How to Write a Script for a TV Show

Television writing is a bit different than writing a script for a movie or a short video that will be shared online. In fact, the art of learning how to write a script for a TV show is certainly exciting and quite challenging while completely unique. Television writers have control over the stories, and the way they are told as well as how sets are built to accommodate the scripts. Learning how to write a script for a TV show is all about formatting, drafting the essentials, and achieving a professional appearance.

Since TV scripts are shorter, contain different narrative structures and are generally not resolved immediately in the story, the writing is a lot different than that of a movie script.

These dialogue drive scripts are often more focused on the written script than on the visual delivery of the story. While they actually require more writing than a movie, individual television episodes are shorter. 

TV Script Formatting

Knowing how to write a script for a TV show that has been formatted properly is vital. Without a properly formatted television show script, you’ll struggle to have producers view your script as a serious representation.

In order to achieve a professional appearance, you’ll want to follow these TV script formatting guidelines as well as any individually provided guidelines for the producer you’re writing for:

• Plan five acts for a one-hour show.
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• Consider about 11 pages for each act.
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• Plan A, B and C storylines.

Your act structure should include the following:

• Act 1 – introduction of characters and presentation of the problem.
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• Act 2 – escalation of the problem.
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• Act 3 – the worst case scenario plays out.
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• Act 4 – the clock is ticking, there’s a time limit.
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• Act 5 – characters achieve a moment of victory.

Including an A, B and C storyline is important to keep your audience engaged while progressing your story forward.

Important Script Elements

As you focus on how to write a script for a TV show, you’ll want to include some of the most important elements of your script based on the type of story you’re writing.

If you’re producing a comedy, the script is going to be incredibly different than if you’re writing a drama. Television script writing has many formats, and essential elements.

Some of the most important elements, no matter what type of script you’re writing for TV include:

• The Tone.
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• The Story Arc.
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• The Pace.
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• The Run Time.

Make sure that you’re including the following in your script:

• The treatment – a short explanation of your TV show setting, characters, logline, synopsis, summary of episodes and character bios.
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• The Pilot Script – the outline of the first episode of your TV show.
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• The Show Bible – a history of the characters, outline of every episode in the first season, and how the show will expand into future seasons.

As you learn how to write a script for a TV show, making sure that you adhere to all of the above formatting and inclusion rules will help you to be successful.