The Television Script Sample

TEASER ACT1

FADE IN2

INT. – AN APARTMENT LIVING ROOM – NIGHT3

JESSICA CRAIN4, early to mid thirties5, dives6 behind a sofa. Her legs barely sticking out beside it. She hides her legs too just as MITCH KENTON, mid to late thirties, and PATRICK WALTERS, early to mid-twenties, enter.

                    MITCH7
               (Scans room with his gun)8
          I thought that I heard something.9

                    PATRICK
          You’re hearing things again.
          Because I didn’t hear anything.

Mitch and Patrick start walking around that room with their guns pointing the way. Jessica gets behind that tight-fitting sofa even snugger as Mitch and Patrick walk toward her on both sides of that sofa.10

                    MITCH
          She’s in this apartment complex
          somewhere. All we need to do is
          find her before it’s too late.

Patrick suddenly stops. He looks at Mitch with a puzzled look on his face.

                    PATRICK
          What are we going to do if we are
          too late to find her?

Just then there’s a LOUD BANG.11 Mitch and Patrick looked toward the still open door. A few seconds later they look at each other before they take off toward that door.


EXT. – APARTMENT BUILDING – NIGHT

Mitch and Patrick come running out of that twelve-story apartment building. They stop just after they exit it. Both look in opposite directions of that almost empty street. Then they look at each other.

                    PATRICK
          Are you sure that gunshot we heard a
          few minutes ago came out from
          outside this building?

                    MITCH
          It sure did sound like it did to me.






This second scene continues from where I left off. When it ends I space twice before I begin the next scene.

Footnotes
1  Some television script writers start with a Teaser or end with a Tag. And some write both like I do. Most, if not all of them don’t include the word ‘ACT’ like I do, though.
2  The words ‘FADE IN’ begin each act. They are all in caps. So are the words ‘End of Teaser, Act One, etc. at the end of each act too.
3  I am a lot more specific when this scene takes place. Like EARLY EVENING, LATE MORNING, MIDDAY, etc. But most, if not all other writers, use either DAY or NIGHT.
4  Character names are all in caps the first time they are introduced in the Action paragraphs. These paragraphs are also known as Scene Direction.
5  Every time you first introduce a character you need to give them something about them. Sometimes it’s just their age, or age range like what I do. But sometimes it’s more than that. And sometimes it’s a lot more than that.
6  As you can see scripts are written in Present Tense. At least they are in the Action, Scene Description, paragraphs. It can be Past Tense too if it’s something about the past like the second scene above is.
7  Who is about to speak is done in all caps. They begin two inches in from the left margin. And they end at two inches from the right margin.
8  Character Descriptions are done within Half-Moon Brackets. And are between one-and-a-half inches on both the left and the right margins.
9  This is where your dialogue goes. And it is written between the left and right margins starting at one inch in both directions.
10  As you can see, this is what a normal Action, Scene Description, paragraph looks like. And like Scene Headings, they are between both margins. Only they aren’t capitalized like Scene Headings are.
11  Sound effects are supposed to be capitalized. But like CONTINUED, MORE, DISSOLVE TO, CUT TO, etc., they are a thing of the past. They are still done. But not as much now.