Series Bibles, Writer’s Guides & Treatments
The blueprint documents that explain how stories sustain seasons.
Bibles and writer’s guides are the blueprint documents behind long-form storytelling. So, they don’t just describe a show, they explain how it works. Particularly the rules, the tone, the characters, and the “engine” that keeps episodes coming without the series losing its identity.
Similarly, this section of our library isn’t just one format. In fact, it’s a working shelf of series bibles, writers’ guides, and treatments. They range from single-season documents to multi-season collections. Some are polished studio materials. While others include rougher, earlier-stage artifacts that still teach craft in a very honest way.
For example, the original Star Trek (TOS) bible is the epitome of what these documents can be: detailed, practical, and oddly comforting. It’s the kind of reference that settles debates by simply showing the math.
This classic Gene Roddenberry TOS guide will surely inspire you to push forward and pick a blueprint that fits what you’re studying. Chiefly, character systems, world rules, season architecture, or the core promise a series makes to its audience.
Next, we'll explain how these series “playbooks” help writers, rookie or veteran, join the game long after the opening kickoff without fumbling the fundamentals.
What We Mean By “Bible”
A reference document that keeps a series "speaking one language."
So, a series bible (often called a writer’s guide) is a reference document used to define a TV series for the people making it. It typically covers premise, tone, format, characters, world rules, and recurring patterns that shape episodes and seasons.
In practice, a bible is about consistency. It keeps a show coherent across multiple scripts, seasons, and sometimes many different writers. Essentially, the better the bible, the easier it is for a room to write as one voice.
Documents You’ll Find in This Collection
From multi-season playbooks to early-stage treatments.
This library includes a wide range of blueprint materials. Full series bibles, season bibles, writers’ guides, pitch-style packets, and treatments. Some titles have a single document. Others include multiple seasons worth of guides and reference material. In short, we pretty much cover it all.
So, treat them like study tools. Because a polished guide shows you how professionals define tone and story engines. In contrast (but just as important), a rough treatment can show you the raw idea, before it’s been sanded into something market-ready.
Why Writers Should Read Bibles
Because “structure” isn’t just plot, it’s repeatability.
To close out, here's a little PSA. Filmmakers certainly know that screenplays teach how to build a film. However, if it's TV writing you're looking for, bibles teach how to build a series. You can learn how to to generate story endlessly without breaking the premise, flattening characters, or drifting away from tone.
If you’re developing your own show, reading bibles is a shortcut to better questions: What’s the engine? The rules? What changes every episode? Or, what can never change? Those answers become the spine of your pilot and the map of your season.
In the Beginning, There Were Words
And they were good.
Find your way around 8FLiX's Bibles & Guides Library. Essential reading and study if you're looking for a career in TV scriptwriting.
Want a quick overview of loglines, story beats, and brainstorming? Final Draft has a solid explainer (not sponsored): read their articles.
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Looking for a specific series bible or writer’s guide? If it isn’t listed yet, it may still be in the archive. Send us an email with the show title and (if applicable) the season/version you want. We’ll do our best to track it down and move it up the queue.