Do you want to create a new TV series but need help finding compelling worlds to set your series in? Sometimes reading simple genre story prompts is the easiest way to get those creative juices flowing.
Here are 101 TV series world prompts—worlds that have yet to be explored in episodic form or those that haven’t been explored enough.
101 Prompts to Build You TV Series’s World
- Collegiate baseball teams.
- Collegiate softball teams.
- Collegiate marching bands.
- High school drama clubs.
- 1980s-era High school A/V clubs.
- Club DJs.
- Wedding party DJs.
- The U.S. Coast Guard.
- Midwestern farms.
- Archeology dig sights.
- A marine biology research aquarium.
- The life of firefighters in between calls.
- The life of undercover cops.
- The life of undercover federal agents.
- The life of employees working in a movie studio.
- The life of employees working on a television series.
- The life of Hollywood agents.
- The life of rock stars in the 1980s.
- The life of rock stars in the 1960s and 1970s.
- The life of Wall Street brokers.
- A toy collector’s store.
- The life of employees at dying brook and mortar retail stores.
- Fast food restaurants.
- New York pizza joint.
- A popular Chinese restaurant.
- Youth soccer league.
- Youth football league.
- Youth baseball league.
- The life of loggers.
- The life of Disney park employees.
- The life of Hollywood tour guides.
- Ski resorts.
- The life of zookeepers.
- The life of wedding planners.
- The life of park rangers.
- New York caterers.
- Funeral homes.
- The life of a Christian pastor.
- Hair salons.
- A video game design company.
- Fashion designers.
- The life of a family of florists.
- The life of a family of bakers.
- Fancy hotels.
- Highway motels.
- Advertising companies through the eyes of assistants.
- The space program circa the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s through the eyes of everyone but the astronauts.
- Air traffic controllers.
- Airline pilots.
- The antique collector’s world.
- The life of employees working in a mall circa the 1980s.
- Broadway productions.
- Crime scene photographers.
- Crime scene DNA specialists.
- Competitive deep sea divers.
- Event planners.
- Military drone pilots.
- Small-town news stations.
- The life of employees working in a gym.
- The life of a private chef.
- The life of a private pilot for rich people.
- Beach resorts.
- The life of employees working at a high-end spa.
- The lives of a team of surgeons.
- Plastic surgery doctors.
- The life of a travel writer.
- Voice-over artists.
- Bike couriers.
- The life of Uber/Lyft drivers.
- The life of food service delivery people.
- The life of pizza delivery people.
- The traveling circus.
- The traveling circus circa the 19th century.
- Personal shoppers.
- Force-On-Force military teams that test military security.
- Ethical hackers that hack companies to tell them where their weaknesses are.
- A veterinary clinic.
- The life of garbage collectors.
- The world of truck drivers.
- Video stores of the 1980s and 1990s.
- Music stores of the 1980s and 1990s.
- NSA agents.
- Pinkerton agents from the 1800s.
- 1880s Pony Express.
- The set of a 1980s sitcom.
- World War I battlefields.
- Life on the International Space Station.
- Life on a futuristic space station.
- Life on the first colony of Mars.
- Studio 54 circa the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.
- A Tower Records store circa the 1980s and 1990s.
- A children’s hospital.
- Mountain Rescue unit.
- Harlem Globetrotters World Tour circa its heyday.
- Movie studio security guards.
- Security guard company.
- The life of employees working at a 1980s-era Toys ‘R Us.
- Car dealership.
- Life of explorers exploring the Mississippi.
- Life of explorers exploring the Amazon River.
- Life on a cruise ship.
Read More: What is a Story Engine and How Can it Help Your TV Pilot
‘Breaking Bad’
Why Worldbuilding Is Essential for You TV Series
We get our ideas from many sources:
- News headlines, novels, television shows, movies, our lives, our fears, our phobias, etc.
- Scenes or moments in a film or series that weren’t fully explored
- Single visuals that entice the creative mind—a seed that continues to grow and grow until the writer is forced to finally put it to paper or screen
When it comes to creating a TV series, there’s one element that sells networks and streaming platforms the most—an intriguing world to explore.
Worlds offer immediate visual and subject matter context. And that’s why it’s so crucial for series writers to find engaging worlds to place their characters in.
Executives can be easily sold on the world alone. It is no different than executives being sold on a logline for feature films.
The Mafia (The Sopranos), meth-dealing (Breaking Bad), a totalitarian society where women are property (The Handmaid’s Tale), a zombie apocalypse (The Walking Dead), 60s-era advertising (Mad Men), office life (The Office), rich people on vacation at a high-end luxury resort (The White Lotus), a look into the lives of teens amidst the world of drugs, sex, trauma and social media ( Euphoria)—these are the worlds that are brilliantly matched with compelling characters.
WANT MORE IDEAS? TAKE A LOOK AT OUR OTHER STORY PROMPTS!
Check out our Preparation Notes so you start your story off on the right track!
Ken Miyamoto has worked in the film industry for nearly two decades, most notably as a studio liaison for Sony Studios and then as a script reader and story analyst for Sony Pictures.
He has many studio meetings under his belt as a produced screenwriter, meeting with the likes of Sony, Dreamworks, Universal, Disney, and Warner Brothers, as well as many production and management companies. He has had a previous development deal with Lionsgate, as well as multiple writing assignments, including the produced miniseries Blackout, starring Anne Heche, Sean Patrick Flanery, Billy Zane, James Brolin, Haylie Duff, Brian Bloom, Eric La Salle, and Bruce Boxleitner, the feature thriller Hunter’s Creed, and many produced Lifetime thrillers. Follow Ken on Twitter @KenMovies and Instagram @KenMovies76.
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Author: Ken Miyamoto
