3 ms·

Along the same line of questioning: Why are so much movie and TV show scripts so bad? I keep asking myself, are these companies hiring 15yo children to write c

by tekla 3y ago

Along the same line of questioning: Why are so much movie and TV show scripts so bad? I keep asking myself, are these companies hiring 15yo children to write content for their Billion dollar projects? Because everyone is talking like they are teenagers.

bombcar 3y ago
Because they’re designed for a common denominator audience. It takes exceptional skill to make a multi-layered script that talks at various levels. It’s rare enough that we’re shocked when we encounter it - perhaps in older kids movies, maybe in things like the Lego movie. It’s much easier to rewrite various similar stories with various tropes mixed in. Not to say these are not enjoyable! Many times you just want to see the same story different this time. Think of all the romance novels pumped out that have the same basic plot, but the people who read them demand more and more.
paulryanrogers 3y ago
The mean which captures the most eyes is probably a plot that teens find interesting. Too basic and adults tune out. Too advanced and teens, young adults, and less intelligent or committed adults will turn it off.
corethree 3y ago
I feel in the last decade they've been really good in terms of writing. Shows like game of thrones and the flash are great examples of exemplary writing.
- j4yav 3y ago
  Maybe it’s just that it is everywhere but I haven’t been able to really get much out of Marvel style writing for a long time.
  - corethree 3y ago
    I was joking a bit. Flash is part of DC. The writing on that series is atrocious. I didn't really comment on marvel. MCU is good writing. Tony Stark especially is just well written. The movies are obviously not works of literature. Super heros are a genre and within that genre the writing is excellent. The writers fulfilled the role well.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
misnome 3y ago
I’ve often wondered if the sheer volume of TV and films being produced has led to a drop in writing standards. Then, it isn’t comparatively worse than anything else being churned out. But probably this also means more opportunities overall, even if there isn’t as much harsh selection at the top end?
- kranke155 3y ago
  No, I’ve studied cinema history and the vast majority of films have always been bad. The idea older movies were better is just selection bias. Pauline Kael said: “If you love movies you must love trash because most movies are trash” (I’m paraphrasing). There are “golden times” when a lot of good directors and writers were allowed to make great work - often because their work was profitable - and then times where the corporate machine took over. But that’s geofenced. Hollywood was creatively strong in the 70s and oppressive in the 80s, but Honk Kong was killing it in the 1980s.
  - wharvle 3y ago
    Folks also complain about modern movies being bad while only being aware of like 1% of fairly major ones that came out in the most recent year. There are so many likely-to-be-good movies every year that I can’t keep up, personally. Or they have very narrow tastes, and it’s like… ok yes since you dismiss 95% of all film for one reason or another (“I don’t like subtitles”, “I don’t like horror”, “this is too artsy”, et c), that only left a couple good movies for you this year.
    - kranke155 3y ago
      Yes the general public often complains about lack of diversity then refuses to watch anything that doesn’t have a Hollywood star-actor. It is what it is. People will watch 1960s French movies and praise them “How wonderful etc”, “they don’t make movies like that anymore!” but if you tell them to watch French movies of the 2020s or more famously Korean movies and TV shows a lot of people won’t budge, even though Korea is clearly the alternative powerhouse in the industry right now and the “equivalent” let’s say to the French New Wave.
coffeebeqn 3y ago
What about books? Pick up the median book released on Amazon in January and I guarantee it’s at best unreadable. These arguments always assume that books are all Dostoyevsky and movies are all Kubrick when they are the outliers
- Angelore 3y ago
  To be fair, finding a book that is not raw GPT output on Amazon will be a Herculean task very soon (if not already).
pzmarzly 3y ago
Looking at New Tales from the Borderlands, possibly one of greatest writing disasters in recent video game history[0], the company openly admitted that the game was meant to be "like a sitcom"[1]. I don't know who thought that this was the right format for a game in a lore-heavy universe with very dedicated fanbase, but that didn't go well. Since then I often wonder how many companies are making similar decisions - to forcefully turn a possibly decent story into a (bad) comedy, in misguided attempt to perhaps make characters more likable (more alike to the player?), or in hopes that one of the memes will go viral. [0] You can watch the whole plot summarized here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uByUCXJ9Aj4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uByUCXJ9Aj4 [1] https://www.gamesradar.com/how-gearbox-is-writing-an-interactive-sitcom-with-new-tales-from-the-borderlands/ https://www.gamesradar.com/how-gearbox-is-writing-an-interac...

by tekla 3y ago

bombcar 3y ago

Because they’re designed for a common denominator audience. It takes exceptional skill to make a multi-layered script that talks at various levels. It’s rare enough that we’re shocked when we encounter it - perhaps in older kids movies, maybe in things like the Lego movie. It’s much easier to rewrite various similar stories with various tropes mixed in. Not to say these are not enjoyable! Many times you just want to see the same story different this time. Think of all the romance novels pumped out that have the same basic plot, but the people who read them demand more and more.

paulryanrogers 3y ago

The mean which captures the most eyes is probably a plot that teens find interesting. Too basic and adults tune out. Too advanced and teens, young adults, and less intelligent or committed adults will turn it off.

corethree 3y ago

I feel in the last decade they've been really good in terms of writing. Shows like game of thrones and the flash are great examples of exemplary writing.

j4yav 3y ago
Maybe it’s just that it is everywhere but I haven’t been able to really get much out of Marvel style writing for a long time.
- corethree 3y ago
  I was joking a bit. Flash is part of DC. The writing on that series is atrocious. I didn't really comment on marvel. MCU is good writing. Tony Stark especially is just well written. The movies are obviously not works of literature. Super heros are a genre and within that genre the writing is excellent. The writers fulfilled the role well.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

misnome 3y ago

I’ve often wondered if the sheer volume of TV and films being produced has led to a drop in writing standards. Then, it isn’t comparatively worse than anything else being churned out. But probably this also means more opportunities overall, even if there isn’t as much harsh selection at the top end?

kranke155 3y ago
No, I’ve studied cinema history and the vast majority of films have always been bad. The idea older movies were better is just selection bias. Pauline Kael said: “If you love movies you must love trash because most movies are trash” (I’m paraphrasing). There are “golden times” when a lot of good directors and writers were allowed to make great work - often because their work was profitable - and then times where the corporate machine took over. But that’s geofenced. Hollywood was creatively strong in the 70s and oppressive in the 80s, but Honk Kong was killing it in the 1980s.
- wharvle 3y ago
  Folks also complain about modern movies being bad while only being aware of like 1% of fairly major ones that came out in the most recent year. There are so many likely-to-be-good movies every year that I can’t keep up, personally. Or they have very narrow tastes, and it’s like… ok yes since you dismiss 95% of all film for one reason or another (“I don’t like subtitles”, “I don’t like horror”, “this is too artsy”, et c), that only left a couple good movies for you this year.
  - kranke155 3y ago
    Yes the general public often complains about lack of diversity then refuses to watch anything that doesn’t have a Hollywood star-actor. It is what it is. People will watch 1960s French movies and praise them “How wonderful etc”, “they don’t make movies like that anymore!” but if you tell them to watch French movies of the 2020s or more famously Korean movies and TV shows a lot of people won’t budge, even though Korea is clearly the alternative powerhouse in the industry right now and the “equivalent” let’s say to the French New Wave.

coffeebeqn 3y ago

What about books? Pick up the median book released on Amazon in January and I guarantee it’s at best unreadable. These arguments always assume that books are all Dostoyevsky and movies are all Kubrick when they are the outliers

Angelore 3y ago
To be fair, finding a book that is not raw GPT output on Amazon will be a Herculean task very soon (if not already).

pzmarzly 3y ago

Looking at New Tales from the Borderlands, possibly one of greatest writing disasters in recent video game history[0], the company openly admitted that the game was meant to be "like a sitcom"[1]. I don't know who thought that this was the right format for a game in a lore-heavy universe with very dedicated fanbase, but that didn't go well. Since then I often wonder how many companies are making similar decisions - to forcefully turn a possibly decent story into a (bad) comedy, in misguided attempt to perhaps make characters more likable (more alike to the player?), or in hopes that one of the memes will go viral. [0] You can watch the whole plot summarized here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uByUCXJ9Aj4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uByUCXJ9Aj4 [1] https://www.gamesradar.com/how-gearbox-is-writing-an-interactive-sitcom-with-new-tales-from-the-borderlands/ https://www.gamesradar.com/how-gearbox-is-writing-an-interac...