So this evening I was having a conversation with some great creatives about how we are right back to the days of network and cable TV with all the streamers putting ads into shows. But unlike in days gone by, now you get a handy little clock that tells you how long the ad break lasts, which is on average 2.5 minutes, depending on the platform (some shorter and some longer). I have become quite adept at figuring out tasks I can do in precisely that window of time - because I'm busy but I know if you return late and have to back up, the ads may restart! So... what can you do with 2.5 minutes? Oh I guess this also has to be about screenwriting, so corollary, how do you make sure in your script that the audience actually comes back in 2.5 minutes?
Screenwriting : What to do with 2.5 minutes? by Anna Marton Henry
Producer / Script Consultant at Idle Hour Entertainment ♦ Script Consultant, Producer
3 months ago
What to do with 2.5 minutes?
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4 people like this
The stimulating stimulus and the intermittent stimulus
Anna Marton Henry
This discussion is nice. Among the makers, let's start by saying that it is a purely psychological topic to attract the viewer's focus, which is to present another stimulus that distracts the attention and then return to focus again.
6 people like this
Hi, Anna Marton Henry. Sometimes I watch the commercials, and sometimes I rest my eyes until the commercials are over. I look at the computer screen so much while writing, networking, etc. that my eyes need those little breaks.
I was just thinking about this last night. Put a character(s) in a situation where it seems like there's no way to get out of it. The audience will come back in 2.5 minutes -- or next week -- to see if the character(s) gets out of the situation or not.
9 people like this
I was once told that fiction is compelling to the extent that it raises questions and delays answers. So there should be at least one dramatic question posed that the viewer wants to know, perhaps the main question, but it doesn't have to be if sufficiently compelling. It works on me anyway. I've lost so much sleep staying up past my bedtime because I just have to know something more about what's happening ...
4 people like this
I have Amazon Prime (wont pay ad-free upgrade) and it feels like Amazon editors stop programs at mid-sentences with zero regard of whatever is happening on the tv screen.
Back in the days when tv shows were broadcast on free networks (ABC, CBS, NBC), writers were trained to add mini cliff hangers before commercial breaks.
Basically, if today's current writers know where their shows are airing, they could structure story breaks (or not), make their bosses happy.
6 people like this
I have it to a science these days to navigate those commercials to get ready during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. Like commercial 1 I'll do this and lay it out over like five breaks.
2 people like this
Write a scene where one character asks another a question that will be an answer to what is driving him or her that he or she did not realize. Before that character answers, he or she looks up into the sky, turns to the questioner and grits his or her teeth. Commercial break.
5 people like this
I was just watching a show the other night and it cut out to commercial breaks and I was like "screw it" and just clicked on another show on another streaming service. I guess the show wasn't good to begin with but if it were, I would have suffered through the break. So with that, write a really good show.
6 people like this
I love when streamers will put a larger ad break at the start of the show or movie, instead of breaking up the content. I will happily sit through a longer break right at the beginning- I can go to the bathroom, make a snack, finish a task, etc. and then feel settled in and ready to watch whatever it is. But it’s definitely annoying when the show or movie is interrupted by ads, because the streamers use random algorithms to place them, so it rarely comes at a natural lull in the content. It’s almost always at an abrupt and irritating moment. That’s being said, I tend to play mobile games on my phone during ad breaks.
2 people like this
So true Ashely, all of a sudden it goes to a commercial. It's annoying.
3 people like this
Those of us sending films to distribution have the opportunity to include documentation on when to place the ad breaks.
Either some services don’t pay attention to those suggestions, or some producers don’t provide that info.
It may also be the case that with older library titles, that data doesn’t exist and no one paid the intern to log new ad-break break-downs.
3 people like this
Ashley Renee Smith AVOD platforms like Peacock and Paramount + don't do this - they have breaks like network TV at pre-set intervals that make sense. I think/hope the SVOD streamers will eventually join that way of working at least in terms of ads for shows.
In terms of writing, I am encouraging all writers now to write hard act breaks into their pilots even if the intention is for them to be on streaming. Ad-supported television isn't going anywhere, I personally predict the rise of more AVOD platforms and more "intentional" AVOD programming by streamers.