Like the ever transitioning job of “Defence Against the Dark
Arts” Teacher, a new year brings with it a new set of challenges, rules and “beloved”
British acting talent. It’s a time for bizarre methods of weight loss, giving
up whatever has apparently been slowly killing you, and personal goals lifted
from the pages of Biff, Chip, Kipper and Floppy books. More importantly to the
modern writer, the TV and Film landscape is changing, and apparently I have all
the answers, so I suppose you had better listen up, buster (sorry, my New
Year’s resolution was to utilise more contemporary put downs, but clearly
something has gone wrong somewhere down the line).
1) Anthology Series Are
Changing The Rules
Apparently, TV studios are really starting to go for this
“one and done” mentality of show production, where stories are only as long as
they need to be before moving on to something else that can apparently share
the same title. Two of last year’s big successes, True Detective and Fargo,
are currently developing their sophomore seasons with a whole new cast in
different locations and time periods respectively. While this doesn’t
necessarily mean we’re going to see the death of continuing drama, it does
suggest we’re going to be getting a lot more of this down the line.
But that’s across the pond, right? Surely we Brits won’t
adopt this model too? True, the US does have more resources at its disposal to
make anthologies a reality, but maybe that’s where you come in, my writing
chum. If you can create an arena or thematic connection that yields stories
beyond your initial mainstay characters, you’ve got the scope for an anthology.
It doesn’t even have to undergo an extreme makeover on series basis – look at
the work of Jimmy McGovern and you’ll see that British anthologies can reinvent
themselves every single episode.
2) True Stories Are
Back In Fashion
As we all know, the ending of Winter brings about a season
that many enjoy tremendously – Awards Season. Big Hollywood movies crafted with
an authentic, artistic voice become the talk of the town, and already 2015 has
some emerging favourites. Among these are The
Imitation Game and The Theory of
Everything - two Biopics revealing the truths and tragedies behind iconic
geniuses, even if neither ever really get their hands dirty. Nevertheless, these
movies are entertaining for those after strong character stories, educational
for those less informed and exciting for movie studios as famous figures almost
come with an immediate audience.
Looking beyond these obvious examples, 2015 really looks to
be the year of the “troubled prodigy” – a concept that’s inherently fascinating
due to its balancing of the aspirational and the amoral. Two other contenders
for Awards Season are Foxcatcher and Whiplash, the former a biographical look
at an infamous murder case, and the latter a semi-autobiographical story about
a jazz drummer trained under military-like conditions. Watching trailers for
these movies one after the other, you’d be forgiven for thinking they follow
the same story structure, but the critical acclaim achieved before both have
even been fully released show that true stories, done right, can be a force to
be reckoned with.
3) Even More Streaming
Services
Despite services like Netflix
and Hulu being applauded for
offering up vast selections of media in one place, it appears as if these
behemoths may soon be just as fragmented as the numerous outlets they
“borrowed” from in the first place. That’s right – more streaming services are
on the way, and many are already boasting exclusivity on shows that they
possess the rights to, suggesting they’ll become more and more like classically
defined “channels”. Nevertheless, existing services are consistently boosting
their roster and many are turning towards developing quality original
programming to justify their existences.
Maybe the big terrestrial channels weren’t too keen on your
latest TV show idea, but who’s to say it wouldn’t work perfectly on a streaming
service like Netflix? You’ve got to
start considering what I like to call the “Binge-ability Factor”. House of Cards and Orange is the New Black are designed to be consumed in extended
sittings, by constantly offering up loose ends, cliffhangers and the promise of
deeper secrets. One thing House of Cards does
particularly well is placing its big shocking moments around the end of Act 2,
rather than at the very end, so that you’ve already had time to process the
ramifications of the twist by the time the option to hit “Next Episode” comes
around.
4) Be Wary Of The
Controversial Choice
Look, I think you know what I’m going to talk about here,
because my extended Christmas / New Year hiatus came around as this story was
really starting to hit the fan. Yes, I’m going to talk about The Interview. By now, pretty much all
has been said on what it means for freedom of speech, questions of decency and
the pervasiveness of satire, so I thought I’d consider the writer’s perspective
for a moment. The story was devised by Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg and Dan
Sterling (who also wrote the screenplay), who share among themselves many
credible comedy writing accolades and credits...
So why did they want to make this movie? Satirical comedy
has always been a large part of Western culture, but what does it mean when the
subject under attack (quite literally in the film) isn’t really a part of that
culture to begin with? Was it all just for the cheap laughs that previous Rogen
efforts have opted for? Whatever the answers are, choosing the subject for your
film has proven to be less important than how
you choose to frame the story. Those true stories I talked about earlier - What
if they were screwball comedies or crass satires? If you want to tackle a story
that forces us to face an unpleasant truth, then all power to you, but, I
implore you, do tread lightly...
5) Start Predicting
What Will Be Good In 2016
This is a pretty obvious statement for writers, despite
being incredibly unclear on how such predictions can be achieved. Aside from
visiting an actual psychic, the best thing you can do is be logical,
mathematical and as omniscient as possible. For example, if Anthologies are to
become the next big thing, what sort of narrative structure will that lead to
afterwards? It could be hypothesised that it will come full circle, culminating
in some sort of Twilight Zone reboot
(Lord knows, TV loves their reboots and prequels as much as Hollywood these
days). Conversely, you could imagine the format dying out, giving way to ultra
serialised long form narratives once more. Or maybe there’ll come a time when
it’s not even clear whether a series is adopting an anthology model or secretly
feeding into a larger story.
What about the true stories craze? Aside from maybe just
being a seasonal phenomenon, are we going to start blurring the lines between
reality and fiction more than ever? Films like the phenomenal Birdman would certainly suggest so (not
that anyone would dare emulate that film now). Maybe you prefer to think of
trends in terms of genre. One thing is for sure, superhero movies aren’t going
away, so will they take a leaf out Captain
America: The Winter Soldier’s book and start blending genres, or just continue
to build on the elements previous movies have committed them to? However you
chose to break it down, if you can think ahead and genuinely get excited for what
the next stage is going to be, you’re going to do absolutely fine this year.
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