This year, we have a much wider variety of choices when it comes to the types of scripts we can write. I'm curious what drew you tv scripts over those other options.

I sort of expect the most given answer to be that tv gives more room to develop the characters and story over the course of however many episodes than almost any of the other choices. And for me, that was the first reason I went this way. I was originally going to develop the idea for Nanowrimo, but I always wrote more dialogue-heavy there and Script Frenzy was a better fit that came along at the right time. And when I finished last years script, I looked at it and it seemed easy enough to divide it into the first two or three episodes and then keep going. Having my characters in college made it a little easier to go through 22 episodes almost on a week by week basis.

But as I went along, I realized that tv gives me more of an opportunity to do different things once I set the characters up. Within the structure of the series, I could write a romantic comedy episode, a heavy drama episode, a fast paced action episode, and a mystery episode, which turned out to be my favorite.

So why'd you pick tv? Was it more room to develop your characters and story or being able to try some different things in each episode? Or was it something else entirely?

I picked TV mainly because writing anything else pushes me out of my element. I know and love television (not that I sit on my butt 24/7, glued to the tube or anything. I only do that on the weekends. hehe). Movies, stage plays, etc. are all fine and dandy and I'm sure I could pull a script like that out of my brain if I tried, but it would lack the passion and fervor that I have for TV.

eta: now you've got me wondering why I love TV so much. I guess because there's so many more opportunities to get to know the characters? When I leave the movie theatre, I always wonder what happened afterwards. With a TV series, you never have to wonder about that (until the series finale, of course). I think that's what I like the most.

Actually, it's funny that you mention "why TV?" since I was originally going with a Screenplay for this script. I started all gung-ho about writing a movie with my awesome characters (envisioning a Miyazaki-ish film - ha!) before realizing that my characters have Waaaay more to offer than a film could simply hold. Perhaps there could be a movie along with the episodes, but the characters overall are so wonderful that I just have to share *every* quirk and wonderful thing about them: from snarky and sarcastic Arien, to noble and knowledgeable Nathan, to the eccentric Katharine with a glove fetish.

All in all, I was only going for a movie, but I realized that I don't have a 'great' villain, and that a tv show/episode would allow me to process various villains without making up a "super" one right off. Not to mention that when a movie is over, it has to wrap up - or else leave a basis for a sequel, which I don't have time to write. That and my characters flat out refused to be in a movie; they can entertain a vaster crowd on tv than what's already out there. The question I have left now is: animated or not?

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"Either a writer doesn't want to talk about his work, or he talks about it more than you want."
- Anatole Broyard
"Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but it's the only way you can do anything really good."
- William Faulkner

I...don't know.

I've never really considered scriptwriting of any sort before, but about a month or more ago I was toying around with an idea I'd had for awhile, and decided I wanted to try something different for it (mainly because I was in a Writing class and we were covering Drama at the time, something which I had never really looked at before). Initially this meant a movie script, but I soon realised it just didn't fit as a movie. I was about to go back to thinking of it as a novel when I suddenly remembered about TV. And it worked. Quite well in fact. It gave me time to tell several stories over a longer period, develop the characters more, have less time constraints than with a film, and work in a different medium.

The idea, which was just a small, random one at first, exploded from there. I had all my main characters, many main plot points, and even snatches of scenes planned out within days. And this was all before I remembered about Screnzy, so this is perfect timing for me.

So, why TV? Because it's new and exciting for me, and the idea just worked. :P

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NaNo 06 - The Game - Won
NaNo 07 - Destination: Beautiful - Failed miserably

SF 08 - Untitled - TV script - 0% completed

I agree on getting to know the characters better. With tv's hour dramas, which are really about 42 minutes without commercials, there are upwards of fifteen and a half hours per season to explore characters and their stories versus 90 to maybe 150 minutes in a theater. Even with a movie trilogy, that's probably not any more than 40% of a tv season.

My original idea came from watching and talking about tv with friends. With the nature of a tv season and new things happening on a weekly basis, there's a lot more discussion and analysis than with a movie or a book. I think almost everyone can watch a show, even their favorite, and think of things they would've done differently or even better. This is a great place to sort of air that out. In my case, I took a character whose story I felt wasn't given enough time on one of my favorite shows and bent and twisted all of her characteristics and her story into someone and something I felt I could write about without it being too dark and depressing each week. Eventually it became something I thought would be worthy enough to go back to from time to time as the character grows.

Once I settled on tv, I went on a mission to take on some of the cliches and not fall into the same traps I see too often. Just because there's a third person around who cares about someone doesn't mean there needs to be a love triangle or any other kind of shape with the appropriate amount of people. My main couple has more than enough problems to deal with between just the two of them (and each on their own) and if they're going to break up, it's not going to be because the main guy is going to run off to another girl. And my characters will have memories, not only because I love continuity, but also because there are some things that they're just not going to forget or push under the rug. There are going to be major events that become part of who these people are. I like that challenge and if I do what I'm supposed to, it should still be interesting.

In my case, I thought about it long and hard and a TV series is the best way to do what I want to do.

"Haec credam a deo pio? A deo iusto, a deo scito? Cruciatus in crucem. Tuus in terra servus, nuntius fui. Officium perfeci. Cruciatus in crucem. Eas in crucem!"

If what I have to say is irresponsible, then I alone am responsible for the saying of it

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ML for the Nashville, TN region, but here for everyone!
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I'm picking TV as an additional thing...
My movie is a movie based on a long running TV series, so I want to use some scenes from the series as a transition/flashback/whatever and so I'm guessing they probably won't be part of my pagecount for the script... I just don't think I'll end up with enough pages for SF if I do this... SO, I'm going to try to write both a Movie AND a TV show, which shouldn't be any different than multiple nano novels...

I'm writing TV simply becuase I had an idea for a show and want to see what I can do with it. Also, I'm in the middle of rewrites on a screenplay so I didn't want to start writing another movie until I've got that all polished up.

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Sam Mulder:
Happily Drowning Her Inner Editor in Alcohol Since 2006

ScriptFrenzy 2008: "Adventures in Everyday Life"
NaNoWriMo 2007: "Riley Adams: Paranormal Investigatior" (Won!)
NaNoWriMo 2006: "Alyson James is a Dateless Loser" (Lost!)

I picked TV because my source material (a friend's '06 NaNo) would make a really wicked anime.

Animating is a worry for another time, I say.

But yeah, I'm a complete TV nut, not just anime, and I get REEEEALLY passionate about TV I like. I just thought it would be fun, really. Get those fingers on the keyboard again for something I care about. {/salving conscience for never finishing her NaNo)

When I got the email for Frenzy, my original thought was to take an idea I had for a novel and make it into a screenplay. But after thinking about the idea more and reading the discussion, I am thinking TV might be the way to go. Who knows I might change back halfway through but could be fun to develop a series.

Well, I really love TV!

There have been some great things happening on television recently and I'm very influenced by a whole host of series from the last decade or so. Smart writing, smart subjects, various levels of accessibility. It's tough to get write, you're battling with a lot of elements, even before you have to sell the thing to networks, and I like a challenge. I also think that when it's done well, it can be amazing.

I love that these days, when it comes to quality and scope of production etc., TV no longer has to be the poor relation of film. I look at shows like Battlestar Galactica and Heroes and think, 'Oh man, I would love to be a part of that!' I watch a wide variety of programmes so I think I have a bit of an understanding of how story and character work in a television setting.

Like the original poster, I love the room you get to develop story and character, and also the opportunities to play with different genres over the course of a season/series.

Finally, I also think that TV can get into an audience's minds and work its way into their everyday lives like little else. It can be communal and you have an opportunity to influence people, really speak to them on a regular basis, get people invested, and I like that a lot.

~ Anna
SCRENZY 08: planning two ideas
+ Paragon for TV [sci-fi action-drama]
+ Banana Boat for Cinema [rom-com-drama]

NANO 07: The Block, WIN!
SF 07: untitled, no win
NANO 06: Paragon, no win