As we discussed in Part 1 of this podcast, when TV producers ask for a Series Bible with your TV pilot script, they usually request it in a pretty strange form. And a lot of writers get confused about what producers are actually looking for when they ask for a Bible and what's supposed to go in it.
Most Bibles include a series logline, character bios for all the main characters, episode summaries the first season, and often summaries of the future seasons as well. But the truth is, if that's all you deliver, your Bible's not going to take you very far.
Because producers are never really asking for a bunch of boring information about your TV series. What they're really asking is proof that you know what you're doing, and that your series pilot not only has a fabulous premise and collection of castable characters we'd want to spend our time binge watching, but also has the kind of ENGINE required to run for at least 5 years.?
They don't want you to tell them it's going to run for 5 years. They want you to show them. By putting together your loglines, characters, and episodes into a short sweet document that they can't say no to!
So what should that document contain? And how exactly do you write it?