I received coverage suggesting I use a four or five act structure for my pilot (I use the three act structure now). I’m not familiar with using a four or five act structure and don’t know where to begin. Is this new? is this what is expected now? did I miss a memo. any thoughts on this will be greatly appreciated.
Screenwriting : 4 and 5 acts in a pilot by Rick Wheeler
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Hey Rick, great question. This format is actually not new, though most people don't think of more than 3 acts when they think of a narrative structure. The 5-act structure for TV shows specifically were usually built around commercial breaks. And the idea was that you would have rising action in each "act" so that there would be a tension and then resolution after the next commercial break. Sitcoms are good example of this.
When premium cable (HBO, Showtime, etc.) and then streamers came along they did not have a need for a 5-act structure as much so it became common place to write TV episodes more like features - with 3 acts. But for basic cable and network (and even some freevee content) 5 acts might make more sense.
If you want more help on this or to speak with someone who might be able to give more insights, drop me a note at success@stage32.com and I will recommend some folks you can speak with who have worked in this format.
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Are you talking hour-long drama TV?
If so, they have not used the 4 acts in WELL over a decade!
In fact, 5-acts is outdated by several years now as well (which is why I need to restructure some of my older pilots).
Nearly every network and cable show now use 6-acts. CBS uses 5 + Teaser, but the teaser is a full act length (16-18 pages) so it's basically 6 acts as well.
Streaming shows, of course, do not have act breaks in the script.
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In TV "acts" can simply mean the sections of the episode broken up by ad breaks. Your overall narrative may be broken into 3 acts (depending on how you approach your narrative structure) and the breaks in the story can be dictated by the commercials. For help with this, look at different act structures to see where dramatic tension can lead to mini-cliffhangers at the end of each break before commercials. Often act 2 of a 3 act structure can be broken into two or 3 to form a 4 or 5 act structure, Dan Harmon's story circle incorporates 8 acts and Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey is broken down into lots of segments.
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For my TV series, I decided to create both the streaming format and the linear format (network/cable). I wrote the pilot for the streaming which came in at 63 pages. I decided to write the scripts of the first three episodes of the linear format to make sure I had the format down.
I used a teaser and then five acts in each of the linear scripts. The page breakdown was:
Teaser, 2-3 pages
Act 1, 11 pages
Act 2, 11-12 pages
Act 3, 8 pages
Act 4, 9 pages
Act 5, 8 pages
All three scripts had 55 pages, and the breakdowns were basically the same. I enjoyed using the five act format.
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One of my grad school professors was obsessed with the 4-act structure. It's basically a structure that's formed around the midpoint. Where there are 2 acts - midpoint - 2 acts. The format goes: Setup (establish world, daily life, inciting incident), Confrontation (rising action and complications, culminating at midpoint shift), Climax (crisis, attempts to solve problem or reach objective, failures -> lowest moment/all is lost), and Resolution (new plan, dig deep, overcome, final battle, loose ends/denouement). It's very similar to 3 act structure overall but more focused on the importance of the midpoint shift
Ignore the goofy feedback?