I remember the moment perfectly. I’m sure each one of you can remember being similarly thunderstruck when it happened to you. For me it occurred in the summer of 1995, when NYPD Blue aired on Italian television. I clearly remember watching the pilot episode and telling myself, “This is not what I’m used to seeing on TV; this is more like what I get at the movies.” Then came ER, with its spectacular mix of action and medical drama. Then The West Wing, with Aaron Sorkin capitalizing on the research he’d conducted while writing the big-screen feature The American President. And, in the same year, The Sopranos. Then it was Lost, with its strikingly cinematic pilot episode. Then Heroes…and all the other shows, culminating in the stylistic virtuosity of Breaking Bad, Mad Men, House of Cards…
You understand what I’m getting at: TV and cinema, once planets in different orbits, are now aligned on the same trajectory of high-quality storytelling. Techniques, properties, writers, production companies…the two fields now overlap.
It’s a hot topic. While in a recent interview Christopher Nolan shows little enthusiasm for TV becoming like cinema, legions of critics and viewers, not to mention scholars, are swooning.
For those of you intrigued by the subject, the best place to discuss and learn more about the convergence of cinematic and TV storytelling is the 11th Screenwriting Research Network conference, being held next year here in Milan at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. The conference will run September 13-15, 2018, and will have as its theme, Writing for cinema. Writing for TV. You can find more information here. All are invited.
In the meantime, for a little warm-up on the topic, I suggest this article by Logan Hill, and this episode of Scriptnotes by John August.
Think about it.
Be First to Comment