Arguably even more than film, television relies on writers. Quite simply, without talented screenwriters, the vast expanse of TV we’re familiar with today wouldn’t exist. TV scripts are the backbone of the industry, and a great twenty-five pages can launch countless hours of beloved people, places and plots. By poring through TV script examples, you can learn the formatting, technique, and craft required to write the next great series.

Script for TV Show Example

Half Hour TV Script Examples

In general, scripts for television can be divided into two types: the half-hour and hour formats. These two lengths usually also indicate the genre of the show—comedy for half-hour and drama for hour—though there are plenty of exceptions.

We’ll start by looking at the half-hour form. In many of these examples, you’ll see that act breaks are explicitly delineated. Traditionally, this indicates both shifts in story as well as where a commercial break will be located. With streaming and cable, this isn’t always the case.

You’ll also see a similar length for these scripts, around 25-35 pages, depending on how dialogue-heavy the episode is.

Arrested Development

One of the greatest half-hour comedies of all time, Arrested Development has it all: iconic performances, sharp direction, and unbelievably funny writing.

We imported the pilot script into StudioBinder’s screenwriting software:

TV script examples

The Arrested Development pilot, written by series creator Mitchell Hurwitz, illustrates just how efficient a pilot script for a half-hour show has to be. You don’t have a lot of space, and you need to establish all your characters and the general idea of the show in a manner that makes viewers want to come back for more and more.

Hurwitz does this in spades. The narrator makes introductions rapid and clear, compounded with chyrons. Dialogue is snappy and crammed with any joke that fits.

Remember, this is a show that revolves around real estate legal violations. Yet somehow, by the end of 34 pages, we’re on board.

30 Rock

Tina Fey’s beloved series loosely based on her time at Saturday Night Live is far more than insider-baseball. 30 Rock might hold the record of most jokes-per-minute, as Fey and her writers jammed so many one liners into their episodes they need to be watched several times to be fully appreciated.

Take a look at the pilot script below:

30 Rock pilot script • Script for TV show example

You’ll notice that this pilot went through a few more revisions before the show was shot– Liz Lemon is called Lisa, and the opening scene was cut.

Part of what makes the pilot for 30 Rock special, besides being very funny, is its late reveal of one of its key stars. Whereas Arrested Development introduces us to most of its main players in its opening scene, Fey waits to reveal Tracy Jordan, a crucial member of the show.

Veep

There are few satires as biting, or prescient, as Veep. The show moves at a break-neck speed, filled to the brim with delightfully repellant characters hurling cascades of finely-crafted insults at one another.

The pilot sets the tone, a nearly perfect introductory script for a TV show like Veep:

Veep TV script example

Veep was housed by HBO, and you can see a few ways in which cable affects Simon Blackwell and Armando Iannucci’s script (beyond the plethora of swears).

Blackwell and Iannucci eschew act breaks, instead formatting the script more similarly to a film. This may be because the lack of ads on HBO means they don’t have to worry about clear delineations, but it also could be to emphasize that this show won’t have a sitcom feel.

Additionally, the script is 45 pages long, a length more typical of hour-long shows. Because there is no advertising that will add to a show’s runtime however, Blackwell and Iannucci have a bit of extra room. But this length is also indicative of delivery– the show is wall-to-wall rapid fire dialogue.

The Good Place

Mike Schur is a huge name in the modern sitcom world, having worked on massive shows like Parks and Recreation, The Office, and Brooklyn 99. The Good Place is perhaps his biggest swing, with a more complex plot and setting.

His pilot for the show emphasizes that a sitcom doesn’t need to be relegated to tried and true storylines; it can be experimental and inventive.

The Good Place script • TV Script examples

Like Arrested Development, The Good Place thrives on efficiency. The first exchange gets right to situating the audience in an alien world– Eleanor essentially just asks, “Who, what, where” and we’re off and running.

TV Script Examples

Hour Long TV Script Examples

As we mentioned earlier, hour-long TV series are often dramas, though this generalization is becoming more obsolete by the day. Many hour-long shows have it all– comedy, drama, action, and more. The sky is the limit.

Well, actually around 65 pages is the limit, if we’re discussing length for scripts. Hour-long shows vary a bit more in page number than their half-hour counterparts, usually anywhere between 45 and 65 pages.

The Sopranos

Why not start with what is widely considered the greatest show of all time? HBO’s iconic mafia series is a perfect example of an hour-long show which has it all. The Sopranos was truly genre-bending, hilarious in one moment, horrifying in another.

Take a look at the script which started it all below, written by series creator David Chase:

Sopranos pilot script example • TV script examples

It’s an iconic opening. Tony, one of television's most memorable and complex characters, is introduced with a fitting contradiction: he’s a mobster in therapy. This points to the core of what makes Tony fascinating, a sensitive man who is also a ruthless mafia kingpin.

Then Tony proceeds to give a monologue that encapsulates the central interest of The Sopranos. He begins to talk about the decline of an empire– Melfi thinks he’s talking about America, Tony is talking about the mafia. The allegorical connection between Tony’s mobster life and the twilight of the American Century is created.

This is all in the first two pages. That’s why The Sopranos has never been topped. (You’ll notice that they thankfully changed his name. He’s not a Tommy).

Mad Men

Matthew Weiner went from writing for The Sopranos to creating another one of the all-time great series, Mad Men. More subdued and buttoned-up than many other golden-age-era shows, Mad Men’s beauty can be found in the small subtleties of its writing.

Take a look at Weiner’s pilot script below:

Mad Men script • TV script examples

Mad Men is ostensibly about the lifestyles of ad men in the 1960s, but this opening shows that it’s about much more. In the first page we’re already being exposed to the blatant racism of the time. Why? Because under the glamorous lives of these ad men was a vicious system of oppression (sexism, too, plays a crucial role in the show).

This grim reality informs all of its characters. There is a nefarious emptiness in their privileged status, and it eats at all of them in different, fascinating ways.

The Wire

You’ve probably noticed at this point that some of the best shows have a lot on their mind. Perhaps for no series is this more true than The Wire, a sprawling crime drama complex enough to be taught in sociology classes.

David Simon, the series creator, was a journalist in Baltimore, and the gritty details of the series show the depth of his knowledge. Take a look at the pilot script below.

TV script examples

First, it should be noted that the show, which is hailed for its incisive look at politics, social issues, and interpersonal relations, begins with a joke. It’s not all going to be grim and dreary– that’s not how life works.

Second, notice how race plays a huge factor in the opening action lines. Simon is preparing the viewer for a show that realistically examines the police, and that means race will play a large role.

Script for TV Show Example

Genre TV Script Examples

Of course, all of television can’t simply be put into the boxes of drama or comedy. There are tons of great fantasy, scifi, and horror shows that deserve their time to shine. Let’s take a look at a few of the best.

Twin Peaks

Sure, Twin Peaks is technically a crime drama. But anyone who’s seen it knows that description doesn’t do the show justice at all. David Lynch’s small-screen masterpiece is a satirical melodrama, chilling thriller, and scifi mystery all wrapped into one (and season three defies genre altogether).

Take a look at the script which started the multi-decade journey below:

Twin Peaks script • Example of a TV script

It should come as no surprise that Mark Frost and David Lynch’s pilot script is very unique. Whereas we’ve been discussing the economy of TV scripts, Lynch and Frost take their sweet time, describing the setting at great length.

There’s a few reasons for this: first, the Twin Peaks pilot is an hour and a half long, taking up two hours with conventional advertising. Then there’s the matter of brand recognition. Everyone knows who David Lynch is, and that power allowed him to write a script which resembles more of a film than a movie.

The cinematic nature of the script, and the episode, would prove to be a watershed moment, a prelude to the golden era of television a decade before it began.

Game of Thrones

Another watershed moment for TV– if The Sopranos represented the beginning of a New Hollywood-esque renaissance for television, then Game of Thrones was the medium’s Star Wars, beckoning television into its high-budget blockbuster era.

But this doesn’t mean GoT is all spectacle. Its writing is character driven and layered. Check out the pilot script:

Game of Thrones script • TV show script example

Arguably, what makes Game of Thrones unique as a series is not its dazzling visuals, but rather its expansive world and scope. Sure, this starts with the source material, but the pilot here emphasizes this scope with its opening.

We aren’t introduced to any of the core cast of characters, nor are we even introduced to the central storyline of the season. Instead, we see the work of the White Walkers. The aim of this opening is to point toward the conflict that will be a shadow over the entirety of the series.

The Haunting of Hill House

For our money, Mike Flanagan’s The Haunting of Hill House is one of the scariest shows of all time. But beyond that, it’s also a powerful story about familial history and the scars that both bond and divide.

Take a look at the script below:

TV Script Examples

The script opens with a great, spooky description of Hill House, both from Flanagan in the action and Shirley Jackson’s unforgettable prose in Steven’s dialogue (the show is based on the classic horror novel of the same name). 

This opening, while indicating the unnerving tone of the show, is something of a mislead. By including Jackson’s writing verbatim, Flanagan lends a viewer to believe that the series will be a very faithful adaptation.

But that assumption is quickly subverted– some of Jackson’s original work is still there, but for the most part the story is unrecognizable from its source material. 

Scripts for television may have more strict parameters than they do for film but, as these writers show us, parameters don’t have to hinder creativity. After reading all these works, you’re just about ready to write your own. All you need is a pen and paper (or a screenwriting software).

Up Next

TV Script Formatting Explained

We’ve shown you some of the best TV show scripts out there. Now, it’s time for you to nail down the specifics of TV script formatting. Fear not: it’s not as dry as it sounds. Check out our explainer on all things script formatting for television.

Up Next: TV Script Formatting →
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