| Acknowledgments | p. ix |
| Introduction | p. xi |
| Elephant Bucks | p. xi |
| How Did I Get Elephant Bucks? | p. xi |
| How Do You Get Elephant Bucks? | p. xii |
| It Worked for Me! | p. xii |
| Something You've Always Dreamed of Doing | p. xiii |
| Breaking In | p. xiii |
| Staying Successful | p. xiv |
| How Do I Know That You'll Be Successful? | p. xiv |
| What You Need Right Now! | p. xvi |
| My Step-by-Step Guide to Writing a Solid Spec Script | p. 1 |
| Those Amazing Spec Scripts! | p. 3 |
| What's a Spec Script, Anyway? | p. 4 |
| The Shortest Route to Your Lucky Break! | p. 4 |
| The Joy of Knowing What You're Doing! | p. 6 |
| One-Trick Pony | p. 7 |
| "What Else Have You Got?" | p. 7 |
| Ready to Roll | p. 8 |
| Calling Cards That Keep on Calling! | p. 9 |
| A Portfolio of Solid Spec Scripts | p. 10 |
| Picking the Right Series to Spec | p. 13 |
| The Show That You Know and Love! | p. 13 |
| "Hear It in Your Head" | p. 15 |
| Beyond Seinfeld | p. 17 |
| Scripts That Producers Want to Read | p. 19 |
| Too Soon to "Hear It in Your Head" | p. 20 |
| Planet MegaMall | p. 21 |
| The Web | p. 22 |
| Picking the Right Story | p. 25 |
| Story Is Everything | p. 26 |
| The Right Story Is in Front of You | p. 26 |
| Write to the Premise | p. 27 |
| Write the Main Character | p. 29 |
| Write the Formula | p. 32 |
| The Paints Are Already in the Tray | p. 35 |
| Don't Reinvent | p. 36 |
| Don't Break New Ground | p. 37 |
| No New Characters | p. 37 |
| Use the Regular Sets | p. 37 |
| Test the Premise | p. 38 |
| Write It Real | p. 40 |
| See How Easy That Was? | p. 42 |
| Structuring Your Story | p. 47 |
| Seven Plot Elements | p. 47 |
| Using the Seven Plot Elements to Develop Your Story | p. 48 |
| Two-Act Framework | p. 56 |
| Six-Scene Template | p. 58 |
| How We Did It on Coach | p. 62 |
| Going to Work on Your Story | p. 65 |
| Turning Plot Elements into Scenes | p. 66 |
| Familiar Sets | p. 68 |
| "B" Story | p. 69 |
| Multiple Story Lines | p. 73 |
| Runners | p. 74 |
| Trust Your Instincts | p. 75 |
| Outlining Your Story | p. 81 |
| Why Bother with an Outline? | p. 81 |
| The Whiteboard | p. 83 |
| How I Write an Outline | p. 86 |
| Writing Scenes | p. 109 |
| Move the Story Forward | p. 110 |
| Much of the Work Is Already Done | p. 111 |
| A Different Way of Writing Scenes | p. 111 |
| Write It as a Drama First | p. 113 |
| Roughing Out a Scene as Drama First | p. 114 |
| Now for the Jokes | p. 126 |
| Making the Humor Easier to Find | p. 139 |
| Page Count | p. 139 |
| Getting Off to a Great Start as a Professional Sitcom Writer | p. 145 |
| Your Finished Masterpiece Now What? | p. 147 |
| Now What? | p. 147 |
| "Who Cares What You Think?" | p. 148 |
| Someone Who Is Actually Going to Read It | p. 149 |
| "I Really Liked It Except for the Part Where..." | p. 150 |
| "There Is Truth in Even the Dumbest Note" | p. 151 |
| Three or Four People | p. 152 |
| "What Else Have You Got?" | p. 153 |
| May I Have the Address of That Show Biz Contact, Please? | p. 155 |
| Your Friend in Show Business | p. 156 |
| The Sitcom Universe | p. 158 |
| Where to Go in the Sitcom Universe | p. 160 |
| Fish Off the Company Pier | p. 161 |
| Farmer's Market | p. 161 |
| Your First Pitch Meeting | p. 165 |
| Your Lucky Break Has Arrived | p. 165 |
| They're Doing You the Favor! | p. 167 |
| Preparing for the Meeting | p. 167 |
| Six Stories, Six Notions | p. 168 |
| How to Pitch a Story Idea | p. 169 |
| You Don't Need Perfect Pitch! | p. 171 |
| Pitch Meeting Supplies | p. 172 |
| Keep It in Perspective | p. 173 |
| Your First Assignment | p. 177 |
| The Story Meeting | p. 177 |
| Getting Home | p. 183 |
| Day Two | p. 186 |
| Day Three and Beyond | p. 186 |
| Notes on Your Outline | p. 187 |
| The Bad Story | p. 188 |
| Your First Draft | p. 188 |
| The Second Draft | p. 189 |
| Cut Off | p. 191 |
| They Rewrote Me!! | p. 192 |
| Go Ahead and Have the Party! | p. 193 |
| Getting That Second Assignment | p. 194 |
| Working on Staff | p. 199 |
| The Sitcom Writing Staff | p. 200 |
| The Production Season | p. 202 |
| The Production Week | p. 202 |
| Single Camera Series | p. 215 |
| Your Primary Job as a Staff Writer | p. 216 |
| The Other Writers | p. 217 |
| Actors | p. 218 |
| The Producer's Chair | p. 219 |
| Creating Your Own Series | p. 222 |
| Your Personal Life | p. 222 |
| Agents & Executives | p. 227 |
| Agents | p. 227 |
| Picking an Agent | p. 228 |
| A Business Relationship | p. 229 |
| Never the Biggest Fish | p. 231 |
| Grow at Your Own Pace | p. 232 |
| Not a Parent | p. 232 |
| Again, Trust Your Instincts | p. 233 |
| Chinatown | p. 234 |
| Executives | p. 234 |
| Be Nice | p. 236 |
| Everything Can Be Fixed | p. 237 |
| The Kernel of Truth | p. 238 |
| "We Have a Huge Problem in Act Two" | p. 238 |
| "We Have Just One Tiny Little Note" | p. 239 |
| Why Make Enemies When You Don't Have To? | p. 241 |
| Learn from the Best | p. 245 |
| Where to Look | p. 246 |
| Websites | p. 246 |
| Speaking of Museums | p. 247 |
| What to Watch | p. 247 |
| The Current Hits | p. 259 |
| Conclusions | p. 261 |
| I Wish All of This for You | p. 263 |
| About the Author | p. 266 |
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