest designed to recognize you for your ability to create a popular series - have changed as well. The PEOPLE'S PILOT and TVWriter.Com offer the following tips:

Make sure that your series proposal is as well-written, clear, and concise as it can possibly be. Keep it short and remember that the logline is the single most important aspect of your pitch. If your opening sentence and paragraph don't hook the buyer or the agent or the judges, odds are that what follows isn't going to make a big enough impression to counteract this.

Make sure your series is as specific as possible. One of the most common complaints from buyers, agents and judges is that the material they receive is too generic. No matter how interesting a concept is, if it's "just like" several series already on the air it is not going to sell or get you representation or win. As a new creator you need to invidualize your work, to emphasize its uniqueness.

For a drama or sitcom the most important elements will always be the lead characters. Make sure they are unique and interesting individuals with personalities that leap off the page.

In your proposal, be sure and tell the reader exactly what types of problems and situations your characters will encounter and what the format for presenting these situations will be every week.

Think "cutting edge." With over 500 niche cable stations, your series stands the best chance of succeeding if it zeroes in on a specific niche that is currently not being served - or not being served properly - by existing programming. Reality series, lifestyle series, game shows, etc. need to cater to the interests of a specific audience, but when you sit down to write assume that audience has "seen it all" and think of ways to spin your concept so that it is more than just a dry rehash.

Yes, we here at the PEOPLE'S PILOT know that much of the original series programming we see on television doesn't seem original at all. That there are many rehashes and copycats. But for you to be "discovered" you have to rise above that. When television programmers want the old and tried and true they go to those who have given them that kind of material before. To make a splash, you need to be unique and original in outlook and execution. Think of your series idea as "thriller" fiction, conceived and written so that the reader has to turn every page. In the long run being fresh and exciting is always the best policy because it makes the buyers and agents and judges take notice, and that notice is what can make your career.

The rewards for a successful series are large, and they go to those who work the hardest. We know you can do it. Your work as it stands has already shown that. Explore every aspect of your idea. Find the most creative and original way of presenting it. Now dig in and - write!

April 6, 2004

PEOPLE'S PILOT WINNER TELLS WHAT WINNING HAS MEANT

KEVIN SIELKY, winner of the 7th PEOPLE'S PILOT has this to say about what's been happening in his life since:

"Just want to drop you a note regarding my call to Cosgrove/Muerer regarding "Psych Ward Chronicles." After your email reply, I did call them and spoke with Diane initially, who put me through to Linda Berman's office, but she was not in.

"After bouncing back to Diane, I told her about my contest placing and that I would like the opportunity to drop off the show presentation and pilot teleplay for their consideration when I am in L.A. next week. She mentioned they don't usually consider outside submissions but because they have worked with you before, she said to call her when I arrive in L.A. next week and she welcomed me to drop my material off with them.

"I didn't push for a meeting or anything, not sure if I should have, but she was much more positive than I expected. She congratulated me a few times on my placing, and closed by asking for my contact info of where I will be staying in L.A., so I left it at that. I am sure it was a pretty standard reply by the "gatekeeper" there, but I took it as an open door for me to work my way in.

"I want to say thanks for your encouraging reply, because it is obvious that when I mentioned the contest placing and that it was your contest, the door opened up (particularly when she heard your name). BTW...I only mentioned your name as "Larry Brody's People's Pilot contest." To be honest, that was all it took. ;)"

Thanks, Kevin. Good luck and keep us posted on your progress.

May 8, 2003

PEOPLE'S PILOT FINALIST SELLS SERIES

Mark Teitelman, whose series concept, SHARK ATTACK, was a finalist in the 5th PEOPLE'S PILOT, has sold a sports reality series, GOT GAME, to Spike TV (formerly TNN) and has been signed as Co-Executive Producer. Last month Mark won a Sports Emmy for writing and directing the Outstanding Open/Tease. Congratulations on these rewards for all your hard work, Mark! (And Larry Brody wants to let you know that SHARK ATTACK was pretty darn good too!)

November 8, 2002

PEOPLE'S PILOT TIPS

The success of the new WB schedule proves it: High Concept works. Come up with a series idea so simple that it can be described in one pithy, well-chosen sentence that makes anyone who hears it say, "Damn! I wish I'd thought of that!" and you'll have a winner- in this contest and with the networks. Ditto if you can create a "brand," that is, if your idea is so compelling that spinoffs into other arenas - such as toys - seem inevitable. A successful series combines art with commerce - seamlessly.

December 14, 2000

JUDGING CRITERIA

Many people have inquired about the criteria being used for this competition. In the biz itself, development execs are always trying to second-guess the programmers at the various networks and cable channels, and this often leads to a watering down of quality and the look of sameness that so many of us object to.

We at the People's Pilot are professionals primarily interested in selling the winning series. However, we refuse to lower our personal standards in order to do so. That would defeat the whole point of the competition, which is to present the grass roots ideas that the biz so desperately needs if it is to survive amid all the new entertainment competition.

Therefore, in addition to asking "Can we sell this?" we have another criterion--our own taste. What do we like? What do we want to see? What can we believe in enough to go through the arduous development and placement process with the necessary enthusiasm to see it through to the end?

For the People's Pilot, talent, originality, and uniqueness definitely count!