Writers have entire worlds in their heads, filled with characters, locations, stories, and consequences. It’s a lot to keep track of when creating a story or series, which is why series bibles exist.
What is a Series Bible?
There are two forms for a Series Bible:
The TV Series Pitch Bible
This is what it says it is. It’s a document put together to pitch a television series. The document, which can vary in length from one to three pages to more than 20, contains all the details about the story, characters, world, and at least one season’s worth of episode summaries. It includes the information needed to pitch your idea. That means location details, characters, story ideas, world building—everything required to both sell the idea and give an idea of budget. It goes beyond the treatment in detail and scope, but includes the details of a treatment. Ideally, this document should stay somewhere between five and 15 pages, if possible.
Think of the TV Series Pitch Bible as an in-depth outline of hours of television that are not yet written. The Pitch Bible does what a screenplay does for a film. It gives a solid look at what the show is about, samples of the writing, characters, tone, location and theme.
The reason you write a TV Series Pitch Bible is to show off your idea and prove that you have the vision and skills to pull off a television series over multiple seasons.
This type of series bible serves a specific purpose.
A Series Bible
A series bible is broader in nature. It takes the pitch bible and keeps going. It is more comprehensive and grows as the series continues. Think of it as a reservoir for a story’s canon to help maintain continuity. It is a writer’s best tool to maintain details across a series. It contains all the information for a series, whether on television or in novels.
Many writers maintain a Series Bible to track details. It helps make sure you don’t change the spelling of someone’s name or their eye color or favorite flavor of ice cream. It keeps track of story, character, setting, and every other detail in that world. In short, it is a living document that acts as a database of details.
Note of Caution:
Both of these documents go by many names in the industry. You can call them whatever you like, as long as everyone knows what you are really talking about. Many people refer to the bible simply as “The Book.” Others call it an expanded pitch, pitch bible, or even treatment (which is not accurate in the strictest sense). If someone asks you to submit something, clarify what they are asking for so you don’t send the wrong thing.
If you are using a Series Bible to keep track of details for your own writing, then call it whatever you like. The important part is that you consistently track the details that your readers will notice if changed. Keeping a Series Bible saves you time paging through manuscripts to find mention of one tiny detail. Keep your bible up-to-date and you will never have to waste time looking for that information.
But let’s focus on the Television Series Pitch Bible because it contains all the same type of information as a writer’s bible would. We will address the novel-writer’s bible in detail in the third part of this series because it will build on the information provided in these first two blogs.
Why Do You Need a Pitch Bible?
Most studios expect a Pitch Bible during a pitch. A script alone is not enough to prove there is enough material to carry a story through an entire season and beyond. Even if a producer doesn’t mention bringing a Pitch Bible, it’s a good idea to include one. It’s tough to sell an entire season off one pilot script. Even if you convince the people in the room, they have nothing to take with them to sell the higher ups in the studio.
Pitch sessions happen quickly. There isn’t time to read multiple scripts or even a single script during a pitch. The Pitch Bible lets you condense your vision for the series into a smaller document that can be absorbed and shared.
It’s best to take both a Pitch Bible and a script for the first episode. You can write them in any order—the script and then the bible or vice versa.
It often helps to visualize the entire show by creating the bible first, but do what works for you. If you can see that first episode in your head and write it quickly, do that. Then use that first episode as a launching pad to figure out the rest of season one and beyond. You can always edit the script for the first episode if needed after creating the bible.
The next blog will explore how to write a Pitch Bible and layout the type of information needed.