Episode Structure & Scene Length

[Matthew Blaisdel]

Bibles are also elements that hark back to novel-like creations on TV, and which typical CW viewer has actually read a novel (or knows what one looks like)? They require an attention span, on the part of show-runners and viewers, that is not typical of most network shows.

So the choppiness is easier for the editors, the directors, and the actors.

So ... they are all just much dumber now than back in the 80s?
Thanks, Insta, Facebook and Twitter, well done!

 

[Tony]

My point in the OP was - with shorter episodes today you'd expect fewer scenes. But no -- not only are the episodes shorter, you also get a staggering 50% (!) higher number of scenes per episode (35 today as opposed to 23 in the 1980s).
First it moves to Friday; then it's promotional budget is slashed (no more proper 30-second promos); then the show chooses to focus on Fallon and they let Cristal go and replace her with (I assume) a cheaper actress; then they want a creepy Adam on the show, so they get rid of Steven; perhaps even Nicolette Sheridan was too expensive to keep beyond her initial 22 episodes, so they came up with a story why she needed to go, instead they'll have a cheaper actress as Dominique to fill the void for a while, etc.

I'm of course heavily speculating here, maybe I'm totally off base, but it just seems plausible to me that since they seem to be saving money left and right with this show, that such cuts would have heavily impacted the creative aspect of the show as well, including the work of the writing staff and the manner in which the episodic scripts were produced.

I think Gabriel is right - nu Dynasty is obviously being made as cost efficient as possible, even the early critics remarked how 'slightly cheap' it looked, at least compared to the original's pilot.

I read a Doug Cramer interview saying that in Dynasty they replaced a quarter of the cast, which was a way of cutting costs down as well as freshening up the plot.

Which I guess is why Nicolette Sheridan, James McKay and Nathalie Kelley have been replaced by Michael Michelle, Sam Underwood and Anna Brenda Contreras.

I'm surprised with all the internet scuttle-butt that there isn't more gossip surrounding the cast changes National Enquirer style, which happened on original Dynasty. You would think there would be more crew leaks or gossip from the cast and crew. So either they've been told to be tight lipped, or viewers just aren't that interested and invested in the series.

 

[Ferdnand Colby]

Well, tbh, I don't find sets looking that cheap. I mean, daily soaps ARE cheap. Sometimes walls even move, LOL.
Maybe they need to reduce costs and welcome new writers, and perhaps more talented people. I'm pretty sure Catherine Oxenberg didn't have a high salary at the beginning of her Amanda, and she managed to deliver a character for a couple of years. I know she wasn't a Meryl Streep, but, it's not like Dynasty or any prime time soap are Oscar's nominees either. Another example of this was the girl playing Summer in The OC, she started as an extra and I guess when she was offered a real role, she wasn't high paid either. I think it's a matter of quality and not quantity (big names, big sets, big egos), after all, as I pointed out before, it's a soap opera. It's more about an interesting story, capitalizing actors, and not actors supporting a - ridiculous - story.

 

[Daniel Avery]

I'm surprised with all the internet scuttle-butt that there isn't more gossip surrounding the cast changes National Enquirer style, which happened on original Dynasty. You would think there would be more crew leaks or gossip from the cast and crew. So either they've been told to be tight lipped, or viewers just aren't that interested and invested in the series.

The Enquirer only pursued leaks and spoilers on original Dynasty and the other nighttime soaps because they were the top-rated shows with the most buzz. In the pre-internet era you almost had to rely on gossip mags for information. With NuDynasty's very low ratings, the editors likely would not publish a scoop even if they had it, since so much of the surviving magazines today have to pursue reality 'stars' and the largest-common-denominator shows. Most of the TV show scoops end up on the internet well before magazines can put them into print anyway.

 

[Willie Oleson]

Today I actually had a magazine in my hands, well I never had the chance to read it because the dentist called my name.
The headlines screamed "painful divorce!" and "public feud!" and it made me feel excited like it did in the good old days when I used to read all these ehm...critically acclaimed news magazines.
I'm considering a subscription (and a p.o. box)

 

[Michael Torrance]

With NuDynasty's very low ratings, the editors likely would not publish a scoop even if they had it, since so much of the surviving magazines today have to pursue reality 'stars' and the largest-common-denominator shows.

I am pretty sure more is written on this forum about the Gillieathon that on all the other forums, websites, etc. altogether.

 

[Rove]

well I never had the chance to read it because the dentist called my name.

How rude!

 

[Daniel Avery]

I am pretty sure more is written on this forum about the Gillieathon that on all the other forums, websites, etc. altogether

Granted, I do not seek out articles on the show written elsewhere, but I do see a smattering of coverage on the website TVLine.com . I think someone on their staff must be a fan (or, at the very least, was a fan of the original).

 

[xab]

Tonight watching a Dallas episode came across my mind. For some reasons I needed to. Sometimes past is much more comfortable than present. But this not not my point.
I was amazed at the structure of the season. Let alone my memories and the nostalgia included in, those shows knew (for better or worse) how to build a season. OldDynasty might have been a mess, a boring jam, I never felt the show was off-dynasty. Out of character maybe sometimes, but worst Dynasty still remained Dynasty.

This show is schizophrenic. Three (or four or five...) shows within a reboot of a single one... (Mary Tyler Moore and Twilight Zone are not so far...)

My last word will be Miss Bette D. 's :

 

[thomaswak]

I get your point Xab. I can relate, as I have been complaining a lot about the writing. But for some reason, I still enjoy the show. It's not a soap. Not a drama. Not a comedy. It's unfortunately a parody. A Caricature. But sometimes, it delivers goods episodes. It's rare. Very rare. Yet, I enjoy them when - miraculously - they're good.

 

[MarkSinacori]

You have the teaser scene, then the 4 acts that follow for hour long drama. I hear there can also be 6 acts, but when I write hour long, I stick to how I'd end each segment before commercial, so the next act would pick up after the commercial. One page of script= 1 minute of time, usually. Still, it depends on what is shot, how fast it's shot, how it's edited, et.

For hour long, 10 to 11 or 12 pages per act. Maybe 5 or 6 scenes per act as well, maybe more, if there are very short scenes as well.

50, 60 pages or so. Still, stuff would probably be edited down or out to bring the finished product to enough screentime for the hour.


I never write in 6 acts post-teaser scene, as there are NOT 6 commercial breaks, so it gets confusing.


For half hour sitcoms there is a cold opening, then act 1 and act 2 and a tag scene. Pretty much nowadays I think that's how it is. Over the years it was all over the place. Some shows would not go to a commercial break before the tag, some would, et. Not sure if it's the same way on all sitcoms now. I do know there is ONE commercial break between the first act of several scenes post-cold opening, and then the 2nd batch of scenes.


On soaps of the 80s, they had 4 acts only (unless they wrote in 6), I think. They showed what happened in the previous episode, then the opening credits, then just went right into act 1. No teaser scenes like 90210/Melrose Place did as those shows went on.


I touch upon the 6 act because I've seen posts on how shows do that nowadays that are hour long, but it would get confusing to me to write it in 6 as I'd rather just end the act where the commercial would go (4 acts). I know I saw a sample of Melrose Place 2nd episode of season 4 online script and it was in 4 acts, I believe. A teaser and 4 acts, BUT, I believe one or two of the scenes that ended segments before commercials were NOT how it was finalized, they used different scenes, possibly due to editing/timing.