Script-of-the-Week: Spin City “Pilot”

by Gary David Goldberg and Bill Lawrence (62 pages)

Awards: None that I could find.

Points of Interest:

• Pacing: Funny from the start.  Exchange with the ever cheerful Karen in the First Act made me laugh.  Act One ends with good momentum but not a cliff hanger.  Act Two ends with settling all conflict.

• Screen Visibility: Nice touch with the Mayor referenced as having “Patrician good looks”.  A couple of scenes go into greater descriptive detail like Michael’s Lower West Side apartment and the Laura Ashley style room.

• Formatting: Single-spaced capitalized action.  Double spaced dialogue.

• Dialogue: Characters engage in “small talk” but no actual dialogue is included -- likely inaudible.  There is a scene where the mayor says “You’ve got to be shitting me” in response to a question about attending a Gay Pride parade. I don’t believe that kind of language has been used before in a prime time comedy.

• Action: Script moves through different locations in the office, creating a lot of movement.  Most action is quite minimal.

• Act Structure: Cold Open. Act One, Scene A, B, C, D, E, (No F), Scene G, H, (No I).  Act Two, Scene J, K, L, M, (No N or O), Scene P, (No Q or R), Scene S, T. TAG.  Two acts with a cold open and final Tag.