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!
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
10 Tweet Tips for Novice Screenwriters
10. Structure. Both in your scripts and in your writing practices. I have an unlimited amount of daytime hours open as do many of my creative friends. You know what we find? We tend to not necessarily write any more than our friends who are disciplined with small amounts of time. Why is that? Because the pressure's not on. It's too easy to say - wow, I have 6 hours today, I'll write for 6 hours.... then play on Facebook for 5 of those. Give yourself short increments with clear in and out times. You'll train yourself to write on command.
9. Turn off the internet. Oh gosh. I'm awful at this. I could stand to take this note better. Also, turn off your phone. I'm awful at this as well. There's nothing quite like getting into a comedic groove when your Mom calls and brings you down to reality about your "aspirations" your "singleness" or your "insert Mom guilt trip here".
8. Be nice and fun and socially adept. In retrospect this could easily have been number 1 but I'm writing out of order and so it goes in the 8 is great category. It doesn't generally matter how talented you are if you are a sucky person. Making TV and movies is all about collaboration over extended periods of time under high pressure circumstances and people want to work with people they know and like and trust and won't want to murder when on a deadline when the Titanic's sinking and you need to figure out a plot device to save the darn thing. (I vote for time travel.)
7. Do what works for you. I believe in this whole heartedly. Every class and teacher and hoo-ha in Hollywood is going to impose their tactics and techniques on you. Take what you like and ignore the rest. Do what works for you. My friend and his brother who are staffed on a big tv comedy right now wrote naughty naughty tv scripts that made basically no sense. They'd never written a spec in their life. But people thought they were hilarious and they loved them anyway. It got them staffed.
6. Read. A lot. A lot. A lot. This is still in my mind, much less important than number 1, but I recently sent a script to a friend and he said to me, "Wow, your writing has improved SO much in the past 8 months." And partly that's because I've written a ton more, but a lot has to do with reading scripts. Seeing how different writers have fun with stage directions, make character choices, set up scenes. Basically PLAY on the page. Reading all that lets you free yourself in making your own decisions.
5. Find a group of peers. Don't let this come at the expense of number 1 - but finding a great group of writing peers who will read out loud with you is priceless for improving scripts. 1 note from 1 person is all good and fine, but when it's a group of people and they collectively note that they don't understand something, or a scene is weak, or a character needs X, Y or Z - it's pretty hard to argue with that.
4. Write the bad version. We're all perfectionists and there's nothing more frightening than the evil eye stare of a blank page. But knowing that a first draft is just that - a FIRST draft - don't let getting a scene perfect stop you from catching your writing wind. Writing is like coffee. It kicks in - starts flowing and gets you amped.
3. Ever see that movie "Limitless"? Okay, neither did I. But as a novice writer I find one of two things happen - either you have no limits and write blindly and joyfully and make a whole ton of green mistakes. OR you write guarded, scared, am I doing this right? Will this sell? Will the industry like this? I'm a HUGE proponent of the first. Mistakes can be fixed. It's easier to reel someone back and in than it is to convince someone you're capable of fresh original thought.
2. Outline. Outline. Outline. You wouldn't go sky-diving out of a plane without a flight plan, so why would you jump into writing a script without a clear idea of at least the core elements (a beginning, middle and end). Especially in the middle sections of a script where a whole lot of stuff goes on - have a clear idea of scenes and work both to and from your outline. Save the Cat or a 3-6-3 or a Ven diagram. I don't care. Just promise you'll do it, kay?
1. Write every day. EVERY DAY. Even if it's just one page. If you write one page a day - you'll have a screenplay in a little over 3 months. If you read number 4 - you can easily do more than one page a day and cut that in half.
Written for @jonjohns65 by @thejudalina
9. Turn off the internet. Oh gosh. I'm awful at this. I could stand to take this note better. Also, turn off your phone. I'm awful at this as well. There's nothing quite like getting into a comedic groove when your Mom calls and brings you down to reality about your "aspirations" your "singleness" or your "insert Mom guilt trip here".
8. Be nice and fun and socially adept. In retrospect this could easily have been number 1 but I'm writing out of order and so it goes in the 8 is great category. It doesn't generally matter how talented you are if you are a sucky person. Making TV and movies is all about collaboration over extended periods of time under high pressure circumstances and people want to work with people they know and like and trust and won't want to murder when on a deadline when the Titanic's sinking and you need to figure out a plot device to save the darn thing. (I vote for time travel.)
7. Do what works for you. I believe in this whole heartedly. Every class and teacher and hoo-ha in Hollywood is going to impose their tactics and techniques on you. Take what you like and ignore the rest. Do what works for you. My friend and his brother who are staffed on a big tv comedy right now wrote naughty naughty tv scripts that made basically no sense. They'd never written a spec in their life. But people thought they were hilarious and they loved them anyway. It got them staffed.
6. Read. A lot. A lot. A lot. This is still in my mind, much less important than number 1, but I recently sent a script to a friend and he said to me, "Wow, your writing has improved SO much in the past 8 months." And partly that's because I've written a ton more, but a lot has to do with reading scripts. Seeing how different writers have fun with stage directions, make character choices, set up scenes. Basically PLAY on the page. Reading all that lets you free yourself in making your own decisions.
5. Find a group of peers. Don't let this come at the expense of number 1 - but finding a great group of writing peers who will read out loud with you is priceless for improving scripts. 1 note from 1 person is all good and fine, but when it's a group of people and they collectively note that they don't understand something, or a scene is weak, or a character needs X, Y or Z - it's pretty hard to argue with that.
4. Write the bad version. We're all perfectionists and there's nothing more frightening than the evil eye stare of a blank page. But knowing that a first draft is just that - a FIRST draft - don't let getting a scene perfect stop you from catching your writing wind. Writing is like coffee. It kicks in - starts flowing and gets you amped.
3. Ever see that movie "Limitless"? Okay, neither did I. But as a novice writer I find one of two things happen - either you have no limits and write blindly and joyfully and make a whole ton of green mistakes. OR you write guarded, scared, am I doing this right? Will this sell? Will the industry like this? I'm a HUGE proponent of the first. Mistakes can be fixed. It's easier to reel someone back and in than it is to convince someone you're capable of fresh original thought.
2. Outline. Outline. Outline. You wouldn't go sky-diving out of a plane without a flight plan, so why would you jump into writing a script without a clear idea of at least the core elements (a beginning, middle and end). Especially in the middle sections of a script where a whole lot of stuff goes on - have a clear idea of scenes and work both to and from your outline. Save the Cat or a 3-6-3 or a Ven diagram. I don't care. Just promise you'll do it, kay?
1. Write every day. EVERY DAY. Even if it's just one page. If you write one page a day - you'll have a screenplay in a little over 3 months. If you read number 4 - you can easily do more than one page a day and cut that in half.
Written for @jonjohns65 by @thejudalina
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Writing is Re-Writing
Don't worry, I'm still alive. Turns out writing is re-writing is hell so excluding the occasional 140 character tweet or emo Facebook status update, consider me out of commission until I complete my applications for the WB, ABC & National Latino Media Council's writing programs.
Talk more soon!
Talk more soon!
Monday, January 3, 2011
I'm baaaack...
Okay, who am I kidding, I never really left! Happy 2011!!
I worked straight through the holidays so feel free to check out new episodes of Transit Buzz, ADA Sport's Video League, and my new celebrity tweets show, Twitterazi.
AND if you didn't see me rocking the cazbah on Spike's 1,000 Ways to Die, you can watch it right, here.
I worked straight through the holidays so feel free to check out new episodes of Transit Buzz, ADA Sport's Video League, and my new celebrity tweets show, Twitterazi.
AND if you didn't see me rocking the cazbah on Spike's 1,000 Ways to Die, you can watch it right, here.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Woah! Me Talking = $$$
Seriously, yo. First "Transit Buzz" a comedic entertainment news show that will be airing in the LA Bus system and now a big "cannot be named" project for a "huge but not in size" upcoming cell phone?
Yeah. I'm a busy bee. Flying to San Francisco on Sunday for the 2nd project. I'll bring you back a trolley (a little one, of course).
Yeah. I'm a busy bee. Flying to San Francisco on Sunday for the 2nd project. I'll bring you back a trolley (a little one, of course).
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Reality Show Pitch Finalist in Scriptapalooza
Bangarang! My reality show pitch, "Confessions of a Recession-ista" was picked as a quarter-finalist in the script competition, Scriptapalooza. Not, too, shabby! :)
Reality Show Pitch Finalist in Scriptapalooza
Bangarang! My reality show pitch, "Confessions of a Recession-ista" was picked as a quarter-finalist in the script competition, Scriptapalooza. Not, too, shabby! :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
