The Five Day Build: This is the third post in a week-long series about how to use AI in a progressive, multi-dimensional way to build more creative projects and outcomes. This week, I'm using AI to progressively build out a pilot concept for a sitcom based on a faux-real version of my life. You can read day one and day two posts here.
Welcome to Day 3 of the Five Day Build.
Today, I set out to bring together all of the research I conceptualized yesterday with the original draft outline of a script into one fully formed script for a faux-sitcom about my very real life.
Drawing from the deep research of yesterday and the fully fleshed out characters, I turned back to AI to quickly generate a script that leans into some of the key conventions of a real sitcom (aka: A, B, and C plot themes, a structured set of a story arc, and deeper character building).
Like yesterday, I time-boxed all of my work today to 60 minutes. Here's what happened.
The Process
Time Spent: 60 minutes
Artifacts Created:
Full draft of a pilot episode for my sitcom script, "Bad Ideas Only"
Tools Used
Claude (to write the script)
Replit (for the script-reader)
Despite my best intentions, I didn't have time to fully read through the 26-page deep research article about sitcom best practice that Gemini built for me yesterday. So I started today by asking Claude to read it for me, and take the outline we built yesterday and start to figure out how long to make each segment of the pilot.
I asked it to do these two things:
Asked Claude to read the report and tell me how many words we needed for a full-length episode
Updated the outline to include more characters in the pilot episode
From there, I learned we needed these main acts of a sitcom (plus a cold open and a "tag" or "button" at the end:
Components of a Sitcom Script
(via Claude)
COLD OPEN (~750-1,000 words)
Brief, humorous scene before title sequence
Sets up episode's tone/conflict or standalone comedic moment
Hooks audience immediately
ACT ONE (~1,500-2,000 words)
Setup: Introduces main conflict, characters, world
Establishes A-plot and hints at B/C plots
Ends on a complication or turning point
ACT TWO (~1,500-2,000 words)
Confrontation: Characters attempt to solve problems
Escalates complications, makes situations worse
Contains the comedic "high-jinks"
Multiple plot threads develop simultaneously
ACT THREE (~1,000-1,500 words)
Resolution: Main plotlines resolve
Characters return to modified status quo
Emotional/comedic payoffs
END TAG (~200-400 words)
Optional short scene after climax
Final joke or brief aftermath
Can be "Next Time On..." preview
TOTAL WORD COUNT: ~5,000-7,000 words (Equivalent to 22-30 pages in proper screenplay format)
Plot Structure:
A-Plot: Main storyline (most screen time)
B-Plot: Secondary storyline (supports/echoes A-plot)
C-Plot: Minor thread/"runner" (comic relief, world-building)
The goal is weaving these plots so they echo each other thematically and intersect naturally throughout the episode.
I built each piece modularly with Claude. First had it remind me what we were writing and run the outline by me, then I course-corrected to suggest that we include new characters or tweak main themes.
When we finished one section, I pulled it in a Google doc and asked it to start the next. Finally at the end, I saved the whole updated script as a PDF and added it to my Claude project for later.
In the last 10 minutes, I realized that none of you would want to read a full script on my blog, so I copied and pasted the whole thing into Replit and asked it to quickly mock up a script-reader module that you all could view.
The Result: One Full-Length Pilot Episode Script and a Live Script Reader Web App
I was pretty proud of my last-minute call to convert my Google doc script into an interactive dashboard, since it instantly leveled up the reading experience and maturity of my end product.
You can check it out here (and read the whole script, if you want.)
Here's a screenshot of what it looks like. On the left, you can click to read a particular section, or just follow along one page at a time.
The Readout
Today was a much "grindier" day of building. The section-by-section writing and editing process felt frantic and slow, compared to yesterday's multi-threaded "3 AI's working for me at once." While I'd been hoping to add some more visual and brand elements to my characters and show overall today, I ended up needing to be fairly human-involved in the writing and editing process.
But the cherry on top was instantly converting my text-only doc into some modular and interactive, which made it all feel worthwhile.
What the AI Did Well:
Writing and Editing - Claude stuck to the script - literally - which was really helpful, as I was quickly able to expand a 700-word proof of concept into a fully formed pilot episode in under an hour. I appreciated that it retained the context of what we were building and was there to remind me about key thematic elements in sitcoms.
The Instant Script-Reader Mockup - I was really short on time but incredibly impressed by how quickly Replit was able to spin up an instant script-reader for me with very low context. All I did was ask for it to be a page-by-page reading module for a sitcom script "in the style of most script." That's all the context the AI needed to parse the look and feel of the script in real time. Pretty incredible.
What the AI Could Have Done Better
Character Backstories - Despite all of our work yesterday in coming up with fun character cards and profiles, I had to continually remind Claude to bring in more people to the story. Even so, it continually defaulted to making the protagonist, Nicole, the center of every other character's life (which is clearly not how real humans interact). I'd still like to work on teasing out more interesting characters that can stand alone, but the AI needs a little human coaching to make that work.
Unique Quippy Humor - I'm not going to lie, parts of this script do make me laugh out loud, but not in a way where I ever think, "Oh, that's so clever." It also fails to do the thing I love in my favorite sitcoms, which is creative and well-timed callbacks through an episode. That's a place where I'd want a real comedic expert to take a closer look.
Overall, I'm excited by what I've been able to build in just 2.5 hours over three days. Tune in tomorrow to see where I take it from here... What do you think I should do next?
Day 3 of the 5-Day AI Build This is the third post in a week-long series about how to use AI in a progressive, multi-dimensional way to build more creative projects and outcomes. On Day 1, I wrote a sitcom pilot outline with ChatGPT. On Day 2, I conducted deep research on sitcoms with Gemini and built out fully fleshed character cards with Claude. On Day 3, I wrote a full episode-length script and deployed it on a live script-reader that I built with Replit See how it turned out here. What should I do tomorrow??? https://hardmodefirst.xyz/the-5-day-build-day-3-writing-the-script
This is really cool, I find writing scripts in proper format is so time-consuming. I haven't thought about using Ai to speed-line the process. Good article
It’s been pretty fast and loose but also a very cool process!!