On Jan 8, 12:06 am, "David E. Powell" 
wrote:
> I was thinking air time. It is tricky as some Network TV movies run 3
> hours with ads.
Not sure what networks you watch, but the major US TV networks almost
never go beyond 2 hours for a TV movie.  *Sometimes* they'll go over
for a hard-to-cut theatrical film.
> OK. I was sort of used to thinking in terms of four act or five act
> play formats. I see that one could split the act breaks for commercial
> within the "acts" thematically.
?  Most plays I've done have been three acts, and even things that
have other structures (or forms, like novels) tend to have what
amounts to three act structures:  Introductions, rising action, climax
and denoument.
All dramatic TV acts tend to run about 12 minutes of action or 15
minutes of screen time, broadly speaking, because that's how
frequently the networks want to have commercial breaks.  In an
episodic series the structure tends to be this:
Teaster (Short scene to establish the initials situation.  Think of
the discovery of the body through the arrival of the cops and evidence
techs on shows like "Law and Order" or "CSI")
Opening Credits
Act I
Act II
Act III
Act IV
Tag (brief epilogue wrapping up character or plot points.)
In terms of time allocation, the teaser counts as part of Act I, and
the tag as part of Act IV.  In terms of the classic three act
structure the teaser and Act I together are "Act I", Acts II and III
are "Act II" and Act IV and the tag are "Act IV".
Each act has to build to a point of tension so that the audience
doesn't switch channels during the commercial break, so it is
structured almost like a mini Act I and Act II - re-establish the
situation and characters, then make things look bad for somebody.  The
main difference between writing a film script and writing a TV movie
script is the need for these regularly spaced mini-climaxes in TV
scripts.  (David Gerrold said this in talking about TV writing:  "15
minutes, *bang*, climax, 15 minutes, *bang*, climax, 15 minutes,
*bang*, climax.  Did I say TV writers were prostitutes?  Hell, we're
crib girls, banging and climaxing every 15 minutes.")
A TV movie uses basically the same structure absent the teaser and tag
as distinct items.  A "90 minute" TV movie will be six acts, a "120
minute" movie will be eight acts.  The original version of "The
Gathering" felt rushed and plot-heavy in part because PTEN insisted on
having extra commercial breaks, so JMS had to rewrite his six act
script into an unweildy eight-act structure.
Regards,
Joe
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