TV WRITING BASICS: YOU WANT TO WRITE A PILOT. WHERE DO YOU START?
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- Опубликовано: 31 июл 2024
- I decided to do a video on writing teleplays as well. It’s a huge topic with so many more things than I mentioned here, but at least it’s a start! I go over the different format structures for all three types of network television and writing basics as well! Hope it helps!
Here's a break down of the different formats:
Break down of a 5 act structure. This is the classic and the most evenly spaced out.
TEASER/ACT ONE: 4-7 PAGES
ACT TWO: 10-15
ACT THREE: 10-15
ACT FOUR: 10-15
ACT FIVE: 10-15
Here’s the 6 act structure:
TEASER/ACT ONE: 4-9 PAGES
ACT TWO: 9-12 PAGES
ACT THREE: 7-9 PAGES
ACT FOUR: 6-8 PAGES
ACT FIVE: 3-5 PAGES
ACT SIX: 6-9 PAGES
And for streaming networks, keep it to about 45-65 pages.
Here are the basics:
1. 12 Point Courier Font
2. 90 -120 Pages long.
3. I use the program Final Draft.
4. One page of script equals one minute of movie.
5. Always written in present tense.
6. When introducing a new character, their name has to be in CAPS. (This can also apply to props as well)
7. Parentheticals (the parenthesis under a character name) should be used sparingly.
8. Difference between (V.O.) (O.S.) (O.C.)
(V.O.) Voice over is narration.
(O.S.) Off screen: the character is in the scene but they’re not on camera and say their line off screen.
(O.C.) Off camera is the same as off screen but mainly used in sitcom teleplays.
Here are some of the contests I’ve placed in with my screenplays and teleplays:
Nicholl Fellowship: semi-finalist.
Austin Film Festival: three-time quarter-finalist.
Slamdance Film Festival: two-time finalist.
Screenwriting Expo: semi-finalist.
#How-to #TVwriting #screenwriting
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Unseen characters' voices are very specific. V.O (voice-over) is used when the voice will be added in post. O.C (off-camera) is used when character is in the same room but not on camera while O.S (off-screen) is used when character is in a separate room either on the same set or not.
This is so fascinating! Also, as someone who knows nothing at all about this stuff, I found this really clear and easy to understand. Great video! 😁
Thank you so much!!
Thanks for making such a clear video! It helped me out so much with a project I’m thinking about.
Oh yayyy!! I'm so happy it helped! :-)
Very informative, very clear, and delivered well. Thank you so much.
Thank you thank you for being so clear first video I clicked on of your and hooked.
This is so interesting! I know nothing about TV scripts and yet you made it sound as if I've studied this before. It was clear and straightforward. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you so much!! The TV world has so many facets, I wasn't sure if it would be too overwhelming or too much info for one video, so I'm so happy it was clear! :-)
Needed this✨ 🙏🏾✨
This was really interesting!!!
This gives a lot of clarity to a breakdown Sage Hayden at Just Write made in a Deathnote analysis. I imagine having a grasp of the 5 & 6 act story structure will be the gateway to some creative solutions to telling stories during the streaming wars. I have not watched the Marvel Nights [Netflix] series, but they are probably a casualty of the transition from broadcast/cable rules & whatever will be the streaming rules. How much we will need to write on the spectrum of 5 episode 50min Cleopatra (1963) (251min runtime) or what Jordan Peele & Stephen Spielberg are doing with Twilight Zone & Amazing Stories is fuel for much consideration. The second you cleared up the the 5 & 6 act structure I thought about how one could also take some lessons from Shakespearian plays. Hopefully someone green lights a push to adapt them for someone's streaming platform.
Yeah streaming and paid cable (basically non-commercial content) can do pretty much whatever they want structure-wise which is probably why they're open to so much more critique. People expect more of them, probably because they have so much more license to make newer and more artistic choices than TV networks shows can. I like the idea of adapting Shakespeare for streaming! Maybe in a more updated (Baz Lurhman style) way. It's definitely an exciting time for television. Without streaming we probably would never have seen shows like Stranger Things or Daredevil. I don't think the TV networks would have picked those up. They would have had to have been picked up by HBO or Showtime. I love that streaming has opened the TV world up to more and more content!
*cracks knuckles*
Alright, let's see if we can get this pilot onto Netflix-
I wouldn’t count in getting your pilot on there. But you could provide it to them and pitch ur idea and then they might order you to write a pilot
Great video! Reminds me of when I was younger and I wanted to write for my favourite tv show. I actually found a script i started years ago. I had put my own character into the show which in my head was to be played by me.
Side bar- it was the Aussie soap opera Chris Hemsworth used to be on haha
Omg!! I love that!!! And I didn't even know Chris Hemsworth was in a soap!! I started that way too hahaha! I wrote a Star Trek: Next Generation script (I was 14) in which a new alien girl (me lol) came on board and Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) and her fell in love hahahaha!
Becca C. Smith hahaha love it!!!
Yes he was on the soap for years. Whenever he’s on a talk show I’m like, omg it’s Kim from Home and Away!! Hahahahaha
@@EmilyBourne omg, that's awesome lol
I like how straightford this is with the acts. That's always a little confusing to me. I wrote a sci-fi pilot several years ago now that placed high in the WD annual contest. It was called Counterparts. I sent it out to a few places and one told me there wasn't enough real science behind it (not that I was going for real science) and it wouldn't sell. Then a couple of years ago there was a show called Counterpart on Starz with almost the exact same premise!
OMG!! Sherry!!!!!!! That's horrible! You were totally ripped off! Even down to the name! I'm so sorry! Ugh. This business can be so cruel sometimes. I've been stolen from as well and it just sucks! :-(
Darling Becca, if you ever made a course on TV writing I would buy it.
Oh thank you so much!!!
I have to say, I absolutely love how geeky your clothes are.
I thought that story would have to be like 60 pages, so I've been trying to get mine up higher. It actually makes me happy to know that we don't have to go quite that high.
Also, how can you tell if a scene that does help either character or plot development is too much camo or credible? I have a scene in the 2nd episode of my tv series that I absolutely love. It has some great character development and gives a lot of good background, but I'm not a 100% sure that I need to put it in the episode, or that it shouldn't be cut. I'm guessing that a lot of people would just say that there's a 6th sense, but would you happen to have any guidelines for something like that?
Thank you! I make a lot of my clothes so I make sure they're extra geeky lol!
And yes! If you're in the 50-59 page mark you're golden!
As for the scene... I often have this dilemma as well, where there are definitely elements that both move the story forward and add depth to the character. In that case, it really is just about your 6th sense and whether or not it feels right to you. I suggest giving it to multiple people and see if they point the scene out or not (whether good or bad). Also, reading the script out loud can help. It helps me to hear it as opposed to just reading it.
@@BeccaCSmith I have read it aloud. This scene.. thought I really love it, but I'm actually thinking about changing it and moving it to the 3rd episode. Mainly it throws off the formula. So, yeah. I'm thinking it has to go.
@@heathercampbell6059 I feel ya. I just had to cut 9K from my book! It hurt, but the story will be better for it! Such is the life of a writer lol
@@BeccaCSmith True that.
Hello Becca,
I actually want to start my own tv show however i dont know who to pitch to and where to get any information if you could guide me in the write direction i would love that!
mate your a fucking geezer its right stupid fucka
Thanks for making this video. My question is how do I adapt my 126 page feature screenplay into a tv series?
Dont, sounds like you've already written it
You need to find ending points to separate into episodes but most likely rewrite it with specific segments in mind.
Get it down to 60 pages. One page equals one minute of TV time. Most tv pilot scripts shouldn't be longer than 1 hr or 60 pages.
Yeah I started pantsing my pilot but then I was like I’m stuck so I put my foot down and decided to write my outline from what I’ve already written
When she talked about the filler in marvel Netflix universe shows, I felt that. Only Daredevil ended great (for me at least)
After watching the TV show NBC's "Community"
I have this fantasy about going to college and writing TV shows that take place around college or there students with different genres of stories. Do you think there should be more TV shows that take place in college/grad school because there's so many teen shows?
I have ideas for college shows. Comedies like "Victorious" or "Friends", action/fighting, mystery-drama, drama's like "the O.C". , suspense maybe like "Riverdale" or "Mr.Robot", sci-fi like "Roswell" or "Smallville" , and even rom-com stories
isn't that just community
@@daftbanna7202 I don't understand
@@romaldocasasmadridiii2354 writing a tv show that takes place in a college with different genres of stories
In my show there’s a new hero every episode but characters from the older episodes do show up it’s kinda a generational show
Sounds good. When it changes like that it holds my interest.
Nothing is ever personage when I write so I kinda have a different idea now but it’s still kinda has the same structure
06:05 Perhaps not exactly like, "Game of Thrones." :)
Sub: 808
Thank you!! :-)