Every Genre Is Like a Musical

Every Genre Is Like a Musical This week, we’re going to be talking about writing genre movies and TV shows. We’re going to be talking about writing the horror genre, and writing elevated horror. But we’re also going to be talking about writing any kind of feature film or TV show, or even a play, comic or novel that has strong genre elements.  The truth is, every film and every show, every work of art for that matter, has a strong genre element.  Whether you’re writing an action movie, an action comedy or a romantic comedy, a musical, or even a little low-budget indie drama, there is always a genre element.  If you think of a Wes Anderson movie, for example, the genre element is that Wes Anderson movie is cool, hip cuteness, the odd characters, and the really beautiful tableaus: that’s the Wes Anderson genre. Or, if you think of a writer like Charlie Kaufman, even though he seems to defy genre, he has his own genre as well. Generally, in his early work, he’s writing inside of a romantic comedy genre. But it’s also going to have that mind-bending quality to it, it’s going to make you laugh, and it’s going to have some hidden darkness underneath the surface. You can see that Charlie Kaufman’s genre changed as he evolved in his career when he stopped working with Spike Jonze, and the darkness that used to be hidden under the humor emerged onto the surface. In films like Synecdoche New York or Anomalisa, the mind-bending Charlie Kaufman elements are still there, but the darkness rises to the surface and the romantic comedy elements disappear.  So what are we really talking about when we talk about the genre in screenwriting? Essentially genre is made up of two different elements.  The first element is the way that your movie or show makes the audience feel.  Every audience goes to a movie or binges on Netflix for the exact same reason that you do. They want to feel a certain way. Perhaps they want to feel like love is possible. They’re going to show up and watch a romantic comedy or a romance because it’s going to make them feel that way. Or maybe they want to feel an adrenaline rush. They might show up for your action movie, or a noir thriller to get that kind of adrenaline rush.  They might want that sci-fi or fantasy experience, that feeling of experiencing other worlds that both allow us to escape and better understand our own. They might be coming for a feeling of violence and action. They might be coming for a feeling of adventure. They might be coming for a feeling of connection and understanding. They might be coming for a feeling of being challenged creatively. Your audience is always coming to a movie or TV series for a genre feeling. And if you don’t deliver that feeling, the audience is going to be pissed off.  If you’re writing BoJack Horseman (see my podcast on BoJack Horseman) and you don’t deliver 500 puns a minute (and then every once in a while make us cry), we’re going to be pissed off.  If you’re writing Curb Your Enthusiasm and you don’t make us laugh at the little eccentricities of neurosis as Larry tries to get along in reasonable upper-class society, you haven’t done your job. And if Curb Your Enthusiasm ever made you cry, you’d be angry. Because that’s not the feeling you’re coming for.  The first element that we’re talking about when we talk about a genre is how the movie or show makes you feel.  That doesn’t mean that you should adjust the feeling of your show for your audience and it doesn’t mean that you can’t do cool mashups of genre feelings and genre elements. You certainly can.  For example,