I'm writing a TV series, and I would like help figuring out the plot for the 1st few episodes. Backstory: Due to an overpopulation crisis, resources were strained, and there wasn't enough land to provide enough resources for the human population. As a result, slowly, but surely, the humans started dying out. Eventually, humanity was extinct. With no humans to maintain the structures, they all started falling apart. This also included the nuclear stations, providing mass crises more serious than Chernobyl. Millions of animals started dying out, but a few managed to survive against all odds. However, it wasn't all lovely, far from it. The massive resource strain leading to mass land clearing, as well as mass fires and nuclear disasters, meant that the world had become a wasteland with very little life left. But the animals that were left decided to extract each other's DNA before they died, so someday, if there was a new intelligent lifeform, they could be revived. And a serval cat was the one to create that new lifeform. He wanted to create a lifeform that didn't have to eat, drink or breathe to survive, because the new world was slowly killing all the biological lifeforms, including the serval. Although he went through a lot of trial and error, he eventually created his masterpiece; a lifeform that didn't have to eat, drink or breathe to survive (although it could so choose if it wanted to), yet still had emotions, senses, free will, and ambitions. This new lifeform was a sentient smartphone, named Andy Mecatel. With the success of Andy, he went on to create others, each with their perfect imperfections. Main plot: Andy Mecatel and his friends have one goal in mind - to restore Earth’s ecosystems. However, their goals are thwarted when the last mammal alive - King Etienne-Teigh “Nosy”, a serval cat, dies from radiation-induced cancer. It is at this point that Princess Chiara Martinelli, a veterinary technician, and heir to King Nosy’s throne, takes over as Queen and reveals her true colors as a misandrist, and kills all males in the area sans Andy himself. Realizing that Chiara is now a threat to him and his friend’s lives, his friends, Jaidyn, Erin, Aaliyah, and Solange, make a plan to leave the area taking Teresa, Nosy’s car, with them.
I don't want to sound rude, but isn't that your job to figure out? It's your TV series, not ours, and you can't write a plot by committee. Like your other question about characters, this the biggest part of your task. We can help you with refining the ideas you already have, but if all you have is an outline of an idea, you shouldn't really be asking for others to come up with your plot for you. I notice you didn't respond in your other thread to all the feedback you got there.
If you want help with this you're going to need to explain a few very strange things. Like this for instance: If the animals aren't intelligent, how do they 'decide to extract each others' DNA'? It sounds like they'd need to already have human-level intelligence in order to do that. You might also want to tell us what a serval cat is, and how a cell phone is being recharged in a world with supposedly no electricity.
The first few episodes need to introduce the setting, characters, and overall conflict. I still remember the first, hour-long special episode of Thundercats. Ah. Nostalgia.
Believe me, when the backstory involves the mass extinction of almost all life on earth, including humans, you don't need to tell me it wasn't all lovely.
It would also help to know what kind of story this is. It doesn't make much sense as realistic fiction, but if it's something like a fable or a cartoon with talking animals, where the animals represent different kinds of people or different human attributes, then it could work. Is it a children's story maybe? There are still problems, like how could a cell phone function without the network of satellites and towers, which need to be maintained and run by people (or something anyway)? It also doesn't make much sense that a cell phone can eat and drink and breathe if it wants to. If I'd jam food into my phone or get it too wet it would definitely stop working!! Unless this is some kind of super-advanced phone that's actually more like an android. We need some context here.
"I... can't... go on. Pray... the robot-pilot... can take it... from here..." (Jaga dies) Did you ever notice Lion-O grows up wearing the same pair of very tight shorts?
Maybe he's like Seth Brundle from The Fly, who learned from Einstein to have seven sets of identical clothes in his closet so he doesn't have to waste valuable brain-power on such trivial things? Or maybe he's more like The Hulk?
I think the plot will depend in large part on what sort of story you're writing. A comedy? A musical? Thriller? Rom-com? Action adventure? Something that mixes different genres? Any of them would fit with what you've written so far. Decide on your tone, then come up with a plot that emphasises that.
Oh man, please, if there's a God, let this be a Rom-Com. I would totally binge a Rom-Com with this backstory.
They're cats. They have fur. The only clothes they should be wearing are adorable christmas sweaters that make them frown like the grinch.
Thx for the feedback! Some pointers to insert: 1. After humanity went extinct, a bunch of radioactive energies escaped, some animals died, while others gained superintelligence but it comes with a lot of side effects, mainly cancer. 2. The phone is hyperintelligent, and chooses not to eat/drink (he doesn't like it). He's meant to be like MePhone4, only more intelligent, noble and more caring for those around him. 3. They use solar energy, and some generators are still functioning. The humans died very recently.
You should watch some Life After People. Those generators are going to stop running a lot sooner than you expect. Also check this out, from The Straight Dope: https://www.straightdope.com/21343298/when-the-zombies-take-over-how-long-till-the-electricity-fails
But...by who? And when do the animals suddenly grow opposable thumbs? I guess if you're going full-on fantasy it works.
It's my understanding that when you're trying to write a tv series it's only really the pilot you need to focus on. I have a friend who has sold a few tv pilots. And with that first episode, I was told, you want to open up as many possible storylines as you can. Good luck.
Okay. So what? Are you asking us to write your TV series for you? That ain't going to happen. You'll find you'll get much better feedback if you ask specific questions.
I *THINK* that was a response to this: Hard to tell though, It's all very mysterious, since she didn't quote what she was responding to or indicate it in any way.
You need to focus more on motivations and less on events. Even in something like The Walking Dead Rick had a goal and events were usually driven by the actions of the characters. You will probably need some kind of setting-in or flashback scenes or your viewer won't have a clue what's going on and why they are there.