Media Techniques Test 2 2 14 It all begins with writers until there are words on the page nothing happens Golden rule of work GROW Someone hires you to make their life easier Original writer will always get credit If script gets produced the writer did their job o Doesn t matter if its good or bad o It got people hired doesn t matter if made money or lost it people worked Team of two people that worked together And Means these other writers were brought in later Film Director has most creative control Studio is buying the pages that are already written o o Will almost always be rewrites o May not be produced just being bought out TV Buying the writer and the pages they may write in the future o Prospective o Writers room Group written Showrunner Writer with most power Usually the creator May still have final decision making on series they no longer run day to day o In US the shows will usually go on if show creator decides to leave but in Britain it will end Whoever writes the check has the final say 2 19 Writing is rewriting o If you re not rewriting you won t last long as a professional Notes will identify a problem but not solve it o They might seem to conflict with the WAYSAW Let audience know that a character is supposed to be unlikeable by having another character play the audience US TV shooting pace is very very fast Theatrical films need about 620 films a year o Based on of films submitted for MPAA ratings o Need to keep product in theater Shows that go over 90 min are classified as TV movies and then costs for every union guild member go way up Get a copyright o Protects your idea from being stolen To be stolen the person had to have had access to your idea and had access to it before they registered it as theirs they might have already had it before you met o Copyright lawsuit We Are Marshall Documentary producers met with Warner Brothers and were WB bought life rights to key characters and then composite offered turned it down characters after that Documentary producers sued events were similar events were shot in similar fashion to the documentary the same incorrect episode of The Newlywed Game was featured Lawsuit failed events are similar because its a real story Example of why a studio might pay for a script they don t plan to produce would ve saved WB in the long run they paid more for court fees than the documentary producers wanted in the first place 2 21 When you see company logos at the beginning of a film those are the production companies that paid for the film o If studio name is in there they put money up If not they just distributed the film Costs of distribution o Making the prints Now becoming digital reduced piracy o Publicity Ads lobby posters paying theaters to show the trailers o First week 90 to distributor 10 to theater From there it goes down writer Coverage 2 page report readers give a script and score it Scores Pass Consider Recommend o o Readers score script writer could pass on script but recommend A strong action writer could have script passed on but asked to do rewrites on a consider film o Will be fired if you pass scripts that become hits elsewhere Don t say yes too much but don t say no too often either No one wants to be wrong Forrest Gump Passed over many times Script was bought developed then passed on it Another studio then did the same thing Paramount finally took it over and produced the film This is turnaround o Coverage goes into database about the script the writer Production companies are owned run by producers or directors or actors o They find develop produce films and TV shows for film TV studios o Production company for film needs to find a studio to produce and then the same or another to distribute domestically internationally What determines whether a script becomes a studio film o Marketing The key determinant o The four quadrants Male under 25 Male over 25 Female under 25 Female over 25 The more quadrants you hit the more box office results you have Except if fanboy movie like Transformers they ll see it 5 times and that takes care of the fact that not many older people will see it o American sports movies won t be big international hits o Tax credits States compete for production Some states give future credits other states rebate cash Louisiana Michigan North Carolina successful How an idea for a TV series gets to the screen o Track record TV development process is much different UK v US o Don t need to show film to test audience and advertisers in UK 3 5 Sitcom Sometimes too many characters not really fully drawn or used o Runner Repeated jokes o o People on sitcoms don t really watch TV o Bottle shows Flashback episode Saves money only have to film the transition scenes o Rule of Threes A joke pattern for sitcoms and jokes in general Need three points to define a joke So say two things to seem to create a line to a third point but something different o Humor arises out of the situation Very few characters in TV tell jokes the other characters would call him a jokester except Chandler on Friends Ex Frasier doesn t know he s on a gay date o Double Entendre Audience had a second meaning while the characters often didn t Protecting the character Roz s behavior setting up an uncomfortable situation knowing that Frasier isn t gay Motivating the character When Frasier holds up the sign Roz didn t tell Tom that Frasier is straight because of that moment o Character usually says what they want o Callback When you set something up and then you call it back Building on a previous joke Ex Character gets old milk out of fridge smells it and puts it back in then another characters gets the milk and drinks it without smelling it o Audience is usually ahead of at least some of the characters in a sitcom Showing v Saying Better to show than to say o o Playing the Moment The audience has the info let the character take time as the audience runs through their minds the info the character is running through his her mind o Episodic v Serial There may be elements in an episode that you don t know if you didn t see other episodes but you can still follow the story of that episode Serialized drama You re not gonna get it Episodic drama You can drop in and get most of the info self contained 3 7 Watched Seinfeld whale episode o Three stories marine biologist Elaine w Russian writer Kramer golfing o Over the top coincidences but works o Lies Jerry tells Elaine War Peace was originally entitled War What is it …
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