Act Breaks (Aint They a Biyatch!)

Was reading a pilot from a Twitter friend and she commented on how confusing act breaks were to her. I think it's safe to say that's true for most of us! So here are a few thoughts and comments I've learned from reading pilots recently:

There aren't really hard fast rules. Recently finished reading "Apt 23" pilot and though it's a half hour sitcom (traditionally 2 acts double spaced plus a teaser), it's written like an hour long and broken into three acts.

That being said - typically most shows tend to have a teaser or cold open (the former for comedies and the latter for dramas). In comedies they can run from 2 pages to 4 pages and in dramas I've seen them run as long as 6 pages.

Many shows, especially comedies, will use the teaser to lay out everything that will happen over the course of the show. (Remember 5 paragraph essay writing from high school where your first paragraph had to state the points you'd make in paragraph 2, 3 and 4 and paragraph five would reiterate and conclude? Similar to that.)

Regardless, act breaks need to help build tension. You want to end an act leaving the reader dying to push on. When I was working on my recent pilot I stumbled upon this and found it SUPER helpful:

Act 1 - This is your set-up/ call to action.
Act 2 - Things go well for your main character/ensemble, core objectives begin to be achieved.
Act 3 - Previous said things begin to go awry
Act 4 - Things go awfully wrong. IE: All shit hits the fan
Act 5 - A final battle is waged and then resolved.

For many tv shows - and at this point - almost all ABC shows - there's a 6th act. In which case I'd say ACT 5 is for a final battle and the immediate resolution but you use ACT 6 to actually resolve, conclude, or perhaps tease out over-arching story lines.

(ie: By the end of Act 5 you'd resolve the medical issue in an episode of Grey's Anatomy but Act 6 is where we'd have the ever popular Meredith voice-over that would touch upon each character's emotional state - or reveal some sort of tawdry affair, or news, etc - at the end of the episode).

Also, typically your Act 6 is going to be much shorter. For example, Pretty Little Liar scripts are set in 5 Acts with a Teaser and a Closer. The teaser averages 3 pages and Act 5 comes in at a sparse average of 7 pages. But they use "Act 6" as a closer and it's almost always under 2 pages and always set around the misdoings of the hidden 'A' character. Glee on the other hand, has no teaser but uses 6 acts with Act 6 coming in at a light 6 pages.

When thinking about Act Breaks, think about creating mini cliff hangers - that way your audience member isn't compelled to change the channel (or move onto the next script) once they hit that commercial break.

This is entirely my non professional opinion, so feel free to add comments and thoughts below in the comments and thoughts section!