Written by Ali Laventhol
One of the many things to get really clear on when pitching a series or movie is your project’s tone. This will help the execs envision your story. The more they can do that, the better chance you have of making a sale.
It’s also extremely important to know your tone when you sit down to write so that you keep it consistent across the entirety of your script. A story that veers into different tones has the potential to feel disjointed, clunky and amateur.
what exactly is tone?
Tone is the feeling, atmosphere or mood you want to convey to the audience when they watch your series or movie. It can also refer to the type of comedy or humor in your project – maybe it’s satirical? Dark? Raunchy? Light-hearted? Quirky? Family-friendly?
Tone affects every single choice you make, from character to plot to pacing to scene work, dialogue, music and color palettes. It’s also connected to your themes in that if you’re exploring darker themes like jealousy, mental illness or revenge, your tone will likely be more grim while themes that are more aspirational will warrant a lighter tone.
To understand tone better, let’s look at some examples. Below we take a shot at describing the  tone of several crime shows — notice how tone can vary wildly within a genre:
MARE OF EASTTOWN: Grounded, unpolished, raw small-town crime drama a la GONE BABY GONE.
HIGH POTENTIAL: Sunny, aspirational, popcorn broadcast detective dramedy a la CASTLE.
BAD SISTERS: Black-hearted, wicked, lively revenge fantasy with idiosyncrasies. FARGO meets DEATH AT A FUNERAL.
SEARCH PARTY: Eccentric satirical dramedy with a hipster-millennial flair.
ERIC: Gritty, dark, bleak 80s crime drama with a hint of magical realism.
MONSTERS: THE LYLE AND ERIK MENENDEZ STORY:Â Flashy, stylized, propulsive and occasionally campy 80s true crime drama.
“x meets y”
It’s a good idea to practice describing the tone of existing films or shows because when you sit down to write your pitch, you’ll have to do the same thing. To make sure you really land your tonal vision, feel free to use comps – which can be extremely helpful. X meets Y is a great way to describe it when tone is tricky to describe in words.
a visual deck
Another element you can add to your pitch to help convey tone is a deck with visuals that allow the buyers to see your tone on screen. Find images that represent the feel you want your movie or series to have. Are your characters airbrushed with perfect cheekbones and not a hair out of place? Find those images and use them. Or, maybe your characters are creepy or imperfect and look like they walked out of real life or crawled out from under a log. Same goes for locations, settings, backgrounds. Spend the time to curate a deck that will show your tone so that the words you use back up exactly what the execs are seeing.
Be specific, be intentional and have fun creating a tone that is unique and supportive of the story you want to tell!
Finding your script’s tone gets easier with feedback and input from a working writer. Sign up for your next Script Anatomy class and take your work to the next level.Â
Ali Laventhol has been Tawnya‘s writing partner for over a decade, most recently as the Co-Executive Producer for My Life With The Walter Boys (Netflix), and Bel-Air (Peacock), as well as several Lifetime movies. She is a long time Script Anatomy instructor.
