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   
   --- SBBSecho 2.12-Win32   
    * Origin: Time Warp of the Future BBS - Home of League 10 (1:14/400)