Screenwriters/Know about Japan’s TV Industry?

Hi,

I'm an aspiring screenwriter && I'm currently working on a few projects (a pilot episode for a Kdrama and a possible Japanese drama or movie). However, because it's not too possible for me to speak with someone in the TV industry over there, I am not sure if the teleplay format of their dramas are the same as here in the U.S. and I absolutely need to know.

Could anyone inform me of the current standard teleplay format for a one-hour (?) drama in Japan?

I'm wondering about things such as the title page, act breaks (how many: 4, 5 and a teaser, 6?), how many pages the script should be (over here we have this 1 page = 1 minute of screen time approximation rule so a one hour TV script is usually about 50-60 pages, but Japanese characters appear to not take up as much space on the page as English does, meaning, a few Japanese characters can express the same thought in English, which might take several more words to do so), spacing and margins and such. I'm just wondering how much of screenplay format is universal really. I'm sure a lot of things are similar across all borders, no matter what country. But when writing for a specific market, it is necessary to be knowledgeable of the differences so that the work I produce is at least acceptable.

About act breaks:

I read somewhere that Kdramas don't air with interrupted commercial breaks && it would make sense seeing how they tend to run a full 60 minutes. Over here, one hour dramas are really only like 45 minutes because the other 15 are taken up by commercial breaks. Watching Jdramas online, I've realized they come out to about 42-45 minutes as well. What I am wondering is whether they are 45 minutes because they are like one-hour U.S. dramas over here that air commercial breaks or if Jdramas are just written as 45 minute episodes alone. And therefore have no act breaks.

Well, thank you for your time all. I truly appreciate it.

Amanda

I hope this answers your question in one way or another.
http://script.novelgakuen.com/

@Uco

I apologize for the late response. I was afraid no one would answer my question so I'm really grateful to see your reply. The site did help me! I was able to get some info there and lol it give me the idea to search around on Yahoo Japan. I can't get the best translation so I didn't even think about it, but with a bit of effort I was able to find some of the answers I was looking for.

Thanks again. I appreciate it =)