So, being jobless while I wait to start school again in the summer, I’ve been working on a few spec scripts in the comedy/dramedy categories so that when I graduate next May I’m not moving out to LA with nothing but some journal entries from the 8th grade. Unless WMA wants the juice on what a bitch my best friend was to me at lunch that day? Dude, I need an agent.

Anyway, as everyone knows TV shows are pretty traditional in structure, some even bordering on formulaic. However, it seems that the number of acts in each show (not Aristotelian acts, but the formal kind used by Networks to chop the story into bite-sized breaks in between their far more entertaining commercials) is on the rise. It used to be four acts to a one-hour drama, yet shows like “Pushing Daisies” are going into six acts to allow for more commercial breaks.

So, to get a feel for this teensy acts and how to make them flow as smoothly as “Pushing Daisies” did, I sat down with a script and video of the episode “Dummy” and plotted out its basic structure and timing. I’ve pasted the messy, un-spellchecked results of this study below the jump. Some things of note before that, though:

• It seems that the first act is always longer than the others by about five minutes (I’ve checked with other episodes of “Pushing Daisies” and this is fairly consistent)
• There always seems to be one shorter act of only 5 minutes
• Action scene play out longer than dialogue, which tends to eat up pages.

Anyway… I promise to be neater/more wordpress friendly next time, but so far here’s what I have:

ACT 1 : 10 minutes, 14 pages
⁃    “Last time”
⁃    Title Sequence
⁃    FLASHBACK: Ned outside in spot where his dad dumped him. Dad lies.
⁃    Outside at tree w/ father and suitcases
⁃    Classroom where they’re dissecting and picking on Ned. Ned pulls prank by bringing frogs back to life.
⁃    Ned in tree looking down at the dead birds. Lies to teacher about being responsible for the birds that died. SETS UP THEME OF SECRETS
⁃    INT. BEDROOM – Chuck is being lied to. Introduces the “separate” beds.
⁃    Ned is lying
⁃    Chuck secretly misses aunts
⁃    INT. LIVING ROOM / KITCHEN
⁃    discuss who Ned has brought back.
⁃    Lies again.
⁃    FLASHBACK: Ned reviving his own mother which killed Chuck’s father.
⁃    INT. LIVING ROOM KITCHEN – CONTINUOUS
⁃    Cheesebox comment
⁃    FLASHBACK: Chuck sets up cheesebox and we see aunts craziness
⁃    INT/EXT APARTMENT
⁃    Olive spies on Chuck and Ned, notices lack of physical contact
⁃    INT. EMERSON’s OFFICE
⁃    knitting intro’d
⁃    Gets murder call
⁃    EXT. MORGUE
⁃    Conflict w/ Emerson and Chuck
⁃    Discussion of Chuck sitting in back (setup for end)
⁃    Flashback to Emerson’s knitting a gun cozy to establish his stress
⁃    INT. MORGUE
⁃    Transitioned from Ned saying you “can’t come in” to Chuck coming in
⁃    Coroner suspicious of them , but lets them in
⁃    THE FACTS ARE THESE
⁃    explains how safety expert was found dead by the side of the road by hit and run
⁃    INT. MORGUE
⁃    Touches guy and talks to him for a minute.
⁃    Chuck asks “last requests” which disrupts our usual pattern of investigations
⁃    Crash test dummy – Shocked looks
•    ACT 2 – 8 minutes, 12 pages
⁃    INT. PIE HOLE
⁃    fighting over screwed-up minute, re-assessing situation
⁃    Olive asks Emerson what’s up with Ned and Chuck
⁃    INT. KITCHEN – CONTINUOUS
⁃    Discuss Emerson’s dislike of Chuck
⁃    Gotta tell Jeneane, according to Chuck, that the dead guy loved her
⁃    INT. PIE HOLE
⁃    Olive watches everyone go.
⁃    FANTASY SEQUENCE WITH OLIVE IN UNIVERSE THAT TRANSITIONS TO “EARTH-FRIENDLY” animated “DANDELION SX” info video
⁃    INT. DANDELION SHOWROOM
⁃    Ned and Chuck watch Japanese tour group as they try to by
⁃    Chuck asks for  Jeaneane in Japanese
⁃    had “plenty of time to read”
⁃    FLASHBACK: Chuck studying language tapes at her aunt’s house
⁃    INT. DANDELION SHOWROOM
⁃    Talk to Janeane… she’s hiding things from her
⁃    Flower weeps and eats pie
⁃    INT. CRASH TEST ROOM
⁃    President of company shows them crash test
⁃    Chuck finds a room in which a dummy is missing a face
•    ACT 3 – 5  minutes, 6 pages
⁃    INT. PIE HOLE
⁃    discuss their findings with Emerson
⁃    Decide to go back to the factory
⁃    Olive sings “Hopelessly devoted to you”
⁃    INT. DANDY LION SHOWROOM
⁃    The mod squad sneaks into showroom
⁃    Show off security-breaking skills and get into:
⁃    INT. DANDY LION CRASH TEST ROOM
⁃    Ned and Chuck fight over whether they show know each other’s secrets
⁃    “Skeletons in the closet” line – literally
⁃    INT. CLOSET
⁃    dead bodies!
•    ACT 4 – 7 minutes, 8 pages
⁃    INT. Closet
⁃    Ned wakes up Dude named Rick
⁃    Chuck tries to get last requests but impatient Emerson kills the guy again
⁃    Wakes up girl and finds out she died at ferris wheel
⁃    INT. SHOWROOM
⁃    discuss why they would replace dummies with bodies
⁃    Catch Janeane with pie
⁃    INT. PIE HOLE
⁃    Feed Janeane as she tells the story of her and Bernard’s (the victim) romance
⁃    NARRATOR’S FLASHBACK: Love affair of the two explained
⁃    they met at lunch, he started getting busy, seemed suspicious
⁃    INT. PIE HOLE
⁃    Janeane says a little more about what he was doing… bribes Emerson for pie
⁃    EXT. PIE HOLE
⁃    She says it’s easier if she shows them
⁃    EXT. STREET
⁃    They’re following Janeane in Dandy Lion car in their own car
⁃    Discuss Janeane’s secret (an eating disorder) and their own
⁃    Janeane’s car blows up
•    ACT 5 – 7 minutes, 4 pages (A LOT OF ACTION)
⁃    INT. HOSPITAL
⁃    Janeane’s alive! Tells them about bodies in a big hole
⁃    EXT. STREET
⁃    find a bunch of crash test dummies buried in a hole
⁃    burying crash test data
⁃    TASERED!
⁃    INT. OLIVE’S BEDROOM
⁃    Olive can’t sleep. Fantasy sequence of Pie Maker’s late night date with new girl
⁃    Decides to get up and go for a walk
⁃    INT. SHOWROOM
⁃    The squad wakes up in DANDYLION SX in body bags. The dummy is going to kill them via crash test
⁃    reveals pres as killer
⁃    THE FACTS WERE THESE: Pres hiding bad crash tests. Killed Bernard for knowing too much. Planted “hit and run” coverup
⁃    INT. SHOWROOM
⁃    Pres explains problems with car exploding (sets this up for later)
⁃    In the car, Chuck and Ned share a moment and Ned suddenly wants to tell Chuck everything. Kiss through body bags.
⁃    Emerson sets up escape with knitting needle (as planted earlier!)
⁃    They drive off and Pres follows them in hummer
⁃    EXT. STREET
⁃    driving quickly to get away: Narrator says it’s a time bomb
•    ACT 6
⁃    EXT STREET
⁃    Car drives off. Cop shows up to arrest pres.
⁃    Is the car going to explode?
⁃    No, because they stop just in time because they see Olive in the street going for a walk with Digby
⁃    Olive happy that it wasn’t a romantic night
⁃    NARRATOR SUMS UP: Pres punished, Janeane recovers and gets up, Emerson continues knitting, Olive not giving up while she watches Chuck and Ned leave to:
⁃    INT. CAR
⁃    Ned shows Chuck his new device so that she can sit in front next to him