Television Acts and Page Length

[mariesetiawan]

Thanks Don! It's just been a little overwhelming and confusing looking over a lot of television scripts but never finding a common format.

[ScriptNurse]

I would guess most are in the 25-27 page range.

I imagine the particular network has its preferred structure for scripts. Get a script from another the network is airing and follow it as a guide.

[mariesetiawan]

I've been working on a project over the past six months for a television series and had drafted 13 episodes as a result. Perusing through the editing stage, I figured that to structure episodes, you literally need to set them in acts. What I'm confused about is the number. Normally structures come in threes, but I've found many television scripts come in fours acts plus a teaser (i.e. cold open).

So, which is it? The 3-act structure or 4? It really confuses me.

To add to that, each episode is a 30 minute slot, but I realise that it's not the case when you include commercial runs. Therefore, roughly how long is a script for one episode? I've heard it should be 22 pages, but it could run for as long as 25 as long as its under the 30 page mark.