Scripts

Lately, I've been watching a lot of Monk.

Now, Monk is one of my favorite shows.  For those of you who don't know, it centers around the fictional title character, Adrian Monk (Tony Shalhoub) who is a police-officer-turned-private-consultant.  He was released from the San Francisco Police Department when he had a mental breakdown after the violent and heart-breaking murder of his much beloved wife, Trudy. 

What made this show groundbreaking was not the fact that it was just another detective show, obviously.  It was the fact that Monk, a world-class investigator, struggles to find a way to deal with his obsessive compulsive dissorder.  While this show does create humorous situations around Monk's OCD, it also shows viewers Monk's daily battles with this condition, thus also allowing viewers to see the seriousness of it. 

But what I've been trying to most pay attention to in this show (since I already knew the plot and having been a huge fan for years and years) lately is the dialogue and how well written it is.  I  have also been paying a lot of attention to the different types of frames they use when shooting.   I guess this post isn't really about the scripts as much as it is just me attempting to analyze a great television show's choices and seeing if I can picture myself working on such a thing (because let's face it, working in television would be amazing.  I would so love a job behind the scenes). 

Maybe it's just because I've been thinking about the future a lot recently, and film is something I could see myself working on.  But then again, so is writing.  Or, for that matter, real esate.  Or something with animals.

Okay, I've just realized how misleading the title of this post it.  I'm very sorry if you came here to read completely about scripts and I've now devestatingly dissappointed you. 

Maybe you should go watch some Monk!