In the latter days of the initial pandemic, aka before I was vaccinated, I stumbled into FOYLE'S WAR. It's a show set during and after World War II in a British town near the English Channel. I have to say it proved to be an extraordinary show to be watching during the pandemic, as the social issues it presented so often seemed to mirror things we have been going through. I recommend it mostly highly.
I could write a lot about the quality of its writing. But today I just want to point out one very small choice the writing team made. Foyle does not fight. He's a detective who relies on his wits and common sense. Also, unlike say, ENDEAVOUR, WAR is not a show where you have lots of chase scenes or what the kids use to call fisticuffs. It's very sleuthy.
Still this is a police detective show. Sometimes the bad guys do try to get away. And yet Foyle never gets in a fight. There's one key episode where we see this really tested: in 501, Foyle finds himself at the end confronting the bad guy by himself. And he's got explosives. It's absolutely a moment where he should leap on the guy, or something akin to that. But no, the story sticks to its formula. He talks to the guy, trying to learn the story behind what he's doing. And then he plays the odds--based on what he learns about how the guy got the bombs, that they came from his girlfriend and how she got them out, he doesn't believe she actually gave him the legit stuff. (We don't know this at the time, but that's what we learn afterwards.) And he's correct.
The show never talks about the fact that Foyle doesn't resort to actual violence. It's just the implicit rule. And what I note from 501 is that by testing that rule, they actually came up with a resolution that legitimately reinforces what makes Foyle awesome, rather than making it seem flimsy and artificial.
I don't know about you, but I find writing hard enough. Adding obstacles to the process seems masochistic. But it's not the case. It creates challenges, for sure--you have to create workarounds that are satisfying, aka that seem legitimate rather than writers' convenience. But if you can do that, it's just that much more satisfying.
If you're working on a project right now, maybe it's worth asking yourself, is there some sort of rule/obstacle I could add to the show (or the script) to make things more interesting? Like my protagonist broke his leg. Or he has a phobia about entering people's homes. Or the script can only use five sets total.
And see whether it doesn't make the script better.
