iCarly Spec Script -- iWanna Gold Medal by B Brenton - Series, Childrens - A two act Spec script for iCarly. At the request of Spencer, an iCarly sports event is held at their school. 20 pages - pdf, format 8)

I can offer a couple of technical notes for formatting tv.

P. 4 You need to have END TEASER - Page Break - ACT ONE
The same note holds for all act breaks with the new act breaking to a new page.  Sometimes in animation there is no page break but in live action it is the norm.
      
At the end of the script it's not an end of act but an END OF SHOW so you don't flip the page looking for more.

The big note is that it is way too short for a half-hour comedy.  Most scripts run about 35-45 pages for the half hour.

Content-wise there is nothing more PC than children's shows.  I don't know about Nick but Disney has a manual on what you can and can't reference and trust me when I say midget wrestling is a place you don't want to go.

MY eight year old is a huge Miranda Cosgrove fan, and can quote Drake and Josh verbatim. Unfortunatly, I, by default, can too...I'm not trying to mean spirited here, but this wouldn't fly in my house.

Midget wrestling? Nope. One step up from dwarf Bowling...Not a good idea.  Thumb wrestling...You bet. Paper football? No problem...Have the Olympics of games that kids like to play...

Special Games? Think the Special Olympics people might have some issues with that...

Dictionarified? Nothing worse than TV shows that teach bad grammer...

Blackmail material? Imagine this conversation...Hey, Dad? How can it be that on ICarly, Miss Briggs used to be a man? Can they do that? Is there like, some kind of operation where people can do that? That's not really a conversation I want to have with my pre-teen at this point in time.

See how long they can hold Freddy under water?!? Dude, you are writing for KIDS and young teens! What kind of suggestion is that? Hey, I dare you to hold Billy's head under water like they said on iCarly...Yeah, OK...
Unfortunatly, stuff like that happens and kids die.

Think the idea of basing this episode on Spencer is wrong...He's good comic relief and gives the girls some freedom they may not otherwise have (the sucking up the gold fish is a particular favorite moment)...The show is by kids for kids about kids...Not about adults acting like kids...He can suggest the idea and the kids can run with it, though, but not spring boarding off of midget wrestling, maybe some other goofy sport he sees on midnight tv...

The concept is good about having them make up sports. although they should be sports that kids make up and send into the show and Carly and Sam and other kids have to play them (the egg salad toss is fine...That is good Nick stuff- Plenty of slime fueled action and physical comedy...)

Got to keep in mind your audience at all times, and it goes beyond just the target demographic...Your're packaged right up there with Spongebob, Avatar and Jimmy Nuetron...If I saw this episode as is, I'd ban this show. Period.
Too violent, disrepectful (making fun of midgets), touches on transgenderism and depicts too many imitatable bad behaviors..

That being said, I do wish you good luck with the project and the opportunity...

Joe

The Teaser was a nice scene-setter of sorts, but as far as the remaining script goes, my complaints and notes run linear to those of both Cat and Wolfe: the page- breaks and "END ACT ONE" is something that simply solidifies the sections of the script.

Also, like Cat said, the gender-changing and "midget" factor... both are a bit unnecessary, especially with this particular demographic. I agree that thumb-wrestling might be a better idea; it's still ridiculous, but enjoyable nonetheless. Consider also: underwater basketweaving.

As for "dictionarified", I thought that was kind-of funny. Kids make up their own words all the time, so I personally thought it fit.

Having the audience mail in the challenge would be fantastic; however, as the screenwriter, you couldn't forsee such a thing, so don't put that burden on yourself. However, making a note on the spec before sending it in may plant in Nick's mind the idea; an interactive idea that perhaps the producers would not have thought of at the time.

Cat, you brought up the page limit. It's my understanding that Brenton wrote it onto 22 pages (one page = one minute), taking into account the 8-minute cumulative commercial breaks in between acts. At least, that's what it seemed like to me.

Doc - episodics are always longer in page count than their entire run time and then some.

An hour-long is actually 42 minutes of broadcast TV.  The page count ranges from 60-70 pages.  

A sitcom is 21 minutes of broadcast TV and the page count is 40-45 pages.

A kid show half-hour is about 19 minutes and the page count is 35-40.