Amin
VPN Community Member
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Post by Amin on Jun 20, 2010 11:18:28 GMT -6
How many pages should a teaser be? The teaser of "Genesis" is 9/10 pages long, so I was wondering if that's normal, or does it have to be shorter?
And as for the acts, how many pages should an act be?
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Post by Tommy West on Jun 21, 2010 6:51:42 GMT -6
I usually stick to five or less pages for a teaser and in between eight to twelve pages per act. I know alot of folks at MZP and TEN do the same.
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Post by Jack Malone on Jun 21, 2010 7:05:36 GMT -6
I've seen a discussion like this over on MZP. And they're opinion on it is that it varies. I think 9 pages is fine, but that would mean you shouldn't have 9 page acts. Acts should always be bigger than the teaser. But shows like Dollhouse where the episode is a 50 minute installment, the Teaser's tend to be longer.
My suggestion is that keep the 9 page teaser (as its a pilot), go through the whole script with all your material. And once you're done see if anything needs editing. I know that a lot of the time I've had to move chunks from some acts into another, and have separated part of a TEASER into the first act because of its length and place.
If it works, keep it. And Tom East is right. Usually its around five pages for a teaser, and 8-12 page acts. But thats just the usual. It depends on the show and how you picture your series. If its a 40 min show, a 30 min, or a 50 minute. Pilots usually go over the full 40, on occassion, and so the bulk is bound to be bigger.
But try to remember that the TEASER is meant to get things going, pull is in for the episode. And if it drags on for too long, it may not grasp that.
Man I can rant on...
Short Response: A Nine page teaser is fine.
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Amin
VPN Community Member
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Post by Amin on Jun 21, 2010 7:08:39 GMT -6
I've seen a discussion like this over on MZP. And they're opinion on it is that it varies. I think 9 pages is fine, but that would mean you shouldn't have 9 page acts. Acts should always be bigger than the teaser. But shows like Dollhouse where the episode is a 50 minute installment, the Teaser's tend to be longer. My suggestion is that keep the 9 page teaser (as its a pilot), go through the whole script with all your material. And once you're done see if anything needs editing. I know that a lot of the time I've had to move chunks from some acts into another, and have separated part of a TEASER into the first act because of its length and place. If it works, keep it. And Tom East is right. Usually its around five pages for a teaser, and 8-12 page acts. But thats just the usual. It depends on the show and how you picture your series. If its a 40 min show, a 30 min, or a 50 minute. Pilots usually go over the full 40, on occassion, and so the bulk is bound to be bigger. But try to remember that the TEASER is meant to get things going, pull is in for the episode. And if it drags on for too long, it may not grasp that. Man I can rant on... Short Response: A Nine page teaser is fine. Well, I'm very descriptive with some things, so that may be why the teaser is so long. And only the pilot will have a 9-page teaser, the other episodes will have much shorter teasers. |
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Post by Jack Malone on Jun 21, 2010 7:14:04 GMT -6
Thats why I think its fine for a pilot. For the characters you have to describe them, especially as its an "original" story with "new" characters. And I think if you keep that flowing throughout, you won't have a problem with having shorter acts than the teaser. Good luck with the script. You're asking really good questions that will help others out too  |
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Daniel
New Member
Why so serious!?
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Post by Daniel on Jun 21, 2010 8:35:13 GMT -6
I think Jack is right, it really depends on the show in question as well as the actual content of the teaser. For example, if you are also including a "previously" part (that I normal bundle in with the teaser) then it can get up to ten pages.
But as Jack said, it's all about how you weight each each. The teaser shouldn't be longer than what follows but even different acts are weighted slightly different sometimes.
At the end of the day though, if the script is good enough and the story is interesting, the reader won't really care how many pages each act or in this case, a teaser has.
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