Do you also have this experience: Sometimes the more tired you are in your life, the more stressful you are at work, and the more you want to play a few episodes of American TV series. It may be a bit dark, brain-burning, compact, with a lot of information on the screen. At first glance, it doesn’t look like It is a good way to relieve fatigue, but it makes us want to stop...
Regarding this phenomenon, Netflix commissioned an investigation by anthropologists. The conclusion is: Compared with the current wandering in those light entertainment festivals, take the initiative to immerse yourself in A different world allows us to forget the pressure of this day and clear it in time.
And American dramas are constantly providing a rich and complex world from which you can see literature, social surveys, workplace knowledge, Broadway traditions, and the spirit of movies. How did
come about this kind of "powerful"?
01
Screenwriter Center System:
They determine the ratings
You must have also noticed: In the controversy surrounding the eighth season of "Game of Thrones", the focus of criticism has always been the screenwriters David Benioff and D· B. Weiss.
"Power Tour" screenwriter David Benioff and D·B·Weiss. Although the ending of "Quan You 8" is controversial, it does not prevent it from being respected in the industry. 32 nominations for the Emmy Awards, breaking the award record. Among them, after "little devil" Peter Dinglaki won the best supporting actor in a drama category, he thanked the two screenwriters in his speech, praising them for their talents and humor, "I really did it for the two of you to walk through and join me , And I don’t hesitate to do it again.”
And if it’s a movie, most of the directors who were pulled out and scolded at this time.
But in the American drama industry, the screenwriter is the core of a drama, and the power in creation is often greater than the actors and directors. The producer of
, Jon Fury, once commented on the function of the screenwriter: "The screenwriter is the producer. The original idea is provided by them. The whole story is created by them. The script is written by them. They determine the structure and structure of the story. The development direction of the plot, they also participate in the selection of actors, in short, they directly determine the level of ratings."
Almost every successful American drama has one thing in common: the core screenwriter of the lead writer will not change.
Because once the screenwriter is changed, the temperament, style, role positioning and even the theme of the story may change, and the audience may not pay the bill. Actors of
not only cannot ask the screenwriter to change or add to the play, if they challenge the authority of the screenwriter, they are likely to "apologize with death" in the play. For example, Dr. George in "Grey Interns" was punished because he changed his lines without authorization and contradicted the original creation.
"The Big Bang Theory" has a total of 12 seasons. The writers have always been Lorry and Brady. Compared with the screenwriters, the director's work is not so stable. They are more like guest stars. "Game of Thrones" was filmed for 8 seasons, and the directors used in each season are different.
Many American dramas will not only have one director in the same season. "House of Cards" is a typical example, because there is the great director David Fincher in charge, and it has been using this as a gimmick to promote it before the broadcast. But in fact, Vinci only directed the first two episodes, and the remaining 11 episodes were completed by five directors.
Of course, David Fincher is still a producer. He established the visual style and editing rhythm of the whole show.
At the beginning of "Game of Thrones", the names of two screenwriters appeared next to the title.
The audience can see the order of power of crew members from the subtitles at the beginning and the end of the episode-usually, the chief screenwriter will appear next to the title, which means that they are the soul of the play.
A few years ago, a vice president of Alibaba Pictures said, “We will no longer hire professional screenwriters”, “We will invite IP’s Tieba masters and countless fan fiction authors. Don’t write scripts, just write stories. Like killing games, they are constantly being eliminated."
He regards this IP-oriented approach as a subversive innovation.
In contrast, the American drama industry is too "old-fashioned" and too "vulnerable": 14 years ago, because of a strike by screenwriters, the entire industry couldn't play.
It was the end of 2007. At that time, American dramas were rising, but the treatment of screenwriters was not paid enough attention. Therefore, the American Screenwriters Union organized a strike of 12,000 screenwriters across the country, which lasted for 100 days.
z61In 2007, the screenwriters went on strike. The first thing that was hit was the late-night talk show. The production of the program was suspended and the previous program could only be broadcast back.
subsequently, at least 60 American TV series and movies were forced to stop broadcasting, and American TV series suddenly disappeared from people's lives. The
Golden Globe and Oscar awards coincided with the strike period.
Affected by the strike, the Golden Globe Awards ceremony was cancelled and changed to a press conference. Although the Oscar ceremony was held as scheduled, the excitement was greatly reduced because there was no screenwriter to help write the string of words.
The 2008 Golden Globe Award was canceled due to the strike, and the conference was changed. It took half an hour to announce the list of winners and it was over. All the reporters sitting in the audience were holding computers.
In the end, the screenwriters won. Two of their three major demands were met.
Nowadays, screenwriting is often the highest paid job in the crew, and some people earn more than actors. In order to compete for top screenwriters, production companies will open amazing contracts.
Benioff and Weiss’s "Quanyou 8" has been criticized, but in early August, Netflix signed a multi-year contract with a total of 200 million U.S. dollars and invited them to work on the new series of the future. The
big screen also threw an olive branch to the two. At the beginning of last year, Disney selected them as the screenwriter and producer of the new trilogy of "Star Wars".
Some people often analyze and compare the differences between domestic dramas and American dramas. When it comes to the latter’s high density of information, attractive plots, mature values, depth of humanity, etc., in addition to the factors of performance, photography and art, most of the others are related to the script behind it. related.
02
creation process:
may be eliminated every step
screenwriter has great power, and responsibilities should naturally be matched.
is an immature little inspiration, experienced ninety-nine and eighty-one difficulties, a little bit of shaping, shooting, production, the screenwriter must withstand the mental pressure of being eliminated from time to time, and participate in the whole process from beginning to end.
Initially, the screenwriter will bring a few-page outline to sell his story to major TV networks and pay channels. If
is watched by a TV station, it will pay the screenwriter a fee to buy out the story. The buyout fee of
can sometimes be considerable, but in most cases this buyout fee only means: "Congratulations on your shortlist for the real competition."
"The Simpsons" script outline
after the outline was bought out, the screenwriters You need to provide a more complete script. The TV station will spend several months to screen these scripts at least two rounds. Only about 10% of the scripts passed the screening and got the chance to shoot the pilot episode. The reputation of the pilot episode of
determines the fate of a play.
has now become the classic "Crime Scene Investigation" and was almost killed before the pilot episode was broadcast. The executives of
TV station believed that the theme of "Crime Scene Investigation" was too dark, and the original production company Disney even withdrew halfway through.
But after the pilot episode was broadcast, the feedback from the audience was very good, and the show was pulled back from the cliff.
A scene from the pilot episode of "Crime Scene Investigation".
From this perspective, "Game of Thrones" is very lucky. Its pilot episode was badly filmed. Harrington, who played Snow, revealed that his performance in the pilot episode was so bad that the producers would often use this to "coerce" him: "If you always complain, we will Put the pilot episode on the Internet.” How bad was the initial pilot episode of
? According to Kit Harrington, who played Jon Snow, his performance in the killed pilot episode was so bad that the producers often joked and threatened him, "If you dare to mess me up , We will put the pilot episode on the Internet.”
Despite this, HBO did not kill the drama, but made a second investment to remake a pilot episode.
After the pilot episode, a drama can be officially launched.
But the nerves of the screenwriters can’t relax: if the ratings are not good, they may be cut before the broadcast, let alone the next season.
However, after Netflix began to launch the entire show at the same time, this process is also being adjusted.
"The Big Bang Theory" was also lucky enough to get a second correction opportunity.
03
Screenwriting room:
There are always piles of snacks on the table.
Twenty or thirty years ago, when the American drama industry was not as competitive as it is now, writing scripts was mainly on its own.
"Silicon Valley" screenwriter Alec Borg said: "When I was young, I worked on the crews of "The Story of Seinfeld" and "Come Off". At that time, the screenwriter would gather a group of screenwriters and assign everyone a responsible episode. Everyone just writes on their own. When the script is handed in, the director will tell you:'This part is deleted, someone has already written a similar plot.'" At that time, if a screenwriter needed to collaborate with others to write A script will be regarded as insufficient.
But in the past ten years, people's views have been completely reversed: the original writing method has to be repeated and reworked, and the efficiency is too low to cope with the creative pressure of producing multiple episodes in a short period of time. The screenwriting room model should be adopted. Born.
A typical American screenwriter room
writer Brett Martin described what a typical screenwriter room looks like:
"There is a huge desk in the center of the room, and 8-10 screenwriters are sitting around this table. In office, you can communicate with ideas at any time;
mental work is very tiring, so there are always piles of food on the table, which the screenwriters can use at any time;
hangs a huge whiteboard on one wall, divided into 10-12 columns , Each column represents an episode and is filled with colorful sticky notes; there is an assistant in the
room who is specially responsible for writing down every comment of every screenwriter for future reference."
Each character is stuck with dense sticky notes. , The screenwriters use this to sort out the relationship between the characters and the context of the story. The
team members divide their work according to their abilities and characteristics. Some are good at plotting, some are good at structuring, and some are experts in writing lines... Like "Game of Thrones" there are 17 screenwriters. If the screenwriter is also a producer, he will also participate in dividends.
"Drug Lords" chief screenwriter Eric Newman said that the work for the first 6-8 weeks was to chat. Everyone got together to stimulate each other's ideas:
"In the beginning, I didn't want to make it a big drug lord. I hope to show the development of the entire industry. This topic is too big. When we chatted with the team, we clarified which characters should be focused on and which events are the key nodes to promote the plot. "
chat can not only help screenwriters Sorting out your ideas can also make the plot closer to real life.
There are multiple LGBTQ characters in "Transparent Family", and there are 5 transgender people in the screenwriting team. They exchanged their own life experiences and judged together which plots will happen in reality, so that the story will not be fake.
It is not only screenwriters who enter and leave the screenwriting room, but also professionals who are knowledgeable.
"The Big Bang Theory" contains a large number of lines involving advanced scientific knowledge. When the screenwriter creates, the professional vocabulary is left out and experts are invited to fill in. In order to restore the truth as much as possible, the screenwriting team of "Drug Lord" contacted everyone involved in the Escobar case and listened to them tell the story of the incident.
"Drug Lord" stills. Newman said that the work of screenwriters to sort out the plot is very similar to that of the police. The atmosphere of the writing room of
provides infinite impetus for creation.
Newman said that he would tell his wife every morning when he got up: "It's over, I don't have any ideas in my mind today." But he entered the writing room and stared at the dense writing The whiteboard of clues, chat with colleagues for a while, there will always be inspiration.
Borg is good at correcting deviations: "I'm never good at making ideas, but I know which ideas are bad." The trick to success for
is to really love the job, and best to like the people around you-the screenwriters are very good. It may be 12 hours a day, 5 days a week. If you are lucky, you can cooperate for more than 20 years.
Newman said: "You need to have a vigor. It is common for your colleagues to deny your ideas, but even if you are exhausted, you have to talk about the plot before you go home." ? Many of the screenwriters of
American dramas come from prestigious schools and have experienced a lot of rigorous training before their debut. Students who are studying for a master's degree in screenwriting (MFA) are required to write more than a dozen pages of screenplays every week since entering the school.
is writing in the scriptIn class, teachers will not explain theoretical knowledge and writing skills in lengthy terms. It is not so much a classroom as it is a screenwriter room where students write a lot, and then read aloud in roles in the class, and other students point and criticize it.
students will start to practice with various types of short films, and only start to touch feature films when they have improved their level.
The normality of the screenwriting course: writing all night the previous night, was demoted to nothing the next day. The skills acquired by
in school are just the basic skills for entry, and most people need to accumulate for many years before they can emerge. The golden age of screenwriters often comes after ten years in the industry.
D·B·Weiss made his nickname for his debut novel "Lucky Stray Boy" in 2002, but before the adaptation of "Game of Thrones", his screenwriting career was in a mess. He wrote a bad one for "Ann The scripts written in the prequel to "Game of Germany" and "I Am a Legend" were also killed. By the time he wrote "Game of Thrones", he was 40 years old.
Why is American drama so difficult to write? Because it not only requires writing skills, but also tests professional background.
Some people praised "House of Cards" as "a textbook on the unspoken rules of American politics", "more real than real politics."
can write the script so well because the screenwriter Bauer Willimon himself has political experience. He participated in Hillary's Senate campaign, and later in the 2004 general election, he was a member of the Candidate Howard Dean's team, and he was insightful into the political ecology of Washington.
"House of Cards" line: "For those of us who climb to the top of the food chain, we must not be merciful." It is not uncommon for
professionals to grab jobs across different lines in screenwriting circles. Before becoming a screenwriter, David Kelly worked as a lawyer. This experience helped him write "The True Colors of a Lawyer".
Michael Clayton was born in Harvard Medical School, and his masterpiece is the story of the emergency room on the hospital theme.
has both internal and external problems. If you want to be a good screenwriter, you must endure loneliness. But as long as you are really capable, this circle will not ignore your talent. The
Emmy Awards has the "Best Screenplay in a Single Episode" award, and the award will be awarded to whomever the episode is awarded. As long as they can write good stories, the "little screenwriter" can also shine.
This is not only about fairness, but also allows talents to be continuously discovered and recycled.
In contrast, many domestic screenwriters are working behind closed doors with insufficient life experience, and some are even "outsourcing" without leaving school. There may be a lot of people chatting together at the meeting, and often there are only one or two writing writers left. When the experience and imagination are not enough, they can only use routines and jokes to make up for it. If they are not satisfied with this, they simply copy it.
05
Streaming Media: Bringing More Than Money
At this year’s Emmy Awards, Internet self-produced dramas represented by Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon won 46 awards, setting a new high. The previous years were like this:
2018-35
2017-32
2016-15
2015-9
2014-7
2013-3
2012-0
and in 2012, Netflix Not satisfied with only buying the copyright of another family, decided to shoot a self-made drama. "House of Cards" is their first battle. In order to grab "House of Cards", they not only offered a high price of 100 million US dollars, but also promised to the creative team:
1, the project will be launched directly, without filming a pilot episode;
2, although the first season has not been shot yet, let alone the ratings Rate, but we renew the second season ahead of schedule.
Netflix claims that they can judge the theme and main creative combination of "House of Cards" based on big data. This condition was unimaginable in the television industry at that time. At that time, there were many TV stations interested in this show, but they all wanted to follow the old rules: they would decide after watching the pilot episode. Netflix's gameplay seems to them crazy.
But Sarandos, the chief content officer of Netflix, believes that this deal cannot be lost.
Netflix self-positioned as a technology company. They claimed to use their own database and found that "David FinnThe ratings data for keywords such as "Odd", "Kevin Spacey", "Political Suspense", and "Washington Political Circle" are all very good, so I decided to group them together. You know all the later stories of
.
"House of Cards" has not only become the first network series to win Emmys and Golden Globes, it has also rewritten the development direction of Netflix, reshaped the pattern of the TV drama industry, and opened the door to the future.
Now, Netflix The content of Netflix has covered more than 190 countries around the world through the Internet, and rival Amazon claims to have more than it.
and Apple is also entering the market.
marked in red are the countries and regions covered by Netflix services.
2016, British drama "The Detective" screenwriter Hrowitz wrote an article: "Why do we screenwriters prefer to work for Netflix than the BBC". In that year, Netflix's "Crown" filmed on the theme of the British royal family won Great praise. Hrowitz asked in the article: "Why didn't the BBC take off the "Crown"? This is the most British story, but it was stolen by the Americans. "
Hrowitz thinks the answer is simple and straightforward: money.
" Netflix had a budget of 100 million pounds for the first season of "The Crown", and my nine seasons of "Warfield Detective" combined did not get so much investment. "
Hrowitz praised the details of "The Crown" is perfect, and the production level is much better than that of British TV. Whether
is shooting homemade dramas or buying the copyright of classic dramas, streaming media giants are willing to smash it. Money has continuously improved industry competition standards.
According to The Economist, Netflix invested more than US$12 billion in film and television in 2018.
Recently, Netflix bought the 4K remastering rights of Seinfeld and paid for it. 500 million US dollars; before, in order to renew the copyright of "Friends" for one year, Netflix invested 100 million US dollars.
And next year, the copyright of "Friends" will be owned by HBO's streaming media platform HBO Max. They bought "Friends" "The Big Bang Theory" and "The Big Bang Theory" cost 425 million and 500 million U.S. dollars, respectively. Thirty years after the advent of
, the popularity of "Seuffy's True Story" has not diminished.
used to have a clear chain of contempt between movies and TV shows: filmmakers I don’t want to watch TV dramas, and I’m famous for making TV dramas, so I just jumped into the movie circle.
George Clooney entered the movie circle with "Emergency Room Story". Since then, he has not starred in many years. TV series.
But now, the pattern of Hollywood has changed. We saw big directors like Martin Scorsese and the Wachowski sisters, as well as Kevin Spacey and Meryl on the small screen. · Streep, Nick Kidman and other Oscar-winning actors and actresses. Clooney also appeared in this year’s "Catch 22".
"Shawshank's Redemption" director and screenwriter Darla Bont later became the screenwriter and producer of the American drama "The Walking Dead." The three female protagonists of
are all Oscar queens, and two of them also served as producers. This was unimaginable before.
Although this trend has appeared at the beginning of the century, it really took shape after the rise of streaming media. Of course
are attracted by the quality assurance brought by high returns and high investment, but in addition, it is also On the small screen, I saw a broader space for expression than movies.
Kevin Spacey once said: “I was very lucky back then. When I first entered the film industry (in the 1990s), movies were still very interesting. But if you watch it now, you will find that the movies that the industry pays attention to are different from those we made in the 1990s. Now, the most interesting plot and the most interesting characters are in the TV series. "
David Fincher has similar feelings. He even expressed his willingness to withdraw from the film industry: "The market has changed a lot now. Many good movies have not achieved high box office results, but I am not willing to Take pictures of things that can make high profits in the market. "
When the capital of the film industry is becoming more and more inclined to special effects blockbusters, the "TV series" of the streaming media era accepts directors and actors who want to tell a good story.
"" produced by David Fincher"After the broadcast of Love, Death and Robots, Pioneer was bold and received rave reviews. The chief creator Miller said: "The creative industry is finally ready to welcome them." This is also due to the fact that streaming media is more tolerant and bolder in subject matter and expression than traditional TV networks.
"Transparent Family" screenwriter Jill Soloway said: "It was unimaginable before such a private and secret story as LGBT can enter the field of mass consumption. What's more unexpected is that the audience will project their own experiences and characters. Empathy.” After
wrote the script, Solovy first went to several major TV networks, but was unanimously rejected. If it weren't for Amazon to pick up the leaks, "Transparent Family" would probably die.
There are many LGBTQs in the screenwriting team of "Transparent Family", and they write very truthfully about the living conditions of this group.
TV networks often make misjudgements in predicting what viewers want to watch.
Hrowitz said: “If I write a story about a chemistry teacher who was diagnosed with cancer and he became the country’s largest supplier of methamphetamine, I might be kicked out amidst laughter. Room."
In fact, "Breaking Bad" has been rejected by 4 TV networks. Fortunately, CBS hasn't buried it.
In the past, TV networks liked to define TV dramas as soap operas for housewives to pass the time, but now, you can see streaming web dramas showing characters of different genders, races, gender preferences, disabilities, mental illnesses, and political positions For the audience, I also brought the discussion about these issues into the families who had previously lacked knowledge about it.
"Stranger Things" appeared in the third season of homosexuality. The characters of teenagers and girls with different skin colors and sexual orientations are very lovable.
In the narrative space, streaming media also provides greater freedom.
The third season of "Double Peaks" directed by David Lynch, the first episode is 120 minutes long, and the size is no different from a movie. This is impossible on traditional TV networks.
TV programs have to be broadcast strictly according to the time period, and time must be spared for advertisements. In one hour of TV series, the actual content of the series only occupies 35-50 minutes.
The animated series "Love, Death and Robots" produced by David Fincher, each episode ranges from 5 to 15 minutes, with different styles, just like a small science fiction animation film festival.
streaming also allows screenwriters to conceive more complex stories and explore deeper themes.
screenwriter Jed Mercurio said: "I remember a few years ago, executives would advise you not to make things too complicated, not to have too many consecutive stories across episodes, because the audience will not remember last week. What happened."
But now in streaming media, people can finish a whole season in one go, and the audience's memory is no longer an obstacle to creation. The routine and situational plot settings in the past are no longer favored. Screenwriters let go to challenge the boundaries of complexity, and they began to explore deep life topics such as love, sex, desire, loneliness and anger.
The rapid growth of Netflix and Amazon's subscriptions also proves that viewers approve of their attempts.
Some people say that TV dramas are the literature of this era. Who would have thought that one day, even "A Hundred Years of Solitude" could be adapted into a TV series?
But according to plan, it will be released the next year.
"Hundred Years of Solitude" pilot film. According to scholar Alvaro, Marquez once said personally that "A Hundred Years of Solitude" is most suitable for a 50-hour TV series. Moreover, Marquez wrote a lot of dialogue for this novel, but it was deleted when it was finally written. "Now, these dialogues can finally come in handy."
The play is run by Rodrigo and Gonzalo, the two sons of the original author Marquez.
"Father has refused to sell the copyright of "One Hundred Years of Solitude" to the film company during his lifetime. He believes that feature films are inherently restricted by the time structure and are not suitable for filming "One Hundred Years of Solitude". And he only allows this work to be presented in Spanish. "Rodrigo said,
" But at the moment, with talented screenwriters and directors, the quality of episodes is comparable to that of movies, and audiences around the world are becoming more and more accepting of content in small languages. There is no better time than now.
06
, it makes people empathize and releases
. It has both loose creative freedom and fierce competition and elimination. It has sufficient production funds and can also control the experience.The cost is on the most important types of work, rather than relying on traffic stars or buying data later. Naturally, the moats of American TV series have been built higher and higher. Before
, there was a classic saying about Hollywood: "The core thing in Hollywood is not those great movies or filmmakers, but provides a kind of imagination."
American dramas are also forming such a charm.
"Friends" line:
"Welcome to the real world."
"The real world is really bad."
"But you will fall in love with it."
, for example, like "Friends", it plays a lot of people's youthful emotions And Friendship Guide, and "Sex and the City" has become a textbook of urban life after going out of campus. Some people say, "Sex and the City" not only changed women's wardrobes, but also changed their outlook on life."
"Sex and the City"
plus the short "Modern Family" by the parent, the professional drama template "Mad Men" and "News Editor" "Room", "I'm a Comedy Crazy", "Doctor House", "Ugly Betty" and so on. The American TV series provide a complete set of lifestyle templates, in the family, in the workplace, all kinds of unspeakable concealment, the struggle of the desires...
" "A Hundred Years Tavern", a drama series in which Louis C·K invests, produces and distributes himself, writes, directs, edits, and stars in his own script. Because there are too many swear words, there must be no publicity before release, and Louis understands that he can only make it himself.
Women have become the object of empathy and even imitation by many people. Especially for more and more independent female subjects.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the screenwriter of "Kill Eve 1" and "London Life", after graduating from drama school, was ready to be an actor, but did not find a job for two years. When she was most depressed and cynical, she was encouraged by friends to try her own creation.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge
The first "homework" she turned in only lasted 10 minutes, and she later expanded it into 6 skits. With this script, a TV station finally paid attention to her.
After the British drama "London Life" became popular, she asked many people what attracted them to it. The answer she gets the most is: "I am the heroine herself." "People often tell me that a member of their family is exactly the same as the character in the play."
Phoebe said, "Everyone looks at the people in the play and tries To communicate, and then fail. Many people realize that their real lives are like this."
Phoebe also participated in the screenwriter of "Kill Eve 1"
. For the audience, American TV shows became the one who understands their voices best. Friends of, also played a complex human observation room, "Prison Break", "The Sopranos", "True Detective", "Ice Blood Storm", "Mind Hunter", including "House of Cards", good people will do bad things, bad people also have tenderness, giving humanity Leave enough gray and mysterious areas. Compared with movies,
has more space to shape the complex layers of human nature;
is more naked and vigorous than Japanese TV series and Korean TV series, and rarely swallows water.
"Mad Men"
has a broad vision, looking for stories from all over the world, and bringing the spirit and vitality of Broadway and Hollywood, and even the traditions of American reality fiction and the foundations of non-fictional reporting in the news industry. Fusion, everyone can find their own pot.
"Mind Hunter"
Chen Danqing once said that American dramas are novels of the 21st century. "The desire of man is to listen to stories, and the best stories are the appearance of living people... Great paintings and literature nurture today's film and television. But people Many old media are wiped out by the new media. Many types of art are obsolete and disappeared. Human desires have not changed at all. There is no bottom: people always want to see themselves, and they want to know the men and women in other windows. What are you doing."
Which is your favorite American drama? What are the most impressive scenes or lines of
?
