Professional TV writing

[Neil]

Hi everyone!

i don´t know if this is the right place and if anyone can help me, but I´m writing and I try to become a professional.

I want to start in TV and that´s where the problem starts:

I know that TV scripts are structured in:
-Teaser
- 4 Acts (sometimes more, sometimes less)
- Tag

But how do you fill these parts. I mean how many scenes? How many beats (a beat is a unit of storytelling, in which one significant thing happens)?

Does anybody know? I´d be really, reallly thankful if anyone can share his/her thoughts with me.

[Hellbound Hyperion]

This will help you out.

How many scenes and how many beats you have is ultimately up to you. Just remember that you have a time limit, so you can't write over the allotted time for the episode. A typical episode of TV in the U.S. is 40-ish minutes for hour-long programs and 20-ish minutes for half-hour programs (usually sitcoms fit in this category). A page of script is roughly a minute of screen time - that's not exact, but it's enough to use as a rule of thumb when writing.

And of course, acts can be determined by the network and aren't necessarily a set thing. Something to keep in mind - you'll want to count how many acts are in the television show you're writing for.

You only asked about story, so I'll cut off here, but I've learned quite a bit about breaking into the industry too, if you'd like some tips on that. I'm sure Brian Lynch could give you some good tips as well.

[Neil]

Thank you very, very much!

You can´t imagine how helpful this was.

Concerning the one page-one minute-rule: I read some One-hour scripts and they are usually round about 52 pages. Do you know where that came from? Why it´s that number?

I would love to get some tips about breaking into the industry.

You´re really awesome! *karma*

[Hellbound Hyperion]

Like I said, the one-page-one-minute rule is shaky; if you lack a grand amount of dialogue then 52 pages might still fit into 40 minutes. It just all depends. TV writing has the unique ability to be a continuing process - a typical TV show takes 8 days to shoot (plus any second-unit shooting), which leaves time for the writers, actors, directors, producers, etc to change lines or even whole scenes around on the fly. (Just curious: what TV show was that script for?)

Breaking into the industry is a wild ride.

-If you want to go straight into TV writing, write spec scripts. Short for "speculative screenplay" spec scripts are the things you shop around to producers or literary agents in order to get noticed and subsequently hired. In a recent panel on TV writing, Tim Minear said that a good rule of thumb is to write spec scripts for episodes of a TV show you don't want to work on, if you happen to have a preference. Write a bunch of spec scripts and shop them around (the WGA should be able to help you there) and eventually someone should hire you. It's a long and often rough process, but so is writing for anything else.

-Alternatively, like all other entertainment media, being proficient in one medium will usually attract high-rollers of another. Writing novels/short stories/plays/poems and selling them to anthologies/attracting a literary agent can greatly improve your chances of being able to write for a TV show. Same goes for comics, radio shows, etc (although it's difficult to start out as a career "comic book x" - with rare exception, most comic book writers tend to come from other writing forms, such as short-form or long-form prose, poetry, film & TV, etc.)

Jane Espenson used to run a blog where she'd write up some quick tips for both writing a script and getting it noticed - it's pretty much defunct now but reading the archives should also give you some extra help on getting into the industry. You can find her blog HERE.

That's about all I know just from being an outsider. Like I said, we might try to attract Brian Lynch to this thread; he's definitely going to have more knowledge on this than me, since he is a film writer.

[Neil]

Thank you. You´ve got a lot of knowledge. Honestly, thank you. ;D *karma*

It would be great if we could attract Brian Lynch to this thread. Do you have any idea how we could do that?

The script I mentioned was a Lost script that was on the internet but the link had been shut down by now.

But I read on an internetpage that the script are around sixty pages. You can find it here.
www.scriptwritersnetwork.org/swn/index.php?page=tv-script-format

On the other hand I have seen 24 scripts round about 47 pages. Nip Tuck has been that long, too. Supernatural´s pilot was around 52 pages.

So I´m completely confused. How long a script for TV is supposed to be? Could it be that there is no specific number of pages? ´Cause it seems the more dialogue driven the shows are, the longer the scripts have to be (like on Gilmore Girls with a script being around 60-70 pages).

What do you think?

[Hellbound Hyperion]

Well no, there isn't really a specific number of pages. The style of the show will more often than not dictate how many pages an episode's script is. For instance, 60-70 is madness in a show that relies heavily on visual drama, but as anybody who watches Gilmore Girls will tell you, that show's dialogue is given at about 110% faster rate than any other show with dialogue, so 60 pages might just be average length for them. <_<

Over-writing is usually better than under-writing - that's another good rule to follow. You can always edit out extra character moments if your plot is moving too slow, or move extra plot developments if you need more quality character development. But if you underwrite and fail to address something important, it can lead to some sloppy last-minute writing as you try to fix it. You don't want to be relying on a one-off line from the teaser to be the thing that carries your main plot point, so make it damned clear in your script, even if it goes way over what the industry calls "standards".

Lost and Supernatural @ 50-ish pages sounds about right; I don't know about Supernatural but Lost has a very dense mythos (Abrams co-wrote the show's bible for Joss's sake) that usually comes into play during the episode, which requires writing a lot of scenes of "person is walking through the jungle when he hears a noise. blah blah blah mythos stuff blah blah blah" so there'll be lots of other dialogue scenes to fill in that would shoot the scripts to that length.

Again, the style of the show is usually the best indicator. So of course, if you write a spec script for Gilmore Girls, babble all the heck you want - you'll more likely be rewarded for it on that show than on any other show.

[Neil]

Yeah, you are right. Thanks for the advice.

Do you write professionally or at least try to?

[Hellbound Hyperion]

I do Script Frenzy every so often, but I don't really have too much interest in writing TV shows, at least right now. I do write more comic books than anything else, although recently I've been writing more prose thanks to my re-introduction to fanfiction. Really, I just love writing, and so I went out and learned everything I could about writing for various media. I'm very obsessive-compulsive about that stuff (probably because I'm also OCD... but I'll save that for my therapist <_<).

[snizapman6294]

i've been told by every writing teacher i've ever had that I am an amazing writer (no big deal hahah so i'm trying to do the same, but i'm fifteen so i'm a few years away from legitimately writing. I do some fan fic-ing and i have a few screenplays written along with a pilot or two, so here are a few things i do when i first start writing: (I am really ADD so when i write, i tend to pull information from anything i can hence the examples from a multitude of different shows)

- I usually start out with characters so begin with basic stereotypes like:
Buffy = Hero
Angel = Boyfriend
Xander = Loser
Willow = Geek
Cordy = Popular Bitch
Giles = Mentor
Joyce = Parent
The Master = Villain

Then expand upon them like: Buffy is the hero, but also an average student, a "cordy" turned inside out, a normal girl who is anything but.

- try to create a formula for each episode depending on the story-line. It's a lot like formally writing a paper. LIke the intro establishes initial information, the body has facts, and the conclusion has... well, the conclusion. for instance if you're writing a procedural drama like Bones or something, figure out the setup:

Intro:
1. Establish a crime
2. Establish family (optional) or Identity
3. Establish cause/time of death
4. Establish a non-case storyline that can take a back-seat to the case if necessary (like relationships/family/etc. storylines)

Body:
1. Establish a few suspects
2. Exapnd upon the Non-case storyline, but not enough to have it take over the original storyline
3. New Facts (newly found evidence etc.)

Conclusion:
1. Identify the killer
2. Closure with the family or closure with main characters if they're emotionally invested in the victim

- If you're doing what I do (and what Joss is known to do) plan out a season in advance with major events in one section and minor ones in another:

Major are usually things that affect the characters either immediately or in the near future (current season, not farther than the season closer)

Major
Buffy moves to Sunnydale
Buffy meets Giles/Willow/Xander/Cordy/Angel
The Scoobie Gang assembles
Angel is a vampire
The Master rises in the finale
Buffy defeats the Master

Minor[/u]
The Master fails to rise at the Harvest
Buffy Slays Luke
Amy is introduced
Jenny Calendar is introduced
The whole Annointed One storyline
Buffy learns that if she fights the master, she'll die

and there ya go! i hope i helped!

[Neil]

thanks.

I´ve got another thing that bothers me.

I´ve watched the Angel season 3 dvd, where they show how the writer´s room works and how they break down the story.

What I was wondering: How do the writers know they have enough material/ story for every act/ episode, so that the episode doesn´t run short?

Any guesses?

And: Is there a budgetary rule how many scenes a TV-Script should have, only in terms of money?

[Hellbound Hyperion]

What I was wondering: How do the writers know they have enough material/ story for every act/ episode, so that the episode doesn´t run short?

Any guesses?

And: Is there a budgetary rule how many scenes a TV-Script should have, only in terms of money?

To the first: that's really something that requires practice. Joss and his team are all veteran writers - remember, Tim Minear started in X-Files, Jane & Joss both started in sitcoms - so they have a pretty good sense of how much is enough. Plus they can always just shoot for a long episode and then cut down later. In any case, that part comes with time in the business.

I'm not very good with the financial side, but I don't really think there's a general rule.