If you’re writing a TV movie, once known as a “movie of the week” or a M-O-W, start by reading the post on formatting DRAMAS. All of the same formatting rules apply, except that your sluglines, act breaks, and transitions are generally NOT underlined.
TV movies generally have seven or eight acts, and the first few are the longest. While the first acts can run as long as 20 minutes (which means 20 pages), the last four or five acts may be as short as 7 to 10 minutes.
TV movies can be fun to write, but with the advent of more cinematic cable shows such as The Sopranos, The Wire and Kings, they have fallen off in popularity. If you’re thinking about writing a TV movie, you may just want to write it up as a standard screenplay, as this will open up more doors for getting it read and (gulp) selling it.
