Writing is harder than it looks.

I’m almost tempted to just leave this post there to prove a point.

I’m fairly easy to please when it comes to television and film and I actually struggle to identify bad writing.  I know this because of those awkward moments where everyone around me will be laying into the film crying foul at its poor structure, heavy handed exposition and forced dialogue when all I can really think is “…but it was great…right?” and so I know that I’m not a critic.  However, sometimes I’ll see something on television that I’ll think was awful and that I just can’t watch, and I’ll make my mind up that it’s due to bad writing and that I could do better.

Whereas I might be right on the first bit, it might not be the writer’s fault and I’m beginning to think I might be wrong on the second bit as well.  I’ve been trying to put together a few scripts for first episodes of ideas that look fantastic on paper only to find it’s incredibly difficult not to waste lines and directions on irrelevant details.  When you get ten pages in (ten pages being that magical cut off point where a script reader will not feel rude to put the script down) and find you’ve barely even introduced the main character, you know something has gone wrong.

I’ve just finished reading an analysis on the pilot episode of Scrubs,   the medical comedy (which was fantastic until the end of season four in the humble opinion of the tortoise), and it’s fascinating to see how quick and how solid the whole thing is.  By five minutes into the episode (approximately five pages) all six of the main characters have been introduced and for the most part established, along with basic relationships to other characters, as well as providing two plot hooks and a love interest.  Not only that, but the majority of this was done after three minutes (three pages).  That is some fantastic and efficient writing.

Scrubs quite clearly isn’t to everybody’s tastes.  I’m not sure why; it’s clever, occasionally surreal and occasionally dramatic whilst at the same time skirting around slapstick and stupidity.  I suppose the “moral of the story” bit that comes around every episode can sometimes feel a bit forced, but at least it gives the whole thing a certain level of coherence.  I think what anyone who might be interested in writing scripts can take away from the analysis of this (and I do recommend giving the link above a read) regardless of whether you liked the show or not is that a lot can be gained by really scrutinizing the first episode of any successful series and seeing exactly how they set it up to begin with.  So much of what I’ve seen on television has just gone in one ear and out of the other.  I suppose I’ve never before thought that spending any time studying it would make much sense.

Of course, not having thought of this sooner might just be an indication that I’m an utterly stupid writer.