Interestingly I've been discussing the question of division of responsibility between director and writer with various real-life writers and editors over the past couple of weeks. The input of actors is also important of course, particularly in the B7 world, which changed so much under so many influences, over the four seasons.
One interesting issue which has come up is the difference the traditions of UK/Europe and America (sorry, don't know about Australia/nz).
It is my feeling that the British tradition emphasises dialogue much more, coming as it does on a strong and high status theatrical tradition. This has changed quite a bit over the past thirty years, with greater emphasis nowadays on telling a story through visual cues as well as dialogue (cf 'Trainspotting') , but obviously B7 comes well before this time.
An American script editor I was talking to (by email) yesterday, said to me that he felt the British tradition was as he put it 'proscenium oriented', which has advantages and disadvantages. I think the advantages are that the strong emphasis on dialogue forces strong characterization, and a drive towards wit. On the other hand (as we can see in B7) it may damage the credibility of the action sequences, as insufficient thought is given to developing them.
I thought you might be interested in this comment that he made, too, which I think illuminates an interesting aspect of the B7 style.
I don't think one should leave the choreography or staging or blocking
entirely up to the director. Most directors will appreciate a solidly blocked, staged and choreographed action sequence. Done well, this saves them a ton of work. They don't want you doing their work, but they do want you to do yours, and this includes writing a filmable scene in which actions and behaviors are clearly articulated. A director may choose not to use your design, but usually only when they see a better way when on the set, which often happens. If you are describing action, movement and behavior as it unfolds temporally on the screen, you'll have to do some design to ensure that it can indeed be performed and filmed. You'll have to think about that and reflect what you think in your writing. The last thing you want is a scene that's devoid of any consideration of choreography or staging, <<<
I think this is a potential defect of the B7 style, the lack of choreographing of action sequences. And perhaps it is because nobody - not writer, director or actor, is taking sufficient responsibility to define it.
Here's another comment, from a different email.
a play, whether written for exhibition on the bigscreen, television, or
the stage, must possess some theatrical qualities. Many scripts I evaluate lack theatrical qualities, which degrades their overall value and effect. In many ways, the frame of the film is like the opening of a proscenium stage. For example, in theater, entrances and exits are important to scene beginnings and endings, and are often used to signal a beginning or an ending. Yet I see scripts all the time that end on the last word of the last speech, with no indication of what happens thereafter. In most cases, this is mistaken; few scenes end on the last word of dialogue, there's almost always something that occurs after the last word has been spoken -- a character reacts with a look, a character exits, two characters embrace, and so on.<<<
Whereas here, I think he is talking about a virtue which B7 does have in abundance, a marked theatric quality, with (often) good scene resolution.
I'm sorry this is a long post, but I thought this might be of interest to some people
Alison
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