For those who write in various mediums... any combination of movies, TV, novels/books, comic books/graphic novels, video games... how do you decide which medium is going to be best for that project? What makes you go "This is a novel!" vs "This is a movie!" vs "This is a comic!"??
Screenwriting : How do you pick your format for any given project? by Travis Seppala
How do you pick your format for any given project?
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Make it a comic!
https://www.stage32.com/media/3498665137462586565
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I write for a variety of formats. It all depends on how I want the reader to interact. For example, if it's text heavy, I aim for a novel.
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I'm not sure if you should start with trying to pick a format concerning your project/basic story idea. For Serial Twins Robert Arthur Jansen and I had an idea about two identical female twins that - as babies - get stolen from their biological parents and then raised by a pair of serial killers with a child wish. The underlying theme simply is "what is more important defining what person you become in life, your dna or your upbringing? When we had the 1 page synopsis of the story we realized it whas ideal for being a movie, a tv series (not tv episode- like Charlie's Angels), and a comic book series.
The next thing we did was create some graphic art that should have an optimal form of all these elrments in one; original concept, set up of characters, world, tone, writers voice.
After that I picked a writer a knew to write the screenplay.
Logliine:
"Identical twin sisters who moonlight as violent vigilantes must outwit a vengeful copycat who framed them for murdering students on a college campus in Austin, Texas."
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Features and shorts are my default formats, Travis Seppala. If I think of an idea and see it's gonna take more time to tell the story, I'll think about turning the idea into a TV series, limited series, or web-series. I don't write novels/books, comic books/graphic novels, and video games, but I have ideas that could fill in those formats.
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That’s a great question. I never really thought about it. I write different mediums as well, the newest being trying to dabble in TV scripts. But I have written both novels and screenplays. I guess the question is — especially when considering TV— is it a story that you can see continuing through many episodes? Is it something that could be procedural, serial, or is it more episodic? If it’s a plot or story idea that you can make into a procedural show, I would go TV for sure. It also just depends on how the story is calling to you. I know that sounds weird, but I’m weird so it’s fitting ha! My stories play visually in my head so I can try to picture what the story would look like in either medium. Ultimately, you just have to make the choice. If you start going down one medium with the story and it doesn’t feel right, nothing is stopping you from going a different direction.
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Maurice Vaughan I recently tried to write a video game. I, also, recently rediscovered the joys of say drinking. Those two are directly related.
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I've heard a video game script is different than a movie script, Bill McCormick.
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You have heard correctly Maurice Vaughan. It is evil and will suck your soul dry.
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Haha Hope not, Bill McCormick. I remembered, Stage 32 has a webinar about writing for the video game industry (www.stage32.com/education?p=8944932323635).
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To be honest Maurice Vaughan webinars aren't good for me. I can't process information that way.
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Ok, Bill McCormick. I'll recommend a video game writing blog to Stage 32.
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Thanks Maurice Vaughan
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You're welcome, Bill McCormick. I sent the email.
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A movie can be told once. We cannot have Luke blow up the death star each week. A series is a universe you can tell a number of stories in. limited series is something to big, with lots of moving parts, big many for a film.
I don’t write books. I tried, they read like screenplays.
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If you wanna really improve skills, better stick to one...
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Sometimes I don't pick one format. Yesterday I submitted a prose version of a couple of scripts that I already had. Giving the same story more than one shot seems like good value to me.
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Mapping out the story structure is a good way to see which format will serve it best. This way you can "stress test" the concept in different ways before committing too much time into one or another.
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Whatever the employers want, write that. Seriously, the easiest path to a produced writing credit is a cheap indie feature, done at your own pace with your own ppl. Them other formats, especially corporate tv, is probably the hardest and the bosses don't hire rookies.
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Ewan Dunbar that is one f the most useful hints I've seen. Thanks for sharing.
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For context, the reason I ask is that one of my goals this year is to write a comic book or graphic novel script. Trying to figure out if I should:
1) adapt one of my feature scripts into a comic
2) adapt one of my pilots and show ideas into a comic series
3) turn one of my outlined feature or show ideas into a comic instead
4) try to come up with an idea JUST for comics.
And if #4, how to determine that something is better as a comic/graphic novel than as a movie or show.
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1-3 might save you some time since you already know the stories, Travis Seppala.
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Just my opinion.
If the story is simple enough and allows the characters to go from point A to point B, it's a feature film, even a short film.
If the story requires more development for the characters and presents complexities and twists along the way, it's a TV series.