
The best way to figure out how to format your TV show script is to look online and find scripts of your favorite shows. With the right screenwriting software, it's pretty easy to mimic what you've seen others do. This is the first place you should start. And just to make it that much easier, this site has an absolute treasure trove of TV show scripts that you can check out for free: https://sites.google.com/site/tvwriting/
But just because you can view all these TV show scripts doesn't mean you'll be able to pick up on all the little nuances that comes with correct formatting. In fact, as you peruse these scripts, you'll notice there are little things that differ from script to script. Some of these differences are found in the writing style, of course. Others are different because the particular draft that's been uploaded designated a specific time in production. Some of this formatting you should be using in your own TV script, some you should not.
It's difficult to know which rules are steadfast, which rules can be broken, and when to use what. That's why in this post I'm going to go through the most common formatting issues I see in the scripts of new writers. I've worked as a writers' assistant, script coordinator, even a script reader. These are the issues I've seen pop up again and again throughout my career.

Just to be clear, these are not the major rules that are tackled in any screenwriting course you might have taken, like "start with a scene header, then go to scene description, then dialogue..." Those rules are easy enough to follow after having seen one or two scripts. And they're pretty much automatic if you're working on Final Draft or any other screenwriting program.
Instead, I'm going to focus on the unwritten rules of TV script formatting. Avoiding these mistakes will help your script look more professional and will give you a leg up when you're being read. The folks reading your script (producers, managers, agents, other writers, etc.) are not automatically going to reject you if your script is not formatted perfectly. But it adds to your professionalism and a feeling of "I've been here before" that will put all future readers at ease.
TV Show Script Formatting Rules
Beginning and ending your TV script
The industry seems to be pretty much done with the "FADE IN:" -- this applies to both feature film screenwriting and TV writing. This was the ubiquitous opening to literally any script for decades. However, in recent years, tighter more economical scripts have come into fashion, and the "FADE IN:" has been put aside. There is a big IF here.
If you literally want your TV show to fade in at the beginning of your first scene, then you can use it. Instead, simply begin with your first scene header.
On the other hand, to end your script, a FADE OUT. is still somewhat common. The correct formatting to use, in addition, is a center-aligned END OF PILOT at the very end of the script. It should be bolded and underlined. However, this rule is not stringent, and if you feel it doesn't fit the tone of your script, it's not something that needs to be there.
Basically, both the FADE IN and FADE OUT have gone from necessary to have, to a stylistic choice.

Act Breaks
This may be the most confusing formatting rule for new TV writers: whether or not you should be including act breaks in your script. And please note, I'm not talking about your story. There should always be inherent act breaks in your script. The protagonist should follow basic act structure throughout your pilot.
But in terms of actually putting "END OF ACT ONE" at the end of an act, and starting the next one with "ACT TWO," the rule gets a little more complicated. These act breaks were traditionally used in network TV when every script was working around strict commercial breaks. The act break would denote not only that the story had reached the end of an act, but that we're on a cliffhanger or important story point and it's time to go to commercial.
Every TV pilot that was written professionally or not had these act breaks. However, that is not the case anymore for most of TV. Streamers don't have strict commercial breaks, and most streaming scripts don't include them. In fact, the only time to keep act break formatting in your script these days is if you feel your script is right for network TV. For example, if your script is a pretty strict procedural or a multi-cam script, you can include act breaks. Otherwise, you can remove them altogether.
Comedy vs. Drama
On that point, if you are writing a script that you see as more appropriate for network TV, keep in mind there is a huge difference between the act breaks you need in a comedy TV show or a drama TV show.
A comedy has a three-act structure and a drama has a five-act structure.
A five-act structure is an elongated version of the three-act structure, but it requires more story development and turns for the main character. After all, a drama is generally an hour long and a comedy is generally a half-hour. Make sure your story follows the proper act structure for the script you're writing.
Directorial language
All the screenwriting message boards advise you against using directorial language, as in specific shots we're supposed to see, or language like "we see..." They tell you to let the director do their job and just tell the story, right? But then you look at professional TV show scripts and they're rife with exactly that type of language.
So, what are you supposed to do?
To answer that, it's important to know the context. TV show scripts are written for a studio by a showrunner who's going to be involved in production and editing and, unlike your TV pilot (for now), they are written for the express purposes of being shot. Therefore, a writer is really trying to convey the point of the scene to the director and department heads. Sometimes they need to get very specific and "directorial."
However, yours (again, just for now) is a writing sample. Writing samples are a very different animal. People will be scrutinizing it much more harshly. It's unfair, but it's the truth. Therefore, your writing, unfortunately, has to be cleaner and avoid any major directorial language.
Scene Numbers
Don't include them! Scene numbers are only added to a script when it is about to be shot. The Shooting Draft of any episode of TV is the only one with scene numbers. Many of the scripts you find online are shooting drafts, and that skews peoples' perspectives of what they should and should not include in their own script.
Never include scene numbers for your TV pilot. This is one mistake that will immediately flag you as a newbie to anyone reading your script.
How strictly should you stick to the TV show script formatting rules?
There are a lot of screenwriting formatting rules. And some of them really get in the way of the flow of your script. For example, if you have an intercut in a scene, it's pretty important to include a BEGIN INTERCUT at the beginning so we know what we're seeing.
But stopping a screenplay entirely for a MUSIC: cue isn't as important. If it can be said in scene description without stopping your action line dead for a cue, then it's fine to lose the formatting.
In addition, I wouldn't include any SFX in your script. Just describe the action and sound. These, again, are cues for the editor or sound department when your pilot is shooting, not for now when it's just a writing sample.
Your goal when writing a sample TV pilot is just for it to be a good, easy read. The hard truth is that people in entertainment - agents, producers, even writers - don't like to read, even when it's their job. So, giving them something that doesn't make them think too hard about what you actually mean in terms of formatting and is easy to digest is the best bet when it comes to your formatting.