Step 2: The TV Step Outline

Topic · 1 minute

If you learned your lesson in the first half of this course, you will have some pretty rock solid notes on the Yellowstone pilot storyline by now 😉

Writing a synopsis is never an easy task, but summarising a TV pilot is like handling that stallion in the first act!

Remember, you don’t have to complete the synopsis in step with the instructions over the next few days. Take your time, as you can upload it until two weeks after the course.

The approach is going to be similar to the feature film step outline. We want to end up with a list of bullet points.

The fastest way to achieve this, is to use your notes and the script below to briefly describe the one main story point of each scene.

Once you’ve completed this, read over the list and see if you find a natural connection between the scenes.

Don’t worry if this doesn’t apply to every single scene. Serial stories often skip because of a change of POV.

This is fine, as long as the story thread is continued at a later point in the episode or season.

Sometimes, a storyline is planted but not picked up again until a later episode.

Keep all this in mind while you make the best of it.

Remember that this is not the synopsis yet. You don’t have to write flowery sentences with perfect grammar.