On your Thai TV...

[vaga]

Sawasdee krap forum denizens

I'm working on writing a "pilot" (1st episode) for a TV comedy (sit-com) style that I'd like to pitch in Thailand eventually and I have a silly question.

Although, I've seen my fair share of Thai television programs - I'm not sure about actual screen running times.

Simply put, are there any 30 minute Thai comedies that run the standard (American) schedule/style?

For example (I'll use a popular American sit-com for clarity) : The Big Bang Theory is composed of:

(teaser - commerical - Act 1 - commercial - Act 2 - commercial - conclusion) = 30 minutes in total.

Are there any comedies running in Thailand presently that seem to follow this formula?

Thanks for any insights.

Edited November 14, 2012 by vaga

[FarangFarang]

Depends on the format. I know when watching US/UK shows that they air less commercials when on Thai tv than American/British tv but then they have their soaps which have far more commercials (and longer).

The US standard is 22 minutes of content for a 30 minute program. You might have to time the same program on Thai television to get a benchmark.

Then again, if you write 25 minutes and there's real interest, you should be able to cut it or lengthen it to Thai programming norms.

[vaga]

Thanks for that feedback, Bill. Mucho appreciato

[FarangFarang]

Also, there should probably be a distinction between television shown in Thailand and Thai television. For instance, True carries AXN (based out of Singapore with mostly US programming). There's also other US, British, Chinese, Indian, etc programming on other channels carried by True.

Then there's Thai television which is primarily only shown in Thailand. Not sure how they do the commercials (in relation to the content).