Notes: 8 Points to think about when starting your pilot. Logline World Premise Theme Hook Genre unresolvable dilemma misuse of super power 1. logline: The Heroes goals and the obstacles in his way. When a high school chemistry teacher gets cancer, he starts making meth to build a savings account for his family to live on when he's gone. 2. World: Albequerque New Mexico. 3. Premise: A meek mannered guy starts selling drugs. 4. Theme: The simple truth or question you want to get people to talk about. Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts. Walt is a weak guy given power and we see that does to him. 5. Hook: How far will Walter break bad each episode? 6. Genre: Thriller 7. Question \\ un-resolvable conflict-Dilemma: The question that can never be satisfactorily answered. Walter wants to save his family from debt, but in doing so, he destroys his family. (This is also hand and hand with his core wound, being powerless. When he unravels and takes more power, he destroys his family more. GOT example: Can there be good leaders if the traits that make you a leader are the same traits that will corrupt you when you have the throne. 8. Misuse of Super power: Walt is the best mind for chemistry in the world, but he's a high school teacher. He uses his super power to cook meth. (Bonus: Having a core wound. Walt's core wound is he is powerless and has been his whole life.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Story Structure: 4 Story Acts in a one hour drama. A, B, C, D. 7 beats per act. 28 beats in a one hour drama. A Story: 14 -16 boxes B Story: 6-8 boxes C Story: 3-4 D Story: 2-3 --------------------------------------------- Br Ba Cold Open: A story: Driving through desert, suburban dad, but wearing little clothes with a gas mask, and bodies in the back of an RV. Good news bad news. He crashes the vehicle. B Story: Speaks to the camera to his family, crying. You need to empathize with the hero in the first 5 minutes by showing their core wound/putting them in a terrible place. Back to A story. The sound of Sirens. Pulls out gun and points it at the road. Cliffhanger. Unresolved. End of cold open. Overall Story Acts: A-Will Walter White become the king pin of drug dealers? B-Will Walt take care of his family? C-Is Walt going to die? D-Will Jesse and Walt team up? (Bonus: E Story-Will Walt and Jesse beat Crazy 8 and Emilio? This leads us back to the cold open.) Antihero: Someone who becomes evil for sympathetic reasons. The best way to sympathize with an antihero is to surround them with people worse than them. Ticking clocks, raising stakes, and good news bad news is one key to great storytelling that you should try to apply in every page of your writing.

This guy is an incredibly great teacher. I’m hanging on to his every word

Wow, who is this guy? He is super awesome at drawing you in to the story. He should act for a living. Many thanks for this incredible video!

My absolute favorite video from this channel so far. Inspiring me to change my feature script idea into a pilot just to practice with the form!

This guy was and still is an absolute legend. His videos have always helped me so much

Peter Russell is a brilliant teacher and I could listen to him talking about storytelling for hours.

This is amazing. It was just what I needed. Thank you, Peter!

I've just made a giant breakthrough with what I've been missing from my plot while watching this video! (I was missing a massive character flaw for one of my main characters who is too good and boring, which will now be that the reason he is so energetic all the time is that he's a heavy user of stimulating drugs.) What a great teacher! :)

I commented on youtube channel twice in my life, it's 2nd time. Awesome content, I've grown when watching this

The quote from Marcus Aurelius fits Peter's excellent advice regarding goals and obstacles: "The mind adapts and converts to its own purposes the obstacle to our acting. The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way."

well done! very helpful explanations!

You’re an amazing teacher, keep up the great work man!

rewatching - this is so freaking helpful thank you

Keep the good work ! thanks a lot professor ^^

Brilliant, excellent work Peter! Huge fan of your work!!! Also the way you teach is captivating!

I would love to see a script analysis for LOST

Thank you very much for this amazing content. Peter it's just a wonderful teacher.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge. I think a lot of writers know about the core wound, and the unresolvable dilemma on an unconscious level, but it helps to be conscious of it and to put it down on paper. THANK YOU!

this show is amazing. giving me all kind of inspiration for my creation. wrote down 3 pages full of inspiration note.

Peter is so insightful

He is so good

I just started and I'm a bit eeriee about Walter White not changing... He reveals the basis of what's to come, yes, but he changes a lot. He lets a young girl die. Poisons a little kid. Murders an honest to god nice guy. He cares more for Jesse than he does for his son

can we have peter russell's analysis of RECTIFY ? :D Another great show that deserve an analysis !

It wasn't blue. That doesn't happen until later.

Thank you!!!!

wow this video is great, very complex and interesting

Thank you UKposts for being my film school.

Respect Peter...

Thanks 🙏🏾

Fantastic lecture, a few times the whispering was hard to understand for me but great in general.

Holly shit this channel is awesome...

super. Thanks for sharing

Super Awesome!!!

This guy is awesome.

where can I find the beat sheet for a "one hour drama pilot"?? thanks

27:02 It's Capn' COOK, but this was a great video XD

i just honestly want to know is this secretly Owen Wilson. also thank you for great content!!!

He lowers his voice when he underlines something as he is telling some secret.

Oranges in a bag? Never heard about that show.

This was too good… couldn’t even finish it and had to rewatch breaking bad…

please, where can I read about this "little boxes" and "28 beats"?

PICK A VOLUME!!!! Jeeezus. Trying to listen to this while I'm showering and the continual whispering at the exact point I most want to hear does my fu**cking nut in and forces me to stop, rewind and ... AAh! See what you did there. Nice. Great lecture.

I want your books!!!!!!!

What’s the C storyline question?

Great

I am awake

The build-up of the story is one thing, but one important element for the success in Breaking Bad isn't mentioned. The unexpected use of humoristic events by Vince Gilligan in very serious situations. Most quotes are from those events. (“Yeah Mr. White! Yeah science!”)

I played basketball at the university of story.

I have the pilot, its screenplay, and this youtube vid. With A/B plot transitions, you usually expect a scene transition with. Often with a POV shift to a new character. John Sturges had an interview where he called that plot line back and forth, 'meanwhile, back at the ranch.' But here you see references to plot line shifts in scene. And you can clearly see it in the screenplay too. So, you don't need to transition to a new scene just to transition plot lines, you can just reference it. This also means you can do, 'meanwhile, back at the ranch', multiple plot threads with a single POV. By changing the POV character's focus. It just has to be consistent plot threads. EDIT: So what's happening? It's not a location switch. Or a character switch. It's a goal switch. If the character POV switches, that's an implied goal switch. But if following a single POV, the character must make clear he/she has multiple goals according to context. And better yet, they should in some way be contradictory or seemingly mutually exclusive. Perhaps where a point of recognition in the final climax allows them to be resolved. ???

This guy actually reminds me of Saul Goodman.

Where can I get one!? Lol

I played basketball for the university of story.

I'm also a proud vegitarian.

For some reason this reminds me of Grizzly Man

Hey! The 2 Bisexual Skunks was my idea! Lol

Show takes place over 2 years, not 7

Breaking down the analysis of bad script

The protagonist should completely change from the start the end of the "pilot"? Im not dogging here I'm honestly asking, shouldn't our protagonist be introduced in the pilot, and then go on an arc to be something else by the end? One if my (many) problems with this show's writing is how fast the plot ramps up from zero to a thousand almost immediately.

but how long can stories be original if you use a recipe a formula for them?

This guy has no writing credits - 35 "Peter Russell" listings on IMDb, and none is a writer. Not even the "About" page of his website lists any credits, other than vague claims that he's a "script doctor" and that he "sold two television pilots in 2017" I once knew an unemployed television producer who started a career counseling business for producers. True story. 2 cups Conflict, a pinch of Unresolvable Dilemma, bake at 350 for 20 minutes. You can't deconstruct a successful series and make the recipe -- that's not how writing works: the only show you can make with the recipe for Breaking Bad is Breaking Bad, or a pathetic ripoff. In the first place, the scripts are only Part of Breaking Bad. The directing is another part. The Performances are another part. But the main ingredient of this show's success is ... Bryan Cranston. So, what I'm saying is, if someone claims to have the answers, he doesn't. (Ahem, Donald Trump)

It’s veggie bacon

If you’re going to whisper so much use an audio compressor.

“A girl that’s an el beeno “? 🤨

WHat exactly do you have against bisexuals?

Why the whisper? Seriously...

Don't think the meth was blue in the pilot

This is crazy: I tried watching the pilot episode, and I quit after the cold open. It was just so... _WOO WOO! LOOK AT ME! I'M ZANY! I'M WILD!_ It just felt tired and played out before the opening credits rolled. Ironically, the script was a page turner. I'm reading scripts the way Vetinari reads sheet music. I read the script for _Joker,_ and now I don't want to see it because I can't bear the thought of seeing it mangled. Weird.

keep adjusting my volume cos this guy whispers every 3 sentences lol

Whispering is fine, absolutely, pull us in if you want. But whispering then yelling then whispering then yelling then whispering then yelling...is a bit nauseating.

Why don’t “script doctors” ever write successful scripts?

I'd be better off reading this. It takes a long time I don't always hear him and I tune out

Stop whispering man

oh my if i can't hear the words alpha male and loser again. haven't heared them since preschool. are there realy still people out there with a worldview made out of preschool biologylessons?

I don't know why you are whispering/shouting for an impact...this is no actor's reading session...i have to lower the volume/increase it every 2 minutes...very irritating....this is no film shooting that it will be edited later and voulme will be leveled for audience...please speak normally...you are ruining your own video...cannot continue listening....

Great analysis of the story structure & plots. I wish he'd keep his voice at a steady volume and not drop it regularly to make a point. It's irritating that one had to strain one's ear to listen to him whispering. This is a lecture, not a stage performance. I bet that this video would have gotten many more likes had he not done that.

His OTT 'enthusiasm' made it unwatchable for me.

I'm sure he's got good content. But he's a pretentious annoying story teller. Loud, whisper whisper, loud. Look at me in building intrigue!

This is so horrible to watch because of how this dude goes from screaming to whispering... ugh.

This guy is sort of annoying. Decent content, but just an annoying affectation from the guy narrating.

Notes: 8 Points to think about when starting your pilot. Logline World Premise Theme Hook Genre unresolvable dilemma misuse of super power 1. logline: The Heroes goals and the obstacles in his way. When a high school chemistry teacher gets cancer, he starts making meth to build a savings account for his family to live on when he's gone. 2. World: Albequerque New Mexico. 3. Premise: A meek mannered guy starts selling drugs. 4. Theme: The simple truth or question you want to get people to talk about. Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts. Walt is a weak guy given power and we see that does to him. 5. Hook: How far will Walter break bad each episode? 6. Genre: Thriller 7. Question \\ un-resolvable conflict-Dilemma: The question that can never be satisfactorily answered. Walter wants to save his family from debt, but in doing so, he destroys his family. (This is also hand and hand with his core wound, being powerless. When he unravels and takes more power, he destroys his family more. GOT example: Can there be good leaders if the traits that make you a leader are the same traits that will corrupt you when you have the throne. 8. Misuse of Super power: Walt is the best mind for chemistry in the world, but he's a high school teacher. He uses his super power to cook meth. (Bonus: Having a core wound. Walt's core wound is he is powerless and has been his whole life.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Story Structure: 4 Story Acts in a one hour drama. A, B, C, D. 7 beats per act. 28 beats in a one hour drama. A Story: 14 -16 boxes B Story: 6-8 boxes C Story: 3-4 D Story: 2-3 --------------------------------------------- Br Ba Cold Open: A story: Driving through desert, suburban dad, but wearing little clothes with a gas mask, and bodies in the back of an RV. Good news bad news. He crashes the vehicle. B Story: Speaks to the camera to his family, crying. You need to empathize with the hero in the first 5 minutes by showing their core wound/putting them in a terrible place. Back to A story. The sound of Sirens. Pulls out gun and points it at the road. Cliffhanger. Unresolved. End of cold open. Overall Story Acts: A-Will Walter White become the king pin of drug dealers? B-Will Walt take care of his family? C-Is Walt going to die? D-Will Jesse and Walt team up? (Bonus: E Story-Will Walt and Jesse beat Crazy 8 and Emilio? This leads us back to the cold open.) Antihero: Someone who becomes evil for sympathetic reasons. The best way to sympathize with an antihero is to surround them with people worse than them. Ticking clocks, raising stakes, and good news bad news is one key to great storytelling that you should try to apply in every page of your writing.