How I Met Your Mother - Pilot Outline

Another strong pilot to study. 

Written by Carter Bays & Craig Thomas

ACT ONE (1-16)

• Set up the format with the narrator
• Ted helps Marshall prep for a marriage proposal
• Barney helps Ted man up and tries to get him to sleep with a hot girl. Bullies him for being concerned about his life in relation to Marshall’s.
• Marshall is prepping romantic dinner when Lily comes home and he clearly needs her help to cook.
• Ted is freaking out his date, talking about marriage etc. Caught up in his life plan.
• Marshall keeps fucking up the romance
• Split screen as marshall proposes and she says yes meanwhile ted asks girl out and she says no
• LATER and Marshall/Lilly just had sex on the kitchen floor (which they previously promised not to)
• Ted and Barney argue about is Ted too young to care about marriage. Then he spots ROBIN.
• ACT OUT: Is Robin the one?

 
 
ACT TWO (17-35)

• Barney introduces Ted and Robin
• Marshall and Lily head to the hospital cuz he hurt her with the champagne cork
• Ted gets Robin’s #. They plan to go out tomorrow night.
• Ted and Robin at dinner and it’s going well.
• Marshall and Lily planning wedding cake. Ted arrives and says he had a great time on his date. She ticks all the fucking fucked up stupid olive boxes. There’s some flashbacks to the date to prove it.
• Ted reveals he didn’t kiss her. They say he’s dumb. He calls Barney to ask.
• AT BAR: Barney says you should have kissed. He even signs off on Ted chasing the girl down to confess his love to her.
• Ted in cab with gang en route.
• Ted steals the blue French horn from the restaurant
• Back in cab, pulling off into the night after he stole the horn.

 
 
ACT THREE (

• Ted shows up with horn and Robin invites him in.
• Back in cab: Lily goes to pee. They are waiting to see what happens with Ted.
• It starts to go well upstairs with Robin, olives etc.
• Back in car: Barney figures out this olive theory. It’s revealed that Marshall actually LOVES olives.
• Ted blurts out that he’s in love with the girl
• Marshall gives speech about loving Lily and she hears it and then Marshall runs out of the cab to do something probably romantic I guess
• Robin reveals that she doesn’t want a bf
• Marshall buys champagne to do the toast right but then he gets arrested for drinking in public.
• Ted leaves but not before giving a speech about how he’d be a great husband.
• BAR LATER: the gang tells him he missed the signal to kiss her at the door that night. Barney buys marshal and lily some champagne.
• Narrator reveals that Robin is the kid’s aunt. NOT their mother. “It’s a long story.”