Industry Spotlight - Binge-worthy writing
One of the hottest trends in the TV market right now, is the binge-worthy TV series. Everyone's talking about the soon-to-return Black Mirror, social media went crazy over 13 Reasons Why, and you can't move for people raving about Stranger Things. With 9.5 million households in the UK alone having a subscription to some form of video on demand (VOD) service (figures from BARB), there's no hiding from it.
And if these are the shows that everyone is watching, naturally, these are the shows that writers want to be writing. But how does one write a binge-worthy TV show à la Netflix?
There's quite clearly going to be a structural difference in the binge-worthy TV show. Where a film script requires enough twists to keep things interesting, but not so many that the story doesn't fit into its 2 hour slot, you can think of the VOD series as taking your TV show idea and writing it as a 13 hour movie script. Though this article states 5 steps to writing TV show scripts to captivate audiences and producers, and it does specifically discuss binge-worthy shows, the steps themselves are not exclusive to writing for VOD and binge-watching audience. But maybe they are useful tips to remind yourself of during the writing process. I think a more helpful tip would be to compare your script to an onion: does it have layers? Twists and turns are great to keep your audience hooked, but a big reveal in episode 8 that changes your perception of the entire show? That's the stuff of the binge-worthy, and it makes a huge impact on your audience when they've been obsessing over the thing for the last day and a half.
Thinking about a TV show for VOD seems to be more about looking at the bigger picture than traditional broadcast TV, though some broadcast shows do lend themselves extremely well to binge viewing. The mindset seems to be: instead of focusing on individual episodes, think of the whole season as a layered, three-act story. This (hopefully) allows for a stronger connection between the audience and the characters, and as each episode leads into the next, should keep them hooked.
But there's another interesting take on writing the binge-worthy TV show in the video below, Death Note: How To Write Binge-Worthy Television. The video's creator says that the genius of Death Note is its pacing, and the way it uses tension as a narrative device to keep you hooked.
Another point that struck me from this video was the comment that Death Note is a dying breed of a TV show, where it can produce amazing stand-alone episodes within a larger narrative: The episodes have one specific goal and it feeds into the main arc, and that's something of an endangered species, with the rise of streaming services and binge watching, where every episode sort of blurs into the next. And I think there's definitely some truth in this way of thinking. Suits was a much better show in its first season, where the episodes stood for themselves, compared with its fifth season, where one main story arc spanned several episodes.
Unfortunately it seems not everyone agrees on the best way to write binge-worthy TV. But maybe that's a good thing: there's no set way that's the right way, and that gives you freedom as the writer to do your own idea justice. Maybe yet another checklist of 'How to Write...' is the last thing we need. The best advice is to decide what's right for your story, and for your writing, because it's individual to you. Only you can write your story. What are you waiting for?
And if these are the shows that everyone is watching, naturally, these are the shows that writers want to be writing. But how does one write a binge-worthy TV show à la Netflix?
 |
| Netflix Original, Stranger Things |
There's quite clearly going to be a structural difference in the binge-worthy TV show. Where a film script requires enough twists to keep things interesting, but not so many that the story doesn't fit into its 2 hour slot, you can think of the VOD series as taking your TV show idea and writing it as a 13 hour movie script. Though this article states 5 steps to writing TV show scripts to captivate audiences and producers, and it does specifically discuss binge-worthy shows, the steps themselves are not exclusive to writing for VOD and binge-watching audience. But maybe they are useful tips to remind yourself of during the writing process. I think a more helpful tip would be to compare your script to an onion: does it have layers? Twists and turns are great to keep your audience hooked, but a big reveal in episode 8 that changes your perception of the entire show? That's the stuff of the binge-worthy, and it makes a huge impact on your audience when they've been obsessing over the thing for the last day and a half.
Thinking about a TV show for VOD seems to be more about looking at the bigger picture than traditional broadcast TV, though some broadcast shows do lend themselves extremely well to binge viewing. The mindset seems to be: instead of focusing on individual episodes, think of the whole season as a layered, three-act story. This (hopefully) allows for a stronger connection between the audience and the characters, and as each episode leads into the next, should keep them hooked.
But there's another interesting take on writing the binge-worthy TV show in the video below, Death Note: How To Write Binge-Worthy Television. The video's creator says that the genius of Death Note is its pacing, and the way it uses tension as a narrative device to keep you hooked.
Another point that struck me from this video was the comment that Death Note is a dying breed of a TV show, where it can produce amazing stand-alone episodes within a larger narrative: The episodes have one specific goal and it feeds into the main arc, and that's something of an endangered species, with the rise of streaming services and binge watching, where every episode sort of blurs into the next. And I think there's definitely some truth in this way of thinking. Suits was a much better show in its first season, where the episodes stood for themselves, compared with its fifth season, where one main story arc spanned several episodes.
Unfortunately it seems not everyone agrees on the best way to write binge-worthy TV. But maybe that's a good thing: there's no set way that's the right way, and that gives you freedom as the writer to do your own idea justice. Maybe yet another checklist of 'How to Write...' is the last thing we need. The best advice is to decide what's right for your story, and for your writing, because it's individual to you. Only you can write your story. What are you waiting for?
Comments
Post a Comment