Screenwriting : Should I write for Film or TV? by Alan John Denman

TV as in a made for TV movie? Or TV as in a series?

Good question. Thanks. I was thinking TV series.

Another part of the puzzle is where she's writing from. I suspect the made-for-tv movie market differs from country to country. Speaking from a US perspective, if she's got a one-shot story film is probably the easier route (though by no means easy!) to see it realized. The movie-of-the-week market here is vastly limited. Other ways the media differ: -- TV constraints affect the pacing of a story. With commercials, she must essentially "pause" the narrative flow to accommodate them, and it should be done in such a way that viewers aren't tempted to change the channel. -- TV production also generally runs on a much smaller budget, and a much smaller screen. -- There are differences in writer compensation between the two medium. -- From what I've heard) differences in the writer's involvement in the two arenas.

Shelley, thanks for elucidating the constraints of writing for TV. Although home screens have got bigger, I think there is still a tendency to think less visually and more in dialogue when writing for TV. Someone once said that dialogue in TV was effective because you could be doing the dishes and still follow what was going on!

Though things ate changing in TV now, traditionally a TV series needed to run 100 episodes. So an idea that will work as a single feature film is very different than one which will work as a TV series. When they make a movie into a TV series, key elements are changed to make it work... and even then most do not work. Movies tend to be visually told, and involve larger than life stories (big enough to fill the screen) and spectacle. TV tends to be dialogue driven (it began as radio) and involve smaller and more personal stories (it's in your living room) and usually is made on a budget. There are two different kinds of ideas (as you say in original post).

Write for Yourself !!!!

I always say to write the kind of movie you regularly pay to see in the cinema. That way, it's not just for you... it's for all of the other people who buy tickets as well.

Personally I think just for skill gathering you should try to do both. You can pick a focus for an allotted amount of time once you try and write at least one of each. Besides you really won't know where you might fir naturally unless you try both. As am growing I not only write for each form of media but also each genre of both. Eventually I think it will enhance whatever focus you chose by doing this. I don't think there are any shortcuts to this unless you are highly fortunate and get into a mentoring program somewhere. Honestly I still think you will need the ability to do both and genres of both before a mentoring program would even consider someone. Media is a collective of idea's and feature writing as well as television writing borrow from each other yet they re completely different as is a web series, as is a sketch series.

There I go spouting off with a response before I really read and understood the question. If she is talking about a specific script that could be written for both I would say write for film because television can make that adaptation from film to television. Also it is dependent on length and other factors. If she talking about what media she should write for in general then my above response seems more appropriate.

I think when your writing something you usually get a strong sense of where it's best going to fit. Is it strong enough for the big screen. Will commercials keep the story from making sense. Is it a story line that can fit into a straight 90 minutes or 2 hrs. Will dragging it out past that because of a network for mat kill the attention of the viewer. However, in the end who will the producer most likely try to sell it too lol.

I find TV easier to write and more fun. But I love to research and find writing the bible almost as much fun as the script. The biggest complaint I've heard about TV Series are the bibles and the need for them to be fairly detailed. If you don't enjoy the research you might not enjoy writing for TV.

Aww, you make me blush.

I'm finding that tv today requires the high concept premise of a feature film with a solid heart and long character arcs (not necessarily slower, see scandal) that if you can adapt to the 4-5 act structure of TV, you could move seamlessly between them. Thoughts?

My thoughts are that you are correct Gail. ;)