[ SECRET POST #4901 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #4901 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 72 secrets from Secret Submission Post #702.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

A good team of writers can take a general idea of a show direction and do great things with the characters based on what the actors bring to the roles and how good the actors are at drama or comedy or whatever is needed.

It's incredibly difficult to determine a long story arc and adhere to it once you have actors bringing the characters to life. Sometimes there's more chemistry between characters A and C than A and B, who were supposed to be the big couple. Sometimes character D is really well loved and the writers decide not to kill her in the first episode.

TV shows are constantly evolving. The worst thing you do is have a strict plan that you're trying to stick to. Conversely, the best thing that you can do is staff proven, gifted writers and hire great actors who will all wok well together. Unfortunately, that's a difficult thing to do when both writing and acting are largely subjective, and chemistry cannot be faked or sometimes predicted.

[(Anonymous)]

SA

Also, once the writing team is a few episodes into the season, they're in a scramble to get stories broken, outlined, approved, written, and shot. It's a mad dash by the end of the season to get everything done in the amount of time they have to do it, and that's when a lot of mistakes happen.

Also, the studio and network have to approve the episodes and overall season arc(s). I was a writers' assistant for a show that had a great idea as a way to pull all of the episodes together and make the stories all matter, but an older, proven show was doing a similar storyline on the network so our show was told to come up with a new plan. We never did - we were canceled before it mattered.

Similarly, we had issues with our second episode so much so that the script was being rewritten as the episode was shooting, and there was a breakdown in communication from the set to the writers' room. The writer was rewriting scenes that had already been shot, so he had to make changes in scenes that were still upcoming instead. It's a wonder that episode made any sense at all.

There's a lot more going on behind the scenes than you realize, and it's not always the writers that are the problem.

[(Anonymous)]

Is there an excuse for shows like GOT though? They knew going in what story they had to tell and that the ending had to be completed by them because the books weren't done.

[(Anonymous)]

AYRT

I didn't watch GOT, but I've seen articles/comments online about how it was handled. It was a bit of an undertaking, and I just assumed the team of writers were either burnt out or just not well suited to handling the challenge. I mean, adapting a book series to either movies or a TV show is a very difficult thing. You can't use every moment, so you have to pick and choose what to use based on the narrative you want to tell and what the studio/network wants you to use.

Also, it goes back to the actors/chemistry thing. Even though the books were already written, once the show started going, and they saw how the audience was reacting to certain characters, how some actors had chemistry with other actors, how some actors were on set, I'm sure changes were made.

And then, you're correct, they had to create an ending. I'm sure there was input from the author, but at the end of the day, they had to write a series finale. The endings must be the worst part for the writers because the track record of finales is not good across the board. It seems nearly impossible to write an ending that will satisfy even a small number of people. And then you throw in network meddling as well.

We've all seen movies or shows where we thought "hey, this is a great idea, but the execution is terrible". Things on paper are sometimes much better than the final product, which involves a lot of collaboration between writers, a director, a DP, producers, budget, network/studio input, actors. If one of those things is out of tune with the rest, then a lackluster product emerges.

Sorry for the long-winded response. TL;DR: There are a lot of reasons a show (or movie) can suck. The writers are only the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

[(Anonymous)]

Thank you for these bits of insight - it’s always fascinating to hear when shows end up evolving (or perhaps sometimes more like swerving) on the fly!

[(Anonymous)]

SA - also that rewrite while scenes were shooting - wow!

[(Anonymous)]

AYRT

You're welcome! It was very fascinating to watch and be a small part of the whole process. The rewriting while scenes are shooting probably happens a lot more often that we realize. I know the White Collar episode Bottlenecked was also rewritten while they were shooting it as they discussed it during a commentary track.