Don't Judge a Show by its Script... or Recap...

Apr 02, 2011 14:21

I follow Jeff Eastin (creator of White Collar) on Twitter and he had been posting bits of White Collar scripts in the days leading up to each new episode as the season came to an end. I read these little script-bits because I'm always interested in see the creative process at work.

Script writing (like most writing) is done in drafts, but scripts for plays or shows or movies is not a "pure" art -- as in the end result isn't the vision and work of just one person. Rather everyone who is involved in the project adds a dimension to the written words. The best work comes when the parties involved work together and share a common vision. Everyone brings something extra to the project and you end up with gestalt-- the final "whole" is much greater than the sum of it's parts.

The scripts Jeff Eastin posts are the shooting scripts. The words and actions on the page are actually the words and actions on the screen when I watched it. Yet the scene I read on the page is so very different than the scene that I watch on the screen. On the screen it just works. On screen, it has more depth, more feeling, more purpose than just words on the page.

And I get that. When you write a script, most of the details are in the writer's head. Only the dialogue and most basic directions are put on the page. All of the emotions, the connotations, the meanings are in the minds of the writers and the directors and the actors. It's the cooperative talent of all those people, sharing and refining the vision, that makes the finished product a work of magic.

Which is why trying to understand the appeal of a show or of character based on scripts/transcripts is almost impossible. And why writing fanfic for a show based solely on scripts/transcripts is unadvisable.

Even worse is to watch a show through recaps and reviews. I'm not even talking about recappers and reviewers who get the actual details wrong. And that's happens a great deal. I've seen recaps that actually quote dialog wrong. That have actions in the wrong order. That put people in different places then they were in the show. I've read some recaps and really wonder if the recapper had watched a different show than I had.

Of course, even if all the details are right, the recappers job is more than to just tell what happened. The recapper's job is to entertain while recapping. To share their views and opinions, even if only in a general way. If it's not entertaining or clever, it's not part of the recap. Even the most objective of recappers will bring some of their own personal opinion into the recap. (I've written recaps, I know this is true.) Recappers will often leave out small parts that deal with characters they don't like or a subplot they didn't enjoy. They will interpret lines to fit their own preferences in the show. I've seen recappers take what I saw as a casual, throw-away line and interpret it into a scathing condemnation of character. Or soften a line or two to make a character they like be more sympathetic.

When the recap is mixed with a review, well, the problem is compounded. Then controversial plot lines and writer choices suddenly become fair game to spin. This is most often seen with OTPs. Nothing like looking at a show through "romance goggles" to skew a show. Of course, the same can be said when the recapper/reviewer loves one character above all others.

That's the point of reviews, I suppose. The fun in writing and reading recaps. The problem is, they aren't actually true representations of the show.

I read a lot of crossover fic. A great deal of the crossover fic deals with shows that I don't watch. I have, at times, gone back and read reviews, recaps, or summaries of the shows to get a feel for the characters and events that are being written about. Later, when I can, I find and watch the shows. It's rarely the show I thought it would be. I watch an episode looking for a scene that is focused on in fanfic, and I often find that it isn't at all the way I had understood it to be. I meet a character and I'm surprised to find that they aren't at all the way they were portrayed in the recap.

This is one of the reasons I love Netflix so much. I can watch these shows and see for myself what they are like. I mean, if the scripts, written by the creator of the show, doesn't manage to capture the ambiance and milieu of the show, how can I expect a viewer to do so?

I like looking at shows from different angles. I enjoy tension and complications. I love the small details of interactions and the subtle play of inflection and body language. I prefer a show that makes all the characters sympathetic, flawed and real.

Recaps, reviews, even scripts, because of what they are, can't deliver that. You can't judge a show based on those things. And you certainly shouldn't dislike a show based on them.

But it sure is fun comparing them all.

fandom, writing

Previous post Next post
Up