Busting out from the rules
Mario here:

What I'm reading:


Suspect, by Robert Crais.










The Internet and cable have changed a lot about the way we enjoy movies. And that in turn has changed the way movies are made and changed the way they tell their stories.

If you've tried to write a screenplay, you know how rigorous the format and pacing have to be. By page 13, the inciting incident must occur. By mid-point, you should be at the reversal. It's a well-honed formula and when a script deviates from those principles, the story and our attention suffer. On the other hand, it takes a skilled hand to deftly articulate the plot points without feeling like we're checking them off a list.



One of the attractions of programs in episodic format, like The Sorpranos, Sons of Anarchy, and Longmire, is that such stories get to spool out the narrative in way that keeps us guessing. In a typical movie, we know that at eighty minutes we should be circling the plot resolution. And we're certain who will live and who will die. But the episodic format has subverted the formula.




Longmire is the most traditional of the shows I watch as it follows the TV mystery trope by solving the crime start-to-finish in one episode. But with every episode the subplots and the backstories of the characters continue to simmer beneath the narrative. At some point we're expecting the dramatic fireworks. Which is the point of entertainment.



Now George R.R. Martin wrenches the story narrative further with a bloody twist. He leads us along to root for our favorite characters, then ruthlessly kills them. One of the prime tenets in storytelling is to make you care for the major characters. To knock off the bad guys doesn't buy as much dramatic impact as we watch the show to see the villains get theirs. But to make us embrace the good guys and then hack them to death seems remarkably cruel. And it is. But it stirs the plot and keeps us watching. I'm sure a lot of other writers will attempt to follow Martin's example though few have his chops.

Labels: George RR Martin, Longmire, narrative shivs, Robert Crais, Sons of Anarchy, The Sopranos

  ¶ posted by Mario Acevedo @ 9:10 PM  2 comments

  Maximum story rpms
Mario here:


What I'm reading this week: City of Bohane by Kevin Barry











For decades, the television was dismissed as the idiot box and the vast wasteland. Now with HBO and Showtime and all the on-screen nudity, television certainly deserves to be called the "boob" tube.

But truly, modern television programming has decidedly shed the "idiot box" slur. TV programs have never been smarter, better written or more compelling. TV shows can be just as graphic and raw as any big-screen movie.

It's been a long time since I've watched broadcast TV, and years ago we disconnected ourselves from cable. All my TV comes via Netflix's DVDs or its instant queue that I watch on my computer or iPad.
What modern television programming has latched onto and made its own is the continuing series drama that evolved beyond daytime soap operas. This format dispensed with the need to resolve plot questions within one show, in fact, story questions can often span several seasons. Television shows have become deliciously complex and gritty.

The first such program to hook me was The Sopranos. What I admired about that show was its ability to make you root for the bad guys. Tony and his gang starred as psychopathic killers, and yet we were made to cringe whenever the law tired to lasso them. When The Sopranos ended I yearned for another meaty drama to draw me in. Comedic romps like Weeds and Californication didn't work for me. I tried the sci-fi shows, Battlestar Galactica and Fringe, but both became a drag to follow. Then came Breaking Bad and I jonsed for every episode like a trailer-park tweaker. Boardwalk Empire hooked me at first, however it almost lost me at the end of the first season. The plot meandered and the story lost its focus. Reluctantly, I started the second season, and the writers must've heeded the criticism because the show was definitely tighter. I was back on the boardwalk with Nucky Thompson and his shady ways.

Spurred by Jeanne's recommendations, I cranked up Sons of Anarchy and have been racing through the episodes. The ensemble cast clicks together with the machined precision of a revolver. The reigning star is Katey Sagal (formerly the frustrated and ditsy housewife from Married with Children), who plays the scheming Gemma Teller Murrow, the ole' lady of the motorcycle club's president, Clay Morrow (Ron Perlman).



Charlie Hunnam is Jax Teller, Gemma's son and a young man torn apart by moral conflicts (though that doesn't keep him from doling out the beat downs). The show epitomizes intricate story telling and takes full advantage of the continuing drama format. I'd love to be in on the script-development sessions and see how they can create and weave such complicated marathon plot lines. Conventional serialized-story format states that every episode should end on a cliff-hanger, but SOA often pulls its punch so that the audience fills in the blanks. They know that the train wreck in coming. And can't wait to watch.

Labels: beat down, Charlie Hunnam, Katey Sagal, Sons of Anarchy

  ¶ posted by Mario Acevedo @ 7:49 PM  4 comments

  I'm Baaaacccckkk.... In an attempt to redeem my slovenly ways the last two weeks, here is a plethora of goodies for your pleasure!

Cautionary tale: what to expect on your first day in prison--




From Lee Lofland's The Graveyard Shift

Labels: Conan, Crossroads, Knights of Badassdom, Lee Lofland, Sons of Anarchy

  ¶ posted by Jeanne Stein @ 1:43 PM  6 comments