DS Forums

 
 

Soap Writers and ba writing habits


Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 06-09-2013, 20:03
Tillymint82
Inactive Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 896

Why do the soaps insist on cutting the scene just as something is about to be revealed or something said

Like when Shirley told Sharon about Phil Sharon asked

'Whats happened to phil'

And the scene cut and its left to us to fill in the gaps about what's been said

It's happening more and more these days and its so annoying to me.
Tillymint82 is offline   Reply With Quote
Please sign in or register to remove this advertisement.
Old 06-09-2013, 20:13
soapnut
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Cannock, Staffordshire
Posts: 3,006
Why do the soaps insist on cutting the scene just as something is about to be revealed or something said

Like when Shirley told Sharon about Phil Sharon asked

'Whats happened to phil'

And the scene cut and its left to us to fill in the gaps about what's been said

It's happening more and more these days and its so annoying to me.
They are crap writers who can't write decent dialogue for a single character, taking the easy option of cutting corners all the way.
soapnut is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-09-2013, 09:46
Deschanel
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: London
Posts: 4,532
We don't need to hear another recap of what we already know. That's would be redundant dialogue. What would be the point in seeing Shirley tell Sharon about Phil being in a car crash? We can guess Sharon's reaction, we know exactly what Shirley is going to say, so it's not going to give us anything new. The whole point of that scene is to place Sharon in the loop, so we know she hasn't been totally forgotten about. It isn't necessary to see them exchange details.

Soapnut: I think it's a bit rich calling the writers crap and "taking the easy option and cutting corners," when you clearly know zip about the fundamentals of screen writing. Take a class, and then you'll learn why we don't need to see the same thing repeated every time.
Deschanel is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-09-2013, 14:42
soapnut
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Cannock, Staffordshire
Posts: 3,006
We don't need to hear another recap of what we already know. That's would be redundant dialogue. What would be the point in seeing Shirley tell Sharon about Phil being in a car crash? We can guess Sharon's reaction, we know exactly what Shirley is going to say, so it's not going to give us anything new. The whole point of that scene is to place Sharon in the loop, so we know she hasn't been totally forgotten about. It isn't necessary to see them exchange details.

Soapnut: I think it's a bit rich calling the writers crap and "taking the easy option and cutting corners," when you clearly know zip about the fundamentals of screen writing. Take a class, and then you'll learn why we don't need to see the same thing repeated every time.
No need to be so patronising, sorry, I didn't realise you were an expert. I don't need to take a course to see how rubbish EE is thank you. The days of BAFTA award-winning scripts are long gone sadly, anyone can see that. I suppose anyone else with the same view (the majority of the forum it seems) should take a course too? I'm merely pointing out that standards have slipped and noticeably too, that's all.
soapnut is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-09-2013, 16:29
BananaFeet
Inactive Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 326
The days of BAFTA award-winning scripts are long gone sadly, anyone can see that.
Could anyone remind me who won the BAFTA for continuing drama this year, please? I've forgotten...
BananaFeet is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-09-2013, 16:59
soapnut
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Cannock, Staffordshire
Posts: 3,006
Could anyone remind me who won the BAFTA for continuing drama this year, please? I've forgotten...
Baffling really, even the cast looked shocked - a single episode doesn't account for award-winning drama..
soapnut is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-09-2013, 17:11
Deschanel
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: London
Posts: 4,532
The days of BAFTA award-winning scripts are long gone sadly, anyone can see that. I suppose anyone else with the same view (the majority of the forum it seems) should take a course too? I'm merely pointing out that standards have slipped and noticeably too, that's all.
BIB: No, just the one's who think that not including a scene where Shirley tells Sharon about Phil being in a crash means that the writers are crap and cutting corners.

Pointing out that the storytelling isn't as good as it once was is not answering the OP. It's generalising and taking a swipe at the show for the sake of it. All I was trying to do was point out that certain writing choices are made that would still be made with good or bad writing. Maybe my tone was a little harsh, but whatever, I've seen way worse on here.
Deschanel is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-09-2013, 17:53
BananaFeet
Inactive Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 326
Baffling really, even the cast looked shocked - a single episode doesn't account for award-winning drama..
Nonetheless, it was a single episode that went on to win a BAFTA, so your claims of the show no longer being BAFTA-worthy are clearly wrong. Doesn't matter whether you thought it was deserved or not.
BananaFeet is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-09-2013, 18:26
soapnut
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Cannock, Staffordshire
Posts: 3,006
Nonetheless, it was a single episode that went on to win a BAFTA, so your claims of the show no longer being BAFTA-worthy are clearly wrong. Doesn't matter whether you thought it was deserved or not.
It wasn't BAFTA-worthy and to suggest it was is laughable. Even if the panel thought it was (which they probably didn't as it would have been a difficult task selecting a worthy episode - which had also aired recently prior) it was one of the most depserate, crudest, unnoteworthy storylines in the show's history which lasted for what seemed an eternity. I would guess that during this time was when EE lost a huge chunk of it's long-term viewing audience who had clearly had enough of their intelligence being insulted. Compare it to the 'Billie's death' episode which was a previous submission and the contrasts are stark. We all know how biased and one-sided the awards are that it was inevitable EastEnders would win, when it should clearly have been Coronation Street which is and still remains light years ahead. I'll be honest with you, no doubt EE will most likely win the next round although there is absolutely nothing of note to justify it, no doubt they would submit the crash episode aired earlier this week as nothing else has happened.
soapnut is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-09-2013, 18:45
sw2963
Forum Member
 
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 7,261
I thought the thread title was being ironic
sw2963 is offline Follow this poster on Twitter   Reply With Quote
Old 07-09-2013, 19:00
danyell
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 6,206
I thought the thread title was being ironic
So did I! Lol
danyell is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-09-2013, 08:13
JWDrama1980
Forum Member
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: OREGON
Posts: 101
Deschanel is correct that this is a basic screenwriting technique. To move the episode along because it would be come very tedious to watch every day of the week. The only type of show that gets away with this is American Daytime Soaps.

All most all television shows do this and have been doing this for decades.
JWDrama1980 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-09-2013, 15:36
Janet Plank
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 5,175
I only watch Coronation Street and Emmerdale. We have soome brilliantly written and acted scenes, then we are exposed to utter drivel. Do the writers do a 3 day week, and leave the other days to the soap fairies to write?
Janet Plank is offline Follow this poster on Twitter   Reply With Quote
Old 08-09-2013, 15:44
Milton Jones
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 1,653
Simon Ashdown is the only good writer in Eastenders, all his episodes put attention to detail, and have great pace and dialogue. The rest of the writers are dross and need to be replaced by quality writers. We need a writers cull for Eastenders to get its viewing figures back.
Milton Jones is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-09-2013, 16:02
soapnut
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Cannock, Staffordshire
Posts: 3,006
Simon Ashdown is the only good writer in Eastenders, all his episodes put attention to detail, and have great pace and dialogue. The rest of the writers are dross and need to be replaced by quality writers. We need a writers cull for Eastenders to get its viewing figures back.
Yes, some of that '£1 Million' could have been spent elsewhere
soapnut is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-09-2013, 16:07
Cal_Scream2
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2012
Posts: 6,701
EE, CS and ED really need to cut back to two or three days a week. The 5 means we have some appalling writing to fill the gaps.

I think EE and CS should be on twice a week, and ED three times, as ED seems to cope better with 5 days than the other two. Say have ED and CS on Monday, EE on Tuesday, ED on Wednesday, ED and CS on Thursday then EE on Friday. They would each have a chance at decent viewing figures, and having EE on days on it's own would mean it would get better ratings. It doesn't really mater with ED and CS because they're hardly rivals, more like sister soaps.
Cal_Scream2 is offline   Reply With Quote
 
Reply




 
Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 12:21.