The original broadcasts were in standard definition, and in the old 4×3 aspect ratio. Only at the end of 2014 – seven years after the last season premiered – a remastered version was released in 16x9HD. For me it was a reason to revisit 60 hours of spectacular drama.

60 hours of spectacular drama.

The Wire immerses us in stories from the street, in drugs beleaguered Baltimore. We live with the dealers on the corners and among the high-rises, and we follow homicide and narcotics police struggling to curb the unrelenting death toll. We see the connections with politics, the role and impotence of the education system, and the power of the press.

The Wire is pure mythical storytelling. We get an insight into the Hero’s Journey of an addicted Baltimore homicide cop, and we learn about the complexity of a micro-cosmos that is very much a metaphor for modern day America.

David Simon

Creator and executive producer David Simon is one of the smartest show runners around. He managed to fit an issue as complex and far-reaching as the urban drug trade into a one-hour entertainment concept, without dumbing down characters and plot (much). The feat is simply mind-boggling. That said, the Hero’s Journey myth helped Simon in his sheer insurmountable challenge.

Creator and executive producer David Simon is
one of the smartest show runners around.

David Simon genuinely cares about his characters. All of them. Long after the show had aired first, Simon keeps lobbying for the plight of his cast, many of whom weren’t professional actors, but plucked from the streets of Baltimore.

The ‘war on drugs’ is effectively a ‘war on the poor’. The Wire is a dramatic testimony to this fact. In the series, Simon also shows us how politicians have a stake in the trade, and therefore will never make serious attempts to fight it.

The ‘war on drugs’ is effectively a ‘war on the poor’.

Hero’s Journey In A Serial

Given Simon’s tremendous integrity when it comes to representing the Truth, I didn’t expect him to build a Hero’s Journey. Rather like a docudrama, I thought he would waive a more realistic narrative, without a conventional ebb and flow, let alone neatly closed storylines. Looking at the individual episodes, indeed it seemed he didn’t stick to the classic 4-act ‘clock’ one-hour drama.

I didn’t expect him to build a Hero’s Journey.

Then, we approached the mid of Season 1, and I realised a few things. We had not seen the face of the Shadow character Avon Barksdale until well into the series. Hero McNulty uses his little sons when he shadows Stringer Bell, and for the first time his addictions are mentioned explicitly in dialogue (work, woman and booze). Meeting with the Hero’s Journey Shadow, things becoming personal, and awareness of the Hero’s flaw; three typical aspects of a strong mid point in any major dramatic story.

It doesn’t end there. As we move towards the end of the season’s 2^nd act, things get more and more difficult… and McNulty must approach his ‘inmost cave’. Like in every Hero’s Journey story, it means the character is facing his own weakness, and a confrontation with death…

Three typical aspects of a strong mid point
in any major dramatic story.

True Detectives

When True Detective was released, my industry peers raved about the long one-take shot at the end of Episode 4. Admittedly, it was an impressive feat. More impressive even, was the sense of scope, the relative powerlessness of the heroes under the circumstances, and the feeling of dread and impending doom.

While watching that shot in True Detective, I remembered something. There is this brilliant sequence towards the end of The Wire S01E10, an episode written by the core team of David Simon and Ed Burns; and directed by Brad Anderson (“The Machinist”).

More impressive even, was the sense of scope,
the relative powerlessness of the heroes under the circumstances,
and the feeling of dread and impending doom.

Officer Kima Greggs goes undercover to witness a drug deal. She is covered by colleagues, who are tailing her in several unmarked police cars, all ready to jump in, if and when necessary.

Then, things feel wrong… Kima has lost track of where she is. Street signs don’t seem to make sense… and furtive shadows approach the car. What follows is a brilliant, cinematic sequence, brimming with menace and suspense: The Hero’s Journey Ordeal.

Not a single note of music, other than the diegetic hiphop track from the car radio.

No need for subtitles.

-Karel Segers

[vimeo 128212971 w=900 h=504]

Karel FG Segers

Karel Segers wrote his first produced screenplay at age 17. Today he is a story analyst with experience in acquisition, development and production. He has trained students worldwide, and worked with half a dozen Academy Award nominees. Karel speaks more European languages than he has fingers on his left hand, which he is still trying to find a use for in his hometown of Sydney, Australia. The languages, not the fingers.

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_______________________________

With thanks to Jamie C.

Enjoy!

Karel

Jamie Campbell

Jamie Campbell is an author, screenwriter, and television addict.

Jamie is proud to be an Editor for The Story Department.

Her latest series Project Integrate is out now.

jamiecampbell.com.au

by Margaret M. MacDonald

What happens when you miss an episode? Do you TiVo or DVR it? Are you going to watch it online? Perhaps you plan to buy the last season on DVD anyway, or download it on iTunes. And oh, what I wouldn’t give to get Hulu in Australia.

We have come a long way from they days wheeling the television into the dining room, so we could watch the latest episode of I Love Lucy. Now we watch television on our own personalized schedules, and we never have to miss an episode.

The plethora of ways to catch up on our viewing also means we can follow more complex stories, elaborate plot twists, and cast numbers worthy of a greek tragedy. Shows no longer need the predictable characters and reliable formula to last in a viewers memory during the week long breaks between episodes.

Shows no longer need
the predictable characters and reliable formula

The luxury of time has opened the dramatic door and television writers have run through it. Character arcs now follow an ever changing flux across season after season. Plots are so thick that you might miss an essential detail during a bathroom break.  And the further shows push away from the formulaic past, the better the writing gets.

Plots are so thick that you might miss
an essential detail during a bathroom break.

There was a time when writers feared that the tidal wave of reality television was going to wash away quality scripted shows forever. But when facing shows like Lost, Mad Men, The Wire, Modern Family, How I Met Your Mother and 30 Rock, that wave just laps at the shore. Sure, some formulas still get relied upon from time to time.

Someone was always trying to shut down the wire just as the team was on the edge of a breakthrough, and Barney Stinson will always be suited up, but for the most part, quality prevails over predictability.

Of course, there are also disadvantages to complex plots and ever increasing casts.

When I moved to Australia, I missed the last few episodes the third season of Lost, a show so needlessly complex that networks used to air catch-up episodes with extra “facts” that popped up at the bottom of the screen. When the fourth season finally aired, I didn’t actually watch it because I knew it was likely to confuse me into an aneurysm.

Lost, a show so needlessly complex that networks used to
air catch-up episodes with extra “facts”
that popped up at the bottom of the screen.

Nonetheless, there will come a day when I break down and watch it all. Why? Because one can only go so long without knowing the secrets of the Island.

That need to catch-up also points to another change that technology has brought about in boob-tube culture: watching great television is no longer a collective experience.

We used to all watch episodes on the same night, and then discuss them at the proverbial water cooler the next day. Now those discussions sound more like “What season are you up to now?” and “oh just wait, the next episode is even better.”

The collective experience is now spread out over time, usually spanning far beyond the life of the show itself. Of course, that also means that people who loved it the first time around, will likely see it again on DVD, reliving the episodes through others as they catch-up.

Discussions about those complex plot twists and ever changing characters will last longer than the one week break between episodes. Therefore, a richly layered writing style is almost a requirement to assure that shows retain their audience throughout their technologically extended lives.

A richly layered writing style is almost a requirement

Are you writing a television show right now? Have you mastered the ability to create cliffhangers between commercial breaks, and endings that leave your audience burning with desire for next week’s episode?

Have you also written a show that people will want to see over and over again, or watch entire seasons of in one sitting? Will discussions about its moments of comic genius or intricate plot twists, last for years after the show has gone of the air?

The next time you complete an episode, ask yourself “would I TiVo that?”

Margaret M. MacDonald is a production designer and award winning screenwriter. She has lived and worked in Los Angeles, New York and currently Sydney. She aims to use both her writing and designing to create cinematic worlds. She also loves to discuss the past, present and future and filmmaking and isn’t afraid to disagree with you.

You can find more of Margaret on Immmagination.com and on her blog Marglish.com

photo credits: mr.skeleton, RubyGoes, John Morton, redjar, celine | www.cheljacinto.tumblr.com

Jason Kottke was tipped off on some scripts of The Wire that are accessible through an online file server.

The Wire is to my taste (and many others) the best TV drama you will find.

Karel FG Segers

Karel Segers wrote his first produced screenplay at age 17. Today he is a story analyst with experience in acquisition, development and production. He has trained students worldwide, and worked with half a dozen Academy Award nominees. Karel speaks more European languages than he has fingers on his left hand, which he is still trying to find a use for in his hometown of Sydney, Australia. The languages, not the fingers.

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