NYWIFT Blog

6 Tips for Hooking a Reader in the First Pages of Your Pilot

The first pages of your pilot need to be solid — as in, a representation of your very best work — and they need to establish us in the world succinctly. Last year, NYWIFT Member and WWFC Co-Founder Katrina Medoff read hundreds of pilot scripts submitted for Women’s Weekend Film Challenge’s inaugural pilot accelerator, and she saw some general themes emerge for how to make the opening of your pilot stand out. Read on for her six tips, and learn how to apply to the next WWFC pilot accelerator.

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5 Exercises for Strengthening Your Pilot Script’s Cold Open

The first scenes of your pilot need to capture the reader’s attention, because you never know how far a busy Hollywood exec (or their assistant) will read before losing interest. You need to introduce your characters and story, show off your writing skills, and give the reader something they haven’t seen before — it’s a lot of pressure! Women’s Weekend Film Challenge Co-Founder NYWIFT Member Katrina Medoff offers some exercises to make those crucial first pages shine.

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Terry’s Picks: NYC Women, Easy Promises, Decent Odds

NYC Women: The new website women.nyc was designed by a team of women, for women, to help them navigate parenthood, afford living in NYC and ask for a raise.  Easy Promises: Dr. Martha Lauzen discusses why while promises of inclusion for women at film festivals is easy, actual change is hard. Decent Odds: A breakthrough...

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Terry’s Picks: Pilot Season, Tribeca 2018, Diversity Wins

Pilot Season: Women are directing 24 of the 75 broadcast TV pilots this year, which amounts to 32 percent. This is a huge improvement – last year, only 6 out of 70 were directed by women. Tribeca 2018: We have so many NYWIFT members with films headed to Tribeca this year – be sure to...

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Terry’s Picks: NYC Pilots, Good News, Overlooked Women

NYC Pilots: Business is booming in New York, with 11 hour-long pilots shooting here this year. This ties with the previous record year, 2012. Good News: Although Ava Duvernay’s A Wrinkle in Time wasn’t able to beat Black Panther at the box office, the films still made history, as both the #1 and #2 spots...

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