Generic TV Script Outline?

[tom1590]

I'm aiming to finalize my rough draft of my web series pilot which I'd like to follow the format of a standard 30 minute television show. So far this is what I can come up:

Teaser (The Catalyst / Inciting Incident)

Act I Dealing with the Incident

Act II Dealing with the Incident/Resolution

And what I'm wondering is, is there a more elaborate or a more structured outline that anyone uses to get their idea moving? In Act I and Act II, all I can come up w/ is a whole bunch of middle that is dealing with the Inciting Incident (which is what it should be). My main problem with that is that sometimes I lose track of where I want to go.

Also does there have to be a cliffhanger at the end of Act I? I've noticed that they do it in some of the episodes I've been watching, but does that really matter nowadays? No one watches commercials, it's either DVR'd or torrented. I guess it'd be something to keep in mind to keep the story moving and interesting.

Obviously my series will not have any commercial breaks or advertisement slots, I was merely looking for a sort of script guideline to refer to.

The show I could most associate my web series with is It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. I refer to their scripts as a sort of reference.

 

[FantasySciFi]

Television is HIGHLY structured. And every series has its own stylesheet. Often you have to complete sections to the page. As a general rule, action happens every 3-5 pages. Big events "happen on the 10s". Don't take this too literally, but it should help you judge the story flow. Below is a generic guide to a one hour television episode. For a half hour episode, I would halve the act page counts (5-6 pages).

TEASER:   2-3 pages         title sequence & commercial break
ACT I:    8-10 pages 	commercial break
ACT II:   8-10 pages 	commercial break
ACT III:  10-12 pages 	commercial break
ACT IV:   10-12 pages 	commercial break
TAG:      2-3 pages                   credits

You still want to follow the basic story format though you adapt it a bit. This is based on Michael Hauge's story format (http://www.screenplaymastery.com/structure.htm)

Teaser -   2-3 pp.   Set Up (introduce the characters and situation)
Act 1 -    4-5 pp.   Introduce a New Situation and a Complication
Act 2 -    4-5 pp.   Formulate a Plan of Action to Succeed (character throws 
                            self in headlong)
Act 3 -    5-6 pp.   More Complications and Higher Stakes (usually a major 
                            setback)
Act 4 -    5-6 pp.   Final Push to Succeed with it looking unlikely (suspenseful 
                            moment, climax)
TAG -      2-3 pp.   Resolution and the Ever After or Cliffhanger for next 
                            episode

For a webisode, you can actually expand out a bit. In my experience, a 25-35 page script will fit into a 30 minute episode. It depends on dialogue and action sequences, of course. The more dialogue intense, the shorter the script needs to be.

PLEASE! The above is not a formula of what you must do. It is a breakdown of the flow of most action oriented storylines. The originality of your story or series might suggest a different approach. This is just a convenient template.