Screenwriting : Is factual accuracy needed? by Jonathan Darrough

I think no matter what you write, you should strive to stick to the facts. if you write scdfi, make you theories make sense. If it's crime dramas or mysteries, have the police rules make sense.

Most definitely. But it seems like these days many of the shows are rushed and it doesn't seem to enhance the story at all. As matter of fact, it seems as though it brings about this unrealistic, pseudo world where there are no rules or order. I had a scenario similar in one of my own stories and because it was written from the (90's) era I had to research the law concerning divorce and pre-nuptial agreements. What I found out really empowered me to not only write authentic dialogue but made the story more believable.

I think that for the sake of drama, you can sacrifice accuracy, but it depends on the situation.

I always strive for accuracy... as an IT professional by day, nothing kills me more than when I see something on screen that just isn't true. In a way it kind of ruins the story for me. Embellishments are one thing, but just plain wrong is a different story.

Absolutely not, and simply researching how much films & TV get it wrong will show that. All the matters is plausibility to the audience, who are mostly ignorant to the real-world process.

We're now at the point where making things factual might actually be seen as wrong by viewers whose knowledge of something comes almost entirely from fiction. Again, there are examples of productions having to do things wrong to stick to expected norms.

We once had an actress play an FBI officer and she took the role very seriously. She trained with an ex-FBI agent who taught her the thumbs forward grip on a pistol, and arguably much better way to hold a gun than what you typically see in movies. The director just could not live with it. It looked too odd. It stuck out and was a distraction. So, she adopted the typical hand position you see in all movies.

You don't really get any points for doing your homework. Many think you do. You write for the audience demographic you're targeting. That's why car people hate Fast & Furious movies. They aren't made for them.

So the goal is to write down to the lowest common denominator? I think if you can make the legal aspects accurate without detracting from the drama, then you absolutely should. Most people who would be interested enough in a legal drama to watch it have watched other legal dramas, or may work in some aspect of the legal industry (which comprises millions of people in a myriad of roles), so the inaccuracy would take them out of the story, as Rick was saying. Again, though, making it too real would destroy the tension. Who wants to watch a legal battle take place purely over email or Zoom? But the facts should be as accurate as possible without interfering with the drama.

Interesting question! I think accuracy helps when it serves the emotion of the story.

I work with law here in Brazil — and let’s just say reality gives us plenty of dramatic material.

Jonathan Darrough Whether in legal, medical, or any other genre that deals with specialized knowledge, factual accuracy is important. You likely have practitioners in the audience, and if something is factually inaccurate, it can damage the perceived authenticity of the show.

I recently saw an episode of "Close to Home" where a defense attorney deliberately leaked evidence to a prosecutor a day before the case was about to be dismissed due to lack of evidence resulting in the conviction of his client. This is a serious offense that could lead to disbarment, and it was portrayed in a way that felt completely amateur.

Not only is this ethically wrong, but it undermines the credibility of the entire narrative. When shows make these kinds of mistakes, they risk losing the trust of their audience, especially those with professional expertise in the field.

For example, the pilot episode of Suits, literally everything, from minor details, to the entire premise of the episode (and I assume series) is wrong. And not slightly wrong. Monumentally in error. Tired tropes and cliches, characters that are caricatures, over written with too much exposition. And all of the characters are unlikable. No small crappy firm, much less a huge powerhouse, would knowingly hire a college dropout drug dealer as an attorney. At a minimum, they need verification of degrees from your school and a letter of good standing from the bar. The amount of errors leading to an unbelievable premise makes the show unwatchable.

It should. Authenticity is not only an indirect requirement upon writing within particular genres. But it builds validity to your project upon reading and can very well be an instrumental in molding it to creativity in many eyes if you utilize it correctly.

Bits of accuracy are praised but ultimately you are writing for an audience with their genre expections. Perhaps these errors (or more like concessions) are more abrasive to someone knowledgeable in a given field but a creative leap of faith is ofter the starting point for an interesting story.

How can a bored farmboy pilot an advanced spacecraft and land a one in a million shot to take out a planet destroying space station? I don't know, but it happned in Star Wars and everyone loved it. But perhaps some pilots had their reservations about how quick Luke learned to fly for a dangerous mission.

And speaking of legal drama like Suits... how about 12 Angry Men? The entire drama is the jurors, essentially, conducting their own investigation and not arguing the evidence as presented in the preceding court case. That's illegal. Yet the core of a classic film.

Author Tim O'Brien who wrote the Vietnam War novel The Things They Carried had the idea of "truer than true." Meaning that stories that better emotionally resonate with audiences can often feel more authentic than actual historical events. So it is for legal dramas and crime procedurals. No paperwork, endless nights pouring over minute details in murky evidence, but a definite trend of cutting to the chase, or at the very least, moment of discovery.

"So the goal is to write down to the lowest common denominator?"

Jonathan Darrough, no, not at all. The goal is to write for the intended audience, as I said in my original post.

If your intended audience is likely to be more aware of the technicalities of the profession, you write with that consideration. Sometimes you get people from a specialised background who "write what they know" about working within it. A good example of that is David Simon, who wrote The Wire after a long time as a journalist focused on crime.

Some content is high brow. Breaking Bad did a good job of bringing more accurate science into a TV show. The Martian is basically science porn.

Accuracy is a tough road to go down as it can play havoc with brevity and production. It can be up for debate too. Last year, when we shot a Civil War film, pretty much every historical expert we had on set passionately disagreed with each other over pretty much everything.

Hello Everyone! My name is Michael B. Layden! I am trying to pitch my screenplay, "A Crispness Carol", with is a rom-com horror movie cross between "Something About Mary and "Scrooge" I think it's pretty funny. Any suggestions?

(That's my pen name, which I used for my book 'The Bob Verga Shift"

Hey, Howard Quin. You could pitch your script to executives, managers, etc. through Stage 32's Pitch Sessions (www.stage32.com/scriptservices/pitch-sessions). The Pitch Sessions are mainly to get feedback on pitches, but members have gotten managers, signed shopping agreements, etc. through the sessions (www.stage32.com/scriptservices/success-stories).

Something I do to pitch my scripts is post pages in Stage 32's Your Stage Lounge (www.stage32.com/lounge/promotion), on Twitter/X, and on Instagram, like First Page Friday, Third Page Thursday, and Sneak Peek Sunday. I post loglines and script posters with the pages. Sometimes I post short pitches (like two-word pitches and three-word pitches) on social media.

I prefer factual accuracy. In my script "Motherland", a mother investigates the death of her transgender refugee daughter in the Netherlands. Studying the procedures and laws allowed me to build interesting scenes and write unexpected plot twists. I consider research and working with facts as part of the process of building the plot. But, of course, if you need to lie somewhere, only lawyers who watch your film will notice it.

From my experiencing developing in this space with lawyer-turned-writers - when writing a legal drama, you want the law parts to feel rooted and credible - so the stakes carry weight - but you mustn’t let accuracy stall the story’s momentum. From a producer-sales lens: credible legal detail enhances trust, but if every legal step bogs down the narrative, the drama suffers. Strike that balance.