Reader Question: How can I tell if a story idea is better suited as a feature or TV?
Even with the blurring of lines between the two, there still are differences.
Even with the blurring of lines between the two, there still are differences.
NOTE: I originally posted this in December 2011. Even though TV syndication is still a considerable ‘thing’, with the emergence of streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and others, the movie-television landscape has changed and continues to evolve.
For example, what used to be called ‘mini-series’ and now often referred to as ‘limited series’ have made a comeback. In effect, they are long movies with an extended Beginning, Middle, and End. This opens up a whole other way to think about a story concept and universe per the question addressed below.
Still for reasons I go into in this post, there are some significant markers which should indicate to a writer whether they should write a feature spec script or an original TV pilot spec. Read on and your comments welcome!
A tweet from @beemarty:
Help! Seen any resources to help decide whether a story idea is better suited to episodic or feature? :)
A quick answer is to compare two numbers: 2 and 88. Two is the outside edge of how many hours long a typical movie is. Eighty eight is the number of episodes a TV series needs to hit to go into syndication.
Is the story you want to tell something that fits best into a two-hour time-frame? Or is it a story universe you can imagine mining for episode ideas over and over and over… and over and over and over… and over and over and over again?
Now this doesn’t mean that if you doubt your story idea has the legs to sustain itself for 88 episodes it should be a movie. A story concept has to work on its own to be a movie, it can’t just be a ‘not a TV series’ idea.
Likewise if you feel like you have too much story for a two-hour time frame, that doesn’t necessarily mean what you have is the basis for a TV series. A story concept has to work on its own to be a TV series, it can’t just be a ‘not a movie’ idea.
Perhaps what you can do is sit with the idea and try to envision as a movie, then as a TV series. Think about the movie trailer, the poster, envision opening weekend and you’re in the theater. Then conjure up in your mind a commercial for the TV series. What would the opening credit sequence look like? This should give you some clarity.
Another thing to consider: Protagonist metamorphosis. In a movie, the Protagonist typically goes through significant transformation, compressed in that special way only movies can do, taking the character from this psyche state at the beginning of the story to a very different psyche state at the end. In contrast, some TV Protagonists never change. And if they do, it’s a slow conversion process that occurs bit by bit, episode after episode.
Then what of your story universe, the specifics of the Protagonist’s work and life affairs? If, for example, you are considering a procedural TV series like “Law & Order,” does your story have something that supports the narrative device of solving a crime?
How about pitching the idea to some friends, then ask them, “Does this feel like a movie or a TV series?”
Bottom line: It comes down to what you feel in your gut. If you go through at least some of the questions and exercises above, my guess is your gut will tell you what your story is: TV or movie.
GITS readers, please weigh in on the subject in Comments. Have you had a story you had difficulty deciding between TV and movie? How did you sort it out?