The Fundamentals

 

Central Battle Powering the Series Forward:

Individual compass vs. what’s good for the group.

Series External Conflict:

Sorority president Savannah must meet the constantly pressing demands of keeping her sorority at the forefront of the time-honored Greek system – even as it splinters under the pressure of modern changes.

Series Internal Conflict:

The burden on Savannah (and her sisters) to keep alive a legacy/tradition that was hoisted on her shoulders – the expectation/demand on Savannah’s shoulders to live up to her mother’s expectations – the struggle to balance what’s right for self versus what’s right for the established pack.

World of the Story:

AKB was originally founded by women who wanted to stake their claim in the world, who wanted to empower themselves in a world where women were never afforded much power. AKB sisters became werewolves to be the elite of the elite – to position themselves at the top of the social food chain, to land the most powerful husband, to create the most enviable life imaginable. AKB started as a world of discipline, decorum and utmost adherence to the established rules.

But times have changed, and the world is a different place for young women than it used to be. The women’s liberation has taken place, gender double standards have been exposed and overall expectations have changed. The AKB sisters of today aren’t content to just wear their tennis sweaters and diligently do well at school until they finally marry off. They want to have it all – they want to party, they want to have sex, they want to use their power for whatever they want whenever they want. The AKB sister embodies a transitional young woman that exists today – expected to fulfill yesterday’s legacy of what it means to be a woman (marry well, be a lady) in a world that has increasing room for individual expression.

AKB sisters take their sorority very seriously. They know they need to fit Mom’s idea of who they are but they latently resent Mom’s idea of who they are. They party hard. They strain against the rules. They throw tantrums. They have eating disorders. They get reckless. They can be ladies in the classroom and troublemakers in the bedroom.

Heightened Conflict Kicking the Series Into Motion:  

It has fallen on Savannah to rally together a sorority that is straining under the pressure of its own outdated values. What was once a discreet power is now getting reckless. It’s drawing attention to AKB. It’s angering the foremothers. And it’s on Savannah’s shoulders to hold this old-world sorority together in a new modern world.

Central Metaphor:

“Sorority Werewolves” is a show about the creation and destruction of legacy. The heroines are deliciously bitchy, impressively powerful, engagingly resourceful – and they hold a surprising pathos in the way that their lives have been determined for them by their mothers. AKB represents a changing guard – it’s a group of young women told they have to live up to an old standard while the rest of the world changes around them. We hate them for their bitchy, external perfection – but on some level we relate to and understand the pressures on their shoulders.

Pilot – Foundational Work

Before you embark on this revamped pilot, it’s important to get a clear foundation for the world of your story. In particular, you need to know whom you’re writing about. You obviously have three main sorority sisters in Savannah, Misty and Bones. You should spend some time getting really clear on this trifecta. Each one of them should have an individual voice.

Exercise: Come up with a solid character spine for each one of these young women – what is her major? Who are the men in her life? What does she do on campus? What are some of her specific goals? What is her specific role like within the sorority? Is Savannah equally close with both of Misty and Bones or is there unhealthy triangulation in place? Write a 1-page stream-of-consciousness monologue from each one’s point-of-view.

There is no need to overwork it – the goal is that you just want to have a sense of clarity/specificity when you jump back into this world.

And then I would pick three secondary sorority sisters to develop. This secondary set will not occupy the same upper rung on the hierarchy as your primary trio, but they will help fill out the sorority world (one of them may be a version of Cindy). Again, you want to have a strong enough sense of these women that you can write from a place of clarity. A lot of the joy of this show will be derived from the strong, distinct personalities of its members. Just like with the Buffy gang, each sister should have a unique voice that seamlessly blends into the voice of the whole.

Then, I would also focus on the show’s antagonists. Who will Savannah routinely be coming up against in the show? The Omega rival is an obvious first answer. Spend some time picking the kind of antagonists that would excite you and then get clear on these people and the lives they lead in this universe. Again, you don’t want to overwork it, but delve in just enough to have a sense of specificity and clarity.

Pilot - Homework

Watch the pilot episode of “The Sopranos,” and pay attention to how David Chase creates a scenario where Tony struggles to keep hold of the crumbling mafia world, how he creates a universe that is torn between “old world” code and “new world” demands.

 

Then pick at least two other pilots to watch, pilots that are more in your show’s tonal vein. Gossip Girl, Dexter, Pretty Little Liars, Veronica Mars – let your intuition and creative excitement guide you. Again, pay attention to the structure of each show.
    

Paying conscious attention to structure of these pilots will go a long way toward helping you internalize a more TV-ready structure for your own pilot.

Pilot - Structure

We need an A-plot (major), a B-plot (secondary) and a C-plot (very minor) for the episode. Each plot will reflect some facet of the heroines’ need to hold their antiquated sorority together in this new modern world.

A Plot: Savannah needs some kind of pressing goal that is important to the future of the sorority and also to her overbearing mother. As discussed, it could be some sort of Big Deal sorority event (like “Greek Week”) where the sorority elders will be coming into town. If you wanted to up the stakes even more, Savannah’s mother might need to make a good impression on the alpha sorority elder for her own purposes (i.e. Beverly wants to impress her so that she can curry some favorale social position for herself) – meaning that Savannah is really carrying the burden of doing a job well done.

 

 

So, the underlying dialogue of your pilot will go like this:

“Savannah, it is of the utmost importance that AKB wins Greek Week – you need to prove that you are capable of running this tight ship.”
“There is a new rival in town – it’s not as easy to fix this thing as it used to be – I am going to have to dig deeper than ever to win Greek Week!”

Something to consider: how does Savannah use her wolf powers to try to guarantee her win? Again, part of the fun of the show will be seeing these prissy girls use their werewolf skills.

The key here is to see how far Savannah will go to win Greek Week!

For the purposes of our work, you should be prepared with the following:

1) Savannah’s goal for the episode
2) At least two spikes of heightened conflict that make her situation very precarious
3) A climax/resolution to the action

B Plot: It would make sense if your B-plot explicitly addressed how the girls’ werewolf powers are getting the better of them. This would be an example of how one of our trashy, bitchy sorority sisters has broken the rules – and now the girls have to cover for it. Maybe something has happened that has incited a school investigation and Savannah needs to squash it.

Or, if you wanted to use this plot to establish necessary expositional information, you could have it be a feud between two sisters about who should be the designated “kill” for that month; Savannah makes her choice, and the rejected sister goes out and makes her kill anyway! It’s a conspicuous kill that raises red flags to campus security/local police. 

The idea here is that we see how the modern sorority sister is making life harder for Savannah.

And, by the way, this B-plot might impact the A-plot – the sorority sister’s fuck-up might add to the complications getting in the way of Greek Week. Or Savannah’s Omega rival might capitalize on whatever is happening behind the scenes of AKB to her advantage.

C Plot: You might go outside the world of the sorority for this – maybe someone like Jed or Will (these two characters might be combined into one, they seem like they serve a similar purpose) comes very close to catching onto the sorority’s werewolf secret. If he were suspicious of the unsanctioned kill from the B-plot, he might start to piece together something supernatural afoot with AKB. Will/Jed could maybe be a part of the climax – he is at the Greek Week final ceremony to try to prove his theory once and for all, adding yet another complication to Savannah’s attempts at winning – and Savannah somehow manages to throw him off course at the last minute.

Or, if you were to entertain some kind of secret “off the book” romance for Savannah, maybe your C-plot is the beginning of that romance. If Jed/Will were on the trail of the B-plot kill, maybe it brings him in contact with Savannah, and maybe we get a scene or two of their simmering flirtation.

Pilot - Summary

So, you want to return with the following:

 

Basically, the world is your oyster at this point. So, above all, have fun with it!

Your show has a lot of sources of fun:

 

Always return to the intuitive, creative notion of what you want to see on-screen! What will be fun to write? And to watch? As long as you hang it on your central conflict of sorority werewolves trying to maintain an old tradition in a modern world, it should all hang together meaningfully!