Writing a TV Movie with 9 Act Structure
The 9 act structure is screenwriting's most nebulous creature. The little info you can find online is conflicting at best. Here is my attempt to clarify it with how I write MOWs.
The three act structure is an insatiable attention-seeker.
If you want to learn about the 3 act structure, there are hundreds of books and seemingly millions of internet articles you can pour over. The 9 act structure of TV movies doesn’t get the same treatment. There’s barely any information to be found, and what you can locate is conflicting and confusing. I’ve just gotten the go ahead to move my fourth commissioned TV thriller from outline to script, so as I begin writing the first draft, I thought I’d share my understanding of and approach to this nebulous structure.
Why the 9 act structure?
If you’ve read my lil primer on TV movies, you’ll know that MOWs (Movies of the Week) were conceived in the 60s to draw audiences away from the cinema and encourage them to stay home and be inundated with commercials. This had a huge financial incentive because, in the course of a 90-minute film, networks had 8 opportunities, or upwards of a half an hour, to advertise directly to people who had already proven that they love movies.
For TV movies, the three act structure is incompatible with the placement of commercial breaks on network television. Before each of the eight commercial breaks, something needs to happen that will ensure audiences sit through the advertisers’ messages and come back for more. In the case of thrillers, a cliffhanger or gripping moment that hooks the audience with the question: “What’s going to happen next?!” needs to occur before they are released to go get a snack.
The 9 act structure today
Nowadays, with the predominance of TV movies appearing on streamers, a strict adherence to the 9 act structure is becoming less important. The general rule of TV movies “something thrilling needs to happen ever 10 to 15 pages” always applies, regardless of the structure.
If you’re writing a TV movie on spec, your safest bet is to structure your script in 9 acts, because you won’t know where it might air. Sometimes, a network TV movie will later appear on a streamer or even the other way around. The thrills that the 9 act structure provides will leave your spec script open to either path.
The advantages of 9 act films
Because of the 9 act structure, in my humble opinion, TV movies can be even pacier and more gripping than theatrical films. The pressure to keep people in their seats in a theatre is very low, since most movie-goers are intent on staying until the end. For a TV movie, the need to keep the viewer invested in the story is extremely high. There need to be a ton of twists and turns to keep the audience glued to their seats.
So even if you’re writing a three act thriller, keeping the 9 act structure’s lessons about pacing, tension and suspense in mind will absolutely help you write a more engaging script.
Some housekeeping before we dive in: Since I’m a writer of TV thrillers, I am only familiar with the structure from the thriller perspective, though the goal of hitting important beats right before the commercial breaks applies across the board. Holiday and rom-com writers, please sound off in the comments and let me know what’s different (if anything!).
9 Act Structure of TV Movies
When you watch a TV movie on network television, the acts are easy to identify because they always end at a commercial break. If you’re watching the same film on a streamer with no commercials, there will usually (but not always, depending on the edit) be cuts to black that indicate where the acts end. I recommend watching and analyzing as many TV movies as you can to begin internalizing their unique structure.
For those familiar with the 3 act structure, here are some very loose 9 act equivalents:
Act 1 = Act 1 & 2
Act 2 = Acts 3 - 7
Act 3 = Acts 8 & 9
To generalize, the first two acts of the 9 act structure function much like the first act of a 3 act screenplay: establishing character, the ordinary world and setting up the story that’s to come. Act 2 of the 9 act ends with the protagonist launching into the world of the story. In acts 3 to 7, there is a progressive building of tension and suspense, which ends with a low point that drives the protagonist towards the showdown with the villain. Then we have the climax and resolution in Act 8/9.
The page count of the acts below is just a general guideline to keep you on target.
So let’s break down each act, one by one…
TEASER (sometimes called Act 0) — 1-3 pages
Teasers are much more common in thrillers than in the other TV movie genres, like holiday or rom-com. The teaser sets the tone for the film, letting the audience know within the first 60 seconds that this movie is going to take them on a thrilling ride.
Usually, the teaser is an attack, which is most likely anachronistic. It may be a flashback to an attack that’s already happened or a flash forward to something that audiences will see later in more detail, most likely during the climax.
If a flash forward is the route you take, it’s important to ensure that the teaser doesn’t contain any spoilers. You have to keep them guessing to keep them hooked. The teaser, in fact, doesn’t need to reveal any information about the story or characters. Its only purpose is to grab the audience and promise to not let go for another 90 minutes (or longer if you’re watching with commercials!).
ACT 1 — 17-20 pages
This longest act introduces our protagonist, main characters, sets up their ordinary world, and contains the inciting incident, much like the first act of a theatrical film. The reason it’s so long is that Act 1 of a MOW must be meaty enough that we actually start to care about the protagonist before we hit that first commercial break.
If the audience doesn’t care about her by then, they will not sit through that first interruption. I say “her” because every TV thriller that I’ve ever come across has a female protagonist (if you know of any male-led TV thrillers, drop the title in the comments!).
The challenge with Act 1 is that, while it’s a longer chunk of the movie, it still needs to clip along at a good pace. That means balancing boring exposition with keeping the story moving quickly. As always: Show don’t tell, whenever possible!
Act 1 needs to end with a BANG! at around the 20-25 minute mark. During this final scene before we go to commercial, the protagonist needs to get their first glimpse of danger and thereby understand that the threat they are facing is very real. The thriller beats have to be escalating until the climax from here, so you don’t want to use your most thrilling moment just yet.
ACT 2 — 10-12 pages
And we’re back from that first commercial break!
During Act 2, like at the end of Act 1 in the three act structure, the protagonist will accept the call and fully enter the world of the story. This act builds on the tension we’ve been starting to develop at the end of Act 1. It also serves to further flesh out the world of the story and help us understand the antagonistic forces the protagonist is about to face.
This act will likely bring the first red herring, the character who the audience is meant to suspect may be the villain. Having more than one red herring, however, is even better to keep the audience guessing, since most are already looking for a red herring!
This act doesn’t necessarily have to end with a huge thriller moment, but it needs to end on something compelling enough to keep the audience invested during the second commercial break. Maybe it’s some juicy information that will leave the audience wondering “WHY?” This is the needling question that will keep them engaged throughout.
ACT 3 — 8-10 pages
This act is all about “fun & games”, as Blake Snyder calls the first part of Act 2 in a three act script. Unfortunately, we’re in a thriller so the games for the protagonist won’t be so fun. The villain will be toying with them and is still a few steps ahead. Their situation is getting progressively stickier. In this act, they might be in denial about what’s happening to them or they might not be able to convince those closest to them that there really is a threat.
This act needs to end with another BANG. Your audience is getting antsy now that we’re 40ish minutes in, so you need something to remind them why they are here. This could be a big obstacle to the protagonist accomplishing their goal or it might also just be some earth-shattering information so tantalizing that it hooks the audience all over again.
Locking them in completely now is critical because from this point forward, the commercial breaks are coming hard and fast, compared to the first half. Only a truly invested audience member will tolerate the interruptions that are to come!
ACT 4 — 8-10 pages
In Act 4, the pressure cooker is cooking. Tension and conflict are increasing. This act contains the midpoint of the film. The midpoint in a TV thriller is similar to the function of the midpoint in a three act script, which brings a big twist that changes the protagonist’s trajectory.
Some say the midpoint is in the middle of Act 4, others argue it’s at the end. For me, since the midpoint is usually an intense thriller beat, it makes sense to have it at the end of the act. If you choose to place your midpoint in the middle of act 4 by making it a revelation instead of a thriller beat, please just ensure that you have a thriller beat at the end of the act. By the end of Act 4, it needs to be clear that the protagonist is fully engulfed in the danger that surrounds them.
Related tangent: It often happens to me that somehow in my deepest psyche, I want to protect my darling protagonists and hesitate at first to put them in real danger. It’s so important for the payoff of the climax, however, that we feel every horror they’ve gone through so we can root for them in the end. I often remind myself at this point in the script that I should be throwing ever larger stones at my poor protagonist who is currently stuck up the tree.
ACT 5 — 7-9 pages
From this point forward, the pace of the story should be increasing. The acts are getting shorter, so the thrills are coming faster. It should feel like the protagonist can’t catch a breath or a break from the midpoint onward.
In Act 5, the protagonist has been knocked down, but they are still trying to win. Sadly, for them, they are using the same old tactics they’ve been using all along, which haven’t been getting them anywhere. They still have many lessons to learn so they can change and grow enough to face the villain in the end. If the final showdown was right now, they would surely lose.
In this act, it may even seem like they are gaining some traction, only to learn that they have been chasing the wrong person or wrong lead. Act 5 may also bring the moment when they lose support from their circle and realize they have to go it alone.
The last moment before the end of this act should be a thriller moment that really drives home how the villain is currently winning.
ACT 6 — 7-9 pages
This act is all about piling more and more on the protagonist as we get closer to the climax. We aren’t yet at the low point of Act 7, but things are getting very bad as the obstacles build. The conflict and problems are boiling below the surface. It’s becoming painfully clear that the protagonist needs to rework their approach to the problem in order to accomplish their goal, since they know now that it hasn’t been working for them.
They are likely still chasing the red herring at this point, convinced that this is the true villain. Maybe they even have a small win here to give the illusion that they are on the right path, only to have the rug pulled out from under them in Act 7.
The final scene before the commercial break needs to be an escalating thriller beat. The audience needs to know that the protagonist is in serious trouble now and has to be itching to see how it turns out.
Act 7 — 7-9 pages
This act is the one that leads into the climax of Act 8, so things could not be worse for our protagonist. This is their low point (“the dark night of the soul” moment) when it seems like success is impossible.
In this act, the protagonist usually discovers who the true villain is and must adjust their plan in the moment, with the knowledge they’ve acquired, to prepare to take down this real killer.
The act will end with the protagonist making the difficult decision to face the villain head on and launch themselves into the final showdown. This is similar to the second turning point of a three act film at the end of Act 2 that catapults the protagonist into Act 3. Sometimes in TV thrillers, this decision is made for them when they are blindsided by the true villain in a terrifying thriller beat.
ACT 8 — 7-9 pages
This act contains most of the climax, or as I usually call it, the final showdown. This is when the protagonist will face off against the true villain in an epic fight. If they are already in the villain’s grasp, they need to fight like hell to break free.
In a TV thriller, the stakes are always sky high: The protagonist’s continued existence is on the line. If she doesn’t win, she will be dead. It’s that dramatic.
During the final showdown, she may be aided by her circle (who now finally believe she’s in grave danger) or maybe even by the red herring, who she has since discovered isn’t the bad guy she thought they were. It may seem obvious on paper, but the final battle has to be won by the protagonist and no one else. She’s the only one who can deal the final blow. If you ever watch a thriller and the climax feels anticlimactic, it’s probably because the protagonist themselves isn’t the one who ultimately defeats the villain in the end.
In Act 8, it’s extremely important that you go out with the biggest bang yet at the height of this epic battle: Your protagonist’s very life needs to hang in the balance as you push into that final commercial break. The audience must be clamouring to find out if she’s going to make it through this or if the villain will win in the end.
ACT 9 — 6-7 pages
Since we’ve seen most of the climax in the last act, now all that remains to be seen is how that final battle ends and what happens next.
There isn’t actually much ground to cover after the climax, which is why act 9 is the shortest act of all. Most buyers of TV thrillers expect that the villain will be brought to justice, so the protagonist doesn’t need to kill them in the end.
Anyone else who was in danger as a result of the story will also be saved by the protagonist in this act. A common trope for act 9 is the image of the protagonist wrapped in a blanket watching as the police take the perp away.
After the climax, act 9 also gives us a denouement, usually in the form of a time jump. It’s X months later and the protagonist is happy again. Their life from before this incident is now restored and, due to the growth they experienced during the trials and tribulations they suffered, they are even happier than they were before.
Relationships that were tested have been strengthened. Dreams they had before the villain came into their life have now been realized. This is the satisfaction that the viewer has been anticipating this whole time. Their investment in watching this film has paid off (and it paid off for the advertisers too!)
Final takeaways…
So what came first, the structure or the network’s commercial breaks? Did the advertisements get slotted into the natural breaks in the story or did the networks reverse engineer the 9 act structure to maximize airtime for their sponsors’ messages? It’s a question that even I may never have the answer to.
After all that talk about buyers, commercials, and structure as profit, you may be wondering, where does the artistic expression fit in? The reality is that TV movies are and have always been intended primarily to generate revenue.
To me, writing a script within those rigid financial parameters that is still impactful and true to me as an artist is the most fun challenge of all. I can express myself as creatively in a TV movie as I can in a sample script written just for me.
It may not be for every screenwriter, but there is a lot to explore artistically within the structure of TV movies!
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Fascinating - and I’ll be looking at the structure of TV movies with new eyes now!
This is thorough and is excellent advice. Having written a couple of produced Lifetime movies, and EP'd many MOWs, I wish you had written this article a few years ago! Nonetheless, it is great information for anyone wanting to enter the TV movie game. Well done.