Acts in Comedy Scripts? How many? Necessary?

[Terri]

For a standard TV Comedy series, how many acts are in the script?
I think it's 2:

Teaser
Act 1
Act 2

If it is 2 acts, which act should be longer? Or should they be about equal?

Also, do I have to have acts? One of my TV comedy scripts is very different from your standard TV comedy (or I think it is).... would it be a huge No No to not include any acts and just write it like a feature script?

[KitchonaSteve]

Most sitcoms these days are three acts with a cold open (teaser). If you're writing a streaming or premium cable type series then you can ignore acts.

You can read a bunch of scripts at the Google Script Archive. You can take a look at a few scripts similar to the one you're working on if you want to get a sense of what the norms are.

HTH,

[Terri]

Originally Posted by KitchonaSteve

Most sitcoms these days are three acts with a cold open (teaser). If you're writing a streaming or premium cable type series then you can ignore acts.

You can read a bunch of scripts at the Google Script Archive. You can take a look at a few scripts similar to the one you're working on if you want to get a sense of what the norms are.

HTH,

Thanks Steve!
(Yeah, I'm writing for a streaming series.... hopefully, that is)

[Zodraz]

Multicams are often just two acts.

Single cams are usually three acts, though live-action Fox sitcoms are typically four shorter acts.

But the main thing to keep in mind is that, if you decide to have acts, you need to make sure you have strong/funny act-outs-- not having those is one of the most common script criticisms I see (whereas I've never seen any reader complain "there are too few/many acts").

[KitchonaSteve]

Originally Posted by Zodraz

Multicams are often just two acts.

Often with a COLD OPEN and a TAG. Unfortunately the days of straight two-act sitcoms are long gone. Too many commercials, not enough time.

[CrissCross]

Breaking Bad pilot had teaser and four acts if you're interested.