Editor’s note: Deadline’s It Starts on the Page (Drama) features 10 standout drama series scripts in 2025 Emmy contention.
When Noah Wyle reunited with ER producers John Wells and R. Scott Gemmill to make HBO Max’s The Pitt, the plan was to offer a realistic portrayal of healthcare today through the lens of harried pros working in a fictitious Pittsburgh hospital.
What they didn’t expect was how their 15-episode drama would singlehandedly reinvigorate a genre that has grown predictable and downright exhausting with overused tropes (ride on a gurney, anyone?) and kooky, case-of-the-week tales.
In this telling, the trio of ER alums have crafted an engrossing saga that chronicles a typical 15-hour day in a trauma hospital. Beginning with the premiere episode “7 a.m.,” penned by Gemmill and directed by Wells, The Pitt introduces us to Wyle’s Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch, who – on the anniversary of his mentor’s death — ushers in a fresh batch of interns to Pittsburgh Medical’s overloaded ER. From the very first moment a patient is admitted, the action never leaves that trauma center.
Below, Gemmill shares the 81-page writer’s draft of the premiere, “warts and all.” In his intro to the script, he talks about the challenges of doing a show set in real time for the first time and reveals the elaborate setup he used to keep track of the action during the writing process that involved a floor plan of the ER, Post-It notes and plastic markers.
Here is Gemmill’s foreword, followed by his writer’s draft for “7 a.m.” originally titled “Hour 1,” which marks the first hour of Robby’s extraordinary, 15-hour shift:
R. Scott Gemmill
Michael Buckner for Deadline
This one was a challenge. I’d never done a show set in real time before, so it was quite a task tracking every patient and healthcare worker—fortunately, I have a great team who act like air traffic controllers throughout the season. This is the Writer’s Draft, warts and all—which came in at a bloated 81 pages. I think it was closer to 76 by the time we went to camera. I wasn’t too worried about the length because I knew it was going to move fast.
Before I started writing we had the set designed by the brilliant Nina Ruscio. It would have been impossible otherwise. You need to know your set inside and out on a show like this. The Emergency Department is a hectic place with a kinetic energy that never really stops. To immerse the audience in that experience we decided to tell the stories in as close to real time as possible. I wrote with a table-sized floor plan in front of me with Post-it notes for the patients in each room and plastic markers for doctors and nurses. It was like playing a game of Risk as you follow everyone through the first hour of the shift.
I’ve developed a terrible writing style in the last few years which I’m not sure is a result of laziness or an attempt to keep myself engaged, but I don’t do outlines ahead of time. Sometimes, I’ll figure a few beats I expect to hit in an act, but usually I just write. I’ll do a beat sheet after the fact, based on what I’ve written—so I can see what I’ve done at a glance for rewriting. Writing this way reduces any preconceived notions as to where the various stories are going. I may have an idea of where they’ll end up, but I try not to push in any one direction and just follow the characters and stories as they naturally unfold. I think it makes for very honest storytelling, because I can only go where the characters would naturally go next. I figure if I can surprise myself, the audience will be in for a fun ride as well.
R. Scott Gemmill
