Over and over again, I hear fans complaining that "They just made it up as they went along." Well, I'm getting a little tired at hearing this. Of COURSE they did. Here's I have to say to the entire "making it up as they went along" camp.
Yes,
to a certain degree, they DID make it up as they went along. That is
one of the MAJOR differences between a Television program and a movie
or a mini-series. Only the mini-series and movies are completely
written before production starts. Even then, sometimes the ending is
completely re-written midway, because the original idea just isn't
going to work.
Any TV series only starts out with an outline.
The Show Runners realized three years in that if allowed to continue indefinitely, that is, to be written and produced as is traditional in
TV, the show would begin to suck (see Expose). So they set an end date.
At that point, they formulated a rough outline for the remaining
episodes. Then, they set a schedule to write and produce those episodes.
Scripts
WERE written as they went along, as is customary in TV. You want
something completely written before the first roll of film is shot,
stick to movies and mini-series.
(I put on my raincoat as I step off my soapbox, in preparation for an onslaught of rotten tomatoes.)
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you're totally right. i don't even claim to know the ins-and-outs of tv production, but it is just naive to think the writers had every single plot, line of dialogue, beat, etc planned before the first ep was filmed.
ReplyDeletenice post.
Thanks Mel
ReplyDeleteLaurelnev